Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 04:21:13 pm

Title: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 04:21:13 pm
Does the 85 come with a camera as standard or is it extra?
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 04:30:20 pm
Because here

http://spinaclean.com/skyvac-gutter-cleaning-machines.asp

it says ‘onboard camera’. To me that means part of the deal.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Ian101 on December 19, 2016, 05:33:17 pm
at the show they were giving a free camera and inspection  pole with every vac

skyvac industrial with 8 poles 1970+vat
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Dave Willis on December 19, 2016, 06:58:39 pm
I think you've gone a bit overboard with that one,
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 07:18:50 pm
Maybe. Depends on what work I pick up.

I'd rather be over engineered that not enough.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Frankybadboy on December 19, 2016, 07:59:23 pm
just use a go pro on a separate pole
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Splash & dash on December 19, 2016, 08:13:53 pm
Talking to them this week I think you will find it's extra it certainly was on the quote they gave me , looking forward to how you get on with it
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: CleanClear on December 19, 2016, 08:44:09 pm
If you knock an end cap off a gutter can you just use a flexi clamp and shove a new one up with some glue on the end to replace it ?
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Nick Day on December 19, 2016, 09:04:49 pm
Think that is extra, these days the wifi cameras are so good that's what I use and recommend to people.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 10:16:03 pm
Surely you mean bluetooth?? ??

Wi-fi is something your own telephone service will provide throughout your house.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 10:17:01 pm
just use a go pro on a separate pole

I want a system where I can see whats going on up there whilst hoovering out.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Nick Day on December 19, 2016, 10:18:51 pm
No the camera puts out a wifi signal that your phone/tablet picks up and you view it through that.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 10:30:38 pm
A Go-Pro?

So, you download an app I presume to your phone and can view that way?
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Dave Willis on December 19, 2016, 10:37:19 pm
Yep
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Nick Day on December 19, 2016, 10:37:38 pm
That's right.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Dave Willis on December 19, 2016, 10:39:38 pm
I strap my phone to my arm with a joggers thingy. You can get really good ones now called quadlocks. Could probably quadlock it to your pole quite easily.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 10:48:11 pm
I was just watching a GoPro instruction video on Youtube. You couldn’t watch the video live, as it was being recorded. you had to download the video to your phone after the recording was completed. Is that right?
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 19, 2016, 11:23:25 pm
Real pro's don't use that overpriced baby monitor crap from skyvac  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 19, 2016, 11:32:05 pm
 ;D

Im going to go with a Gardiners Camera I expect. I have a thing about piecing bits and pieces from here and there to make something up. It always turns out to be bodged and bolloxed.

I've bodged enough crap in my time to know its absolute false economy. I'm not saying I'm going for the best and most expensive model on the market (although I could afford one of Spinacleans cameras after a morning work ;) ) but Im likely to go for a full kit from someone. Gardiners don’t sell tripe, they’re not as expensive as Spinacleans and the Omni-crap website haven’t even got prices up. As soon as a website doesn’t deliver the info I think the hardware probably wont be any better.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tom-01 on December 20, 2016, 07:03:21 am
;D

Im going to go with a Gardiners Camera I expect. I have a thing about piecing bits and pieces from here and there to make something up. It always turns out to be bodged and bolloxed.

I've bodged enough crap in my time to know its absolute false economy. I'm not saying I'm going for the best and most expensive model on the market (although I could afford one of Spinacleans cameras after a morning work ;) ) but Im likely to go for a full kit from someone. Gardiners don’t sell tripe, they’re not as expensive as Spinacleans and the Omni-crap website haven’t even got prices up. As soon as a website doesn’t deliver the info I think the hardware probably wont be any better.

Agreed.

When I first got the sky vac about 3 years or so ago I got the camera with it. After a short while the camera starts not being very good. I have since tried a Go-pro and for some reason when I get to three stories it loses the wi-fi signal. Also with the go-pro there is always a few seconds delay. We now use the Gardiners one which I think is the best. The battery life is not the best (maybe because we use it a lot and I forget to charge it sometimes?). Probably not the best picture quality over a go-pro but more reliable. We have used all three that have been mentioned and IMO the Gardiners one is the best.

Also I find it a lot easier to have it on a separate pole to the vac pole - you will see that too. I have the camera attached to a gooseneck and just pop the brush out and put it in. Most of the time we have two of us on a job though so it saves time with one person using the camera whilst the other is constantly doing the work (not me  :D)
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tom-01 on December 20, 2016, 07:05:15 am
Also you will need a generator to run this machine. A few houses we have tripped the electrics oops  :-[
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 07:49:21 am
It's close to the mark isn't at 3.3 Kw. Do you feel it's necessary to run it on all three motors? 2 motors runnng shouldn't tip the leccy out.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: sunshine windows on December 20, 2016, 08:07:08 am
;D

Im going to go with a Gardiners Camera I expect. I have a thing about piecing bits and pieces from here and there to make something up. It always turns out to be bodged and bolloxed.

I've bodged enough crap in my time to know its absolute false economy. I'm not saying I'm going for the best and most expensive model on the market (although I could afford one of Spinacleans cameras after a morning work ;) ) but Im likely to go for a full kit from someone. Gardiners don’t sell tripe, they’re not as expensive as Spinacleans and the Omni-crap website haven’t even got prices up. As soon as a website doesn’t deliver the info I think the hardware probably wont be any better.

Agreed.

When I first got the sky vac about 3 years or so ago I got the camera with it. After a short while the camera starts not being very good. I have since tried a Go-pro and for some reason when I get to three stories it loses the wi-fi signal. Also with the go-pro there is always a few seconds delay. We now use the Gardiners one which I think is the best. The battery life is not the best (maybe because we use it a lot and I forget to charge it sometimes?). Probably not the best picture quality over a go-pro but more reliable. We have used all three that have been mentioned and IMO the Gardiners one is the best.

Also I find it a lot easier to have it on a separate pole to the vac pole - you will see that too. I have the camera attached to a gooseneck and just pop the brush out and put it in. Most of the time we have two of us on a job though so it saves time with one person using the camera whilst the other is constantly doing the work (not me  :D)

You must have money to burn Tom, as surely that is false economy having an extra guy just to use the camera?

A cheap SJ2000 knockoff (not even a proper one) does the trick for me. Crap battery life but charged for each job I need it for and it works fine. Great picture quality and video quality.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: sunshine windows on December 20, 2016, 08:08:23 am
Oh! and it comes with all the attachments you'll ever need for mounting it. Car dash, helmet, poles the lot.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Splash & dash on December 20, 2016, 10:44:34 am
Ime very intrested in this to as Ime about to up date all my gutter vac kit , I was concerned about tripping out normal 13 amp socket with it ,the guy from sky vac said it doesn't but I thought it could , my understanding is it's not the load when all motors are running but the start up loading , so turn on one motor let it get up to speed then do the same with the next two .
With regards to cameras I thought the sky vac looked good , don't know what Gardiner's is like it's a lot of money which ever one you go for so want to make sure I get the best one , don't want to be bodging this camera with that monitor as been there done that !!!! Would rather pay for decent kit as I don't have time for playing about with things when working . What do you find the picture quality like especially with black guttering ? With the cheepo I've got at the moment you cannot see anything clearly , any advice would be very helpful
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tom-01 on December 20, 2016, 10:51:58 am
It's close to the mark isn't at 3.3 Kw. Do you feel it's necessary to run it on all three motors? 2 motors runnng shouldn't tip the leccy out.

It's the draw on the start up. It works ok plugged in directly to the mains, but that's no good as the lead on it is only 10mtrs - we need an extension lead of at least 50m on most jobs. It's the extension lead which trips it out. Also now it's just much easier to have the generator as not all places have external sockets, also we do big buildings where can't always get access inside.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 10:52:32 am
Im off the opinion that 3.3Kw is too much for a domestic ring-main. There are guys on here who heat their water with immersion heater elements and they require separate wiring because of the load.

I spoke to Spinaclean on couple of occasions about the loading and they say the vac comes with a 3 pin plug so is suitable for plugging straight in to the mains. I beg to differ. For me I'd hope that the majority of domestic work can be done with just two motors. If its a commercial property then its easy to allow enough for either genny hire or to purchase a genny for that reason. Saying that the point you make about  the start-up load could be a relevant one.


The gutter-vac I purchased has just arrived, with no camera (I’m awaiting a phone-call to clarify if there will be one in the post) so I’ll have a play today and see if I can blow my ring main.

I’ll get back to you if we still have power
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tom-01 on December 20, 2016, 10:55:28 am
;D

Im going to go with a Gardiners Camera I expect. I have a thing about piecing bits and pieces from here and there to make something up. It always turns out to be bodged and bolloxed.

I've bodged enough crap in my time to know its absolute false economy. I'm not saying I'm going for the best and most expensive model on the market (although I could afford one of Spinacleans cameras after a morning work ;) ) but Im likely to go for a full kit from someone. Gardiners don’t sell tripe, they’re not as expensive as Spinacleans and the Omni-crap website haven’t even got prices up. As soon as a website doesn’t deliver the info I think the hardware probably wont be any better.

Agreed.

When I first got the sky vac about 3 years or so ago I got the camera with it. After a short while the camera starts not being very good. I have since tried a Go-pro and for some reason when I get to three stories it loses the wi-fi signal. Also with the go-pro there is always a few seconds delay. We now use the Gardiners one which I think is the best. The battery life is not the best (maybe because we use it a lot and I forget to charge it sometimes?). Probably not the best picture quality over a go-pro but more reliable. We have used all three that have been mentioned and IMO the Gardiners one is the best.

Also I find it a lot easier to have it on a separate pole to the vac pole - you will see that too. I have the camera attached to a gooseneck and just pop the brush out and put it in. Most of the time we have two of us on a job though so it saves time with one person using the camera whilst the other is constantly doing the work (not me  :D)

You must have money to burn Tom, as surely that is false economy having an extra guy just to use the camera?

A cheap SJ2000 knockoff (not even a proper one) does the trick for me. Crap battery life but charged for each job I need it for and it works fine. Great picture quality and video quality.

Yes normally I would agree with you. But on the big blocks we do it actually works well, as one person alone wouldn't get all the work done. Recently we've been getting through 2/3 blocks a day with two of us. One on the vac the other on camera and moving the vac along, emptying it etc.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 11:01:47 am
I agree it's much more productive to have a helper especially on larger jobs.

The extra helper also comes in very handy to turn the vac off and back on when sods etc are sucked out of the gutter and stuck on the end of yer pole too.  That way you are in control of the guttervac pole at all times so no need to struggle either moving to get to the vac or keep having to drop the pole down. Just don't go deliberately aiming the top of the pole to drop it on his head when he turns the vac off. Oops!  ;D  ;D

Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tom-01 on December 20, 2016, 11:32:54 am
I agree it's much more productive to have a helper especially on larger jobs.

The extra helper also comes in very handy to turn the vac off and back on when sods etc are sucked out of the gutter and stuck on the end of yer pole too.  That way you are in control of the guttervac pole at all times so no need to struggle either moving to get to the vac or keep having to drop the pole down. Just don't go deliberately aiming the top of the pole to drop it on his head when he turns the vac off. Oops!  ;D  ;D

 ;D

Yes sorry I should have clarified for larger jobs two people is advantageous. Smaller houses just one person is enough.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 11:47:42 am
When working on my own I prefer to mount a gopro on the guttervac pole rather than on a seprate pole. Then have the option to clear gutters with real time veiwing if I want instead of keep having to swap the poles over.

The gopro I use can record and I can veiw on a smart phone what I'm doing at the same time... No probs
I've also never had the wifi drop out doing taller buildings as of yet.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: JandS on December 20, 2016, 12:02:07 pm
I just stick the ladder up on the corner so I can see down front/side or back/side and have a look....vac it out and nip up and check I haven't missed anything.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 05:00:00 pm
The camera’s in the post ;)
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Ian101 on December 20, 2016, 06:17:17 pm
The camera’s in the post ;)

 I like the look of the gardiners camera - did you go for the one with the extra battery pack ?
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 06:22:58 pm
I getting one of the skyvac ones as it says they're included in the package so far as I'm concerned. Which is very good customer service, even if whoever put their website together made a boo boo.

I would've gone for a Gardiners camera if skyvac hadn't agreed to supply me with one of theirs.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 06:26:48 pm
Result  ;)

Still when it breaks get a gopro  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 07:22:31 pm
I don’t like the look of them to be honest. I much prefer these stream-lined things that look like little torches, whatever they’re called.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Nick Day on December 20, 2016, 07:31:52 pm
It should be pointed out that you can achieve just as good ( and better because you will not need a ladder) by spending less than a quarter than our rich associates on here.
Alex and I did a job today, it finishes tomorrow for £1650.00 with such a kit and camera.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 08:11:46 pm
Nick, have you tried/tested the same vac that is sold as the industrial 85?
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 08:22:12 pm
It should be pointed out that you can achieve just as good ( and better because you will not need a ladder) by spending less than a quarter than our rich associates on here.
Alex and I did a job today, it finishes tomorrow for £1650.00 with such a kit and camera.

I don’t understand that bit in this post about the ladder. To me it implies you don’t need a ladder if you use a homemade gutter vac but you do if you buy a manufactured system.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 08:31:22 pm
That just proves slacky that the vac you just bought will soon pay for itself in no time at all. Mind it helps if you know how to use one properly. Mind the tools that come with that skyvac are pants by the way  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 08:36:41 pm
I was planning on breaking in to your van tonight, ‘borrow’ your gear ;)
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Dave Willis on December 20, 2016, 08:39:06 pm
That's good money for a council house.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 08:41:05 pm
I think he had to do the garage as well for that.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 08:43:52 pm
I was planning on breaking in to your van tonight, ‘borrow’ your gear ;)

Well if it goes missing I now know who to blame  ;D
Anyhow no tools are left in the van overnight  ;)
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Nick Day on December 20, 2016, 08:45:24 pm
No, not that particular model. We have tested many vacs and as a ball park figure you can safely say that the airspeed will be directly related to the wattage (approx. 213 mph per 1000 watts, this was at the nozzle of a 51mm hose at 5 metres length) the water lift is totally unrelated. We have tested 3000 watt machines at 85"- 90" (pretty standard) water lift and a 1400 watt vac, £45.00 off ebay with a water lift of 112". The more motors usually equates to (proportionately) less water lift, this is because the more powerful motors (there is always one) "steel" air from their less powerful neighbour or neighbours when under stress.
The essential for gutter cleaning is a good filter system ( we do a Soteco 3500 machine, the Sky vac is a Soteco) if you are relying on the filter system that our Soteco has, assuming that the Sky vac is the same,  then be prepared for burnt out motors. We have developed our own filter system and have never had a motor burn out.
In our opinion, and from what we have found, a good single motor machine will always do as good a job as any multiple motor machine.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Nick Day on December 20, 2016, 09:08:04 pm
Slack, I just read your post about ladders, what I am saying is that if you use a kit with a silicon head and rely on vacuum power, you will need a ladder. At the moment the gutters are wet and reasonable power will suck weeds out of the gutters, but when the  gutters dry out and you cannot get the suction on the weed because air is getting through the weeds you need tools to lift the weeds out of the gutters.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Smurf on December 20, 2016, 09:23:22 pm
Or just blast em out with one of these instead...sorted YEHAA! ;D ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEYirj1fZZA
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Dave Willis on December 20, 2016, 10:30:24 pm
https://youtu.be/N1dXtoDL2Yk

Flippin lovely
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 11:11:28 pm
Slack, I just read your post about ladders, what I am saying is that if you use a kit with a silicon head and rely on vacuum power, you will need a ladder. At the moment the gutters are wet and reasonable power will suck weeds out of the gutters, but when the  gutters dry out and you cannot get the suction on the weed because air is getting through the weeds you need tools to lift the weeds out of the gutters.

Ok, ta, well, live and learn.
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Tosh on December 20, 2016, 11:13:41 pm
https://youtu.be/N1dXtoDL2Yk

Flippin lovely

You can see she’s done that before.

Look at the muscles on her, what a pair!
Title: Re: Skyvac 85
Post by: Shrek on December 21, 2016, 04:51:39 am
https://youtu.be/N1dXtoDL2Yk

Flippin lovely

Nice idea .... if only gutters were filled with just nice soft leaves that flutter down to the ground.
Get her to do it now with gutters that are filled with mud and other cr@p and watch her face as her house is covered in it 😂😂🤣🤣