[Paul Simpson]

Cleaning the upholstery in a static caravan the weekend, not done one before in a caravan and remember seeing on the forum in the past mention of the fact that there are potential problems with enough power to support a porty.

Is this the case for all of them or does it vary?
Does it trip out their fuse box?
Would it be better to try it without heater?

This and any other advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

[markpowell]

I would definately try without the heater, it may trip out using the machine alone.
Mark

[Joe H]

Mark

Are you into cold water cleaning now 

Next thing you ill be telling us you are using M-Power

[clinton]

Joe

Mark

Alltec do a machine for caravan cleaning and has large water tanks not sure about the electrics mind you ???Might be worth a call to them

[JS2]

Hi Joe

Static caravans in the normal sense are mobile homes and often have all the usual electrics, including electric cookers.  Tripping may be due to the RCD (earth fault protection device) rather than what's traditionally referred to as the fuse-box (overcurrent protection devices).  But RCD tripping will only occur if your machine's leakage current is too high, and if this is the problem, I expect it would have been a nuisance in general use elsewhere.  In summary, I can't see any obvious problems with standard electric portables in a static with 13A socket outlets.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[JS2]

Sorry Paul, my last reply was directed at you

My apologies Joe (I believe you're a truck mount operator !!!)

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[Joe H]

Yes, Prowler 15hp truck mount but my back up machine is a Scorpion - and very pleased with it.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

If you can boil a kettle in it you can heat a tank of water, just findout where the fuse box is.

Shaun

[garyfindlay]

I`ve cleaned a couple of caravans, and "pulsed" the heater. when not actually extracting, I turn on the heater, and switch off, when using the porty again, so only 1 plug is on at any 1 time.

[Ian Rochester]

Shaun, it's not the boiling of the water that causes the breaker to trip, it's a combination of the pump, 2 vac motors and a heater that make it trip, especially the surge of power at start up.

We clean LOTS of caravans every week now with the TM, (14 this week alone), we previously did a few of them with the porty however you had to be very careful on some sites as they only had a 5amp or 10 amp supplies.

I very rarely used the heater and never when I was actually running the machine. I also often blanked off one vac motor and just ran on one.

I always started things off one at a time  to minimise the sudden surge of current to the breaker, ie: start the pump, wait, start first vac, wait, start second vac.

Easiest way is to buy a Prowler!!!!

[Shaun_Ashmore]

You're right but I was thinking of heating up first while preparing then you'll get hot water in the bucket- I mean wheelie bin- I mean porti

Ian how's the prowler going? always been interested because I buy from JK and also the Prowler really caught my eye, can we put this one to bed, how much per hour to run? also what psi can it go up to? the newer ones only go to 1000psi is yours a 2200psi?

Shaun

[clinton]

Shaun

Is the newer one less powerfull then

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Depends on which model but they have put a bigger vac blower so more suck and down graded the size of the water pump to 1000psi so NO it's a better carpet cleaning product IMO.

Shaun

[clinton]

Got you on that one shaun.

So more vac and less psi as it was a v high psi on the older models

[Paul Simpson]

Thanks for the replies.
Will try starting each vac and pump one at a time as mentioned and run without the heater, initially anyway.

[markpowell]

Mark

Are you into cold water cleaning now 

Next thing you ill be telling us you are using M-Power

 

[derek west]

Mark

Are you into cold water cleaning now 

Next thing you ill be telling us you are using M-Power

 

well he's got the same initials
MP
derek

[markpowell]

 

[JS2]

Regarding my previous post in response to the theme of the original enquiry.  It should be established whether we're talking about a caravan here or what's generally termed a static.

A conventional Caravan is a towable vehicle that is hooked into an individual pitch-supply point.  This may be fused quite low and must be RCD protected.

A Static caravan is a mobile home that is set down on-site and can have a supply arrangement, with RCD protection, more like a standard home.

Regards

Pete (JS2)