[M.Acorn]

Seeing that hot pressure washer post has got my brain ticking over 
Thinking along the lines of say a 60ltr recovery tank,mounted in the back of the van,same sort of principle as a hubbly bubbly pipe thing.and my steempro.
Would it not be possible to make a metal cabinet containing 3 x 3 stage vacs,connected to a tank,which has an auto pump out system,and filters etc.

[Paul Evans]

Intrested in the replys on this one 

Paul

[M.Acorn]

Yeah I would like to see a design,and plans,just going over it in my head,and it all seems pretty straight forward.
My prochem machine looks like a mixture of readily available plumbing parts.
I am reasonably mechanically minded,as in I do all the maintenance on my machine,and built my Scirocco.
Electrical is all pretty straight forward,wish I had a workshop.
Suppose you could use a 2 way float switch,that sends power to a pump when it's triggered,for a pump out,could set that up on a delay so it stays on for a bit.

[jasonl]

Better still , mount the vacs high up on the walls of the van out of the way leaving room for other kit

[clinton]

Get brainstorming mark mate

[M.Acorn]

Yeah will give it some more thought after a few beers,tank would need to be pretty rigid,so baffle plates and strengthening would be in order,could even use an old immersion heater tank,what chemicals do we use that damages copper ?and yes Jason,the vacs could be in a separate box,connected to the tank via 2 inch tubing,I am assuming the pipe that comes out the side of a vac motor is the exhaust ? And they would need a cool air supply to keep them cool.

[Russ Chadd]

What we really need here is either:

A 60- 100ltr recovery tank with 3-4 3 stage 1500w motors or a simplified truck mount system which used a small diesel engine to run both blower and generator (generator would power the Zeta machine)  this would do away with relying on the customer to provide power!
Then you have a self contained unit which can sit on your van and work all day long... anyone wanna work with me on this??

Mark... forget using copper, just use a water tank as used by car valeters and window cleaners the 250ltr ones have baffles

 

[John Kelly]

Why not just buy a truckmount.

[richy27]

Why not just buy a truckmount.

ditto

[Dave Roelants]

Why not just buy a truckmount.

John you should know by now that some people will do anything but buy a TM, I'thought I'd heard em all, mount your porty in a van, don't need heat to clean, power of a TM in a porty  etc but this is a new one on me!

[Russ Chadd]

Unfortunately not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to afford a TM, still.. no harm in thinking of alternatives...

[Mike Halliday]

Truckmounts are usually over priced and over engineered. people buy them for the same reason they buy Spray & Go from Chemspec instread of sod' met' from Mistral.

 

[John Kelly]

Time you mess about fitting vac motors to a tank, a tank which will need to be airtight and baffled for strength. Then the pump side of things. All this this has to have a safe electricty supply. Surely must be simpler paying a couple of grand for a second hand truckmount.

[jasonl]

So.....


Fiorentini  unit    £500

Hot washer       £1000

Small generator £500

Wiring to a RCD unit £200

Fixings / trimmings £200

Clean water tank   £100 (no waste needed as auto pump out)

Solution /vac hose /wand   £500

A few evenings fettling  £0

£3000 plus vat   for a brand new unit  who would take the chance ?

Personally I would delete the generator and invest in quality extension leads, one 13 amp supply would be ample  plugged into a master socket in the van .

[M.Acorn]

Fiorentini  unit    £500

Is that a truck mount blower unit ?
Seen ads for Bane clean stuff,don't they require a 13 amp supply too ?

[jasonl]

Fiorentini  unit    £500

Is that a truck mount blower unit ?
Seen ads for Bane clean stuff,don't they require a 13 amp supply too ?

No it is the unit Mick put the pic up of on a different thread ,  a TM blower is about £1000 , then you need an engine and coupling to drive it.

Home made units are not easy to make , but the ones I have seen have made a lot of business sense , people will not often post about them as they do not like being mocked or picked to pieces by the people who spent up to 10 times more on a "proper TM" 

Shame really

[Mike Halliday]

have one of these in my unit which i have used to suck up while pressure washing

http://www.tech-clean.co.uk/industrial_wet_dry_vacuum_cleaners.htm

it has good suction this would be better than the Fiorentini it doesn't have auto pump out but is has a huge capacity you could do a suite and 3 carpets with it then just empty it.

but really any electric vacuum unit is not ideal.... they just can't get enough power out of an electric plug... you need an engine & blower

[Paul Heath]

the solution tank is 35 litres, so you will have to top the machine up, so do you really need a large recovery tank ? If you got to go to the van to top the machine up you empty the recovery tank at the same time.

The idea is a good one...you need to try and keep it all 12volts if posible then you can run another battery. weather you will get the power required from 12v ??

[jasonl]

Paul , the hot washer would suck water from an onboard tank of any practical size that you can fit in the van , 2-400 litres.

The vac unit would have an auto pump out negating the need to have a waste tank.


When I build one I will start off electric and then add an engine/blower later, once the system is proven.

[Paul Heath]

Jason you have too much time on your hands..
With the Prowler available for roughly £6000 it would prove diffuclt to keep under that to build your own.