[Russ Chadd]

Hello!
Been looking at this little TM, looks and sounds like a good piece of kit... anyone have a new one they would like to talk about?
For £6000+VAT its one of the cheapest TM on the market... feedback please

Russ

[Simon Gerrard]

I've never heard a bad word said about them, Russ. If you're going to spend that sort of money you really need to think about the kind of work you intend doing with it. If it's only for domestics and small commercial jobs it's fine, but you're wanting to get into larger commercial jobs that require longer hose lengths you might be better with something a little bigger.

Simon

[Andrew Briscoe]

Excellant service from the suppliers Restormate too

Andrew

[wynne jones]

Spend a bit more and get one with a traditional setup ie waste tank. You can pick up a basic second hand Blazer for less and will give you more flexibility.

[derek west]

i shall be working along side one on thursday.

boxxer 421 V's the prowler  


den, den den den, den den den, den den derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

name that tune?

[davep]

Better without the waste tank wynne, saves carrying heavy waste water around?

[Carpet Dawg]

Good point Dave.

Anyone had any issues with dumping waste water straight down a street drain (wich ever TM) by environmental health people?

Tony

[Russ Chadd]

Hey.. Dawgs got a point... so has this machine got a thermostat? i have looked at the online vids of it and the guy kind of suggests you either bypass the water back up the vacuum pipe or you reduce the speed of the engine? is this right? also can you inject an acidic rinse into the hot water flow?

cheers

[davep]

It's set to dump water at a chosen temp, you can also use a rinse and adjust the ratio you need.

[Russ Chadd]

Hi Dave,

Set to dump at a chosen temp... please expand on that mate?

[davep]

When it reaches a certain temp the water will be diverted to cool the prowler down.

[Russ Chadd]

So is this how most TM work then? i guess its difficult to regulate the heat if its the exhaust which is heating the water?

[Joe H]

You got it Russ, the engine will keep heating water, and if this gets excessive it can cause damage to parts of the system.
On the Prowler you set the temperature you want to work at. When the temp exceeds this a valve opens and the hot water "dumps" to waste, thus introducing cold water into the system.
On most machines with tanks, this "waste" water, which is clean, dumps to the waste tank. On the Prowler it dumps thro the waste pipe to atmosphere.
The water gets excesively hot usually when you put the wand down to move furniture, or pre spray. Provided with the Prowler, apart from 100 ft suction, 100' solution, and 50' discharge hose, you get a wand (and its a good wand) with a manually operated by-pass valve. When you stop wanding for a time, as described above, just crack this ope and there is a continuous flow through the machine which should prevent dumping to a great extent.

What I did with the prowler waste hose was place it in the border or shrubery. I was thinking of getting one of the smaller wheelie bins, placing the waste hose in it, via 2" connector, to collect dirty water, and have a standard garden hose at the bottom running off to a dirty water drain ie external kitchen drain. There is a large amount of force from the waste pipe of the Prowler and there would have to be a way of keeping the lid of the bin shut down or water would be flying everywhere.
May be someone done something similar?

I was more then happy not having a waste water tank with the Prowler, not a nice job cleaning out a dirty smelly waste tank - had to do it with the Chemspec Avenger I had.

The more you spend on a TM the more sophisticated it gets. This has its plus points, but also more stuff to go wrong as well. The Prowler won my vote because of the simplicity it had.

[Russ Chadd]

You got it Russ, the engine will keep heating water, and if this gets excessive it can cause damage to parts of the system.
On the Prowler you set the temperature you want to work at. When the temp exceeds this a valve opens and the hot water "dumps" to waste, thus introducing cold water into the system.
On most machines with tanks, this "waste" water, which is clean, dumps to the waste tank. On the Prowler it dumps thro the waste pipe to atmosphere.
The water gets excesively hot usually when you put the wand down to move furniture, or pre spray. Provided with the Prowler, apart from 100 ft suction, 100' solution, and 50' discharge hose, you get a wand (and its a good wand) with a manually operated by-pass valve. When you stop wanding for a time, as described above, just crack this ope and there is a continuous flow through the machine which should prevent dumping to a great extent.

What I did with the prowler waste hose was place it in the border or shrubery. I was thinking of getting one of the smaller wheelie bins, placing the waste hose in it, via 2" connector, to collect dirty water, and have a standard garden hose at the bottom running off to a dirty water drain ie external kitchen drain. There is a large amount of force from the waste pipe of the Prowler and there would have to be a way of keeping the lid of the bin shut down or water would be flying everywhere.
May be someone done something similar?

I was more then happy not having a waste water tank with the Prowler, not a nice job cleaning out a dirty smelly waste tank - had to do it with the Chemspec Avenger I had.

The more you spend on a TM the more sophisticated it gets. This has its plus points, but also more stuff to go wrong as well. The Prowler won my vote because of the simplicity it had.

Thanks for the really useful information Jo, i like the look of the prowler.. i like the fact that i could used this system in my little van and not have to carry a waste tank. What i think the guys who make it need to sort out is a reducing inline tank for the waste pipe which sits on the ground next to a drain and allows the water to gently expel ?

How do you find the chemical injection system on this machine?
Also maintenance  wise... is it easier and cheaper than a regular TM?

Cheers

[andrew christopher]

I would recommend the prowler. Had one nearly 2 years.

Maintenance is straight forward and i like the simplicity of the machine. As said back up very good from restormate.

Never had a problem with waste water personally, carry extra waste water hose so can usually find somewhere to outlet

Joe, If a wheelie bin was used i think a 2" vent like the waste pipe inlet would be enough to let air out as prowler pumps out waste water into bin, iv considered this but have found carrying extra waste hose to run to suitable place, fine for 2 years.

[Steve Chapman]

Are there not legal issues for pumping waste water out onto gardens or domestic drains ?

I considered getting a prowler before going full truckmount, but the waste issue put me off as im remember a lot were saying its a bit of a grey area as really you need to control the waste water and dispose of in a proper sewer ?

Is this not difficult with the prowler ?

Steve

[garyj]

Is it fair to call The Prowler a truckmount?

I've always thought it odd it gets called a tm then everyone says how portable it is!
It also then gets compared with the power of the truckmounts and comes out with less impressive figures, if it was marketed as a portable with an engine it wipes the floor with the competition.

[Simon Gerrard]

Steve, There are issues with dumping waste water into street drains. I only do it if I'm parked next to a drain so out of site of prying eyes. If caught the fines are quite high, I believe.

As for the Prowler. I think people considering stepping up to a TM really need to sit down and think through what they want one for and then make sure they get a unit that fits their immediate ambitions, rather than to a some of money.

Simon

[wynne jones]

I agree with Simon, but you also want to think about the immediate future and whether you would quickly progress to much bigger jobs if you'd of had the equipment. On the other hand I think most people who go for the prowler are stretching the wallet as it is and there's no point spending loads of money on a high power TM if you go out of business due to cash flow issues.

The Prowler sits in a niche between high end portie and basic tradition TMs, that's it's main strength and doesn't really compete with anything else.

[davep]

Had mine 2.5 years now and never thought I needed more umph.  If a job is commercial and no tm access then I get the bufferoo out.  150 ft is the most I have used and needed with the Prowler. 

Dont forget its on wheels so if you could take it anywhere and connect it up to an outside tap