[Anthony Hull]

Hey guys,

I've decided to get a TM mainly to increase productivity and be able to do larger commercial jobs without taking all day.

I have a Vauxhall Vivaro SWB and believe that the majority of TMs won't fit so have been looking at the Phoenix.

However with the smaller tanks would it be suitable for commercial jobs unless a tap is nearby?

What is the best TM I can get for a SWB which is suitable for both domestic and commercial (eg churches, schools, stately homes etc)

I've also read some lower end TMs don't maintain high temperatures etc

Any advice much appreciated!

Anthony

[Steve Chapman]

Hi Anthony,

I have a lwb vivaro, not that much bigger than the swb and its fitted with the chemtex pro mount 20 with a sub fresh water tank under the machine, theres plenty of room in the back for hoses, portable, tools etc.

Its far from the best on the market but does a decent enough job, constant heat, and what I like is its easy to maintain, pretty much all of the servicing you can do yourself.

We do some pretty large commercial jobs with it, the national sailing academy at Portland for one and it is easily powerful enough for that.

Regards
Steve

[Shaun_Ashmore]

There's the prowler which is quite petite the pro mount as Steve says then for big bucks you could go fot the sapphire range, I think it'll depend on how much you want to spend and what you want to achieve these smaller machines aren't for cruise ships like Simons wee beasty.

Seek and ye shall find.

Shaun

[Billy Russell]

I've got a phoenix, your more than welcome to give me a call, 07538 089693 or 01981 259856

Regards

billy

[Shaun_Ashmore]

But it's only got a small blower  sorry bill but I had to say it before someone else.

Shaun

[*Hector*]

 

[richie]

On Friday i fitted a Promount Panther 20 in to Nissan version of your van.  SWB low roof.  The machine was fitted on to a sub mount tank with waste tank sitting behind it.  Then a hose reel fitted leaving room for a portable if required down the side of the hose reel.  Yeah sure you dont get much room in a SWB van but everything does fit.  No reason why you couldnt get a HM 421, Prochem Blazer or similar sized machine in.

As for smaller machines.  In 1998 i purchased a Hydramaster Spitfire 3.2 which is a entry level truckmount.  The vast majority of my work was commercial cleaning of Night Clubs, Pubs and Resturants.  They say it runs up to 250 feet of hose but on a regular basis i ran 350-400 feet.  Yes you put a little extra effort in at those lengths but the machine still gave brilliant results.  Some years before that we were running for a contract and was up against our main competitor for the cleaning of night clubs.  We were using a Prochem Cub XL (entry level) and our competitor was using Prochem Performer 405 (Top of the range).  We won the contract....WHY because we put the extra effort in to compensate for the lack of power compared to the other machine.  

Most jobs can be completed with 150 - 200 feet of hose and entry level truckmounts are more than capable of those lengths.

[Len Gribble]

Anthony

When you say won’t fit. Most will with a bit of juggling!  It’s about weight? Keep the van lean.

Why not convert your no heat (unless you have) 6.6 to run as a TM (Although the machine has power comparable to a "truck mount", they are portable too, which allows us to clean from the ground floor to high rise flats and offices) best of both worlds methinks, oh you may need 500lt tank and defiantly apo and very long extension leads

Billy

You need a bigger van

Shaun

He has already invested thousands. Didn’t some one start of with a with a Mickey
Cub machine

[Billy Russell]

But it's only got a small blower  sorry bill but I had to say it before someone else.

Shaun

Its ok Shaun, i am now immune to it all!!! 

Anyway, i have my eye on a reconditioned prochem everest at the moment, i'll then keep my phoenix and transit as a back up,

What size engine and blower on that? 

[john martin]

Anthony



Why not convert your no heat (unless you have) 6.6 to run as a TM (Although the machine has power comparable to a "truck mount", they are portable too, which allows us to clean from the ground

 The two well known 6.6 machines have 9.5HG max  .....   a small TM ( prowler ) has 17 HG  ...   
 

[jon barnes]

Hi

What ever TM you get check the weight that u can carry in van. u can get a large fine for being overweight and poss void yr insurance in case of an  accident. Thats one of the reasons why we have got a phoenix.

Terry    

[Kev Loomes]

I have a pheonix and up until a week ago ran it in a SWB Trafic - this was a 2.9 as opposed to a 2.7 so no issues with weight. It all went in no problem even room for a porty too - although I do run a small reel (it takes 100ft, then have 50ft rolled up in the back - more 50ft hoses when needed). Vacuum, chems, orbitor and bits and bobs all went in, so it wont be a problem.

Dont worry about the heat, the new heat exchangers on the pheonix are awesome. The Promounts are excellent machines too by the way.

[Anthony Hull]

@Steve / @Richie - Thank you, the Promount spec does look enticing, and the waste and optional water tanks seem to have much more capacity. How do you protect the engine from the elements as it seems to be sticking out the front with no protection?

@Shaun - Thanks, I've looked at the Prowler and Sapphire ranges.. I think I want something in between the two in terms of performance / price. Looking at a budget of around £15K including VAT.

@Len - I tried van mounting the Jag with a Zeta but didn't get on with it. The Zeta only heated up water on demand, so you needed long strokes for the temp to be consistent, also seemed to fill my van with smoke etc. Main issue though was having to manage all the leads - I want to be in and out as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible. Also, as others have mentioned, the Jag is powerful but don't believe it's as powerful as the TMs.

@Billy - Thank you very much for the invitation.. will give you a call tomorrow if you're about

@Kev - Thank you for the feedback, you mentioned on another thread that dumped water is diverted to your fresh tank.. is that still possible with the updated Phoenix? The small water tank is the only thing putting me off...

Cheers to everyone!

Anthony

[Craigp]

I had to have upgraded rear suspension leaf springs (well additional as they sit on top the old ones) fitted on my ducato, it was within weight it's just they fit really crap and too weak leaf springs as standard, it's a known issue. Couple of bags of sand would have them bottoming out.

The rubber bump stops never had enough clearance over the axle, well  they was touching really (would have been an MOT fail)

Still only about 250 bought online plus 70 for my mechanic to fit, so no big problem.

[mark_roberts]

The rules of owning a TM

Money - There not cheap but it can drink up to £6 per machine hour.
Work - make sure you have it before you buy.  It will not get you work
Space - you can never have enough.  Swb may not be enough if you need to carry portable etc
Weight - I've a 350 transit and only 150 kg to spare.  Read between the lines
Water -  you'll need loads.
Heat - same as zeta.  It's not instant
Vanity - you only need a big one if you duel wand or run over 400ft of hose and that's a lot of hose which is another reason you'll need a bigger van

Maybe more negative than what you want to hear buts it's 1.47am, I've got the flu and can't get to sleep.

Mark

[Kev Loomes]

Hi Anthony

The new Pheonix's are reverted back to traditional style i.e. back to waste tank, but it is only a mod required to get it to fresh so should be able to be done. I think the only reason why they changed it back to this spec was because of the acid rinse gumming up due to the heat cycle (rather than dumping it to waste). Cant confirm this but this is what happened to me anyway. It was an easy fix - I just use other alternatives for my acid and problem solved completely.

The water isnt really an issue because I'm recovering it back to fresh and its not dumping lovely fresh water to the waste tank - which means I can get away with this smaller set up. On the occasion I need more water - well its not hard lets face it. I would say the only downside is the waste tank does get a bit more dirtier as there isnt fresh water going in their at the same time, but I dont mind this small sacrifice for the benefit of not using so much water.

It is the perfect machine in my eyes:- small (ish), amazing heat, uses less water, simple to operate. I now have it in a LWB Trafic and have tons of room! Will post pics when they wrap is done.

Like I said earlier the Promount (dont know what they call them now) machines are very very good too (in this range the 25 prob the best) - its a tough choice between the 2 tbh, but I would definately get one or the other if it was me. Way more than enough for domestics and a breeze for schools, churches etc. If your gonna do ships then you need something bigger

Kev

p.s. I've just re-read your post re: 'I've also read some lower end TMs don't maintain high temperatures etc' yes this does happen on some (low powered usually), even on my first heat exchanger it did this. But HM have got this sorted now and it doesnt drop off at all, as they re-designed the new exchangers. Anyway, hope this all helps.

[Billy Russell]

Hi Anthony

The new Pheonix's are reverted back to traditional style i.e. back to waste tank, but it is only a mod required to get it to fresh so should be able to be done. I think the only reason why they changed it back to this spec was because of the acid rinse gumming up due to the heat cycle (rather than dumping it to waste). Cant confirm this but this is what happened to me anyway. It was an easy fix - I just use other alternatives for my acid and problem solved completely.

The water isnt really an issue because I'm recovering it back to fresh and its not dumping lovely fresh water to the waste tank - which means I can get away with this smaller set up. On the occasion I need more water - well its not hard lets face it. I would say the only downside is the waste tank does get a bit more dirtier as there isnt fresh water going in their at the same time, but I dont mind this small sacrifice for the benefit of not using so much water.

It is the perfect machine in my eyes:- small (ish), amazing heat, uses less water, simple to operate. I now have it in a LWB Trafic and have tons of room! Will post pics when they wrap is done.

Like I said earlier the Promount (dont know what they call them now) machines are very very good too (in this range the 25 prob the best) - its a tough choice between the 2 tbh, but I would definately get one or the other if it was me. Way more than enough for domestics and a breeze for schools, churches etc. If your gonna do ships then you need something bigger

Kev

p.s. I've just re-read your post re: 'I've also read some lower end TMs don't maintain high temperatures etc' yes this does happen on some (low powered usually), even on my first heat exchanger it did this. But HM have got this sorted now and it doesnt drop off at all, as they re-designed the new exchangers. Anyway, hope this all helps.

Very good post fromKev, I think the machine is perfect for my needs, i do probably 50/50 com/dom, the only thing i disagree with kev is the reason they changed the dumping of the fresh water, Kev has the mk1, the rinse is mixed straight in the tank, but the mk2 i have has last step chem injection, so the acid gumming up won't affect it, a was concerned at first about the size of the fresh tank, but its not a concern what so ever, just make sure you have lots of different tap fittings  , anyway. we can chat later today, regards billy

[richie]

Yes the engine of the promount is at the front in the open but it will have no problems been out in the open.  These machines have been around for years with the same design and no problems.

The Promount 20 that i fitted on Friday for Darren was the first i had seen up close.  All i can say is......i wish all truckmounts were that simple.  Hardly any wiring, everything is easy to get to, light weight compared to other truckmounts, good vacuum and heat.  What more could you want

[Anthony Hull]

Many thanks guys! Kev - thanks for the detailed post

[Dave_Lee]

Anthony,
If I can be of any help with the TM thing, just let me know.
I am in Euxton, Chorley and have seen your van a few times in the Preston area.
Although I run a bigger TM than what you are thinking about, I used to have a 16hp Steamway in a Citroen Dispatch, so know all the problems with confined space and weight issues.
Dave.
www.deepcleandave.co.uk