[Billy Russell]

Correct Kev,

Anyone can do that, but it's quicker with a Spinner or hard floor wand, restoration your talking about above I may very well take your route depending on I disagreeessment of the work in hand

Ps, you know full well I've had experience of the above work, if you were talking grinding floors then I would say no, have had no experience of that

[derek west]

thought we were discussing rinsing , which is only part of the process,  if we are discussing the rinsing part of the process, then nothing beats the speed of a truckmount connected to a hard floor wand,

[David Deer]

nothing beats the speed of a truckmount connected to a hard floor wand,

Gregomatic?

[derek west]

nothing beats the speed of a truckmount connected to a hard floor wand,

Gregomatic?

Possibly, cheers for sharing David, will have a good read up on them later.

[JandS]

Gregomatic looks interesting pity the video is in German....what price are these and who stocks them?

[Kev Martin]

Gregomatic looks interesting pity the video is in German....what price are these and who stocks them?

They are made in Switzerland!  I visited the factory a couple of years ago to look at importing them into the UK!  One look at the price was enough!  They were expensive then around the same cost as a good portable here for a Mid Sized one.  The problem with anything made in Switzerland is the tax implications. 

In fact I have just dug the price out!  The 18 Litre was £3950 + VAT

Levighetor Money!!!  So who wants one?

Incidentally I wasn't looking at them for floors!!!

[Mike Halliday]

The gregomatic  is a HWE  with an internal jet hard floor wand, there's nothing special about it.

the waffle about the water mixing with the vacuum  to create aggatation is just the same as any wand with an internal jet

It's exactly the system that Kev said is useless for cleaning hard floors   

Do you think they know that they  sell a system that is a waste of time, will wreck thier machine and is not up to the job of cleaning hard floors.... The fools 

[Kev Martin]

I will rephrase it for you:

HWE, FSC's coupled with Portables or TM's will clean dirty floors OK!  But that's it!

As soon as there is anything complicated involved on a Hard Floor they reach their limit and if you all want to use them for sucking up slurry, heavy sealer deposits or harsh chemicals I am of the opinion you will do damage to them!!!  At the end of the day I don't care what any of you use!  It your your money and your equipment not mine.  Is that clear enough   Finally if I thought they were better I would simply buy one and add it to the rest of my HF Equipment they are not even expensive compared to Professional HF Equipment!

[Billy Russell]

There you go Tony, that floor you did was ok

 

[David Deer]

The gregomatic  is a HWE  with an internal jet hard floor wand, there's nothing special about it.

It's actually a cold water system that uses no chemicals with a particular jet and closed skirt arrangement creating a closed vortex within the head. I have the 800 which was a snip at £9,000.
The factory is in Switzerland but the cheaper prices can be found in Germany and Denmark.
article here
manufacturers site
German supplier

To answer the initial question. Yes you can use a standard wand on a hard floor with a silicon glide  for normal cleaning if you want to. You will scratch (and may damage) the glide and the vacuum won't be anything near that of a proper floor tool. The floor tool gives you the ability to spray and suck up fluid but gives you better suction and nice squeegee so you can push the dirty water away from the extraction nozzles (LOL). So you might just as well get a George for half the cost of a wand.
If there is a lot of slurry or detritus you can possibly damage the hwe machine, pipes and wand. At the very least it will get mucky and you will definitely have to clean it thoroughly after use if you can ever get it clean. So, imagine if you clean a hard floor at 7 p.m. on Monday and have a carpet clean booked in Tuesday at 7 a.m. I am sure that there will be plenty of time to drive home, clean the machine, hose and wand ready for that beautiful snow white kosset carpet the following day. Strong chemicals can affect the unit with prolonged contact. So use it if you wish at your own risk.

Hard floor restoration is a totally different subject. Would I use my hwe to clean a dirty floor? Yes........ if I had no choice.
Would I use it to extract during marble floor restoration. Only if the client bought me new one!

[Mike Halliday]

 I stand corrected, it's not a hot water extractor it's a cold water extractor.

'Special jet' & 'closed skirt creating a vortex'. Yep just like  an internal jet wand

Is it a snip at £9k? I don't know if I can agree with that, I'm sure it will be a superb piece of equipment but that's I high price to pay for what it does.

We keep going back to restoration to belittle the use of a wand to rinse, no one is asking about marble restoration or grinding or anything else we can think of to  create the reason  why not to use a wand. 

As for using an extractor and its hoses to rinse a hard floor of dirty water (not slurry). good logistics will stop the hoses becoming soiled and the amount of rinsing solution applied by a  hard  floor tool will emulsify the soil to a degree that it will not harm the internal working of the hoses or the machine.

[Mike Halliday]

You have just got to read that first link!! What a load of marketing waffle!!

It's more creative than a Harry Potter book

[Kev Martin]

The gregomatic  is a HWE  with an internal jet hard floor wand, there's nothing special about it.

It's actually a cold water system that uses no chemicals with a particular jet and closed skirt arrangement creating a closed vortex within the head. I have the 800 which was a snip at £9,000.
The factory is in Switzerland but the cheaper prices can be found in Germany and Denmark.
article here
manufacturers site
German supplier

David

Can I ask why you purchased one?  We have Klindex Vertical Grinding & Polishing Systems primarily for Walls, Columns, Stair Strings etc.  I looked at the Gregomatic as an add on to clean walls and ceilings but could get no one to give me a decent demo.  I spoke to the Dealer in Duisburg NRW but he seemed only interested in the rental market but his prices were slightly lower and of course no VAT for us helps

Kev

[derek west]

Can i ask where all the proof is of truckmounts and professional HWE machines get damaged from hard floor cleaning, ive been using a truckmount on hard floors for 3 years now and have had no problems whatsoever, i also know a lot of guys in this industry that use portables to extract dirt off stone floors with no exceptional problems other than the norm we get from carpet cleaning,   the fact we add a lot of water when rinsing which  liquifies (check spelling) the dirt so it is not much different to sucking up  dirt from minging carpets, in fact ive cleaned a lot of carpets that were dirtier than  alot of hard floors ive had to tackle.

The fact i use a truckmount and have been doing so for a long time on hard floors makes me an authority on whether it works well or not,  and it works very well with (i say again) no pronblems with machine breakage.
Kev. how many truckmounts broke on you before you realised they were no good for this job? i take it you trialled them substantially to warrant your authoritive comments on the subject?

[Tony Stewart]

The original guy just wanted to know if he could use his wand on a hard floor. Just look at this thread and it just seems to be a bit bitter. This section in general has just ended up as two people fighting their own corners for products and taking the view "It's my way or the highway". It really should be about sharing experiences and information not someone making a statement and then being required to wear a tin hat. I have learned from this post about a Gregomatic which I did not know existed. On another point please don't rubbish carpet cleaners - many of the portables have the pressure to clean tile and grout. The truckmounts will clean them with more hot water and more power. Yes you could use a rotary or a brush and also honing powder but there are far far more hard floors be that from vinyl through to natural stone that just need a clean. The customer wants a clean and NOT a restoration. Not because of the price but because the floor itself has not got to the restoration stage. Just like a carpet many need a clean but many aren't at the salvage stage.
Just seems a pity that this section seems to not be a popular as the others. If we could have sensible discussion then do you know what more people would be inspired to ask questions and maybe ,just maybe, they might want to expand their business and come on a training course or buy some products to try out and have a go at some simple flooring and build up from there. Sorry if I sound as though I am complaining I am just trying to be honest in how I feel. I am still learning about hard floors and have been on five courses in the last 12 months.
But obviously I am just cleaning easy floors with a spinner.

[Billy Russell]

very well said Tony

and that floor looks ok as well 

[Kev Martin]

Tony

Read very carefully through my posts!  At no point have I knocked Carpet Cleaners if so where!  I have done nothing since day 1 on this forum other than offer good sound advice!  At no point during this thread have I pushed anything I sell.  The whole thread as I read it,  was about "Are wands any good for hard floors" which initially I responded with don't  bother be cause that was and still is my opinion.  I then conceded to those of you who said you could clean with them with the caveat that IN MY OPINION if you attempted any more  than simple cleaning you MAY damage your TM or Portable.

Yes this section has been wrecked and I got a lot of blame for it so I stopped giving advice.  Now people e mail me or phone with problems and I answer them privately.  I also no longer post advice on here because it gets bounced on!  What none of you seem to understand is that Marblelife Ltd are a successful FULL TIME Hard Floor Cleaning and Restoration  Specialist Company so somewhere we must have something right.  We don't jump around doing the odd carpet or window here and there and never have.  Furthermore, we don't know of, nor have we ever met a single Full Time Professional Floor Restorer in this  or any other Country who uses a TM or a Portable either!  So there you go this is my final post on this thread or any other thread requiring advice on floor cleaning or Restoration.   I will do it all on our helpline and by e mail from now on!

So to all of you using TM's Portables, HF wands, SX12/15's or Tilemaster especially those with experience I wish you all the best! 

P.S.  The fastest way to clean just a dirty floor like the one in the photos is with a Heavy Duty Battery Scrubber Drier

[JandS]

Well done for ping of an expert in his field and robbing the board of any advice and snippets of info that relative newbies  like myself find interesting and helpful.

[derek west]

Well done for ping of an expert in his field and robbing the board of any advice and snippets of info that relative newbies  like myself find interesting and helpful.

I usually just phone someone when i need one persons advice john,  whats the point in posting a question on a forum if you just want kevs advice.  Just ring him.

[JandS]

Not the advice derek as such just the postings in general....but hey ho there you go...well done