[Mike Halliday]

how much discharge hose do you use?  do you have difficulty on people drives finding somewhere to dump? does your discharge hose jump around like a headless chicken?

I've just converted my machine to run the soiled water through the blower & silencer everything is running sweet but the discharge hose is a bit hard to control.

mike

[stevegunn]

It is supplied with 50ft which I cut down to use in sections depending how much I need normally can get away with 25ft.Discharge hose does not tend to jump about much

Normally just lay it in the flower bed.

[nevil]

how much discharge hose do you use?  do you have difficulty on people drives finding somewhere to dump? does your discharge hose jump around like a headless chicken?

I've just converted my machine to run the soiled water through the blower & silencer everything is running sweet but the discharge hose is a bit hard to control.

mike

How did you do that Mike? The conversion.

[Mike Halliday]

Nevil just fitted a t junction on the blower to fit a vac relief then ran a hose to a filter straight to the wand. on the discharge side fitted a top & bottom entry silencer so the water fires straight through.

I've also fitted a solution line direct into the t junction so after each job I can fire hot, clean water through the blower, then a squirt of WD40.

just having a play around, thought if it worked I would give me more room in the van without a waste tank.

[garyj]

I can see the benefit of having your waste being dumped straight into a main drain but didn't think the picture of SG's waste going onto someones flowerbed looked very good. Even if you claim it's steam coming out the end it's still going to precipitate at some point. Wouldn't want steam directed at my flower boarders in the summer either, doesn't it leave behind a bit of sludge?

[*paul_moss]

Not just sludge but all the muck and chemicals to boot.

[John Kelly]

Mike, either stick a weight on the end of it or cut it down to 10'. There is less waste coming out than someone washing their car.

[garyj]

There is less waste coming out than someone washing their car.

I would hope so 

There are still rules and regulations regarding the dumping of water, and that includes soapy water down storm drains.
I was just surprised when I saw the pics of the waste being dumped on someones flowerbed. I see the waste that comes out of my Ninja and that isn't half as powerful as The Prowler just wouldn't want it on my garden.

[stevegunn]

How many people actually dump their waste water from their porty down customers toilet or foul drain not many.There was a thread on here sometime ago about dumping waste water and the majority dumped in the flower bed or on the lawn.

[psg]

Guys,
Dont forget a lot of the houses over 20 years of age are combined storm & sewer as opposed to relatively modern that are seperate. If its a septic tank what do you do ?

[Ian Rochester]

Being the newest of Prowler users (NOV 07) I was conscious of this when I first started using the machine.

However I have had no negative comments, I have cut the waste hose down to about 15ft and what I now generally do is either run it to a drain or simply put the waste hose under the vehicle, by the kerb and the waste just runs down the side of the road to the nearest drain. 

There is a metal filter in the machine which holds all the debris from the carpets, when you have finished each job you simply remove it, clean out all the fluff and sand, and refit it.  I then just put what I have removed into a plastic bag for the customer to see if they want.

[from edge2edge]

Ian as a new prowler user what in your opinion are the main advantages or disadvantages over say a 500 psi portable.Cheers Alan Turner(Swindon).I have the perfect heat model with wonderwand currently and am considering upgrading in the spring.

[carpet guy]

Absolutely no detergents to be dumped in a septic tank, or you will have incurred the cost of emptying the tank, has anyone ever encountered one.? 

[Geoff Jewkes]

I heard there was someone on here with a Prowler in a Citroen Despatch, who is it??? Could do with aome info,    Geoff

[Ian Rochester]

The main advantage over a portable is the speed of doing the job, you have instant heat and a constant supply of water (400ltrs).

I did a hotel on Friday which i had done in the spring of last year with the portable.  Then it took two of us 5 hours of hard work to get it all done, had to hump the machine up two flights of stairs and refill/empty regularly.

On friday we did exactly the same job in less than half the time, ran 150ft hose from the van and I could have probably done it by myself in not much more time, as it was I did very little other than help with the hoses and prespray and the other lad did most of the work.

I also find that the vacuum even at 150ft is far superior to the excel which had 2 x 3 phase super vacs, so the carpets are noticably drier.

I can't compare it to your machine or any other TM, but at £5995 it is probably the best investment I have made for a good while and I'm more than happy with it and can now fit in a lot more work in a day.

Disadvantages are:

at this time of the year you have hoses outside lying on wet ground getting dirty
The 2" vac hoses are heavy, bulky and awkward to wind up/unwind
the van is a lot heavier with the machine (178kg) and 400kg of water.
you have to pay for your fuel to run the machine
there is little excuse to stop and have a cup of coffee and a chat, I find that now it's a case of, in, prespray, set up, do the job, tidy up, gone.

[stevegunn]

I heard there was someone on here with a Prowler in a Citroen Despatch, who is it??? Could do with aome info,    Geoff

Originally Nick Holman had it in a dispatch but now in trafic or the like.

[Geoff Jewkes]

Thanks Steve, John Kelly said it went in ( only just )  . Just wanted to know how practical it was ( or not ! ). Spotted a cheap dispatch. Been toying with a prowler for a bit now, everyone seems to be getting on very well with them, Geoff

[Mike Halliday]

did a job this morning with it in the adapted version, I'm changing it back to use the waste tank. the van was nearly obscured by the 'steam' it was a danger to traffic. I had the neighbours coming out thinking something was wrong.

I say 'steam' it wasn't steam as the expelled water was only warm, (Like when you breath out on a cold morning and you can see your breath).

I had 20ft of waste pipe and it needed tying down as it whip-lashed all over the place.

it was a interesting experiment but it didn't work out.

Mike

[Doug Holloway]

Mike

Wish I was there , you definitely have mad scientist potential.

Keep on experimenting , it makes good reading.

Cheers

Doug

[Ken Wainwright]

With regards to the Dispatch/Expert/Scudo vans.

I run a Scorpion and Dispatch. I reckoned that I could install the waste and recovery tanks and run as a mini-truckmount. And it works well.

BUT there really isn't enough space. I had to remove my Dry Fusion bucket, but by the time I'd got my tanks, Scorpion, hose ramp, Dry Fusion, BS46, Envirodri, sprayers, wand (only the one) plus all the other bits and pieces and chemicals on board, all I could do was throw my hoses (125' of 2") on top of everything. To work, I'd have to remove all the hoses, take out what I wanted, put surplus hoses back in the van, then if it was raining......

I know Dave Ingram had a Woodbridge T/M in a Scudo, along with a hose reel, and whilst it worked for him, I would imagine it was a bit cramped and limited his extra equipment options.

IMO, with any van mounted system, a hose reel or a lot of space is essential for ease of working.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken