[Paul Davidson]

Hello again chaps,

As i have mentioned in a couple of earlier posts, i am in the process of taking over my fathers CC business (first days cleaning on monday, (the local chinese restaurant and a couple of residential jobs). 

After much debate with my father i have decided to listen to his advice (havn't told him yet) and start off with the purchase of a Portable rather than a second hand van and TM.  : until i make things a little busier. (which does actually make sense)

I should be going on a buying trip the week after next.  So, as the machine i buy will hopefully will be a relativley short term solution, and it will at some point fairly soon will become a back up machine.....
what do you guys recomend?....... i thought perhaps a powerfull light weight machine, nothing too bulky.. any ideas?

Most of the machines i have considered look pretty big and bulky eg, Power flight Perfect heat, Prochem Steempro Powermax, or.....? ? ? ?

Once again, well done guys you have a great informative forum here and thanks in advance for you input!

Cheers

Paul

[Paul Davidson]

Just a quick thought, i would most likely be happy to buy a quality second hand machine if anybody has anything they think might be a good option, then please let me know!!

cheers

Paul

[Jason Hedges]

Hi Paul,

You've mentioned you're taking over your dads existing business. If so you must have an existing client base to work with as well as expanding.

What equipment are or were you using? Handy to know regarding recommending an upgrade.

[Paul Davidson]

At the minute he is using an Extracta Excell, he also has a fairly small karcher which sould only be used as a back up machine or for spotting (in my opinion), so new machinery is pretty important i reckon.

cheers

Paul

[Jason Hedges]

Extracta make good machines, very reliable from what i understand.

If you're looking for more power from an electric machine try top end ninjas, the scorpion, raptor from hydramaster, cfr's, mytee speedster.

I've tried to post links but keep getting error messages.

If you're looking at commercial and domestic (commercial including resteraunts) go for something with heat. The scorpion is probably the most powerfull but lacks heat unless you go for an inline heater which to be honest even the best arent upto much.

Theres too many variables depending on your requirements. If you want to give me a bell on 07721 827163 and I'll give you any advice I can. Normal working hours or early evenings are good.

All the best,
Jason.

[Ian Gourlay]

Alltec, do a range of machines in smaller sizes, but you only get a small pump.

Why do you want a light machine

Personally I would consider The new Alltec  advance together with a Rotovac

Some may say if you are spending that amount of money  you may aswell get prowler the push on push off  truckmount

[Joe H]

You mentioned the Powerflite Perect Heatas being bulky ...... thats true

BUT

they just brought out some new models which keep the mechanics but with lower profile bodies hence more compact.  Worth a look at.
 
Generally speaking powerful machines are bulky because they are powerful
You either find 2 vac motors, 1 pump and 1 heater
or 3 vac motors and 1 pump (then a external heater).
Cant get away from the fact this hardware has to have something round it.

Speaking from expeiance... the Powerflite is bulky and heavy but has six wheels on it. 2 are at the top on the back so it can be laid down on the bed of a van and pushed it - very little weight.
The Scorpion is a lot lighter and can be lifted into a van with the help of a knee.

No experiance of others so cannot comment.

[John Kelly]

If you are using an Excel and it is in good condition then I would save your money and stick with it. Although not the most powerful of porties it is a good machine and spending extra money is not going to enhance your performance a massive amount.

[MICHAEL_GAYTON]

i think cfr have a deal on for the 400 with heater and wonder wand
looks good price

[Ken Wainwright]

Just a practical bit of advice.

Firstly, I am slightly biased because I have a Scorpion.

The Scorpion is amongst, if not the, lightest high performance rinse/extract machine available.

Presuming you do go down the route of a T/M, there may be the occasions when, for whatever reason, you need a porty.

With a Scorpion, you will be able to use the same hoses and tools as your T/M, so you will not be duplicating these. Savings can then be made on both cost and storage space on the van.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[PaulKing]

Just a practical bit of advice.

Firstly, I am slightly biased because I have a Scorpion.

The Scorpion is amongst, if not the, lightest high performance rinse/extract machine available.

Presuming you do go down the route of a T/M, there may be the occasions when, for whatever reason, you need a porty.

With a Scorpion, you will be able to use the same hoses and tools as your T/M, so you will not be duplicating these. Savings can then be made on both cost and storage space on the van.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

good point never thought of that

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

Just a practical bit of advice.

Firstly, I am slightly biased because I have a Scorpion.

The Scorpion is amongst, if not the, lightest high performance rinse/extract machine available.

Presuming you do go down the route of a T/M, there may be the occasions when, for whatever reason, you need a porty.

With a Scorpion, you will be able to use the same hoses and tools as your T/M, so you will not be duplicating these. Savings can then be made on both cost and storage space on the van.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

ken ive never seen one of these have you got a pic for me please

[Kev Loomes]

Here you go Sue:

www.worldofclean.co.uk//index.php?productID=449

[Darren O]

The only thing with the scorpion is once you have bought a heater,vac hose,solution hose,wand,your better putting another couple of grand to it and buying a prowler.

[Len Gribble]

For the scorpion guys (The Scorpion-3 incorporates our innovative “Intelligent Airflow Management System” that automatically helps regulate and increase air-flow within system on operator demand!)

Is it a computer type system?

Len

[Ken Wainwright]

No Len

It's a mechanical one way butterfly valve, operated by airflow,  that opens automatically if the 3rd vac is used, but remains closed otherwise.

Previously a manual gate/dump valve was used.

Kev

Thanks for the link.

Sue

You can now see what is possibly the ugliest/least attractive machine on the market. The sort of looks only a mother could love :

My Mom gave me away at birth

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[MICHAEL_GAYTON]

Hi Ken just read your ncca carpet maintenance which chem are you using is it encapsulate or micro! you gave me the name in tamworth but forgot
mick

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Michael

In the article, I refrained from using brand names and kept it generic.

For years I used One Step for maintenance bonnet cleaning offices with outstanding results and no resoiling issues.

I have recently been trialing Chemspec's DFC and obtaining similar results for both rinse/extract and bonnet maintenance (only done one bonnet job as most of my pad work is Dry Fusion).

DFC 210 is a powdered pre-spray and DFC 105 is a liquid pre-spray and rinse agent and Woolsafe. Plus both products have excellent "Green" credentials and indepenant certification.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[MICHAEL_GAYTON]

Ken i did a office unit the other day,but this time did not use my bonnet or one step.i used a encapsulat carpet(carpetgard) cleaner brushed in with a host,the carpet looked great.same yanks use a white scot pad with the bonnet have you tryed it that way!!

[Ken Wainwright]

I've encap cleaned with rotary brushes, white pad and an Envirodri machine.  All were good to excellent.

The best for me on an extreme soiling problem of 12 years old, never been cleaned, cut pile polyprop was a 300rpm rotary with white Scotch pad. This seemed to create more foam and brightness than the other machines.  The best for pile recovery/lifting was obviously the Envirodri. To get the bost of both worlds, we merged the two together.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

PS Sorry for taking this thread off topic.