[Pristine Clean]

Derek, as you said in a previous post,

This is the kind of replies I was looking for.

If you want to buy a truckmount, do not buy it because you want to get a better clean, a porty will give you the same result but take slightly longer.

Yes I know the TMs are much quicker as no filling and emptying. But yes the cleaning result to me is what would be more important.

If the TMs were cheaper I would jump at one. We have plenty of work at the moment. But not to warrant £10,000 or so. Ive just purchased a new van.

Strange how none of the others have said you get the same result in cleaning.

Dave

[Mark Lawrence]

The whole point of a TM is that yes, they do clean quicker. But they also CLEAN better.

If they didnt then people wouldnt be buying them, as it wouldnt be worth it for all the extra money just to make things quicker :

So, in essence TM's clean quicker and better FACT.

Yes there are exceptions where people dont know what they're doing, but they are few and far between.

Mark

[nevil]

Derek, as you said in a previous post,

This is the kind of replies I was looking for.

If you want to buy a truckmount, do not buy it because you want to get a better clean, a porty will give you the same result but take slightly longer.

Yes I know the TMs are much quicker as no filling and emptying. But yes the cleaning result to me is what would be more important.

If the TMs were cheaper I would jump at one. We have plenty of work at the moment. But not to warrant £10,000 or so. Ive just purchased a new van.

Strange how none of the others have said you get the same result in cleaning.

Dave

I wouldn't say that you get the same result. Even that is stretching the truth to suite your argument. I would say that it is possible to achieve the same result.

It's a badly written load of drivel that is full of BS. We are not school teachers who are going to point out which bits are correct. Whoever wrote it good luck to them if they are putting in that extra bit of effort to compete on quality. I started out with a porty and did this too.

[Jim_77]

result
 

[/b]

How do you measure or define a "result" ?

On some carpets it "looks" the same or similar whether you use TM, porty or a bonnet, but we all know the truth

A "result" could be interpreted as a re-booking for next year or a referral, after all the aim is to make money and if you get more money from making that money that's a hell of a result.  All depends on if you please a customer.

And some customers are easier to please than others, we all know that sometimes all we're doing is a stage show, we are actors.

[paul moss]

Jim you are prime to answer this question honestly now.

The resturant carpet that Steve trucked for you. Could you have done it in a reasonable time( if at all atall) with your porty.

And now owning your own truck would you now need help doing it or just go in and knock it out with out even thinking about it.

[robert meldrum]

Forums need a post like this to get people posting and talking about what they can/do achieve with their main cleaning system.

The major reason I never went T M years ago, was the difficulty in parking in towns and the high % of flatted properties we cleaned at the time.

What I could have done, was change my marketing and cut out the difficult jobs, but the phone kept ringing and I kept busy. I might have decided differently had forums been around 20 years ago.

I always find it annoying when someone refers to rotary cleaning as muck spreading. As many know, you can get excellent results with rotaries and the can remove a massive amount of soiling.

[Jim_77]

I've done the job about 5 times before with portable equipment.

The visual result with the TM was noticeably better, so the actual amount of gunk removed must have been phenomenally more.

The first time I did the job was with one ninja (135psi 2x3 stage vac), detergent prespray and plain water rinse.

Subsequent times I used two ninjas paralleled, tried all sorts of presprays like m-power, HD, solvent boosters etc.  Also did the job with ultimate master in tank.  All time with a porty I struggled like hell, even having a helper on a couple of occasions, and ended the job wanting to die.  Visual results varied from fair to OK, judged on improvement before/after (still looked soiled in t-lanes even with TM but it's just damage control on these sorts of jobs, no way you can make it look clean).

Portable job time solo was 6 hours approx, with help 4.5hrs.

I think with the TM we knocked it out in 5 at a leisurely pace, but it hadn't been cleaned for a year at that point, I used to do it every 3 months with the porty.  I think the length of time with the TM was because it was so bad at that point, if it had been done 3 months earlier it probably would have been 3-4 hrs easy.  It was still an uphill struggle for Steve (he did all the wanding, me and his helper did the running about bits) but nowhere near as much of a killer as with the porty.

I'd still take a helper in to do it now with my TM, to prespray/scrub etc.  But I'd do that to get the job time down, I used to have to start at 10pm on a Sunday night and work through to the small hours, so it could be dry for Monday's customers.  With a TM I can start at 8 and they can be back in business that afternoon.

[paul moss]

 Jim Good honest common sence comment.

Robert, there are a few that call it muck spreading but they are usually following others or inexperienced.

There of course is a place for it and once mastered you can get great ( visual) results which in most commercial  situations is all that is wanted.

[Len Gribble]

A bit of muck spreader myself have seen my profits jump through the roof last year up by 200% and the cost of purchasing equipment minimal! Way to go min water no wick back and visual results outstanding what more could you ask for more than profit!

Len

[robert meldrum]

I've watched with interest the reported results from several people who've moved up to T M over the past couple of years.

Jim Neal's post has been pretty encouraging for anyone considering the move. He's given a clear comparison on not only one well respected portable, but two of these doubling up, and still coming no where near the performance of his T M.

Doesn't mean portables can't do a decent job because they can and anyone moving into c/c might be wiser to spend £3k to find out if they're suited to the work, rather than gamble £20k + and hate it.

Len

I was amazed at the results I got with my Tex' and have followed the o/p growth in Canada and America for some time..........although they started over 60 years ago it's only with newer products and better o/p machines recently that rotary cleaning is becoming very popular.

[Len Gribble]

Robert

Tried o/p years ago (think carpetmonster supplied it to some one up north who came south) could not get on with it! Reverted back to the TM too finish job also had a demo of Tex (john) outstanding results sadly didn’t get the contract, as for TM’s you need a lot of parking space am fortunate only got a smallish van

Len

[Jim_77]

One thing that I'd like to add is that the job I was describing above is a real worst case scenario, certainly the most minging job I've ever had to do: a wool axminster in an indian restaurant, probably 7 years old, neglected in its first years of life and then being attempted to salvage after the damage has already been done.

It had been previously shrunk by another cleaner before I took over its care, and even with the TM we still had a couple of small shrinkage issues (shrinkage already pre-qualified with the restaurant owner, who was willing to accept it might happen and get a fitter in to sort it)

In this case, yes a TM definitely cleans better, hands down.  There is no way even if I had doubled the time spent with a porty that the visual results could have been up to the same standard.

But in run of the mill domestic and light commercial work, on average the visual results of a TM don't really go too far over and above those I was used to getting with the porty, it's just a question of time effort and lots more puffing and panting.  The crunch is that towards the end of a hard day's work it really is difficult to discipline yourself to take the same care as you were with the first few wand strokes of the day.  That's the TM/porty difference.

But I have done jobs with the TM that I know wouldn't have ended up looking so good with the porty.  For example, a couple of suites I've done in the last month and a lounge carpet which was absolutely trashed by kids (drinks, food etc).  I've had to walk away from a flat-weave viscose suite after several fruitless hours with a portable, so frustrating but I just couldn't make any visual difference...... did a similar one with the TM & drimaster and it was just like wiping mud off a tiled floor, i think it was mostly the heat that made the difference.

With the porty, a dirty carpet/suite automatically calls for detergent in-tank and I know for a fact that this meant it wasn't left in an ideal condition.  So yeah it can look nice and clean but you're making a sacrifice, even with the best engineered chems there still must be some detriment to leaving detergent behind.

Waffling now, I'll stop

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Apart from cleaning results have you found much time difference on upholstery?

Shaun

[Jim_77]

A little improvement.  For example, a 3-pc 10 cushion, med-heavy soil, fabric like a dralon or polyester velour type used to be at least 3 hours with a porty, often best part of 4.  The time is due to the extensive prep work, scrub with minitex, and then towelling off afterwards.  I can get those down to about 2.5 hrs now.

A flat weave or any velour fabric with only light soiling I can do in just under 2 now, prob 90 mins but I tend not to rush due to the money charged

But I'm still not 100% up to speed on upholstery I don't think.  I reckon that's because I haven't got the confidence yet to back off the pre-spray/agitate/dwell and let the machine do the work.  I still spend an hour or so prepping before firing up the TM.

I've had to send my drimaster back because it sprang a leak, I only used it on about 6 upholstery jobs before it started playing up.  So when I get that back I think I'll start to have a little experiment, just a bit of prespray and a bit of a scrub on the bad bits and then the brute force approach, see how I go

[paul moss]

Jim I was the same but I can knock an average suite out in an hour and a half now. A bad one is 2 to 2 and half hours. I still find the old dry master better on chenille type flock as the new one is a bit too powerfull ( especially if the fabric is loose).
The new drimasters need cleaning out on a more regular basis and they are a pain to open and put back together. Your leak would have just been the inner nut.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

The new drimasters aren't made as well, I still love my cfr it suits me, cleaning times are about 2 hours for a suite +/- I think it can depend on set up also as if you have a decent walk from the van and you are back and forth for differnt things it adds up.

Personally on upholstery drying doesn't make any difference with a TM.

Shaun

[Jim_77]

I must admit I am a bit dubious about the quality of the tool.  The loss of airflow is quite big, especially in the hide-a-hose.

What I've found with it is that you have to have a good amount of solution flow, otherwise you end up with cold solution.  This means you have to adapt your style a bit, but I was getting on OK with it.  Twice as much water as with a normal hand tool though

Don't care where/which nut was leaking, almost brand new tool, goes back to where it came from and they can send me a new one for that money

Yes they are a pain to take apart... i can't find a friggin allen key to fit the bolts!!  Even put an imperial set on my santa list but none of them fit, I thought that would solve it but no.  The inside where you can see in the clear window is all gunked up with fluff.

I also don't like the way it whistles like thomas the bloody tank engine, really pierces the ear drums!

[Paul_Ashworth]

Jim,
Have you tried the CFR tool ?

Paul

[Derek_Walker]

Dave, Pristine Clean,  as mentioned in my post depending on type of work you have, if you do alot of commercial greasy soil laden carpets then a truckmount will certainly outperform a porty in terms of cleaning ability and speed. If you are mainly domestic then your cleaning results should be about the same.

[paul moss]

Mine used to whistle loud too. I think it has something to do with the holes in the view window( the ones that keep fluffing up) Once cleared it stopped whistling. I find in the best uph tool out of them all and the most powerfull.
B & Q do a multi hex alyn key type for a bout 6 quid that fits it.
I find also that you have to get the flow right towards your truck mount, i the early days of using it i found it was getting too hot ( too much flow),just like all the othr tools its just a case of getting used to it.

Like all good uph tools a bit pricey though.