Look out I am thinking again!

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Looking at truck mounted carpet cleaners, they use heat exchangers rather than burners to heat the water. Now why in the world are we using burners, when we could be getting free heat off of our engine exhaust?

It would be less polluting, and money in the bank on the fuel saved.

[Paul B. 523]

OTP,

The only problem for me would be more wear and tear on the big engine at $3-7K vs. a separate water heater.

Kind of like when they came out with high definition for large screen TV, the decoders were integrated into the TV. When the decoder crapped out you couldn't watch even analog TV. Then they took it and are now selling it separately. If it fails, I can still watch analog until I replace it or get it repaired. If they make an upgrade, just switch it out w/o losing your TV.

It's hard to believe thay can't make a real effective propane or natural gas heater.

What about solar boost - lot of folks heat their pool that way. Just need a couple of hundred panels on your rig.

Tisk, Tisk...

[ron p 500]

carpet cleaners use far less volume of water. So heat exchangers work well for them.

Some smart guy has started installing heat exchanger's on the plumbing pipes in hair salons now.

The waste water heat's up the incoming water so the water heater work's less.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Paul,

You say more wear and tear on the larger engine, but many carpet cleaning consoles (skid) have 16 to 20 HP V twins, so the cost is the same there.

Ron, The carpet units I have looked at use from 3.5 to 4.5 GPM, one more gallon per minute @ 5.5 does not seem to be a huge difference. I have even seen a large PW company that uses a 4.5 gpm carpet machine for their wash unit.

Tell me some more, as I am thinking about making some changes and this is one of them.

[Paul B. 523]

OTP

$3K for a rebuilt 20hp V-twin?? In that case, I have a couple of 275hp Chevy engines that we could mount on a skid. I also have access to a 400hp 4 cylinder motor if you need something a bit lighter. That one runs a bit more (closer to abut $20K).

I was thinking more along the line of wearing out your vehicle engine a lot sooner since you're increasing its run time maybe 3x-4x. Where as a separate unit is used for a specific application if it breaks down, you can sub something else, but if your vehicle breaks down, you have possibly a whole rig out of operation (depending on the set-up of course - trailering or not).

My thoughts were along that line.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Okay I guess I did not explain it very well. I am not talking about PTO Carpet Cleaners, but rather the skids that use their own engine.

As far as 3k for a rebuilt 20 HP, I have not seen numbers that high. I was looking for them on the net the other day and found some new Honda GX620 20 Hp for $1300. The heat exchangers run off of the exhaust from these and the rotary blowers that they use.

If I were to do this, I would get a larger engine, probably on the watercooled side, big gpm pump and one fantastic vacuum to go with it. Call it the Fury without the price and it would wash too.

[Paul B. 523]

OK, I'm with you now.

[timhays 14]

please elaborate,i am looking into water extraction and could use some hints on shortcutting expenses.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

For water extraction, you need one tough vacuum. This is where the Positive displacement rotary blowers come into play. They are usually PTO or gas engine driven and have high cfm ratings.

My idea is based on since I do water recovery, I could use a rotary blower powered off my skid, rather than an electric one that uses a seperate generator.

I would have much more vacuum power, only need to pull two hoses, and not have any cords in my way. Plus their would only be one engine to maintain and keep spare parts for.

Carpet cleaners use heat exchangers to get their heat rather than Diesel Burners. The exchangers get their heat from the engine exhaust of the skid and the exhaust of the rotary blowers.

It far surpasses that of Diesel Burners at their water usage of 4.5 and below. I am sure they have bigger units, just that I have not looked for them yet.

In your case of water extraction, you could get a rotary blower and a decent sized engine 12 hp + and put them together. Either direct or belt drive, no need for the pump and heat exchanger. You will need a waste tank that is blower proof, as the rotary blowers can do some damage with their powerful suction. Look at the ones made for carpet cleaning, as they are designed for this.

[kyle 14]

One tough you are right about most evrything lol.

However most truck mounted carpet cleaning machines only use 1 to 2 gallons per minute. This is with the trigger keyed the entire minute.

The main diffference between carpet cleaning and pressure washing or power washing.

With carpet cleaning you have to make a couple of dry passes with the wand. Then theres the lady of the house talking to you half the time lol.

When we move furniture we have to stop cleaning. All this gives the heat exchanger time to heat up or recover.

Heres an example of my water usage. I can go out and clean all day. My waste tank is still not full. My waste tank is 100 gallons.

[timhays 14]

i purchased a sutorbuilt 5MVL positive displacement blower from a guy off Ebay (retail $2,000 i paid $450 to my door)brand new unit in box 255 pounds,i am going to attach it to a 25 horse Kohler engine via belt drive,i am purchasing a recovery tank and hose reels from the carpet cleaning side of the industry.

this blower pulls 700 cfm vaccum which is enough to recover massive amounts of water and can handle 2 wands @ 300 feet lenghts of 1 1/2 vaccum hose.

i dont presently need to recover any of my water,this is for my other company but it could come in handy someday.

[kyle 14]

Tim I would buy a coupler and go direct drive.

You will not pull 700 cfm. That blower is about a 4 inch I think.

More like 400 cfm. Wich is a lot.

Dont forget theres also the lift side of the equasition.

Aslo with a blower that size. 2 inch hose is what you want to use.

Call me at 309-737-6179 anytime to talk more.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Welcome to the board Kyle! My statement of 4.5 or below is in general, as many companies list the max of their equipment. As far as using more than the 1 or 2 you stated for carpet, I could not imagine needed any more, even with a pd blower.

Why did you advise Tim to use direct drive?

[timhays 14]

KYLE,

i am curious about the direct drive also,all of the truckmounts that i have looked at were running dual belt drivetrains.

we have also been taught belt driven accessories lat longer than direct drive because of heat transfer and rpm differences.

i thank you for any advice you have but i am wondering why the manufacturers site and sales rep informed me this blower will pull 700 cfm,im sure its just an exxageration of HG numbers,nonetheless i am sure 400 cfm is better than a shop vac anyday.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

5MVL

Vertical shaft

Sutorbilt blower

24.3 hp

2440 rpm

419CFM @ 10 PSI

[timhays 14]

i think its 5MVP horizontal shaft,i have been working on the specs from a site called velocity air components. i just looked over my records and the 418 -792 cfm was a 5L model from 2-6 psi.

5MVP seems to be a little less cfm,but it will move heavier solids.