Vacuum surface cleaners

[Doug T 19]

Besides Steel Eagle and American Made Cleaners, does anyone know of any other mfg's of vacuum surface cleaners? Looking to buy and want to know all the options. I heard Landa makes one but their web site has no info about it and the local Landa dealer knows nothing about them having one.

Thanks

Doug

[Mathew Johnson 123]

hydrotek makes one

[steve r 14]

Besides Steel Eagle and American Made Cleaners, does anyone know of any other mfg's of vacuum surface cleaners? Looking to buy and want to know all the options. I heard Landa makes one but their web site has no info about it and the local Landa dealer knows nothing about them having one.

Thanks

Doug

swabby makes a vac walk behind .i have a swabby 48 myself go to [cleanupamerica.com]

[One Tough Pressure 580]

New companies pop up all the time, but I am partial to the Steel Eagle as I own two of them and they do a fine job.

Steel Eagle has been around for a long time and their design is field tested in many sitiations, unlike some of these other companies that test on the shop floor and then start selling them.

[Doug T 19]

Thanks to all, for the info.

Steve, the swabby 48 looks a little big, could be difficult lifting it in and out of my truck. How long can you usually clean before changing water or cleaning filters? I am looking into the swabby 24

Allan, Do you have the Steel Eagle vacuum model? I have one but do not like it that why I'm looking for something else. The gun to handle is not to my liking. Also the tips of the spray bar are to close to the housing, every little pea size stone gets caught and stops the bar from spinning. And I'm partial to wheels instead of casters.

Doug

[steve r 14]

Thanks to all, for the info.

Steve, the swabby 48 looks a little big, could be difficult lifting it in and out of my truck. How long can you usually clean before changing water or cleaning filters? I am looking into the swabby 24

Allan, Do you have the Steel Eagle vacuum model? I have one but do not like it that why I'm looking for something else. The gun to handle is not to my liking. Also the tips of the spray bar are to close to the housing, every little pea size stone gets caught and stops the bar from spinning. And I'm partial to wheels instead of casters.

Doug

depending how fast i move and recover determines how much i empty the tank and filters.mine is a sit on model swabby 48 .i have a seperate trailer .its 8 ft long .

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Allan, Do you have the Steel Eagle vacuum model? I have one but do not like it that why I'm looking for something else. The gun to handle is not to my liking. Also the tips of the spray bar are to close to the housing, every little pea size stone gets caught and stops the bar from spinning. And I'm partial to wheels instead of casters.

Doug

I have the 11" and the 24" Steel Eagle Fury's and have never had a problem with rocks or anything else stopping the spray bar. I sweep or blow prior to using these as I do not want to clog the vacuum port with junk.

The brush does a good job of keeping stuff on the outside, unless I run over a large expansion crack.

What size do you have?

[Doug T 19]

Allan,

Mine is the 16in. Problem with stones getting caught began when I bent the original spray bar and had to change to the newer style as they no longer have the old style. I guess I'll try to take it apart and shorten the bars.

The gun to handle is the other big problem. I go through "o" rings and qc WAY to frequent. Maybe I'll have to take out the qc and screw the gun to the handle.

Thanks

Doug

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I am not sure what the difference between the old and new spray bars is. Mine both have the same type bar. Can you take a picture and post it here or e-mail it to me?

I have considered going to the euro type connectors for the Fury and then using a ball valve to switch between the 2 of them when needed. The euro connectors have more stability to them, but do not come apart as fast.

What type of vacuum are you using with the surfacer?

[Doug T 19]

Alan,

Do not have a digital camera, and not smart enough to know how to post the pics if I did have one.

I use the Vacuum Sludge from Delco.(VSF 55XL)

Original spray bar was one piece from swivel to spray tip, new style is two pieces joined in the middle by a ferrule (I think that is what it is called)

Good idea of switching to the Euro style connection, I am going to try that.

Doug

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I guess I'll try to take it apart and shorten the bars.

I forgot to mention that these are supposed to be balanced so if you shorten it, then you may get wobbles.

Is your surfacer like the ones they sell today, or is it the one with the adjustable pressure and the rubber rear wheels?

[Doug T 19]

Alan,

Sorry I missed your post from 12/10, I wasn't ignoring you.

I have the current version, casters and no adjustments.

Anyone know of a "formula" for figuring out how much lift and cfm one would need for a particular circumferense (sp) of surface cleaner and length of hose?

I have found a sourse that can provide either 17h.g. and 350cfm or 24h.g. and 200cfm. I am afraid that would suck the surface cleaner to ground.lol At a good price I may add, about $5000.00

The goal I have here is to get/make a surface cleaner that will handle 10gpm at 3000psi, 200f, 24in to 36in, and vacuum it up all while moving at a good walking pace.

Any suggestions?

Doug

[Pete Marentay 14]

It is hard to equate "lift" with the diameter of the surface cleaner. Instead, think of "lift" for moving a volume of water a distance off the ground. CFM relates more closely to the area that the vacuum is pulling through (diameter of the surface cleaner).

As long as you have at least 100 CFM and <b>12" Hg</b> (or about 160" of lift) - and assuming that you are not trying to pull the water up more than, say, 4' or 5' off the ground - you should be fine for a surface cleaner up to about 21". With as much lift and CFM as you are describing here, you will be fine with ANY surface cleaner.

Sorry I don't post more often on here. I guess I think these boards are really for contractors to talk to each other, but I will be happy to answer any specific question about capture and reclaim for anyone who is interested.

If you want to read up on vacuums and see our collection of vacuums, you can check us out at http://store.yahoo.com/sunbrite/enviroreclaim.html

[Doug T 19]

Thanks Pete, I'll be calling you early next week, have some questions for you.

Doug

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Thanks for joining us here Pete,

We welcome vendors to contribute here by addressing questions in relation to members querries. Within bbs rules of course but none-the-less TGS by design is for all in this industry.

If you ever have any questions regarding the guidelines for vendor posting they are in the vendor forum and outline decorum for both vendors and members alike.

Rod!~

[bforbis 14]

Alan,

I am considering upgrading to the fury system for vac, but probally not real soon due to the investment required. I currently use a vacuboom with a filtration box and pump out and it works realtively weel, but has limitations b/c of the need for a generator and or short extension cords to deliver proper amperage for the motors.

Would you mind sending a photo of how you are set up to use your system, or if you already posted something like that, just say and I'll dig it up.

I

Doug T vbmenu_register("postmenu_50588", true);

TGS Newbie

go through "o" rings and qc WAY to frequent. Maybe I'll have to take out the qc and screw the gun to the handle.

Doug... I have had issues with going through Orings as well. I keep a small very fine file with me, as the brass male QC's will get a burr on the edge, b/c it is much softer than the female side of the QC bearings. A couple of qucik hits with the file and good to go for a while. I still have to replace each oring about 1 to 2 x per week.

[steve r 14]

Alan,

I am considering upgrading to the fury system for vac, but probally not real soon due to the investment required. I currently use a vacuboom with a filtration box and pump out and it works realtively weel, but has limitations b/c of the need for a generator and or short extension cords to deliver proper amperage for the motors.

Would you mind sending a photo of how you are set up to use your system, or if you already posted something like that, just say and I'll dig it up.

I

Doug... I have had issues with going through Orings as well. I keep a small very fine file with me, as the brass male QC's will get a burr on the edge, b/c it is much softer than the female side of the QC bearings. A couple of qucik hits with the file and good to go for a while. I still have to replace each oring about 1 to 2 x per week.

are ya using viton o rings for the hot water

[Doug T 19]

Brent,

I do not use mine much during the winter, but had a job a couple weeks ago. Switched to the European style quick connects and lasted the whole job (about 4 hours) much better than the "normal" qc.

Steve, I have tried many different type of 0 rings. The problem as I see it, is because the gun is connected to the handle with a qc and while washing with the surface cleaner the gun is constantly being twisted with a load on the qc it develops burrs and that chews up the 0 rings.

The "good" fix would be a handle like Landa has on there surface cleaner. Landa does not make a vacuum surface cleaner. But I'm doing my own to have one like I want.

Doug

[bforbis 14]

Yes on the Viton rings. The cheaper black ones hardly last through a few hours.

I have tried in-line swivels and it lasted about a week or less before it started leaking so bad I was getting soaked....That was a waste of $$$. I bought 4 of them. If anyone wants them, there going cheap!

I also tried to set up a hose whip, that did not help either.

I have a ball valve QC to the hose and change in and around between a short lance, long lance, extension and surface cleaner as needed for a particular job. So I expect there to be reasonable wear and tear. I believe I got a bad batch of orings in one shipment and worked out of them and into a new batch that seem to do better.

I find that when it gets cold, the orings don't last as long either....extreme temp changes and twisting.... They will only take so much! Hell, it is barely an 1/8" thick, what can you expect

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Alan,

Sorry I missed your post from 12/10, I wasn't ignoring you.

I have the current version, casters and no adjustments.

Anyone know of a "formula" for figuring out how much lift and cfm one would need for a particular circumferense (sp) of surface cleaner and length of hose?

I have found a sourse that can provide either 17h.g. and 350cfm or 24h.g. and 200cfm. I am afraid that would suck the surface cleaner to ground.lol At a good price I may add, about $5000.00

The goal I have here is to get/make a surface cleaner that will handle 10gpm at 3000psi, 200f, 24in to 36in, and vacuum it up all while moving at a good walking pace.

Any suggestions?

Doug

Do you have a link for the vacuum you speak of? My vac has 16" Hg or 216 inches of water lift and 300+ CFM. Using the 24" surfacer I can not always get all the water as the floor is not level and the surfacer will not seal. The larger the surfacer, the less likely chance for it to seal, due to floor conditions. My 11" will recover every drop and air dry in a minute or two.

To much vacuum is not a problem, as you can buy or make a vacuum relief so that you can allow more air in at another source aside from the brush on the floor.

In case you are not aware, full cfm has very little lift and full lift has very little cfm. Lift is what moves heavy items such as water. Shop vac makes a vacuum that has 350 cfm, but only 50" lift or 4 Hg. It would do a fine job in a dry situation, or wet with small hose runs. In longer hose runs, and when vacuum surfacers will be used, then you need lots of lift.

As far as O-rings go, all of mine that wear out are usually from the twisting of the gun on the surface cleaner. The fury tools require an awful lot of torque on the gun as it is one of the handles and you need to muscle these tools. I bought the euro couplers for the fury, but have not tried them out yet.

[Doug T 19]

Alan,

www.safetyvac.com, they have 4 different models. The ones I was spec'ing are the 16 and LR?. The guy I talked to said they would mount the vacuum and the engine to drive it on a frame for me, would not have to buy the system.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I looked at their stuff back in 2003 when I went with the gas vacuum. Had they been willing to build what i wanted, I would have gone with them. They claimed they did not do any custom stuff, just production. Times change i guess.

Liquid ring pumps like the one in the LR configuration do very well, however they require a fresh water feed to go with the word "liquid".

Steel Eagle used to use them on the Fury 2400XL, before they switched to a Sutorbilt blower. The liquid rings use about 1 gpm and you then have to deal with that on the waste side, so if you are recovering to a tank, you have an extra 60 gallons an hour to deal with, not to mention the supply if you are tank feeding only.