36" & Larger Surface Cleaners

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Who makes the largest non powered surface cleaners? I know Whisper Wash came out with a 36", but what else is out there?

Any 48" out there, production or custom?

[R L S 14]

I reckon you can get anything custom made with enough money.

If you go any bigger than 36 I'd be worried about not enough energy hitting the concrete due to the force needed to move the bars.

[PLD 14]

I had similar thoughts. But, why not use 4 - 16in bars overlapped running in unison like a mower deck. MUCH less rotational energy, and all that would be required to sync them is a small drive chain.

[steve r 14]

I had similar thoughts. But, why not use 4 - 16in bars overlapped running in unison like a mower deck. MUCH less rotational energy, and all that would be required to sync them is a small drive chain.

put a 3.5 hp motor to drive the unit with the water.just my 2 cents worth

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I am going to have to lift this thing in and out of the truck, so that is why I am looking at non powered surfacers.

Ramps will not be an option as I have the trailer in tow.

[Washaway 64]

I once spoke to a guy who's in my neck of the woods. He claimed to have manufactured a surface cleaner that will clean a 4ft sidewalk in one sweep.

That a 48" cleaner. He said he sells them but I never bothered to get in touch with him so I haven't seen it.

Maybee I can find his number somewhere.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I would like to see that.

[Jarrod 22]

Me too. That would be cool.

[Doug T 19]

Alan,

Did you ever find what you were looking for in a larger surface cleaner? If so care to share?

Doug

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Never found anything other than the whisper wash. May have to make one if I ever get some time.

[John T 744]

Here's a company that makes surface machines up to 72". The problem I see with these large sizes is that they only take up to 9gpm which I would think would not be enough for these oversize surface machines.

[Doug T 19]

John,

Thanks for the info. That add ran in E-spec a few years back. I called them and they said those units are no longer available. "Were made in Germany and they had no contact info" Do you have any contact info? I ran a search for "Intimidators" and got a NASCAR site.

Doug

[PLD 14]

The problem I see with "the intimidator" is that swinging a 72in bar requires an outrageous amount of energy just to keep it in motion. That's one of the reasons why larger mowers gang together small blades. At 3000rpm, the tips of that monster are travelling over 950mph. For comparison, at 3000rpm a 20in'er tip is only travelling at ~75 mph.

[StainlessDeal 16]

If Philip is right, and I haven't checked the math, that would make the tips highly supersonic. If you've ever been around a turboprop aircraft that spins a supersonic propeller you'd realize that this machine would be a major danger to hearing.

There would be a constant sonic boom rolling out from under the cover. That would be pretty interesting in the saturated environment under a surfacer cover because the water would make the atmosphere even more dense, thereby lowering the speed to Mach.

I'm guessing this has something to do with these machines being hard to come by.

[PLD 14]

If Philip is right, and I haven't checked the math, that would make the tips highly supersonic. If you've ever been around a turboprop aircraft that spins a supersonic propeller you'd realize that this machine would be a major danger to hearing.

There would be a constant sonic boom rolling out from under the cover. That would be pretty interesting in the saturated environment under a surfacer cover because the water would make the atmosphere even more dense, thereby lowering the speed to Mach.

I'm guessing this has something to do with these machines being hard to come by.

Good catch, scott. I totally ignored that. It'd have to run at less than ~2300 rpm to avoid that hypersonic effects in normal atmosphere. And the kinetic enery to transcend mach is far greater than that required to operate below mach. In short, while 2000rpm may use 3.5 HP to maintain rotation, 3000rpm may need 10hp (WAG).

Also, the air under the cover would being rotating in unison with the spray bars, and the net ^V would be much less than the bar's ^V relative to a fixed object. This would reduce drag effects, but figuring the amount would require non-trivial math.

Finally, sonic booms relative to the frontal area of the object in motion. A small object like a spray bar tip would generate a relatively small volume of noise. A 1-20lb rocket, for example, produces a sonic boom that is quite frequently not heard by a crowd of a few hundred spectators. And even when you do catch it, it sounds like a flag cracking in the wind.

[Doug T 19]

One would not have to get the 72 inch, the smaller ones might be a good option. And thus not have to worry about all that sonic boom and noise.

BTW, Alan I talked to Bob at pressure tek, he custom builds surface cleaners, you may want to give him a call if you don't have the time.

Doug

[John T 744]

Interesting post back in the day.

[gtagumremoval 10]

Interesting post back in the day.

Thanks for reposting that John, was an interesting read.

Are there any videos of that 72" beast in action? Would be interesting to see.

If you are doing a large area, what is the best system for surface heads?

We currently use a Whisper Wash Big Guy as our largest surface cleaner.

I have seen images of reclaim system trailers that can tow multiple surface heads.

Does anyone sell a modular surface cleaner, where you can add on heads to increase your coverage? Assuming you are proportionally increasing the flow/pressure as well.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[John T 744]

Go on Facebook and look me up under John Tornabene . Then hit me up on a PM and I'll connect you over to the "Professional Garage cleaning" group I'm running. There's plenty of pictures of large surface machines on that including ones you can drive.

Edited January 28, 2016 by John T

[gtagumremoval 10]

Hey John,

 

Okay I have added you with my personal account.  Just FYI I rarely use FB, so any messages are only checked a couple times a month.

[John T 744]

Andrew what's your last name so I can find you on FB and add you to that Parking Garage group.

[gtagumremoval 10]

Andrew what's your last name so I can find you on FB and add you to that Parking Garage group.

Meades.

[John T 744]

OK Andrew I added you to the Parking Garage Cleaning FB group. Check it out & you should find some pretty cool pictures there. Enjoy