Whats the best port cleaner ?

rakebreak78 wrote: \       Whats the best for the $$ out there ??   is rotovac any good??   are the systems in the vans way better than portables..   need some honest good adice.    Does consumer reports have ratings on commercial carpet cleaners??     thanks    mike

Edited by FriendlyHammer - 05/November/2007 at 7:38pm

You forgot the Titan from Kenny. The world's most powerful

In CleanCraft's newsletter they say the Eclipse "Quad 500" with 4 powerful vacuum motors blows away the competition.. It has the most suction power possible..

 

John L wrote: In CleanCraft's newsletter they say the Eclipse "Quad 500" with 4 powerful vacuum motors blows away the competition.. It has the most suction power possible..   Anyone have anything to say about that statement..?

Yes, those vacuums are in series. Therefore, they have very high waterlift and 100 cfm (very low).  I've tested and retested machines and I can tell you that without parallels you won't get the performance of just 2 3-stage vacuumes in parallel from a machine with 4 vacuums in series.  When the vacuums are in series, you can put your wand down on the floor and hear little or no change in the sound coming from the vacuums. That's because it takes very little air to break the vacuum performance when only 100 cfm can be removed from the hose (some tiny spotters have nearly the same cfm).  However, when you place the wand from a machine with vacuums in parallel on the floor, you can hear the vacuums change their pitch, dramatically. That's because all the air really is getting totally sucked out of the system on that machine.  The drying times of a system in parallel is much less than that of one in series. I've tested this over and over. The series machine can't get the air out of the box fast enough.

Anyone making a machine is better off making two stacks, if they're going to use 4 2-stage vacuums.  The cfm determines how quickly you can walk with the wand. A machine can have a million inches of waterlift and you'll move no faster.


Edited by FriendlyHammer - 25/November/2007 at 4:19am

The waterlift calculations are accurate if their vacuums have 147" of waterlift. So for the sake of argument, I'll say their waterlift is accurate, although I suspect they're using 2-stage vacuums, so 147 seems doubtful.

When you use a powerful porty or a truckmount you can hear the air moving through the wand and the hose. That's the cfm at work. When using a porty with vacuums in series, the air movement harldly makes any noise. So yes, it's all hype.

Remember, the waterlift takes effect when all the air is removed from the system. 100 cfm can't get the air out fast enough, so they can claim they have high numbers, but it only works when they've got their hand over the end of the hose.
    
    

Edited by FriendlyHammer - 25/November/2007 at 4:24pm

FriendlyHammer,

We appreciate your information and education on the differences of vacuums in parallel or series. Suprisingly enough from a person selling these machines they find that the newbie does not listen to reason. He puts his palm over the suction hose and makes his/her decision from there.

Seems like everyone starting out feel that they know most everything.