Greetings,

I have two questions mostly directed at Ken with the Superglide and Pad Man with OP cleaning, but would appreciate the thoughts of anyone that would be willing to add their comments and suggestions.

First regarding the Superglide. I have a new invention that is just now coming to market. It is a new concept for continuous flow cleaning that currently has patents pending. The system is ideal for tile and grout cleaning with a package price that includes hose, turbo-type wand, vacuum with pump-out, injection sprayer, buffer with carpet brush and more for less than $2,500.00.

The vacuum is so powerful for tile and grout cleaning that I usually have to open up the vacuum ports on the wand to stop it from sucking too hard to the floor, but I am not pleased with the 200 cfm and low water lift for the carpet cleaning system.

I have seen the Superglide on this board in the past and am very curious as to how much something like this would help, but the price seems a little steep especially when my entire economy carpet cleaning package cost less than $800.00.

I have seen some people talk about drilling small holes near the wand lip and wondered if anyone has tried this. If so, what results have you seen?

I have the ability to go to 340" of water lift and beyond, but that increases the price considerably and getting better results from my existing vacuum would be great. Please let me know what any of you suggest.

Now to pad man. As a hardcore HWE cleaner I generally don't give much consideration to bonnett cleaning over HWE as long as the HWE is performed (which it rarely is) properly. I have been very impressed with your pictures and would like to meet with you to better understand your method for myself. I am customer oriented more than money motivated and I truly believe HWE is the best, but if you can honestly prove me wrong, I will put down my invention on the carpet cleaning side and start pushing OP cleaning.

I saw the pictures you posted and some comments you made regarding Joey Pickett on your post I would like to bring up. First of all comparing yourself as being better than Joey cleaning service isn't saying much. Even though Joey himself is a Master Cleaner and trainer and he even made the Dream Team in cleaning this year, I have several people in the Lexington area that are less than impressed with his work. I even know of one facility that I cleaned that had kicked his guys off the job because they could notice no difference at all! This was very dirty carpet and even Stanley Steamer did a better job. We do a much better job than Stanley by the way. Bottom line, using Joey as a measuring stick is not comparing yourself with true professional cleaning from what I have seen.

My second comment has to do with the pictures themselves. Many of them look like they have been done with a carpet wand verses a pad. What is the explanation for this? Do you use HWE after padding?

I am serious about wanting to be the best cleaner I can be and my ultimate goal for my company is to see people educated so the claims I see made by manufacturers and cleaners can be properly filtered through proper knowledge. If your system is truly better than I will be on your team in helping to promote it as well.

The three largest carpet mills in the world (Shaw, Mohawk and Beaulieu) say HWE is the preferred method. I believe this would be apparent if more HWE cleaners took the time to do the job right, but while a teacher myself, I want to always remain teachable.

Please do not take this as an attack on you as it is not meant to be that way. I am searching for clarity and truth where your system is concerned.

I stand to lose a lot of money by not selling my carpet cleaning system, but if your OP cleaning is better than I want to make sure I am incorporating it instead.

I stand ready to be convinced if you are willing. I live in Kentucky myself and am in the Lexington area frequently. You can contact me either at mailto:van@cleantileandcarpet.com - van@cleantileandcarpet.com or my cell phone is 502-724-3400.

May God bless you and those close to you and may His angels watch over you all.

I will gladly give you that call, funny how we meet on the Canadian BBS..

One thing I will say right out is, "those are not wand marks" those are vacuum lines, we vacuum EVERY carpet RIGHT after cleaning and while it is still damp.

John: You meet here because the Kleen Kuip board is the place to be to have stuff happen!

Vandene: Thanks for your question. The Superglide is not an expensive tool to use and is very effective. The SST(our latest) is only $159 US , but lasts a minimum 3 years in use. That is guaranteed. That drops the yearly cost down to only $53/year. Since it is a molded product, the cost in the year ahead will only get less as our molding costs are paid off.If you needed to purchase a wand to go with it, that would raise the investment up to $500 US, but would still be great value. Most operators report an increase in productivity that makes them thousands more per year. So it does not cost, it saves money.

The holes on the lip I have done , before developing the glides.They are not as effective, because they let the air in at the sides, and not thru the carpet fibers, where you want it. You say you are not happy with 200 cfm? That is strange, since the average portable only uses about 40 cfm and the average TM uses about 100 cfm thru a regular wand on the carpet while it is working. Even the regular glides we sell will only give you about 175 to 200 cfms with the glides on with a TM. Lift is not the thing to concentrate on anyway. Airflow is the key. Rather than building machines with expensive vac systems, get the lift up to 12"HG(165"WL) and concentrate on getting higher cfm into the vacuum slot. The more cfms that can be produced, the faster the intake velocity at the lips of the slot becomes. The higher the velocity goes, the greater the amount of water recovered along with the soil removed. Thus the better the cleaning becomes.That is what the glide does. By allowing more into wands DURING cleaning, it allow lip velocities to increase from the 14,000 fpm range that most wands produce with TMS , up to around 20,000 to 22,000 fpm. That is called keeping it simple. When you can do that at a cost of only $53/year, you have a winning product.

Ask any thing else you like about this and I will help you. Always happy to help a  fellow inventer that wishs to improve the process as I do.

LOL. I was leaving that board anyway, John.Evan just made it an official announcement is all. Too much of a distraction to my time now that product sales are taking off.Glide sales are going up, the ZRX3 skid sales are taking off, and I have 2 national distribution sales signed on them.So, you might say I got what I wanted there.More time for production and bringing out the 8 new products I have ready to go between now and next year. I got what I wanted.

Greetings,

I didn't mean to open up a can of worms here first of all so I apologize since I apparently opened up some old wounds here.

First of all I want to thank John for calling me and being a person that wants to see the right techniques used regardless of the system. I look forward to meeting you personally and looking at your system. If not to replace mine, certainly to offer it as an alternative to those who prefer or need a good VLM system. As we expand with our new product and service company, I am sure we will have a need for it. Also nice to hear you know about Daddy. He has been very good to me in spite of myself.

Now back to Ken and probably more importantly Bjorn.

Ken, I very much appreciate your obvious love and excitement for your invention. I personally help others with their own inventons within my church and elsewhere because I learned so much from going through the processes of protection, searches, patent filings, etc. myself. I would give you the same advice I keep in my own mind and continue to give to others which is "never fall in love with your idea." Stay realistic and be willing to look at its disadvantages as well as its advantage. Never try and over justify it to yourself or others. As good as my own invention is over many other systems, I realize the downside is that it contains more parts than a self-contained extractor or even a portable does. The continuous flow advantages help to offset this as does the cost and performance, but simple and easy to use beats out effective more times than I care to admit in this industry. Keep it real.

I do have to disagree with you on the cfm verses lift issue. I don't have the knowledge you appear to have with some of the numbers you threw out, but I have spent almost five years in prototyping and field testing and my experience has been that cfm seems to work well when the carpet has raised areas (a WalMart carpet I did, proved this point with its standard carpet having raised areas and drying very quickly) or the wand has a wider head/mouth opening.

When a regular carpet wand is applied to a low nap carpet the seal that is created appears to shut down the cfm benefits and water lift takes over. An engineer explained the difference to me in my early stages of prototyping, but more importantly, I have seen it for myself in real life situations.

That may not be real scientific wording, but I have seen it time and time again in field tests on various cfm's, waterlifts and carpet constructions.

My question was in regards to whether it would help increase the cfm's instead of whether water lift or cfm was more important. You did address the holes in the wand briefly, but you only said you found it didn't work when you tried it because you said it drew air in from the sides and not near the fibers. What about if you did it closer to the fibers? Did you try various places or just decided your glides were the way to go and you didn't want the holes to work?

Not trying to be rude here, just know that sometimes we have to step back and say, "maybe not such a good idea after all." I have a dear friend that came up with putting a strap across a wheelbarrows handles to help stabilize it and make it easier to push with your knees. I did a search and found that the same thing had already been invented. We actually almost bought the patent from the inventor in Arizona thinking he just didn't market it properly. After evaluating different angles I realize that the reason it probably wasn't in every WalMart, Lowes and Home Depot wasn't because it was a bad idea or wasn't marketed well, but that people would probably see the idea and realize they could rig up their own with an old belt or even rope instead of $19.95 (or whatever) for the one on the shelf.

If I decided to use a glide as it were, I would likely get them from PMF. I have already bought an Easy Glide fitting that they sell on their Easy Glide wands for I believe about $12.50 so $159.00 in comparison seems a little steep to me. If this is not a similar item than by all means enlighten me on the difference. My biggest concern is how I might be able to get better drying times with a normal carpet wand using 200 cfm, but less than 100" of water lift. This brings me to you Bjorn.

I appreciated your comments drilling hole on the hand tool, but you said it doesn't work so well on a carpet wand. Can you please elaborate. I am about to try several different hole ports to try different ideas, but would rather not make a bunch of unneccessary holes if someone has a good idea as to where they should go.

If you (or anyone else) on this board can give me some advice on how to increase the cfm on this system by possibly porting the wand I would be appreciative. I have already discovered a big difference in going from a 1-1/2" hose to 2" and i'm sure a wand that was 2" all the way down would help even more, but I already get a great price on my wands and don't want to manufacture my own.

I know the old Butler wands have several "V" cuts on the bottom of one of the lips and I assume this is to increase the cfm flow for the same reason. Any thoughts on this, especially from any of you that have a Butler wand like that.

Not trying to start a big controversy here and my vacuum is already good enough for tile and grout cleaning and blows away a Rainbow system and others at less than 1/3 of their cost in the residential field as well as many commercial portables.

Getting more out of the cfm would be a huge benefit however, and doing it at minimal cost is a priority for the residential system that we will be selling for well under $1,000.00.

Now everybody be nice and don't let me start anymore bickering. I would appreciate any help from anyone that has experimented with venting their wands in a similar manner. Thanks and be blessed.        &nbs p;   Van

Great talking to you Van and I look forward to us playing on some NASTY carpet and tile.

Don't worry about Ken, many of us have known him for years, and that gives us a bit of insight that others don't have.

Well Van, I will enlighten you why people spend $149 to $159 for our SS and SST glides over a cheap $12.50 glide. The Superglide was developed to do lots of things the Easy Glide can not. First of all it will actually glide well. The Easyglide locks down to the carpet under high vacuum load and becomes hard to push. That is because it has a flat bottom on it that causes this lock-down to occur.I know this cause I used to both use them and sell these wands. The Superglide does not. The round bottom on it will not lock down on any carpet. What it does do is glide over the carpet with less than 1/2 to 1/3 the effort of the Easyglide wand. It is made of a Teflon composite material with lower friction than the Delrin plastic Easy Glide is made from. The Superglide moves over the airflow at the carpet than the Easyglide does. 188 cfm to 88 cfm in a test I did a year ago. This happens because it does not lock down. The Superglide removes more water and soil from the carpets as well due to the vacuum slot on the glide being closer to the carpet back. This allows a greater percentage of the water to be removed. Carpet dry times of this glide are close to 1 hour to two hours. I received a call to taday from a user in AZ that said the carpets were completly dry to the touch in  the 1st room after he finished the 4th room an hour later. The customer was estatic at the results. I am putting a page of testimonials together so people can hear the results from users themselves.The SST Superglide has a long life of three years to it, whereas the easyglide will be worn out and scratched up in one. The Superglide is so much easy to push that the people using it report production increases of 30% or more . That saves them thousands per year.The Superglide is totally removeable as it slips over the lips of the wand. You can take it off if it ever breaks and still clean with the wand underneath the glide. The Easyglide will not work if you break it, or need to take it off cause it has no lips under it to use on the carpet.

Anyway, that is why people will pay more than $12.50 for our glide.

Ken,

I appreciate the information on the difference and a rounded surface makes sense, but that would bring up the issue that I could easily round off the flat surface of my easy glide boot. If the only other issue is it last a year versus 3 I am looking at $37.50 ($12.50 X 3) and  little time in retroffiting. Compared to $159.00 seems like a better way to go.

Bottom line however is that I feel there is even a cheaper way to create the extra flow I am looking for. Maybe just to elevate the lips ever so slightly off the ground with some teflon strips on each side leaving the ends slighty open or the hole ports I originally put in question.

Anyway, I would still appreciate any comments from people that have done similar things and what results they got. If you would care to e-mail me with that information instead of bantering back and forth on this board, I would certainly prefer to do without the bickering myself. Just looking for some help in keeping this thing simple and inexpensive without a lot of sales pitches and such.

You can e-mail me at either mailto:van@cleantileandcarpet.com - van@cleantileandcarpet.com or mailto:vandene@consultant.com - vandene@consultant.com or call me at 502-724-3400. Thank you in advance for any help you can give. God bless and take care,       Van

Ken,

The bottom line is I am looking for an easier way to increase the 200 cfm without spending that kind of money. If I were interested in bumping up my residential systems' costs, I would do it with higher water lift, not a glide on the wand.

I am simply asking this board if they have any ideas about how to port an existing wand to increase the cfm flow by stopping the natural seal that seems to kill airflow when placed on most carpets.

If I don't hear from others on how to do this, I will simply attempt it myself and will let you know later what I found.

If your glides are as good as you say they are, the truth will reveal that in time. If not, they will reveal that as well. I am not really even questioning their ability to glide, agitate and increase flow like you say they do, I simply question if that price is that justifiable or if it couldn't be done a lot cheaper.

I do wish you the best in your endeavors and pray you will conduct your marketing in an honest and forthright way.

I for one would never find the time to copy someone's product just to get it cheaper and save a hundred or so dollars. I see carpet cleaners under a truck modifying, building and doing frustrating things when they should be out cleaning and making money at their profession.

Carpet cleaners don't make money under a truck with tools in the hand.

Allow a guy like Ken his due profit. Feed him. His head is full of ideas for our industry. Let him loose. Who knows what he will come up with next. No one else has the time so feed him. He already has indicated that time is not his problem, money is.

So feed him.

I can't believe you just said that Ted..... I don't agree

To make it in this business you have to be able to handle all aspects of the business... from the phones and customer service to the cleaning....You need to be able to handle everything so you don't get taken for a ride....nothing wrong with making your own modification... if you have to run to a repair man for everything you'll go out of business

I'll let the lawn guy cut my lawn...and the gardener tend to my garden....the the house keeper keep my house clean... and I'll clean carpet to pay them....

Ken,

Your offer to sell to me as an OEM is generous and I would be interested in knowing how much less than half you are talking about and probably order a glide to check it out.

I probably would be interested in using it in my higher priced models. The reason I have been asking about modifying the wand however is not to take away from anyone invention, but to keep my economy system as economical as possible.

I never thought I would ever even be able to compete in the residential market, but the Lord has blessed me with parts that work with my invention so well I am able to build a complete system using my straight flow model (like Steamin Demon, but different in structure) including hoses, injection sprayer, electric floor scrubber, vacuum with pump-out, stainless steel wand, pump-out hose and more for well under $1,000.00 enabling me to sell it for $995.00 while still making a substantial profit. Every dollar I spend on parts makes that more difficult.

I originally opened up this board to see if the reason your superglide increased the flow was because it stopped the wand from making a total seal (which as I have stated before, seems to kill the cfm benefit) on the carpet.

I was simply wondering if venting the wand somehow might provide the same advantage. Nothing more.

As a person that helps others with their ideas at no charge because of all the money I wasted going through the school of hard knocks myself, the last thing I am trying to do is take away business from or anyone else. I am honest in my evaluations however, and was simply being honest with you in my comments.

I will have many models available with just about any option a person can want including pressure, heat, cfm and water lift. They are all continous flow systems giving me a heads up on many portables to start with. I will most likely be dealing myself with those that would try to copy me and are already discussing post infringement stratedgies before officially even launching the thing.

I do wish you the best and would be interested in trying out one of your glides. If it is half as good as you say it is and you can give me a good OEM price on it, I would be honored to carry it in my inventory.

God bless and in the words of Rodney King (even though he probably was guilty) "can't we all just get along?"

vandene wrote: God bless and in the words of Rodney King (even though he probably was guilty) "can't we all just get along?"

What?  Are you kidding me?  I have been following your posts since you have become a member of our board.  I have respected your views up until now.  Your knowledge has impressed me to the point of looking forward to your next post BUT today you have fallen from grace in my eyes.  Those words you wrote disgust me. 

What does his guilt or innocence have to do with the unneccesary beating that was bestowed upon him? 

Why don't you read this:

Holliday's camera records Powell and Wind inflicting over fifty baton blows and several kicks.  It also records Officer Briseno stomping on King's shoulder, causing his head to hit hard against the asphalt.

Shortly before 1 A.M., Koon typed a message into his in-car computer: "U just had a big time use of force.  Tased and beat the suspect of CHP pursuit."  Powell also reported the incident on his computer--in a seemingly boastful way that would come to haunt the defense.  http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/Kingtransmissions.html - Powell typed , "I haven't beaten anyone this bad in a long time." It wasn't Powell's only controversial message that night.  Later, investigators would discover another message sent shortly before the King arrest in which he described the scene of a domestic disturbance involving African-Americans as right out of "Gorillas in the Mist." 

By the way, all 4 officers caught on video tape were found not guilty due to "lack of evidence".  Riots were caused because of this.  So to answer your question, we all can get along without ignorant viewpoints such as yours.  Why couldn' t you just say "in the words of Rodney King 'can't we all just get along' "   

A knee in the back, a foot on the neck and a pair of handcuffs would have done fine... This is not a politcally correct topic for this forum...lets move on

I agree Mr. Steamer,

I will have to agree to disagree with Padman and vandene.  I guess it is still accepted down south for 4 armed police officers to use excessive force against an unarmed suspect and use racial slurs at will.  P.S.  Padman, I guess it is a good thing they were not trying to take down Jet Li; then they would have been justified in breaking both of his legs to take away the threat of a round house kick to the head (which would have been well deserved)! Nuff said.

Guys,

I certainly apologize for anyone thinking in any way that I condone the beating of Rodney King or of anyone else for that matter. As you have pointed out, I should have simply made the statement without the added comment of his likely guilt.

I simply meant to imply that as padman stated, there are consequences to crime even though once again, they should never include unneccessary force. My best friend also happens to be black so I can assure you the comment did not come from racist overtones nor is it just a "Southern issue."

I do believe he was well compensated and I can only hope that he has done something good with that money and can also hope that police around the world have learned from that mistake and the riots that it caused.

I myself was jumped and beated by several policemen before I got my life together. I have scars in the top of my head and a mangled finger as a result. I didn't get any compensation and had to even pay my doctor bill from getting stitched up at the hospital and having surgery on my finger done. Not saying this for pity, but I do understand  unneccesary force.

I certainly don't condone beatings on myself or anyone else and didn't mean to imply in any way that I did. I simply was making a comment on the fact that he was not a knight in shining armour and I believe the entire incident shows that, not just the end of the video. Just as the media shows the bad in Iraq and little of the good, they tended to lean only on the beating and not what led up to it. Not that excessive force should ever be used once again!

I am sorry for bringing this up inappropriately and will keep to industry subjects only in the future. If I use any other quotes I will be sure not to include any extra commentary when using them.

I humbly ask for your forgiveness and once again, didn't mean to stir up any trouble. The very phrase was meant to imply that. The comment was obviously inappropriately placed and I apologize for it.

As far as falling from grace Mr. Steamer, I am human and make many mistakes. I am sure I will make many more. Please don't look at me as a good example of Christianity as I have many failings and wouldn't deserve to be held in anyone's graces i'm sure.

At least my wife thinks I am great (even though I don't deserve that either) so if we ever meet and she's with me, don't let her know the truth okay? :)

Ghandi once said in response to what he had wrong with Jesus Christ. "I have nothing against Jesus Christ, it is his people and if all Christians were more like Jesus, most the world would be Christian."

I hope you will forgive me for my failing and I will continue to try and be a better example of Him in the future and can assure you that I didn't mean to offend.

In His Grip of Grace.

Van

Guys,

See that I made another mistake already. It was gman and not Mr. Steamer that made the comment about me falling from grace. More of that imperfection of mine. Sorry,                     Van

Vandene,

I appreciate the fact that you realize certain words in your statement were inappropriate.  That says a lot about your character. 

In response to Padman and yourself, I never once argued his innocence or the fact that he deserved to pay for his misconduct.  That is a given.  The manner in which he was dealt with was totally uncalled for.  The policemen in question turned him into a martyr (their mistake).  Why focus on why Rodney was not guilty?  Which was the crime which had far more social impact?  Its a no brainer.  My question would be why the policemen were not found guilty. 

 And just to clarify, its more of a human rights and professional conduct issue than a racial issue.  I would have the same arguement if he was asian or european. 

By the way, what happened to you was also wrong and you just weren't lucky enough to have an amateur videographer near by.

Anyways, all is well.  I am not a poltical activist nor wish to be one.  So lets try and get back to brightening up this board with some engaging conversation about our industry.

Gmoney,

You are a prince among men my friend and I appreciate your understanding and forgiveness.

I certainly look forward to learning from you all and being able to help in any way I can as well.

I have a temporary URL up introducing a best value system of mine I would appreciate your comments on as well. It is probably too wordy as I have a tendency to give out too much information sometimes.

It is a great system at a great price however and I would appreciate your comments on it as well as anyone else's on this board.

Most importantly, is it easy enough to understand how the concept works overall or do I need to explain it better?

The value system sub URL is http://econocarpet.cleantileandcarpet.com - http://econocarpet.cleantileandcarpet.com

We also can build any combination of cfm, waterlift, heat, pressure using this same contiuous flow system. So far we have up to 340" of water lift available and I also have a 249" water lift machine coming out that will even be hand-carriable.

I will also have my best value tile URL up by the first of next week. It will be at http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com - http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com

If I am not supposed to be promoting products on this site by the way, let me know and I will respectively stop.

Thank you for your rebuke and your acceptance of my apology as well.

By the way a great radio station you can listen to online is at http://www.klove.com - www.klove.com It has great music as well as great news, stories, jokes and much more all brought with a good family and Christian perspective. Relationship, not religion.

Everyone have a great weekend and I will check in on the board sometime Monday.

Be blessed,        &nbs p;         &nbs p;         &nbs p;    Van

I do NOT condone his beating, but was asking a couple of questions, no one answered them...humm

Why were the other blacks with Rodney not beaten

Do you see the FIRST part of the video or just the second half the media wanted you to see?

Simple questions really, just would LIKE simple answers instead of ASSumptions.

Padman you obviously did not read my last post. 

 And you contradict yourself by saying you did not condone the beating and then in your next sentence ask why the others were not beaten (implying obviously that Rodney brought it on himself and deserved it).  I already know where you stand.  Van and myself had already cleared the air.

Vandene,

I took a look at your sight and your concept is solid.  I would be lying to you though if I said I did not have any reservations about it.  Are you marketing this system primarily to home owners for themselves or for the professional carpet cleaner?  Even the the price is reasonable for a professional, I don't see the average homeowner dropping down $800 on a system to clean their carpets.

As an option for someone getting into the business it is a good buy.  Not only because of the price but also because of how you have designed the system.  Most people starting out (including myself) had no clue how to clean a carpet properly after buying the unit.  You have included the pre-spray set up, scrub brush for agitation, fibre rinse and eliminated the need for dumping.  Very impressive. 

The dumping feature has its pros and cons.  When you are new in the business and buy a small machine you are stopping to dump often because of overwetting (a common beginner's mistake).  Also, you are sometimes stopping because you have mixed the chemical strong and/or forgot to put defoamer in the recovery tank. 

On the flip side, the auto dump feature makes having a fairly long hose in the way inconveniencing yourself and your client.  And you did acknowledge on your site that the multitude of pieces was a necessary evil in order for system to work as designed.  Some clients might not like you occupying a toilet in house for this purpose, especially if it is the only one.

The system itself does not LOOK very professional to the customer.  I am not saying it does not perform a professional job.  This is the reason why many steam cleaners with a portable like to have a professional looking Ninja, Mytee, Michaels etc. for the perceived professionalism.  And this is why many guys love their truckmounts and wow the customer with their speech of how much better a truckmount is than a portable.  So in short, a customer will see a truckmount as the ultimate, then a convential portable, and then your system. 

Now an individual educated on how to talk to the customer and display their professionalism will win the customer over.  For instance, I have a 400 psi portable and any customer that was expecting a truckmount is thoroughly convinced that I will do as good or a better job before I even start the job.  I educate them briefly on the role of a prespray, dwell time, psi (truckmounts usually don't go above 400), dry passes, certification etc.  You might want to put together a few of these points in a brochure, booklet, or as a link on your site in order to help newbies change a customer's perception of the system at first glance.  How much psi is your system by the way?

You do go into extensive detail when explaining the setup.  This is good but I think a more reader friendly format is needed.  I don' t have all the answers but putting a picture of the complete system at the top of website would be visually engaging.  Right now you have it a the bottom of the site and there is a lot of words to read through before you see any pictures. 

A bunch of questions at the top of the page would invite the reader to be more of a participant in your copy.  For instance: Would you like to achieve professional carpet cleaning results without having to pay what most professional pay for their equipment?  Would you like to know the simple basics of cleaning a carpet that will guarantee a job well done?  Learn about the one technique that can improve your results 100%.(pre-spray with agitation). See the results for yourself. (then show some before and after photos of places you have cleaned).

I could go on and on but I think this is a good start.  

Tell me what you think.  If you think I am way off base or you don't agree with some of what was said; that' s cool.  

gmoney,

Great thoughts and I appreciate them all.

As far as the homeowner not putting down the money, you are right when talking about comparing it with a Bissell or similar system off a WalMart shelf, but understand that many people have paid $2,000.00 - $3,000.00 for a kirby G4, Electrolux Shampooer or Rainbow.

None of these systems have the power of this machine let alone the continuous flow advantage enabling hotter water, no dumping of a small tank and proper application of pre-spray and acid rinse. I am hoping you are wrong on that point because I am hoping to target mostly a residential market with the economy system.

For the record, this vacuum/waste tank is designed to where the foaming problems are not an issue as with other systems. You are right about the hose being in the way a little, but strategic placement will help that and it can also be placed into the wasing machine outlet port if desired. Just make sure you don't forget to put their washing machine drain hose back in. lol

If a person wants a more professional looking unit I have industrial pumps available that can be placed in their own containers or carried with an attached handle like the Water Horse from Pumptec. I also have just about any type of portable casing available including one that is a heavy fiberglass contruction in a very portable 5 gallon container. This is literally hand-carriable and has water lift capability from 117" - 249." We can go up to 340" with other models. This does increase the price considerably, but is also competitive in pricing with anything on the market. In other words, I can give a ninja look with continuous flow if that is what the cleaner wants.

I do have a truck mount configuration as well, but I have drained my finances to the point where I haven't had the extra capital to build it yet. It is an electric unit run by a generator (Either direct-drive or a seperate portable unit in the van), but is much more powerful than a Bane Clean.

 This is not to knock Bane however (I don't want to start another controversy) as I started over 15 years ago with a Bane. I am just a believer of high pressure, high heat and high vacuum. The truck mount would have a propane heater for heat, a high heat capacity pressure pump and be powered by large 7.2" Ametek Lamb Motors with Switched Reluctance Brushless Motors. It would have the auto fill and dump feature and also would probably have a waste tank with overfill kill switch.

With generator, heater, pump, vacuums, reels, tank, etc. this would probably run around $6,000.00 or more, but would be very impressive and very low maintenance compared to a gas truck mount.

I am really focusing this invention more towards the residential market and to offer a system to those in the commercial market that want to do the work in-house. I agree strongly that the right portable system used properly will beat any truck mount used improperly every time. Since there are more people that cut corners than do it right, this system shines very brightly when put up against their current cleaner or system.

While I am thrilled to find out you believe in doing the work properly, I see more and more these days that don't. I am big on educating people as to the need for proper pre-vacuuming, pre-spraying, agitation, fiber (acid) rinsing and not running like you are in a race with wand stroke.

We eventually plan on setting up a national service company that will be willing to take over work where we see the customer paying enough money to meet our rates, but not getting professional cleaning done as they should. We not only prove we are better than their current cleaner, but make sure each manager/owner/supervisor knows what they should be watching for so they can keep our people accountable as well. In other words, we don't just say we are good, but explain to them what that entails. Sounds like you are already doing something similar.

For those that expect a professional cleaning for $6.00 a hotel room or $25.00 for a 1,000 (or larger) sq. ft. apartment, we try to explain to them that nobody can give them true professional cleaning without losing money. If they listen and don't want to pay more, we show them how they can get professional results for even less by purchasing the right equipment and using it properly.

If they won't listen, we tell them there are more than enough bozo cleans waiting to line up and clean for those prices while telling them how good they are. If they allow me to show them what good means and decide to watch those cleaners, they will see I am correct and that those cleaners are woefully inadequate. If not, they are certainly allowed to go on being deceived into thinking they are getting a great job done for ridiculously low prices. The problem with being deceived is you don't know you are deceived. I run across this more than I care to admit and may one day even set up a company called lickety-split budget cleaners, but so far, sleeping at night as become more important. lol

I truly appreciate your ideas about getting to the pictures quicker. I didn't like all the text before the pictures and realize I can be too wordy at (you may have noticed that with these short novels I right on this board) times.

The other site for tile and grout is up at http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com - http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com   I look forward to your comments on this as well.

If I can get the cfm working better with either a glide or by porting the wand differently (which is why I jumped on this board in the first place) the vacuum shown may become much better for carpet as well. It already is incredible for the tile and grout system and a person would be wasting their money to upgrade the vacuum unless they were going to do a lot of carpet. Hopefully a glide or wand configuration will create the drying  times I want for carpet as well.

Keep the suggestions coming. I remain teachable and look forward to your input.

God bless and take care,         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;    Van

gmoney,

I re-read your post and realized I forgot to answer your question regarding the psi.

The economy system is a straight flow system using the municipal psi, gpm and heat from a hot tap water. We put on a very restrictive spray nozzle to avoid over-wetting the carpet and to utilize the psi of the municipal tap, but it is straight flow.

I can build any psi a person wants with just about any gpm combination as well. From 20 psi to as high as a person wants to go. My most diverse models are either 250 - 1,200 psi or 400-1,600 psi. The first one is more industrial however and can take a higher inlet heat. I also can put in a 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, etc. Basically whatever a person wants.

We have patent filings on the configuration itself which uses the pump seperated from the vacuum and pump-out, not the individual pieces that make up the system. This is what is referred to as a utility patent instead of just an individual design patent. Much harder to infringe on which is an obvious advantage for us.

I originally built it to simply be able to put more power on the vacuum side without having the amperage pull problems others like the Truckforce, Mytee 7500, Intrepid, Hydrotech, etc. were having. While in the prototype stages (and slowly going broke) the tile and grout industry and the Steamin Demon came on the market which gave us further validation since we were already continous flow and simply adding higher pressure on the pump side made for a great tile system and our most base economy system was straight flush (which by the way was already done by Bissell many years ago and is not patentable by Steamin Demon or myself) using a similar concept of high-flow extraction like the Demon and what Shaw says is so (personally, I still like high pressure, heat and moderate gpm) great.

My filings don't conflict with the Demon's, but we still may have to do battle with them since I am sure they aren't going to like me having something similar at a price that is less than a forth of theirs.

Anyway, it is pretty much whatever psi, gpm, heat, cfm, waterlift a person wants and we can build it using this patent pending configuration.

My biggest problem right now (at the risk of sounding religious or holier than thou, which I am neither) is that I truly believe God has given me this to use the profits for a specific purpose. Without going into a lot of detail, that purpose is to build a course that will help those with stinking thinking learn how to re-program that thinking, set specific goals for their lives and have a definitive plan on how to acheive those goals.

As a result, I am not willing to take on any greedy investors. I am currently contacting some people in hopes of finding those that can help me see this goal go forth for this work and will be joining my company with theirs in the future.

We will probably be directing a lot of this course to prisons and the like and it appears I will be moving to the Dallas, TX area soon to work with Mike Barber Ministries and others who have a like mind to help this go forth.

While in it's infancy, this does have a tremendous amount of potential to be uses in the residential, rental and commercial markets and other than having to put my name on the patent filings since they lock you up if you put God on them, I take very little credit for it.

Hopefully, I will learn to listen to Him more closely and kill my flesh (that comes up out of the grave more than I care to admit) more easily, get out of His way, and see His purposes for this fulfilled.

If not, I will stumble through it all in my flesh and still will do okay I guess, but am hoping I will learn to shut up and be still and let Him be God.

Okay, I will stop preaching, but I make no apologies for loving Jesus, only that I (at times) am not the best representative.

Be blessed and keep the suggestions coming.          ;           ;       Van

Padman you obviously did not read my last post. 

 And you contradict yourself by saying you did not condone the beating and then in your next sentence ask why the others were not beaten (implying obviously that Rodney brought it on himself and deserved it).  I already know where you stand.  Van and myself had already cleared the air.

Excuse me Gmoney, but I don't think you have much of an idea as to where I stand, and I did not contradict myself at all, I like hearing peoples OPINIONS on situations, and have found very differing opinions based on what was SEEM by the viewers. The FIRST part of the video showed Rodney being very aggressive and contradicotry to the officers. Many that saw it had different views than those that didn't, so why no ANSWER my question as to whether you saw the FIRST part of the video?

Also, your ASSupmtion that I "implied " anything is wrong, I am interested in OTHER peoples views. I stated my opposition to it, but you seem to be more intent on judging my "thoughts" which you know little or nothing about than answering the quesitons.

Of course answering the question is NOT a requirement..LOL

Padman,

gmoney wrote:   In response to Padman and yourself, I never once argued his innocence or the fact that he deserved to pay for his misconduct.  That is a given.  The manner in which he was dealt with was totally uncalled for.  The policemen in question turned him into a martyr (their mistake).  Why focus on why Rodney was not guilty?  Which was the crime which had far more social impact?  Its a no brainer.  My question would be why the policemen were not found guilty.

 And just to clarify, its more of a human rights and professional conduct issue than a racial issue.  I would have the same arguement if he was asian or european. 

Since you are a dog with a bone padman, yes I did see the first part of the video.  Obviously by my statements you would know this because I am not denying his guilt.  Your question is still ignorant because the bottom line is that the police were wrong.  Once a man is down he is down.  Mr. Steamer was right when he said just put a knee in his back and cuff him. 

It's mind boggling why your focus is on wether or not he was acting belligerent.  YES HE WAS.  And yes, of course this justifies the actions of the police! (NOT)  Now continue conducting your important poll.  Because society will be better off as a result. 

Why don't you spend your time asking us our opinions on relevant topics as they pertain to this forum.   

MR. STEAMER wrote: I can't believe you just said that Ted..... I don't agree To make it in this business you have to be able to handle all aspects of the business... from the phones and customer service to the cleaning....You need to be able to handle everything so you don't get taken for a ride....nothing wrong with making your own modification... if you have to run to a repair man for everything you'll go out of business I'll let the lawn guy cut my lawn...and the gardener tend to my garden....the the house keeper keep my house clean... and I'll clean carpet to pay them....

Mr Steamer,

You are the exception. You are the man we all know that by now. I am sure you could be under your truck repairing and have a rope hooked up to a wand also cleaning a carpet at the same time.

But one of the things that helps pay my rent is when an inexperienced repair type of carpet cleaner goes under his truck to save money and finds it costs him five times more for us to repair what he has now damaged.

Now tell me how could you go broke while your professional mechanic is repairing your one machine from $50 to $60 per hour. You are out with your other machine making $100 per hour. That's the figure most carpet cleaners brag about until they need to buy chemicals.

Now don't tell my mechanic you make $100 per hour or he will be knockin' on my door.

vandene wrote: We have patent filings on the configuration itself which uses the pump separated from the vacuum and pump-out, not the individual pieces that make up the system. This is what is referred to as a utility patent instead of just an individual design patent. Much harder to infringe on which is an obvious advantage for us.

In pricing your new product (as I found the hard way) it is never the actual cost of the manufactured product that you create your profit from. To sell something electrically operated you require http://www.csa.ca/Default.asp?language=english - CSA in Canada and http://www.ul.com/ - UL approvals in the USA . This costs thousands. And your insurance to protect the public, yourself and your employees costs thousands.

Patents are cheap compared to paying a lawyer to fight against and protect yourself. Sh** happens. Be financially prepared. If you want to get growth you need a distribution system to sell it. This system will cost more than the actual unit. It goes on and on.

Hope this is helpful and we offer you the very best in your endeavor.

Good Cleaning and Good Luck!

Ted,

The UL listings are already taken care of. Currently, we are looking at different ways to distribute the product, but are mostly looking at selling several units at discount to some large corporation with WalMart being one of them

I will probably end up having it listed with janitorial and carpet cleaning supply places such as yours, but have to get over the fact that many people will do bozo cleaning with it and my main purpose for building it was to provide people that do their work in-house an affordable and effective package as well as suppying a unique national service company we will be starting in the future.

Because of the blessings I have received with the pricing on some of my parts, I am also able to enter the high-end residential market such as Rug Doctor, Electrolux, Kirby G4, Rainbow, etc.

I guess my biggest concern regarding distributing with people such as yourself is that I felt it may be a conflict of interest since I can build a better unit for less money than anything you currently carry.

I would appreciate it very much if you wouldn't mind giving me the procedure you would follow to accept new products however. You can e-mail me separately at mailto:van@cleantileandcarpet.com - van@cleantileandcarpet.com or mailto:vandene@consultant.com - vandene@consultant.com

If you haven't already, you are also more than welcome to visit my temporary URL's at either http://econocarpet.cleantileandcarpet.com - http://econocarpet.cleantileandcarpet.com or http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com - http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com

As I believe I mention on both sites however, I can build just about any combination of heat, vacuum, pressure, etc. a person wants using this continuous flow combination.

Thanks for your advice. I can use all the help and advice I can get.

Thanks and be blessed.        &nbs p;         Van

Bjorn,

It is only like a stemin demon in that the economy model hooks up to the sink. Any pressure model would hook up to the sink with a pressure pump in line. This can be a 100 psi model or an adjustable pressure pump up to 1,600 or anything in between.

The shopvac look is for the lower priced model, but I have several other casings if looks are what you are wanting instead of a great product at a great price. This shopvac looking model is extremely durable, has 200 cfm and pumps out the water while you are vacuuming at over 5 gpm. An incredible machine, especially for tile and grout cleaning.

Currently, we have models that provide up to 340" of water lift. This does raise the price considerably, but I am more than competative in price with anyone apples for apples. I most likely can match the apples and through in some extra fruit for the same money or less.

I don't understand the Rainbow connection at all except I do mention that we have the same "air scrubbing technology" they tout. Quite frankly, so does any wet vacuum system. The comparison stops there however. Much more power, Rainbow has no continuous flow system, they don't even mention their vacuum or psi, but I am sure it is not worth mentioning either. They cost $3,000.00. I start below $700.00 for model with vac, water hookup, injection device and wand.

If a person wants to get great results for their home or start a business on a shoestring budget, this is a great way to do it. If a person wants a more beefed up system, we can accomodate that to and match just about any portable while adding the continuous flow as well.

If you were being critical, it is because you haven't seen what even this economy model can do and obviously don't understand the overall concept. If you were just commenting wondering what I am trying to do. I hope this helped to clear up your confusion.

While I will most likely sell this to anyone including carpet cleaners and tile and grout cleaners, our reason for bringing it to market extends well beyond that.

Be blessed.        &nbs p;         &nbs p;      Van

Dear Sir,

I am about results. Nothing more and nothing less. The system you continue to refer to is designed to give great results (when used as directed) at a great price.

I will put even the base economy system (that runs directly from a hot tap water and no additional heater or pump) against most truck mount cleaners today.

I am disgusted with what is passed off as good cleaning equipment and good cleaning these days and hope to change that with the help of others that want to see true accountability through education take place.

The system you continue to refer to as a shopvac is simply a great vacuum with pumpout at a great price. For tile cleaning a person would be foolish to spend any more money when the system I have at http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com - http://econotile.cleantileandcarpet.com

I have already mentioned that I am not thrilled with the drying times I get on carpet which is originally why I got on this board in the first place.

If I accomplish what I intend to accomplish over the next several years. People will learn what to truly look for in a "pro cleaner" and won't be swayed by a pretty truck, fancy ad or certification alone. They will know to make sure proper pre-vacuuming, pre-spraying, agitation, acid rinsing and proper wand stroke is performed.

I have also stated before that the unit you seem to be stuck on is not the issue as to what I have. I have a new way of performing continuous flow cleaning that allows me to separate the water source and/or pressure pump (as well as any optional heater) from the vacuum and places a vacuum on the pumpout source. My original intent was to be able to designate the vacuum unit to handle more power on one or two cords (depending on model) without the amperage pull, weight, binding restrictions, etc. other high-powered continuous flow systems have.

I also wanted to create a true portable being able to have a hand-carriable unit. I currently have a 5 gallon model that has up to 249" of water lift and is hand carriable. The pump would also be hand carriable, but some of the pumps do weigh up to 65 lbs. so you have to be a little stout to carry that one.

I did not originally get on this board to even promote my system and it looks like it would be best that I don't continue to do so. I did not build my website or the temporary URL's for carpet cleaners anyway. I merely was asking for some thoughts from the board.

While the system is available for purchase, my main purposes for it aren't for selling to other cleaners.

I hear people talk a good talk while they knock other systems and cleaners, but the real question is do you put yourself under the microscope with each customer. I do

I have no problem with a truck mount and prefer one myself, but most of the customers I deal with have purchase pathetic self-contained extractors that while easy to use, do little more than wet the carpet and look impressive, but have no real performance to speak of. To make matters worse, they usually are used improperly by putting the detergent in the tank and so forth.

While this will probably never be on a WalMart shelf, WalMart would most certainly benefit from it when compared to the Stallion from NSS they currently have for their carpet. It also would help them keep their bathroom tiles looking new which at present, they have nothing. More importantly, it will do both at a price less than what they paid for the ineffective NSS Stallion.

You don't have to worry about me being like Ken and hawking my wares continually as it were. I have better things to do than selling a machine here and there.

I got on this site to try and find a way to increase my drying times on my economy system and ask about the Superglide and OP cleaning. Ken has been very kind in giving me OEM pricing to check out his glide and possibly sell them with my weaker systems in the future and John has been gracious enough to extend me an invitation to come clean with him.

While I have never been a fan of anything but HWE (when done properly) I am customer oriented more than money oriented and am looking forward to possibly offering them another alternative with VLM as I take this company forward.

Ultimately, my business objective is to eduate commercial facilities around the country (and possibly, the world) as to what to look for in equipment and/or cleaners. For those that are paying proper rates, but not getting the cleaning done properly, we will offer to take over the work, give them better results and make sure each supervisor/manager knows what should be done to keep my guys accountable as well.

For those with inadequate equipment (or inadequate techniques) or those that think they can get professional cleaning done for prices like $6.00 per hotel room, we hope to help them in getting better equpment and/or training or to show them how they can get $.20 - $.30 per sq. ft. quality for $.01 - $.05 per sq. ft. by doing it themselves properly.

Personally, I don't really care what you or anyone else thinks about my system, I am much more concerned with people getting educated so the bozo cleans of this world don't continue to run rapid.

From a personal standpoint, the profit from this invention and the many ways it will be used, is to help oppressed people in prisons and other places learn how to get rid of their stinking thinking and learn to set goals for their lives and becoming the people they were created to be.

I once heard from a very wise man when I was guilty of knocking his equipment without seeing the whole picture for myself. "Make your words soft and sweet because one day, you may have to eat them."

Be blessed.        &nbs p;         &nbs p;        Van

Vandene,

Do not take things so literally, especially when they are coming from Bjorn.  He likes to stir the pot and get under your skin.  I like your vision and attitude.  Keep up the good work.

Up here in Canada the carpet cleaning industry is a bit different.  The average cleaner does not get as much per square foot as an equivalent cleaner in the US and home owners are too cheap to spend even $700 US ($900)  Candadian for a home unit.  Who knows though,  you might just change all that.

Bjorn,

lol. I will pray for you.

Van

Just gives me somebody else to pray for. Jesus died for the pagans too. Hopefully, he will accept the precious free gift of His grace and mercy before it it too late. It took me 36 years so I know what it is like to live stupid and carnal as well.

I do hope you are kind to someone however Mr. Bjorn, living life bitter is not living. I will continue to keep you in my prayers.

I have not really found what I was looking for on this board and am becoming much too busy to banter about  at this time. I appreciate you all for your contributions and will use this resource from time to time, but I think it is better for me to focus on my original intent and not focus so much on supplying the janitorial and carpet cleaning business at this time.

I have already left my contact information for those that would like to know more about the different units and configurations I have available including my economy model Bjorn loves so much.

God bless you all and if you don't know Him, I can assure you He is real and loves you very much. Now that is something I would be more than happy to talk about.

Be blessed.        &nbs p;         &nbs p;      Van

vandene,

Welcome to the world of attempting to sell into the carpet cleaning industry. You are only getting started and already you are experiencing many frustrating posters. You are on the right track to deal with Wal-Mart.

When you receive a cheque from many carpet cleaners it is rubber. ( I assume you and myself have first hand experience). So instead of looking forward to an $800.00 rubber cheque it is best you wait for an $80,000.00 cheque from Wal-Mart. Not to say I don't have many wonderful paying customers. But our industry in general is noted for poor and slow payment.

And that's just the way it is.

I hate to say it TED but that's business everywhere... not just this industry, it's every industry...

I've done some work for Wal-Mart they took forever to pay 120 days...never again

Mr. Steamers right about his example of Wal-Mart. And, likewise, Ted is correct about this industry too.

I have learned ;however, that there is a way of protecting oneself against these kinds of situations.

I have never forgotten that "you cannot be everything to everyone" and you cannot be their banker either. Simple logic.

Good Fortune to all;

Ed Valentine

cross-american corp.

wow!!!

vandene,

Since starting this topic you have generated many views and replies. Not bad for less than one week. You keep this up and you may get the slot machine prize.

Who knows, you may become the new doug of the board.

P.S.
I will answer your email next week as it requires some thought on my part.

Vandene

Still waiting to go clean some nasty carpet, hopefully we can work on that one in Lex that is giving problems.

I prefer getting into DIFFICULT cleaning projects, otherwise you won't know for sure whether the system works as advertised.

John,

I am looking forward to it as well, but right now getting my first few sales under my belt has to be my priority. I have gone broke and then some putting this together over the last few years and need to recoup some of that as soon as possible.

Currently, I have several large companiens showing a great amount of interest and am very busy trying to get one of them to close. I am very interested in your system however. If for no other reason, to give those that need a VLM system the right one.

While I most likely will remain a HWE guy myself, I have been more than impressed with OP cleaning as the best VLM method available and want to be able to offer that in the future.

We seem to be quickly going the way of Dell Computer in that we will most likely be building systems customized for the customer based around our patent pending continuous flow concept. I now have a hand-carriable waste tank with pump-out that gets 149" of water lift on one cord and 249" on two.

I'm in Lexington a lot however and I will try to at least set up that Alltel building I was telling you about. I don't know of any dirtier carpet than that one and will at least try to get an opportunity to do a demonstration there soon.

Send me your number again, either on this board or through PM or my e-mail at mailto:van@cleantileandcarpet.com - van@cleantileandcarpet.com

Look forward to meeting with you soon. Be blessed.

In His Grip of Grace,

Van

I look forward to it as well Van, thanks.

859-873-0273