TRUCKMOUNT CARPET CLEANING – WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Why would any business spend £30,000 on a truckmount machine if they thought a £5000 portable would do the same job?
Carpet Cleaning Systems
There are numerous cleaning systems and different divisions within those systems but for our purposes we will concentrate upon hot water extraction (HWE). Many people will be familiar with home-based cleaners or those available for hire shops and dry cleaners. Some of these combine brushes for agitation with warm detergent but they all have common features:
Warm water from the tap or heated onboard & mixed with detergent.
Some means of spraying this mixture onto the carpet by pump or gravity.
Vacuum extraction of the moisture on the carpet collected in a waste tank.
Typically, these machines are very low power – low pressure spray and low vacuum (air flow) to collect the dirty water. Pressure and suction matter, which is why brushes are employed to try to compensate for deficiencies. Such machines can be purchased new from £200 - £500 and are rarely/never used by carpet cleaning professionals.
Portable Machines
Technology has moved on massively in the last few years and professional machines offer much higher solution pressure, most commonly 150psi – 500psi with variable
pressure adjustment, whilst machines with 800psi – 1200psi are available. What’s more, the solution can be heated in the water tank (kettle type element), augmented
with in-line heat exchangers. Vacuum technology has moved on too: most machines have twin or triple vacs to aid water recovery. These machines range in price from
around £1500 to over £5000. The technique here is to connect solution and vacuum hoses to the machine and run them to a cleaning tool (wand) which utilises the
solution pressure to clean and then extract. These machines are very good and Scimitar makes use of them when truckmount cleaning is not possible, mainly due to
vehicle access.
However, there are drawbacks for the operator and the customer.
At least 2, often 3 power cables plugged into the mains supply with electricity consumption to match.
Higher pressure means higher water consumption which in turns mean more filling, heating and emptying although some machines have auto fill and emptying via yet more hoses/cables – 7 in many cases trailing around the property. Filling and emptying means down time, even with two operators.
Limited hose length due to vacuum limitations. Manufacturers claims about portable machine operating distances are often unrealistic.
Cleaning and drying performance – until you have tried a truckmount clean, as a customer or operator the difference will not be appreciated.
…even the lowest specified truckmount has much better cleaning performance than the most powerful portable ...
Truckmount Machines
As the name suggests, the machine is permanently fixed into a truck or van. Like portables, prices vary, but from a little over £10000 to around £40000. That’s just for the machine and not including essential ancillary items such as tanks, wands, hose reels and hoses which easily amount to more than the price of the most expensive portable. We haven’t spoken about the price of the vehicle and the fitting costs but the total set up for a new system is anywhere from £40000 to £70000. Why would any business spend this sort of money if they thought a £5000 portable and a small used van could achieve the same results? The answer of course is that they know the same results and productivity cannot be achieved.
What is a truckmount machine? The essential components are the blower (vacuum) and high pressure water pump, typically variable from about 200psi upwards to 1000psi – 1500psi and up to 3000psi for top spec models such as our Everest 650HP. Power comes from an engine – ours has a 1.6L car type fuel injected motor. Another key component is the heat exchanger which can produce extremely high temperatures at the tool head. Here too, hoses run from the machine into the property but there is rarely any need for additional
hoses and cables which makes for a neater job site. Most machines can easily
cope with a 300 – 400 feet hose run and the top machines like our Everest 650HP can operate up to 800ft with no loss of performance. Top specified machines like ours can support two operating teams (dual wand operation) which make light work of large commercial jobs.
This photo is our Everest 650HP – the big blue square is the machine itself, the
blue bottle with a tube (left) is a 20L concentrated solution tank which mixes with fresh water (tank out of sight inside the van) and the tall blue box at the back is the waste-water tank.
Don’t you deserve to experience the best in carpet cleaning?
Customer Benefit
Customers want to know what is in it for them and here are a few advantages over portable systems:
Self-contained – the van comes with its own water supply, power for the machine and waste-water is taken away
Jobs are much quicker due to more effective cleaning and less down time so there is less inconvenience
No trailing big machines through the house or up stairs
Power – in the form of controllable heat, variable water pressure and variable levels of suction means that dirtier carpets and tough stains are dealt with more effectively
Some scenarios require water extraction that portables simply cannot manage
Much faster drying times
Operators of truckmounts invariably have more experience and qualifications to justify their investment
Usually no price hike for this type of service – prices are comparable with most good portable operators
