[steven Banks]

Has anyone has had any experience of the chemspec steam genie?

I know someone who has been offered one. It has a fresh water tank, but also what looks to be a header tank next to the actual machine with a float switch inside. Whats the purpose of this?

It has a linamar lx 790 engine and a hydra-cell pump. Not sure what make the blower is but it looks big. Looks like the machine could be a dual operator too. I think the machine is quite old (1990) but works well enough. Not sure if getting hold of parts will be a problem because of the age?

So any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

[homenclean]

Try Richard at Chemspec in bradford he`s a decent guy and will give an honest opinion.

Plus he`ll know about spares.

John

[Buckland]

You can probably find out more actual info on google about the specs of the Steam Genie especially from US sites than anyone on here could tell you - but I agree it is useful to find someone who has experience of actually using the machine - sorry I cant help you with that - but I can tell you the header tank is to feed the pump and allow you to wand with plenty of flow and allow for increases and decreases in usage

the engine is 20hp and was made by onan (later taken over by Linamar) which has alot of history and are supposed to be very reliable - widely used in generators and small tractors etc - its probably aircooled which will make it the noisy side of noisy - I have experience of running (amongst others) a 24 hp watercooled tm engine and that is noisy enuff - good luck with your new tm!

[steven Banks]

it's watercooled. Thanks for the help!

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

Just an update on this post...

It appears that this is the machine that i have purchased for a winter restoration project. Well when the machine arrived it was in one hell of a state... oil everywhere and frame badly in need of repainting. Frame has now been repainted and is fit to fight another day. Got the machine running and went on a fault finding mission. Linamar lx790 air cooled 20hp engine was ok... just needs servicing. Exhaust heat exchangers had small hole but has now been silver soldered and pressure checked by myself...works fine now. Various ires have been cut and taped and some electrical connections are missing but will be easy to sort. 45 blower works fine and has paint job done on it. Exhaust in good condition so has been rust treated and heat insulation bandage wrapped arround it. There was a split pipe from hydracell pump to heat exchanger but has been remade at cost of £25. The water box needed a good clean and the intention is to replace the float switch (been ordered from Chemspec) Another fault found was the dema chemical injection valve was split due to freezing so after considerable research and contact with dema the part has been replaced with compatable a original is not available. The heat sensor will be replaced so will the skinner valve. Upon inspection of the waste tank I found it has as standard auto pumpout and boy was this in a state. Completely clogged up with silt/soil due to bad maintenance. Gave it a good clean , checked electrical curcuits and to my suprise... it works. The waste tank itself had about 10inches of silt/mud in the bottom so that has been cleaned out also. The machine came with full hose reel that seems to be in goog nick. There is also 100ft of 2" vac hose that can be reused and 100ft of solution hose that can be reused once fitted with new ends. The casing of the machine has also had a new paint job and the machine is about ready to be rebuilt. Having contacted Chemspec about this machine I was so impressed as they have supplied me FOC machine user manual, wiring diagrams, water flow charts and a full list of parts they have had stored away for years. Luckily the parts that were needed were there and have also purchased other parts for future use.

[steven Banks]

I had that machine offered to me on a plate. But it looked like it needed alot of work and was made in 1991 or there abouts. The story the seller told me was questionable. I think he wanted £900 for it, looking back i should have probly bought it.

The seller told me that a guy was interested in it for his wife as a project  

He said £900 and it's yours, but i said no thanks let the other dude have it.

Ps, If you ever want to sell it, let me know. (now it's fixed)

[Paul Moss]

At 900 quid its a mega deal all day long. :
Well done mate for sticking your neck out and having a go. These are the kind of guy's that make it in our industry.

Now you have a top machine that will start you on a great money making journey 

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

The seller told me that a guy was interested in it for his wife as a project  

He said £900 and it's yours, but i said no thanks let the other dude have it.

Ps, If you ever want to sell it, let me know. (now it's fixed)

Yeh that was me. I already have a machine that was manufactuared by steem Genie. I have bought this one as the onan engines are bullit proof and the other machine i have is a propane heater so I wanted this as i know the Steem Genie machines to be very good and are very easy to work on and wanted one with exhaust heat exchangers aswell. This machine has heat exchangers from the blower and a set of three off the exhaust aswell so will produce very high temp. It machine is for my wife to run in 2012.

The machine is not completly fixed yet as needs to be rebuilt now into a van. The van is nearly ready so will be building over Xmas holidays/beginning of Jan. Just waiting for a 90degree bend for waste tank dump then hopefully tomorrow the parts from Chemspec will be here but if originals work the new bits will be kept as spares.

I have spent about 24 labour hours in total to get it ready for rebuilding and I reckon I can get it rebuilt and running in about 8 hours then allow another 8 hours for fine tuning and sorting any issues that are unearthed on rebuild and testing.

Total spend upto yet is about £1250 and that includes the initial purchace of machine. When complete I will post pics.

[steven Banks]

My lack of knowledge to fix it put me off.

The story he told me about this guy who didnt pay him for work he did, so the seller went and took the van and machine away....put me off. (i didnt want to get involved)

It looked abused when i seen it, as you say it was in a hell of a state.

I thought to myself, this could cost as much to repair as a good condition working boxxer 421 or maxx so with all that in mind, i walked.

Basicly, i had too many doubts. But i'm really pleased it worked out for you! 

[Paul Moss]

Steve, thats the sticking your neck out and having the balls to have ago.

They dont cost that much to repair and you dont need lots of knowledge, i learnt as i went and now know my way around the machine and can fix almost all problems.
The difference is amazing cleaning power and speed, and until you do it you will truely never know 

[steven Banks]

Steve, thats the sticking your neck out and having the balls to have ago.

They dont cost that much to repair and you dont need lots of knowledge, i learnt as i went and now know my way around the machine and can fix almost all problems.
The difference is amazing cleaning power and speed, and until you do it you will truely never know  

I'll buy a second hand boxxer 421 or spitfire 4.0 when one comes up for sale. I've used both Tm & portable machines and TM is far better (alot more of everything)

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

Well I thought... I have the engine manual and know the engine to be bullitt proof and easy to sort anyway. The pump I was not familiar with but easily found complete manual on internet for free. The blower is the same as my other blower and well change oil and regrease and its sorted apart from a paint job to protect it. The main issue I had was the exhaust heatexchanger had a small hole in it but after thinking about it i though "hang on...car radiators are copper and they get silver soldered" so got my blow lamp out and the silver solder and it took about 20 mins to fix the hole. The other issue with the heat exchangers was full of carbon so stripped em down and washed it all out with petrol and they are no now as good as new. My other concern was the wiring but after getting in contact with Chemspec(who initially sold this machine) supplied me with all the manuals water flow diagrams and a full wiring diagram for FREE so after abit of reading this is all easy to sort infact there is only about 3/4 wires to be repaired and one switch to replace. Barry from Chemspec knoiws this machine inside out and has given me loads of info over the phone.

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

The parts are here. Just been delivered and upon inspection aload more diagrams and info about this machine. I cannot praise Chemspec enough for the help they have given me for this project. They have supplied loads of information along with diagrams and advise aswell as raiding the stores for the parts for this machine. So what have we got... the auto pump out switch, a spare float switch for the header tank, a replacement heat sensor and a skinner valve oh and a new pressure regulator.

[Paul Moss]

Hey even if it did not turn out the way you thought, you could have just stripped it down and sold the parts  off individually and doubled your outlay

[steven Banks]

well, you have my doubts to thank for your project. I had the deal done, then decided not to go ahead.

I'm glad your happy with it.