[heritagecleaning]

Well I've just done a 5 hour round trip to pick this up and I must say I think it's a good buy for £330

Why?
1. One of the vacs is a 5.7 electro fitted by Altec 9 weeks ago and he gave me the receipt for £195
2. The immersion heater is also virtually brand new, again fitted by Altec
3. Although it looks very tatty this is not damage from abuse - what was thought to be a black machine that had been scratched was actually a granite-grey machine that the guy had tried to spray black but the paint has started flaking off all over. You can actually rub it off in places with your finger!

I have taken off those old badges and I think with a bit of effort at the cosmetics I can bring this back to being a very nice machine 

Does anyone know if Masterclean are still about or where spares can be got?

Cheers

[Simon Gerrard]

Looks a mess, to be honest and therefore not very professional.
These machines were only £999 new, £330 for that seems way too much.

Simon

[john martin]

 I would be tempted to try a quick sanding followed by a can of plastic primer and some spray bumper paint .

[steve prince]

It looks a mess, if your buying it I would try and knock him down to less than £300.
There's alot of elbow grease required to get that half decent

[from edge2edge]

Good buy Owen mate just paint it new vac and heater so should be good enough....Alan

[Carpet Dawg]

yeah looks extremely tatty and if its that tatty outside chances are the innards will need replacing soon.

[heritagecleaning]

I do agree it's tatty, but that can be worked on.

What made me think it was a reasonable machine was that there was a decent combination of 2 x 3 stage vacs, a good pump and heat too.

I would be buying it as something to fall back on for the interim period between blowing something on my main machine and getting it replaced.

Perhaps replacing the one original vac straight away would be a good idea?

[john martin]

from a quick search of the vintage posts , it would seem to be in series , with one cord powering the pump and one vac  .... and the other cord powering the second vac and the 2k heater .
I would put a HD electro (available from Alltec or wherever )  replacing the vac on the pump cord .... and put the newer vac ( whatever it is ) on the other cord ( it might be there already .

[Mike Halliday]

The pump alone would cost more than you paid for the full machine, if it all runs then it's a bargain, it looks a bit rough, can you buy a tarparlene cover to fit over it?

It's very hard to make a crap knackered machine work long enough to fool someone into buying it, if it works as you pick it up then it's pretty much an OK machine.

If I was offered it for £330 I would have bought it

Run it as it is until it needs something replacing it might last ages, replacing working parts 'just in case' is a waste of money

[heritagecleaning]

Interesting replies, thanks you to everyone who has taken time to give their view.

Mike - good idea with the cover. Another idea I had was to get some vinyl stickers with the business logo on to cover some of the worn areas.

[Carpet Dawg]

Of course, only replace when things fail. But maybe worth researching costs of motor, vacs, heater and pumphead before buying considering a purchase. Then there is all the piping, quick connects, waste gate gasket etc that might need changing. Its all money, time and hassle.

If I was you I'd offer him 250 see what he says.

[CleanerCarpets]

Its a back up machine, its got a decent Pumptec pump by the looks of it and 2 VAC's - how it looks doesn't matter if it does a good job of finishing a job if your main machine let's you down

Don't replace anything if it all works - my old Ninja ain't the prettiest but she has helped me along the way and I've not spent a penny on her

When you go, just check all pipes for leaks - you want to check all round the pump head as well as underneath - leave it running for at least 10 mins if you can - take a short solution hose without a connector at one end so you can keep recirculating the water into the clean tank and then check all the hoses etc in the guts

Check the dirty tank lid seals OK and if she suck and squirts with no leaks the peace of mind is worth the cost alone.

The little portables tend to make great spotters as well as they are so easy to take off and on the van and actually have some ooomph unlike the 55psi spotters most manufacturers sell for extortionate prices!

[heritagecleaning]

Exactly my thinking - something with enough oomph to finish the job without breaking the bank. To be fair there isn't much bank left to break

The bonus of a new heater element and one new vac makes me think it's a reasonable buy. I will tidy it up though.