[Blue City Cleaning]

Yep, thats what I wanna do. The only ones for sale at the mo are 2 used alltecs though.

[Joe H]

I would get a well proven second hand machine like a Ninja 135. I know a few guys who went out of business in a few months because they spent all there money on new, only to find they couldn't pay the rent 3 months down the line. The guy who bought their gear is still in business though.

They bought a new machine, but did'nt to market the business.

[Simon@arenaclean]

Cheers Simon.
One last thing cos you said you've used alltecs - do they have something to adjust the pump pressure? And would I be able to change the pump for a bigger one?

Thanks

The Alltec Pro Plus used to have adjustable pressure on the pump, handy for upholstery but I seldom reduced the pressure for carpet cleaning. I upgraded to 135psi but the step up was not massive. The Aqua 50 has an adjustable pump but the 40 does not. There are a lot of twin vac machines on the market that use 200 + psi pumps so an upgrade maybe possible, I would phone Chris at Alltec as the machine uses 2 leads. On mine one lead was for the pump and vacs the other for the heater. I'm not sure what adding a larger pump would do with regards to amperage draw on the same cable as the vacs... My Airflex has 2 cables the pump and 1 vac run of one cable the other vacs on the other. There should be room inside but Pumptec pumps are heavy and expensive, a 225psi from Woodbridge is £412 incl vat and then there will be fitting another £60+. That's getting on for £500 + the purchase price of the machine. In general terms I use between 200 - 250 psi on most jobs which is more than ample. Marks comments regarding pre-spray are not without merit, I cleaned with 100psi for years with no problems using tap hot water and only used the heater to keep water hot whilst doing upholstery. These days I use 25L containers which I fill before I leave and that gives me a start if I have to wait for immersion heaters.

Phone Alltec and see what your options for upgrades are on an older machine, if you're set on more pressure it may be more cost effective to look for a used machine with 200+psi pump as standard. Mytee, powr-flite, Raptor, Ninja etc

[Blue City Cleaning]

Thank you very much Simon for your advice.

I will probably go for the used Alltec Aqua 40 and maybe a used Scrubba de lux which should work fine with the aquas pump. The two will cost me around 1k which is all right I think. The only thing I'm worried about are the small water tanks.
The other option is a used alltec advance but would cost me same as above set on its own...

[ianharper]

hi

what you need is a way to adjust the water flow, this is important. as an example you can get pressure washers that high psi but very low water flow and dont clean as good as one with. the Ninja gives you this not only psi but a water flow control. I think a lot of manufactors don't put one on as they want to have a range of machines so you keep coming back and upgrade when you find out that the psi is not effective. most new start ups would not know about water flow so would go for psi. yet again power is not everything.

Respects

Ian Harper