[Darran Pryce]

What do you thin is the best In line heater?

V2
Magma
Mytee Hot Turbo
or another make
Pro's and cons

[jmj]

Darran,

I've had a magma and a powerflite heat exchanger, the powerflite was the better option for me. I had the powerflite for 3 years and used it on most jobs without any issues at all. It hasn't got a thermostat, so you can't turn the heat down. However if you want heat then its usually turned up high. The magma was fine but I just found the thermostat to be temperamental  sometimes coming on and other times not.

[john martin]

CFR from amtech best value / performance .  12amp heater.

Ashby's .. probably the best design / performance   . More expensive .

Mytee ... Just 8 amps and stupid price in UK ...about 900 ...are u kidding ...in the USA it's about £450

Alltec exotherm ...just 8 amps and too expensive for that .

Magma , no real advantage over CFR .

[mjm]

I have the magma heater had no issues I put it on 7.5 ft  of close to wand i just move it when I need to

[homenclean]

Had the Ashbys heater and sold it, the ninja has a good in tank heater which suites most jobs if I need to boost the heat I have the Craftex heater which I have adapted to sit on the handle of any of my machines.

Normally only use it on long hose runs or commercial jobs, saying that not often I run more than 50ft.

John

[Lewis Newby]

Had a magma for over 3 years and worked fine but needed a few repairs -thermostat faults . Replaced with a portaheat from amtech and couldn't believe how much hotter it got and faster then the magma .so far so good and less to go wrong

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I’ve seen the Alltec one in the flesh and seen it working and it was very hot, I like Alltec they tick all of the boxes for me with customer service and build quality but that’s me.

[john martin]

Yes , should have stated the the Alltec above would be 10 amps @2400w   ,  ( although the inbuilt one with the express was just 8amps )
The Mytee also 10amps @2400w

However they are £800(alltec )  £900(mytee ) +vat
The Amtech CFR portaheat , even though built in the USA ... Shipped over here ( like the Mytee )  sells for around 500 +vat
... and it pulls 12amps @3000w

There is no getting away from the fact that more amps /watts = more performance .

Gotta love steambrite for tweeking things  ...   here they replace the  four 600w rods in the mytee with 850w rods  , bring the total to 3500w   (that would be about 14 amps here ....  see the performance difference upping the power brings .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5kxzmeHxMc

part 2   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWc0_fqUVtc

[Mike Halliday]

I’m still waiting for a distributor to start bringing in the  Little  Giant  propane Hesters used in the USA by carpet cleaners, probably only any good for people who leave the machine in the van but They will give massive heat at high flow, which would be especially good for companies that clean hard floors

http://www.little-giant.com/water-heating-products/carpet-cleaning/gas-carpet-cleaning.html

[Mike Halliday]

But then you should feel lucky you don’t have to use something this size, this is what I’m fitting in the van to use with my pressure washer, it’s a diesel  heater but runs on 12v so can use the van batter to power it.

Sorry the pictures on the side... (tilt your head )

[john martin]

some heater comparisons here  ...   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBo8AgCR_44
your diesel scores highest mike .

2400w is the max practical in the usa 120v so you could add a bit more to his score if it was 230v 3kw

i have heaters to cannibalize  ... gonna build a 6000w two corder pretty soon .

[Darran Pryce]

Has anyone used the steam station inline heater? Spotted one on Youtube.  https://youtu.be/z0doz1LIl6s

[Mike Halliday]

some heater comparisons here  ...   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBo8AgCR_44
your diesel scores highest mike .

2400w is the max practical in the usa 120v so you could add a bit more to his score if it was 230v 3kw

i have heaters to cannibalize  ... gonna build a 6000w two corder pretty soon .

I’m using a diesel heater that is 18yrs old and has never gone wrong, the only reason I’m changing it is it’s 240v so needs a power cord taking into the house. They are the king of heat but the negatives are they are bulky so you need a big van and the need a chimney of some sort or the inside of the van can get a bit dirty. ( my new burner is a new type of clean burn design which  is supposed to be  cleaner)

I did see a carpet cleaner a few years back who was using the smallest hot pressure washer available as a pump & diesel heater, this was the size of a small portable but would offered 1500psi and 100 degree heat,

[Mike Halliday]

This for £600 would do the job, you get a pump and a diesel burner for the price of an electric inline heater...to be honest this would be the cheapest way to do it so I would spend a bit more but it give an idea of what could be used

[gwrightson]

I will have a hot box for sale shortly if I don't sell my tm,
going to strip it down, Infact I will have 2 I bought one as a spare never been used .

Geoff

[john martin]

Has anyone used the steam station inline heater? Spotted one on Youtube.  https://youtu.be/z0doz1LIl6s

Is the guy even around  , i dont see any social media activity in a while .
I emailed him a few years back , it was around 700  .  I asked what was inside it , got a sketchy reply , but he said its not based on the usual ' heat a metal block and run water through it principal ' 

[john martin]

This for £600 would do the job, you get a pump and a diesel burner for the price of an electric inline heater...to be honest this would be the cheapest way to do it so I would spend a bit more but it give an idea of what could be used

This is def worth looking into  ...  when i had a look a couple of years ago i didnt see anything that light  ... or cheap

[steve swinney]

That little pressure washer still require's a 240v power cord & it pulls a good bit of watts. It would also require a pressure regulator fitting as it's controlled from Lance end of sorts.

[john martin]

it would difficult to use as is alright , there is the issues of pressure adjustment , and hot water returning to tank etc

But it must have a tiny boiler compared to the lavor type that is probably too big for a carpet cleaners needs .
Wonder could you rip it apart ... remove the pump   ... and have the burner modifed as an 'on  demand ' inline heater  , hotbox , that you could leave outside the door or outside the van perhaps. 
I dont know enough about them generally to know whats possible .

[Mike Halliday]

The problem with using a diesel boiler is the control of the amount of heat it produces,  it fires up and gives a massive amount of heat,  when you let go of the trigger and stop the flow the burner might stop but there is still a massive amount of latent heat within the heater coil that still transmits into the solution. This causes massive heat spikes as you then pull the trigger again.

You need a bypass valve to divert the water back into the freshtank, so you set your machine at 350psi then the second uploader after the heater  at 300psi so your machine pump pushes 50psi back into the water tank, so rather than water standing in the heater when you let go of the trigger it trickles through the heater so stop the massive build up of heat.


You also need to adjust the flow switch so it activates at a lower flow rate , as these machines normally operate at 10-15lt a minute