In all honesty, how much faster is a 19" cimex over a 15" one?

I'm just trying to see if its worth dishing out $2500+ for a 19" if my 15" still performs well and is paid for.

thanx

Joe

What follows is part of an email that I sent to someone that was asking how much faster the 880rpm unit is over the 400rpm. I know it doesn’t give the exact answer you were looking for but it might give you a little insight, I hope it helps.

“It seems to be at least 50% faster than the 400. I say 50% faster because after all, how fast can you actually push a machine for an extended period of when you think about it? What you won’t have is areas you missed or dry spots from pushing it to fast. It will scrub the carpet very aggressively, but at the same time I have never seen any damage done; not even on residential carpets. I DO NOT suggest using the weights on any type of carpeting, which would be a bad idea. Yes I feel, as well as one of my guys that has extensive experience cleaning carpet with both the 400 & 800, that the 800 does a much better job.”

David Gelinas
Marbleguy

It comes down to simple math. The 19" machine is roughly 25% larger so it will cover about 25% more area with each cleaning pass. It's also heavier and will dig in a little but more aggressively.

So there are performance advantages to the 19" machine. On the other hand, you have a 15" machine that's paid for. Ya can't beat having something that's paid for.

Perhaps as you continue to grow your business you'll find that having two machines will be helpful for knocking out LARGE jobs with a helper. But until then you can likely manage fine with what's already paid for. So I'd say hold off until you're ready to add another machine.

What kind of salesman am I, telling you to hold off???
No. No. I meant to say you really need to replace your 15" machine with a shiny new 19" model





Rick Gelinas
encapman

Regarding Dave's comment about the 880 rpm machine for carpet.
Sorry Dave but I have to say I disagree with you.

880 rpm is too fast to safely recommend for carpet cleaning. I know you use your 880 rpm machines in your business for carpet. I also know that you're even crazier than I am (imagine that). However Dave, there's a limit to what we can reasonably expose carpet fiber to, and 880 rpm is edging over the top IMO.

I have run your 880 rpm machines on carpet. When we did the large 40,000 sq ft job together earlier this month using your 880 rpm machines it became even more obvious to me that the 880 rpm machines are not as effective as the 400 rpm machines for carpet cleaning.

NOw I know what you're thinking, how can 880 rpm be less effective than 400 rpm? Simply put 880 rpm is too fast. At 880 rpm the machine spins over the top of the carpet. It kind of glides over the surface, practically hovers is how I would describe it.

At 400 rpm the machine digs in. It has a bit more resistance as you push it across the carpet. Rather than gliding over the carpet it gets in and scrubs the tufts of fiber. I've cleaned literally millions of square feet of carpet with the 400 rpm machines and I can say without a doubt it's a nice match for carpet cleaning. I've also cleaned carpet with the 880 rpm model, granted not millions of sq ft, but enough to recognize that it isn't as well matched for carpet cleaning.

Well there ya have it, my unscientific appraisal of the two machines as they relate to carpet cleaning. The 880 rpm machine is "da bomb" when it comes to grinding and honing marble. Whereas the 400 rpm machine is very nice match for carpet cleaning and floor scrubbing. I imagine that is why Cimex produces the two different speeds.






Rick Gelinas
encapman

What kind of salesman are you? an honest one. Thank you for your input. I am like that, too, if I know a client doesn't need all the "bells and whistles", I won't forcefully upsell them. I WILL demo, lets say, teflon, etc. but I won't beat them over the head with it. They usually come around and buy it anyway!

Thanks for the honest answer, rick!

PS I will be sending you the tax stuff by the end of the week...

Rick, This is your board and you should always be right here. But, I am going to disagree with your math. The 19" machine is not 25% larger it is more than 50% larger than the 15" machine.

The area of the circle cleaned by a 15" machine is about 177 square inches. The area cleaned by the 19" machine is over 283 square inches, an increase of almost 60%.

If there are open areas with no obstacles to manuever around, the 19" will save a lot of time. This savings will decrease as the space to manuever in gets tighter.

Scott Warrington

Thanks for the help Scott. Math was always my weakest subject.

Now let's see. If I end up selling the machines for $100 less than we pay for them, we should break-even after selling 100 machines. Right?





Rick Gelinas
encapman

I was just about to raise the same point as Scott.

I find this comes up a lot with the old 2" hose and 1.5" hose debate.

2" is much larger, 1.78 times, and it matters when it comes to air flow.




How have you been Rick?

GREENIE