What about using an old HOST machine as a CRB?

[pwaldron]

Thank you for the opportunity to learn about floor care from professionals. I work for a country club and all that means is that everything has to look great at no cost - the show with no budget. I've begun an encap system with an old 175 and Releasit products which has produced dramatic results. We have about 80,000 sf of carpeted space that is broken up across two campuses and increased productivity over regular HWE has been a blessing. We also have a HOST machine that we use VERY sparingly - only for mid-day emergencies due to cost - and I was curious to see what anyone thought of using the HOST equipment with the Releasit product. The brush sets we have appear to be robust enough to do the job. What do you think, as a stop-gap until one day when my budget stops getting cut in favor of new lamps ... or back scratchers .... or underwater basket weaving programs!
Thanks again! Pete

[MikeB]

The Host machines would work just fine with releasit products in my opinion. Host was one of, if not THE originator of the crb style machine. Don't quote me on that one. LOL

[encapman]

I agree with Mike. The Host machine will certainly work to scrub the carpet. I't's not a sledgehammer, but it'll get the job done.

[Derek]

which Host model?

i can speak from personal experience: the older creme models that are only a CRB are terrible for encap...and that was with the aggressive Zebra brush rolls. unless all of your carpet is in great shape to begin with, then i'm sure it would be fine. but i know that i have zero accounts that are in good enough shape to get by with just that model Host machine.

i always post about this when it is brought up because, if you are new to encap and try using a Host, you will be so disgusted with the results you might give up on encap altogether.

just my 2¢

[MikeB]

Derek, I was thinking of the larger liberator machine for encap. In theory it seems like it should do well and it even has on board vac For those customers that might not be able to wrap their head around the "where does the dirt go" issue (I think the vac can be switched off too) . I haven't tried the small host but seems like it should work at least for scrubbing traffic lanes.
Just depends if you want to take the gamble and shell out 1000 or so for a used liberator. I have seen the small creme ones for 200 or so.
I haven't tried either of these machines. Just shooting from the hip here.


Sent from my iPhone

[Derek]

Mike i totally agree, the Liberator is heavier than the little creme one i owned before. weight is key!

[pwaldron]

Thanks guys. The HOST machine we have is the first generation Freestyle whihc is pretty heavy, as those machines go. I saw the new Whittaker Trio which seems like the ultimate CRB system. I received a new Windsor Nuwave which does a phenominal job cleaning as a vac with CRB - it just costs a fortune for only being a vac. Unfortunately you can't just turn the brushes on without the vac or I'd use that instead of the HOST!

[Derek]

maybe your host is heavy enough? give it a whirl

[bonedrycarpet]

I have a host-the smaller cream colored one. I tried it with 2 sets of different brushes and it was terrible...did such a poor job I almost cannot get past it to try true encapping. I am so close to buying a cimex...dam host ruined me for about 6 months...tried the sponges but what a pita...vacuuming ad nauseum...what a way to lose customers when they need to vacuum out tiny sponges for the next 3 years.

[Derek]

i've posted this reasoning several times over the years, i don't know much but i do know that.

the only ppl that should recommend a Host for encap are the HWE manu's