another questionable service

cgibson

cgibson

facilisales Machine
This place "just had it cleaned" but was unhappy with their service done last month.
Calling for "competative offers".
1 small hood, 20 ft lateral, 3 access doors, 1 vertical 15 ft and 1 fan.
Pita place - not a lot of cooking.

Who can figure out what was wrong with the prior service???

PS you have seen this company's work before.
 
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Chris,

Tell us how much time you figure it will take to completely clean that system, with scraping and pressure washing? It appears the previous cleaner didn't spend enough time on the job.
 
Chris,

Do you ever get curious about what they paid for that kind of work.

They aren't Exhaust Cleaners so they must be Hood Cleaners.

I always promote Exhaust Cleaning as opposed to Hood Cleaning.

I sometimes ask after I've given the estimate, not always but sometimes. I would have asked on that one if it were me.
 
It kind of looks like a feeble effort beginning and they gave up. No real attempt to do anything. I would like to here what happened. Maybe they got started and P/W broke down, they loaded up never to return. Just curious what happened.
 
No I think with all the jobs a lowballer can get they are really busy. I bet it was a one man crew that still had two jobs ahead of him.
 
Didn't see any fire suppression pipes? What's up wit dat?
 
Michael T said:
It kind of looks like a feeble effort beginning and they gave up. No real attempt to do anything. I would like to here what happened. Maybe they got started and P/W broke down, they loaded up never to return. Just curious what happened.
Click to expand...

Just so you know, LA is unique in that we are mainly a scrape only town. Trying to get customers to have their systems steam cleaned or pressure washed is like pulling teeth. In the last few years some companies out here have been starting to pressure wash everything but the majority are still just scraping.
 
That must suck at times. Scrape only town! What only farmers get to use the water. I guess it has its advantages though your biggest expense to get in to the business is batteries and razor blades. I know you do alot waterblasting too Matt.

Do you use any stoneage tool. You know what I mean not rocks. If so which one on how big a machine. PSI GPM
 
My guess is the guy paid about 100.00.
When I follow up with the owner I'll find out more info...
This job should be about 4-6 hrs including a crawl of the lateral.

Not only is LA a "scrape only" town the work you have seen in these photos is the most common.
 
Can you explain why it is mostly a scape only town. I don't get it sorry but I'm slow like that.

Is the EPA looking for pressure washing companys or what?
 
Scape only! I bet you have some homemade tools that you could get patents on.

I don't see how you can get leverage on a duct that is 18' 12"x12" straight down. Somewhere in the middle you lose the leverage and angle you need.

By the way have you tried the magnetic scaper and does it work as well as my brain thinks it works. Thinking of buying one.

and Matt,...

Interesting tools over at http://www.stoneagetools.com. Could you imagine getting paid say $5,000 or more for a one day job vs the city having to dig up the pipe, street, sidewalks or whatever that would take weeks or months in some cases.
 
David, Holy Crap! That is some serious water jetting tools. A Floor surface cleaner @ 28 GPM. Ive seen the hydro demolition on a bridge overpass. Removed everything but the steel. All the concrete and asphalt turned to sand. Unfreakin believable.
 
Do you think they make more than a hundred an hour?
 
CAN YOU IMAGINE 12,000 PSI AT 80 GPM????????
A ductspinner on speed x 100
The chinese restaurant's hood would disappear and you would be left standing there next to your machine. :D

Use of 3D waterblast nozzles can often completely eliminate the need for vessel entry. They allow more thorough cleaning than possible even with men in the vessel, and they complete the job more quickly. Downtime costing $ 15,000 per hour in lost sales is not unusual for a process plant, making the service more valuable for the contractor who can turn the clean vessel back for production in the least downtime. 3D Nozzles work by rotating jets about two axes at 90 Deg to each other. The jets eventually cover the entire interior surface of the vessel from one stationary location.
Hurricane 3-D SELF-ROTORY TOOLS
FAR BETTER THAN VESSEL ENTRY!
Safer, quicker cleaning with fewer people mean
less expensive downtime, making contractor services more valuable
PATENT 5,947,387
SPECIFICATIONS
Weight 29 lbs 13.2 kg
Length 11.3 in. 29 cm
Pressure, Max 12,000 psi 800 bar
Flow Range 15-80 gpm 55-300 l/min
Rotation Rate 5-50 rpm 5-50 rpm
Flow Rating 2.5 cv 2.5 cv
Pressure Loss @ 50 gpm 400 psi 280 kg/sq cm
Inlet Connection 3/4 npt 3/4 npt
Pump Power, Max 500 hp 370 kw
Nozzle Arm Ports 1/4 npt 1/4 npt
360 DEGREE JET PATTERN
Reaches in all directions for complete coverage ! Index pattern of 1.4º gives maximum space between jet paths of 3 in. at 20 ft. diameter. (Cap omitted for clarity)
 
David,

Most of the companies in LA have spawned from just a few, and since the pwing has only been around for a few years here, those companies have just done it the way they learned from where they used to work.

I have tried the magnetic scraper and it works well on those hard to reach spots on verticals. It is fairly useless on the laterals unless you can actually climb in. You have to decide for yourself if is worth the $300+ initial investment.
 
For every PW company here in LA there are probably 10 "scrape only" companies.
 
So like most razor scapers your angle of attack is everything. Pitty, I had high hopes for that scraper when my eyes caught sight of it.
 
Ever seen an oil derek up close. They drill thousands of feet down using 2000 psi @ 200 GPM.
 
I think I have made up my mind in respect to the magnetic scrapers. Somewhere I read one can save approx 20 minutes per job on a B/K or similar QSR simply by using a magnetic scraper. After that claim I actually timed myself on this exact application. I average less than 3 minutes per duct - approx 6 minutes total on 2 ducts using an adjustable angle on a heavy duty extendable pole. Perhaps we have perfected the use of this combination - file in pocket to sharpen scraper each duct and change angle of scraper bite in relation to distance - but it is very, very quick and thorough. Impossible to save 20 miuntes per week, much less than per job. Another idle claim based upon an excursion into cloudland.

Richard
 
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