Gum Removal Machines

Hot water pressure washer. I have seen someone use a true steamer to remove gum, but it was VERY slow. I will say that there was no discernible damage to the concrete when they were done, which is more then many contractors can say.
 
We do gum removal by using hot water and a variable pressure wand to make sure we don't damage the cream or etch the concrete.
 
We have the H & M - with heat to 150 degrees Celsius, I have a clip on hotbox and also a single operator and twin operator dry steam machines. These are 180 degrees Celsius.

Our work is on well known supermarkets and though the dry steam machines are slower they definitely have their place.

A lot of our work is in live environments, with passing footfall and there would not be any chance of using a hot pressure washer.

The pros and cons are -

Hot is quick, can cause damage in the wrong hands and cannot be used in live environments, no chemical is required (most of the time) and there is no messing around changing machines over.

Steam - I have found that the machines do not travel well and the first thing we do is reconnect small pipes that have come apart, you may need a generator for power or will have a trailing supply lead, they are slow, the chemicals are expensive, the brass heads work out at about £3.00 each ($4.69) and you can go through them on a good day.

The good bits are that it is difficult to cause damage to the surface, the work is relatively easy and the end result is always excellent (with no residue) and is much better paid.

The chewing gum removal work in the UK is difficult to gain - we do so much of it because of who we work for. I don't know what the regs are over there but here it is something like - If gum is raised it must be removed within two years, once flattened it is no longer considered rubbish and is ignored.

We have a massive problem with it and I am pushing this side of the business because it is such a UK wide issue!

Good luck

Rob
 
Rob, do you have any videos you can post here or on youtube on the gum cleaning with your different methods of gum removal?

Here in the hot states, the gum seems to become hard like concrete, almost like petrified (very, very hard and hard to remove) and takes way longer to remove than regular gum, seems like sometimes minutes per piece with 180 to 200 degree F water.
 
Christopher

Sorry not been on for a week. I don't have any videos at all but I am doing a chewing gum removal & graffiti leaflet for next year so will be getting some up to date working photos, to go on it.

Some gum 'pats' are just a nightmare to try and get off. We have struggled with gum taking up to several seconds with hot water but the 'dry' steam machines don't seem to have any problems at all and are consistently around the five second mark.

A good squirt of chemical, agitate with the brass brush, whilst steaming away and off it comes. They are good pieces of kit but if I got a call tomorrow I would prefer to take hot water over the dry steam machines and probably because my works vehicles just aren't set up to carry them day in and out and a decent sized generator is also needed.

Rob
 
Just yesterday I got this idea to hook up an old tiny electric pw (1.5gpm, 1500psi) to my large burner to see if the flow switch would have fits with it and it actually worked pretty well. The burner cycled about every minute or so when set at 180 degrees. I think that's okay, someone correct me if I'm wrong. My thought is I can run the electric pw off the same generator that runs my burner fan and pop gum with really hot water but lower psi/flow so as not to cause damage. Meanwhile my 5.5gpm can be used by the other technician to rinse with cold water. Basically its an $80 gum removal machine and takes up about 1 square foot on the truck. I haven't tested it out on any gum yet though, so it might be too weak, but I hope the heat makes up for it.
 
Michael,
I just emailed you a video of my gum machine at work. it is rarely 5 seconds per piece. more like 10-15. especially on old gum. the lack of concrete damage was right, but there were other problems that I couldnt overcome. Plus, it left a nice big clean spot in the dirty concrete that had to be pressure washed anyway. I have gotten rid of them because of the speed of the hot water pwer. You just have to be careful on the concrete.
 
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