The birth of an Aero Tech XT

[Mikey P]

you'll have to excuse me while I go pay tribute to Ken Snow..

 

[Art Kelley]

You'll have to excuse Rampage, Ofer. That front end crash rattled his brain. If I were looking for a dual wand machine this would be it. But it doesn't fit my business model. But anyone who single wands with this dual wand machine is just using half of it's capacity and wasting a ton of money.

So, Dave, what's your post more about: Hyper professional advise or self congratulating?
We'rI can't understand how anyone that calls themselves a professional doesn't seriously look at these machines. I understand if you cannot afford one but you can save. Most try to justify why they don't need one and all the reasons I have ever heard are dead wrong. I think it's un professional to not want to give your customers the best. Many will argue my last sentence and it's up to a true professional cleaner to read what I said and figure it all out.
Originally Posted by Dave Rampage I can't understand how anyone that calls themselves a professional doesn't seriously look at these machines. I understand if you cannot afford one but you can save. Most try to justify why they don't need one and all the reasons I have ever heard are dead wrong. I think it's un professional to not want to give your customers the best. Many will argue my last sentence and it's up to a true professional cleaner to read what I said and figure it all out.

I took my chance on this evil company and am so glad I did. It's time I get to say to Mike and others I told you so! I hope many of you learned through the vortex

mania to be careful of board hype.

I had 2 Vortex's but bought them before they were the talk of the board. Dave
I took my chance on this evil company and am so glad I did. It's time I get to say to Mike and others I told you so! I hope many of you learned through the vortex

mania to be careful of board hype.
e getting confused here. Then, again, it could be that we ain't professional enough to differentiate between the two.

 

[AshleyMckendree]

3 Reasons to have a V/AT:

1th. (Above all) IMAGE... I have customers come out of their home, wide-eyed staring at my truck, complimenting how "Impressive" it looks, and the 1-2 phone calls we have received every week just from those who have seen our truck out driving. We cleaned a sectional and an area rug for the president of one of the larges HOA's in town yesterday, who simply went to the
website on the side of my truck and made an app online. He will be including us in his "Recommended Service Providers" in his monthly Newsletter to 1000+ homes

2rd. Dual wanding (DUH) Despite not having a third person to help handle tables, hoses, pre-spray, we have cut every large commercial jobs cleaning time in half. even though we are tripping on hose, stopping to move things, pre-spray etc.
When we DO have a third person, its REDONKULOUS how quick we blaze through jobs.

3nd. Single wanding, Really, REALLY far away. Nuff sed.


4st. 4 upholstery tools!! We had to clean 200 Individual cubicles & chairs for a call center, we ran 2 2.5 @100ft hoses into the building, hooked up to wyes. and ran 75ft of 2" to each uph tool.

Finished in under 40 minutes.

If you HAVE the work lined up, the V/AT will make you money so fast, it should be illegal.

 

[Scott Rampage]

The Cintas trucks are just built better, with better and stronger components than just regular aerotech trucks. Maybe?

The cintas trucks are built exactly the same.

 

[Vincent Feehan]

That's very impressive unit

 

[Mardie]

Lots of intelligent thought put into the design of this unit and nothing seems to be rinky dink. BUT seeing is that heat is a determining factor for hwe production. How many Gallons per minute will this unit heat at say 220F going flat out ??

 

[dealtimeman]

Depends on ambient temp and psi but is Should be able to keep up with 7-8 gallon per minute at 500 psi at 220 f , with no problem accept that the pump can't pump that flow. You will "never" run out of heat while cleaning with this mobil cleaning plant.

The heat exchanger has so much surface area, being one of the largest heat exchangers in the industry, and the available heat from the trucks engine exhaust, you will never run out Of all the hot water or steam you want. Very efficiently ran at something like 2 gallons of fuel per hour the btus are there and have great potential. Some guys run 3 wands off of one unit.

 

[Mikey P]

My vortex will run two 012 wands at 210 all day long

The AT should be able to top that by 10 or 20 degrees



Although its not necessary .

 

[Aero Tech XT]

Here is the 48" long under body box for extra storage


Fuel fill line.


Passenger side


Driver side


Each door has 3 chemical / Misc. shelf's

 

[Aero Tech XT]

Depends on ambient temp and psi but is Should be able to keep up with 7-8 gallon per minute at 500 psi at 220 f , with no problem accept that the pump can't pump that flow. You will "never" run out of heat while cleaning with this mobil cleaning plant.

The heat exchanger has so much surface area, being one of the largest heat exchangers in the industry, and the available heat from the trucks engine exhaust, you will never run out Of all the hot water or steam you want. Very efficiently ran at something like 2 gallons of fuel per hour the btus are there and have great potential. Some guys run 3 wands off of one unit.

We do advertise fuel consumption at max engine speed at 2.1 gallons per hour however, this is at a full load on the blower (16" Hg of vacuum, 1000 psi water pressure) or worst case scenario. When dual or triple wanding carpet, you would be around 12" Hg vacuum and 500 - 700 psi. At this load, you can expect to consume 1.6 gallons per hour.

 

[Aero Tech XT]

3 Reasons to have a V/AT:

1th. (Above all) IMAGE... I have customers come out of their home, wide-eyed staring at my truck, complimenting how "Impressive" it looks, and the 1-2 phone calls we have received every week just from those who have seen our truck out driving. We cleaned a sectional and an area rug for the president of one of the larges HOA's in town yesterday, who simply went to the
website on the side of my truck and made an app online. He will be including us in his "Recommended Service Providers" in his monthly Newsletter to 1000+ homes

2rd. Dual wanding (DUH) Despite not having a third person to help handle tables, hoses, pre-spray, we have cut every large commercial jobs cleaning time in half. even though we are tripping on hose, stopping to move things, pre-spray etc.
When we DO have a third person, its REDONKULOUS how quick we blaze through jobs.

3nd. Single wanding, Really, REALLY far away. Nuff sed.


4st. 4 upholstery tools!! We had to clean 200 Individual cubicles & chairs for a call center, we ran 2 2.5 @100ft hoses into the building, hooked up to wyes. and ran 75ft of 2" to each uph tool.

Finished in under 40 minutes.

If you HAVE the work lined up, the V/AT will make you money so fast, it should be illegal.

Congratulations Ashley!

i am sure you will get a lot of work from that lead!

 

[Aero Tech XT]

So Jeremy, I see countless (super impressive) tweaks/improvements over my 2004 Vortex.

What percentage of these design changes came from ideas of end users? Vlad? Ted? De'ette? yourself or ..?

Mike this is a tough one to put a number on...... really its a mixture of all. There are many changes / options we have come up with because of our customers.......so we have to say thanks to all of you!

 

[Mikey P]

That tool box looks lower than the back step...yikes.

 

[Mikey P]

We do advertise fuel consumption at max engine speed at 2.1 gallons per hour however, this is at a full load on the blower (16" Hg of vacuum, 1000 psi water pressure) or worst case scenario. When dual or triple wanding carpet, you would be around 12" Hg vacuum and 500 - 700 psi. At this load, you can expect to consume 1.6 gallons per hour.

How much fuel per hour does a 30 horse Kohler burn through?

 

[Cleantechsk]

In the past we ran dual rx20 (10 flow each) and could easily maintain 220-230, because that's what I set he truck at....

That is on an average 25-30c( 77-86f) day

 

[Jim Martin]

That tool box looks lower than the back step...yikes.

going to scrape a few drive ways with that................

 

[dealtimeman]

This truck appears to have larger tires and stiffer suspension than a regular vat, is ride height taller than the trucks with 16 inch rims?

 

[Aero Tech XT]

This truck appears to have larger tires and stiffer suspension than a regular vat, is ride height taller than the trucks with 16 inch rims?

Yes, a little taller. This is a heavier chassis.

This chassis is an Isuzu NQR rated at 17,950 GVWR

tires are 19.5"

same engine, transmission, just bigger axles, springs, wheels / tires, and brakes.

 

[Jim Martin]

Yes, a little taller. This is a heavier chassis.

This chassis is an Isuzu NQR rated at 17,950 GVWR

tires are 19.5"

same engine, transmission, just bigger axles, springs, wheels / tires, and brakes.

Mine runs 19.5.......same set up same...axle..springs....bumper height......etc.....and I have 4 or 5 driveways that I drag going up and down......I would rip the bottom of that box out on a few of them.......

 

[Larry Cobb]

How much fuel per hour does a 30 horse Kohler burn through?

Mikey;

With our 34 HP Kohler @ 2600 RPM . . .

and a light load of 12" Hg . . .

we would use ~1.2 GPH.

Larry

 

[Mikey P]

Thanks Larry

What about your mythological 59 unit?

 

[steve g]

So Jeremy, I see countless (super impressive) tweaks/improvements over my 2004 Vortex.

What percentage of these design changes came from ideas of end users? Vlad? Ted? De'ette? yourself or ..?

aren't you forgetting shawn

 

[Mikey P]

who?

 

[Lint Basket]

I'm sure a big thanks to Michael Shoney. That guy is like Calloway to the Corvette or something like that. Shaneys show truck was the beginning for the shelving/racking system, three jug chemical system, wider step etc.etc., and shortly after had his hands involved with the dual pressure regulators. I’d love to see Michael and Jim Martin with an endless budget and Vlad to engineer everything they came up with and just trick one of these out. Not saying it already is however but it would be cool.


I got to test this show truck the other day with Jeremy. Mikey said it, it is the Bugatti (power mirrors baby). Cleans the same as my 2006 UD AT, but it is way tricked out. It's bullet proof from all the beatings from the Cintas 24/7 employee punishments. Nothing compares I'm no mechanic and have no desire to ever be one and that’s my number one reason why the extra 30 G’s vs. a new slide-in or direct drive van is so well worth it. This is the machine to have if you run employees not the other way around people(Cintas hello)…

The buying two for the price of one theory of having two vans (if comparing new) does not equate. Buying used it does and for a reason. Two used truckmounts for $20,000 or 1 used V/AT for $45,000 (comparing year, hours, and miles). You do the math on that? Who made the better investment and is the smartest business person now? (Jim Martin and Rampage can tell you about re-sale value). 80,000-100,000 miles on a slide in or direct drive Van and you better be a good mechanic, an AT is just breaking in. You can get 10-15 years out of an AT easy. That is some serious math people, I don’t get it? Whatever, I’ll just keep being the Big Show in town. I may not get calls every single day from drivers by like others claim. I do however get my customers scoping my rig all day long and often ask how much one of these goes for? I say “oh about One Hundred” and they know I mean business, they love it. If they’re really interested I’ll give them a tour.

We used the Show truck on 3 jobs from 9am to 4pm with an hour lunch break and 25 minute windshield time between jobs and made $1000.00 Dual wanding. Then jumped in my AT and did a small commercial job from 4:45pm to 6:30pm to top the day at $1400.00. Maybe that’s my number 1 reason to rationalize the small pecker truck?

I'll be helping Aerotech at Connections come visit. I’ll be wearing an Aerotech/Prestige Carpet Cleaning shirt. I don’t work for them I just happen to live close by, have an AT, Test their new AT’s here and there for them, and get to help them at Connections sometimes.

See you all in Vegas.

 

[Mikey P]

Great post Scott

Glad to have you back.

 

[Mike Draper]

I do believe if they say the new AT only uses 2.1 gph. That being said, My firend has one, great machine in all aspects, except his 06 uses a ton of fuel, more than any other machine I know of. His fuel bill last year was 18k.

 

[AshleyMckendree]

The best estimate I can come up with is 2gph at 1750 (Dual wanding, HG stays around 17, PSI @900)
But I have a totally different system, smaller engine, 59 blower.

But what people don't understand is 2GPH dual wanding, is only 1gph per wand!
My Butler uses 2.2GPH PER WAND
My Judson Uses 1.5gph Gas 0.8gph Propane (2.4 gph total) PER WAND

So apples to apples, the Vortex wins, BUT there is another equation, Each wand on the V cleans faster due to higher lift/Cfm/flow than my Butler or Judson.

Each wand can clean Almost 1.5x faster than your average entry level TM.

all in all you get way more SQ FT PER GALLON!

 

[Mikey P]

Draper you buddy has a problem.
My vortex gets better mpg than my judson/dodge or my Butler did.

 

[dealtimeman]

So take that draper! Boom! In your face!

 

[Desk Jockey]

So take that draper! Boom! In your face!

You do realize your cost of sale goes though the roof running one of those bad boys unless you're dual wanding, don't you?