Jim Coleman Carpet Cleaner Heater

[sparkey]

I have a Jim Coleman hot foam carpet cleaner/vac. This unit has a heater stuck to the outside of the cleaning solution tank which provides the heat. This seems like a big waste of electric heating the tank all winter for carpet solution which rarely gets used. I would think an on-demand type heater would be a huge improvement on this vac. It could heat the shampoo as it enters the hose going to the brush. Does anyone know of a on-demand type heater that would work in this application? Perhaps some other brand of carpet cleaner already does this?

 

[Earl Weiss]

I have a Jim Coleman hot foam carpet cleaner/vac. This unit has a heater stuck to the outside of the cleaning solution tank which provides the heat. This seems like a big waste of electric heating the tank all winter for carpet solution which rarely gets used. I would think an on-demand type heater would be a huge improvement on this vac. It could heat the shampoo as it enters the hose going to the brush. Does anyone know of a on-demand type heater that would work in this application? Perhaps some other brand of carpet cleaner already does this?

I think you have a couple of issues here.
1. How much does it cost to run the 24V Heat.
2. It also heps keep the tank from freezing (Although you really need anti freeze shampoo in cold climates.
3. You would need a fairly long coil of tubing / heat exchanger and there would be a significant time lag for solution to travel thru it.

 

[MEP001]

You could probably make something equally effective by coiling a length of 1/8" tubing and heat tape together and connecting it to the brush switch.

 

[Earl Weiss]

You could probably make something equally effective by coiling a length of 1/8" tubing and heat tape together and connecting it to the brush switch.

Been thinking about this since the OP.
1. Wouldn't the heat tape need to be 24V unless you got into realys and such?
2. How long do you figure the tape and tube would have to be to take cold fluid and heat it to a degree where it would still have some warmth coming out and what would the lag be. I'm thinking at least 50 feet to heat cold solution m0ving thru and then you have significant lag time.

 

[pitzerwm]

IMO, you might be better off cycling the "heat pad" to save energy. You might put an amp meter on it to see what it actually cost to run.

You could look at the Paloma and understand the design and issues, it would be the same only smaller.

 

[MEP001]

1. I don't know of a 24V heat tape that could run off a transformer that small and heat any volume of liquid, so a relay would make more sense.

2. Probably not very long - my first thought was to take a 6' length of heat tape, slide heat shrink tubing over it and loop the tubing through that several times, then shrink it to hold the tubing tight against the tape.

 

[sparkey]

My heaters are 120 volt. Maybe this is not origional. I wouldn't think it would take much to heat the solution, because it is going through a 1/8" or less hose and the fluid is barely moving. I did a little research and saw some heaters on the internet for converting desiel engines to vegitable oil that are used to heat the fuel line that might work. I use winter solution so freezing is not an issue.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Why don't you just unplug it? I have one Coleman and several Fragramatics machines (which don't have heat). I don't think anyone knows the difference.