How to set up a 6x10 carpet cleaning trailer (pics)

Kipp

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Every time I build a carpet cleaning set up my first thought is time. I want to have a set up that allows for the quickest set up and tear down times as possible.

That being said I believe that all your equipment and hoses need to run out the back of the trailer. This allows you to back up, open your doors and start setting up quickly. I opted for barn doors as that is the easiest to use and also gave me additional storage space.

The trailer is a 6x10 tandem axle Vision series by Look Trailers. Obviously you don't need to order a brand new trailer. I did this primarily because I wanted a customer height trailer for my garage, and 6x10 tandem trailers are very hard to find anyway.

I wanted to run the shortest trailer possible to keep my weight down and make it as maneuverable as possible as well. I think you will see by the pictures below I still ended up with ample storage space for tools and equipment in this trailer.

The trailer has dual electric brakes, smooth finish exterior, dual dome lights, diamond plate floor, washable finished interior, 15" radial tires, heavy duty tube frame with 2 5/16" ball, drop torsion axles, and custom 12" drop height (makes it 82"ish) overall height. Interior height is 60".

When setting up a trailer it's a good idea to have your layout design drawn out before committing to the trailer. Shop around there are lots of different sized tanks, reels, and shelving out there which allows you to really customize your set up.

Here are some pics of the start of installation. I still have a few things left to do, I need to hook up my soft water system, install my live swivel for my pump out reel, install clips on the wall to hang my grandi groomer, grout brush etc.


Here we are just starting to lay things out. The custom water tank I ordered to be just the right size so the wast tank would fit right next to it. The tank is 80 gallons so plenty of water even for larger jobs. I chose to run dual Devastator filters for maximum vacuum from start to finish on the job (more on this later)
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Placed the tank next to the water tank, Whew! close fit...nice! I was little nervous because I forgot to account for the dump valve coming out of the side of this waste tank (bottom left) Just enough room to get an elbow on it though.
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I had a custom frame fabricated for the hose reel to lift it 10" off the floor. This allowed both Devastator filters to be mounted below. Then I ran my 2 2" hoses from the waste tank directly into the back of the filters. It is really easy to pop the fronts off the filters and spray them down between jobs. I opted for the stainless baskets in the filters which I really like. Soft water system is installed (not hooked up yet) and we anchored that with a filter housing (not shown). You can also see the blueline APO as well. Great pump out and a must have when you run a small waste tank set up like this (55 gallon I think).
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Installed machine, it's a old Prochem 150a that has quite a few mods done to it. first the 16HP motor was replaced with a 20HP Kohler, the 36 blower was replaced with a sutorbilt 45 blower. I ordered custom pulley's so with the motor at 3000 rpms the blower is spinning at 3600. The flow switch will fire at .5 GPM flow and the diesel burner nozzle was upgraded from a 1.25 to a 1.75. This machine will get 260 degrees in under 60 seconds.

I have both a pump out switch and water pump switch on the machine. Temp gauge, hour meter, temp control, liquid filled lift gauge, water pressure gauge. You can also see the custom diamond plate 5 gallon chemical jug I ordered tot he left of the machine. Above that on the wall is where I plan to mount the clips to hang my grandi groomer, grout brush, etc.

The top hose reel is the pump out, 100' of 5/8" flexzilla hose, I have a 3/4" live swivel to mount to make that reel live so I only have to pull off what I need to set up my pump out. Below that is gates solution hose (165') I have a custom 115' piece and 50'. I did this to match up with my vacuum hose with is amflex custom vac hose. I have a 15' 4TD section that is Y'd to a 100' piece of vac hose. I hated all those jobs that were like 10' more than a 100' run that I had to reel off an extra 50' of solution and vac hose just for an extra 10'. So my standard run is 115'.

I did not go with a live solution reel for a couple reason, one I am tired of the swivel always leaking, two since I am running so hot with this set up I don't need to fry 50' of hose I won't be using much and lastly I don't want to lose that 10-20 degrees of heat going through hose I won't even be using most of the time.

You can see the 4TD part hanging off the reel, so I just pull it down and hook those two hoses to my dual Dev's then just pull off the hose. The fresh water reel is at the bottom (3/8" flexzilla hose), that is live and will go through the soft water system to the water tank.
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I ordered some custom aluminum accessories from blazin trailers. Below you can see my nitrate glove dispenser and box of rags dispenser. That hose you see there hooks up to my spray gun off my hydro force sprayer, I can use it to spray down the trailer, tools and my devastator filters between jobs.
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On the other door I have a hydro force holder and custom bottle/paper towel/ and mini drop down table.
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Inside the side door to the right I have two hose holders for my dri-master upholstery tool and my 1.5" reducer whip (I use this for both my dri-master and stair tool) I have clips on the wall to secure my gecko tile wand.
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Below that I have my PC quad wand that has a clip in the floor at the handle and a clip in the side up my chemical jug holder to secure it.
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I hot this fan shelf off Ebay for a great price. I have miscellaneous stuff on there, I will be reorganizing this how I want it later.
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To the left of the door there is another chemical jug holder behind my battery electric sprayer and vacuum cleaner. You can also see my 175 machine there as well.
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Then right inside the door to the left I put clips on the wall to secure my stair tool, it has a swivel head so I can mount it flush to the wall.
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I still have some work to do but you get the idea, anyway just wanted to show how much space you can still end up with in a 6x10 trailer with a TM, water tank, soft water tank etc....
 

Mother Hubbard

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that looks awesome did you do all the work yourself??? also I am interested in a water softener how do you hook that in and does the water go through as fast as you are using the water ?? you know when you are doing a tile job!
 

brian3180

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that looks awesome did you do all the work yourself??? also I am interested in a water softener how do you hook that in and does the water go through as fast as you are using the water ?? you know when you are doing a tile job!

I'm sure he will plumb the water softener to the fresh water tank which will then be connected to the machine. That's how mine is anyway.
 

brian3180

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If you haven't already considered it, hang your wands and grandi groomer horizontally to the ceiling. Saves space. Set up looks good. What will you be pulling it with?
 

procleanpros

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looks good 1k looks like you know your stuff!!! question, is that tile gecko the 14 inch with the brush on it? do you find it works better than the 5 inch gecko with with the plastic bottom??? but over all nice set up!!!
 

Kipp

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how did you mount the holders to the doors? Did you drill a hole all the way through the door than run a bolt thru it to the holder? was looking at doing that with mine but am afraid about drilling a hole thru the door.

No I only mounted things to where I had the flashing on the doors to hold it. I didn't want to put holes in my doors exterior.
 

Kipp

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If you haven't already considered it, hang your wands and grandi groomer horizontally to the ceiling. Saves space. Set up looks good. What will you be pulling it with?

Yeah I was thinking horizontally right above my chemical jug on the wall

Pulling it with my F150 (I have since put a 2" drop hitch so the trailer rides level)

IMG_09471_zpscc145147.jpg
 
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Kipp

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that looks awesome did you do all the work yourself??? also I am interested in a water softener how do you hook that in and does the water go through as fast as you are using the water ?? you know when you are doing a tile job!

It will go from my live hose reel to water softener to my water tank. My water tank feeds the machine...no it wouldn't keep up if you hooked directly. I ride with my tank full so I am always 80 gallons ahead anyway. The trailer pulls better with the tank full and you never know what job would not have water so pulling up with an empty water tank would defeat the purpose anyway.
 

bojangles

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looks good.

i agree, if you're out of a trailer you must be able to work out of the back doors, not the side door.

i saw a trailer on here last week where the hoses were coming out the side door, which could lead to logistic hang ups if the entry to the house were on the wrong side of the trailer.