MAINTENANCE
• If at all possible , when not in use , the truck or van should be stored in a garage .
• Always point the exhaust from your machine or van away from homes and buildings . Never park and operate your truckmount in a garage or carport , not matter how cold the temperature is . Unfortunately , carpet cleaning technicians every year are overcome by carbon monoxide emissions coming from improperly placed or parked
truckmounts and vans
What should you do if you must store your van and truckmount outside in the elements ?
If you do have to store your truckmount and van outdoors , and you are depending on an electric or fuel fired heating system to keep the inside of your van warm , make sure the heating capacity of your heater is strong enough if the temperatures drop into the single digits or even below zero .
Keep in mind if your electricity goes off during an intense storm , that the power has been taken away from your electric heater . Consider purchasing a remote temperature sensor with an alarm that will notify you if the temperature in the van drops below 32 degrees F . These are generally available at your local home improvement store . If you would prefer to purchase on-line , just go on-line and do a search for “ remote temperature sensors with freeze alarms .” There are even several more expensive sensors now that can notify your mobile phone if the temperature in your van gets near freezing . If you are not going to use your truckmount for more than a week , freeze guarding with antifreeze is your best choice .
Here are some suggestions for operating your truckmount in extreme cold temperatures
• Because of the extreme cold the vehicles should be kept running ( unless they are equipped with electric engine heaters ). Keep the vehicle closed with the heater running until you are ready to clean .
• The first thing you want to do is transport all your wands and tools into the heated home or building . Do NOT put them outside of your vehicle . Do NOT leave them outside on the porch . They can freeze in seconds if the weather is cold enough .
• For most optimal cold weather cleaning , you will want to transport your own water to the job with a fresh water tank . Avoiding the need to hook up to an outside faucet and deal with the potential liability of turning on a potentially frozen outside water source is a great start .
• If you do not have a fresh water tank , and have to hook up to the customer water consider hooking to a bathroom or janitor closet faucet indoors using a faucet adapter kit . Until you get the water flowing from the water source to the truckmount consider starting with warm water for a few minutes . Use warm inlet water to aid in the inlet hose to keep it from freezing . However keep in mind that many solution pump seals are rated at 180 º F so be cautious in using extreme hot water to the water box on your truckmount – don ’ t overheat the inlet of the pump . If you have to use an outside faucet , the key is to keep the water flowing , even when your truckmount is not demanding more fresh water . One idea is put a Y splitter on the garden hose at the van feed and the run another garden hose off of the Y to the customer ’ s lawn ( keep away from any sidewalks or driveways ) and then crack that valve to keep just small stream of water flowing . That will keep the water flowing constantly through your incoming water hose but still keep pressure in it to fill your water box .
• Many cleaners will run a water supply hose and a solution hose inside of a length of 2 ” vacuum hose . The solution hose helps keep
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