I’ve been in the duct cleaning service industry for over a decade. The only vacuum/compressor equipment I recommend is engine powered, either by power take off from the truck, or by self contained slip in units that go into the back of a cube van. You can do a house in a fraction of the time it would take with the electric portable systems.
I had a Rotobrush, years ago. Different than yours. Mine had one large vacuum motor, which worked well. The bad part about the machine was the huge circuit board that controlled the motor, failed 3 times under warranty. When the warranty ran out, I yanked out the $500 board and trashed the fancy, expensive motor. I drew up a schematic and went to Grainger's and bought a cheaper, generic motor and a few relays. Wired everything up and it worked great for years. Never failed! I wasn't spending $500 a couple times a year for their crappy circuit board!
Let me be a little nicer. Rotobrush rotobeast doesn’t work well In trunk lines. It will clean round Pipe, but there isn’t enough of a vacuum to pull all the debris into the machine. If you pull each branch off the truck and inflate an air bag or tape it off then it will create the vacuum or negative air pressure needed to pull in the dirt. The best system is a negative air machine with air scrubbers, brushes with cables and air bags to isolate the system. Rotobrush offers those products but highly overpriced. I have a robotic duct camera I use to make sure I’ve cleaned all the ducts perfect. The videos I have of a brushbeast vs a negative air machine are night and day. I will remove the video because there’s probably many places that the rotobrush brush beast works Great. In upstate NY where we have large long trunk lines and old wooden return cavities it leaves 70% of the dust behind. It actually creates dust because it disrupts debris that have sat idle for years without sucking it into the small holes in the end of the largest hose. Also 6” or small Branch lines will not except the larger hose. When you switch to a smaller Hose your lose a large percentage of your vacuum.
Yep, it's only designed for flex, but it doesn't even do large returns well and I purchased the 24" brush through my company. It is the only machine I've used for duct cleaning as I'm new to the HVAC world, but trying to get good before and after photos for customers was a pain because the suction on this machine is so bad. I made sure to size the brush up and tape off other supplies to create some negative air pressure, but half the time, I'd have the brush off and just wiggle the cable around to give the system time to suck up all the dust it was throwing around. I really hope I get to use a good machine one day and see a real duct cleaning. Anyone who thinks the Rotobrush is an excellent product is a hack. $11k for a specialized shop vac? It does work, but I wouldn't say it does a great job on large flex (fine for stuff under 12"), and it's nearly useless on hard duct. I used a shop vac with a brush attachment on the end to get somewhat presentable before/afters.
I traded some 3d printers and a bunch of other things for one of these. Mine only had two motors and same issue you mentioned. The only good motor was the one that spins the brush. The suction was so weak, the dirt had to practically "touch" the vacuum hose in order to suck up anything. And even then it had to be very light. The irony is i bought an air wave system. ( Its the see through box that goes over the vents and you turn the customers system to fan on and the box has two holes. One for a vacuum and one for your agitator.) I used an air whip but use whatever floats your boat. Anyway that thing works like a negative air machine for like $250. Thats not including the shop vac or the air compressor but its way cheaper than a negative air machine and works pretty good in my opinion.
For what its worth, thank you. Im literally in the same boat you were in 2 years ago. Im doing research trying to figure out what the best investment is for me to get into duct cleaning and this helped me a lot.
The Rotobrush that we have uses the van mount carpet cleaner vacuum , we have no problem with dust coming back in the house . Works well with no complaints.
If you use it properly, it is a great machine. The hose he is pointing at is the largest hose (not one size fits all) so of course it won't fit in smaller ducts. My package came with four hoses, different sizes for different applications, as well as a duffel bag full of different size brushes with different bristle hardness to accommodate flex vs metal duct. If it is used properly, it works great. People are looking for a miracle product that allows them to do mediocre work and get star results... that equipment doesn't exist. This system does exactly what it advertises, and works great if used right. For what is inside the machine, it is DEFINITELY grossly overpriced... but hey so is everything else in this industry. I made my money back in a matter of weeks, and I have profited greatly from owning this system and using it THE RIGHT WAY. The atomizer for deoderizing/sanitizing the ducts is a great addition that adds that "wow" factor for clients dealing with smells coming from the ductwork. For not having to dedicate an entire trailer to permanently installed equipment to haul around... this portable machine is great for the application I use it for. I can load it in the bed of a pickup if need be, and send a couple guys to knock out several cleanings in a day. I have had zero complaints from clients, we maintain positive reviews, because we do the work the RIGHT WAY. It's NOT trash... but it's also not $10k worth of technology in it... but as I said, you will make the money back quickly, and once you do, it is all profits with absolutely no overhead involved. No parts to purchase, no diagnostic time needed... just show up, do the work, get paid, pay your helpers, and count your profits! TLDR: I'm happy with my brushbeast, it works fine as long as you use it right, and although it is overpriced, the expensive price will pay itself off very quickly.
Also notice how rotobrush has their comments disabled on youtube. Also cant find reviews on google. My boss ordered this vecause he was sold on the hype from the RU-vid videos after my 220v hypervac stopped working. Long story short i want to fill the rotobrush with tanarite and make it go boom. I ended up buying my own motor 115v and retro fitting it to the hypervac. Now i can actually do my job and get it done right... i spent a couple hundred on retrofiting and the motor while my boss dumped 12k+ on that piece of shit.
Nikro negative air machine with a large gas powered air compressor with air scrubbers. I invested in that after the disappointment and it was unbelievable the difference. Also have brushes and a cable system that runs of any drill. Together that loosens any debris and the negative air machine sucks it right back to the hepa filter.
I got scam and going through everything you talking about. I'm paying for something that I'm not making any money off and stuck with this high ass bill
I put a 5 ton drive in a box ran flexible tubing to a collar I cut into both sides of the duck system. Cover All the vents with cardboard except the 1 you're cleaning it's like the intake of a jet engine. Start with the far ones and Finish with the close ones, jobs well done, Less than $500.00 worth of equipment and material. I'm sorry but what vacuum cleaner cost $11,000.
I own three of these. They are crap! I bought all of mine used from guys like you who spent way to much money. The company won't give me any service. I have made money though!
You can use any brand name even rotobrush, but they are overpriced. I just recommend a negative air machine with air scrubbers. That system works great. I went back to every rotobrush air beast job and gave them a free cleaning Using a negative air machine. It was Night and day. I have a camera that crawls through the ductwork via a remote.
It works great for me. I’ve had a couple problems getting into smaller metal ducts but it seems to work great. Customers even say how they can tell a difference after a few weeks.
Not true I use it every day at work the machine requires maintenance like anything with electrical and mechanical parts your the one that doesn't know how to use it right its not the machine it's who's using it 😂
Sorry you suffered such financial loss. could have been much worse though....could have lost your reputation as a quality service man! I bought an original rotobrush when they first came into business and knew then it was total garbage. i did like you did and went back and cleaned for free!! i'm long retired from the cleaning industry and am suprised to see this company is still ripping people off. negative air systems are best by far....hope you are doing well.
I’ve been using them for thirty years and had nothing but great luck with them , real not sure what you’re doing wrong but certainly you’re not doing something right !!!! Roto brush would be the first to help you out if you asked them what your doing wrong or something wrong with that machine you have !!!
They clean round 6” duct okay but when it comes to to trunk runs it’s horrible. It can’t possibly create enough negative air to draw in the amount of debris it turns up. It doesn’t compare to air scrubbers and a negative air machine. Do you own an inspection camera that travels the length of All ducts? If so give your customers before and after videos of the 28” return trunk when you are done. Rotobrush does not come close to air scrubbing.
Oh sorry you suffered. Look at my other videos! Maybe I’m just not happy with half ass jobs. I should say it works great on 6” 7” pipe. It vacuums some and pushes the rest to the main trunk. Rotobrush sucks at cleaning trunk lines. I invested into a big negative air machine with hepa filtration and a vacuum machine in a trailer. Then many different types of air scrubbers. You wouldn’t believe the difference. I’ll post a before and after video of A rotobrush shop Vacuum cleaning and a before and after video of a negative air machine. It will change your mind. Would you like this machine. I’ll give it to you that’s how bad of a Job it does.
Nope I am doing it right thats what the difference is between me and everyone saying I’m doing it wrong. Apparently nobody bought the 50’ inspection camera to check their work.
If you use it properly, it is a great machine. The hose he is pointing at is the largest hose (not one size fits all) so of course it won't fit in smaller ducts. My package came with four hoses, different sizes for different applications, as well as a duffel bag full of different size brushes with different bristle hardness to accommodate flex vs metal duct. If it is used properly, it works great. People are looking for a miracle product that allows them to do mediocre work and get star results... that equipment doesn't exist. This system does exactly what it advertises, and works great if used right. For what is inside the machine, it is DEFINITELY grossly overpriced... but hey so is everything else in this industry. I made my money back in a matter of weeks, and I have profited greatly from owning this system and using it THE RIGHT WAY. The atomizer for deoderizing/sanitizing the ducts is a great addition that adds that "wow" factor for clients dealing with smells coming from the ductwork. For not having to dedicate an entire trailer to permanently installed equipment to haul around... this portable machine is great for the application I use it for. I can load it in the bed of a pickup if need be, and send a couple guys to knock out several cleanings in a day. I have had zero complaints from clients, we maintain positive reviews, because we do the work the RIGHT WAY. It's NOT trash... but it's also not $10k worth of technology in it... but as I said, you will make the money back quickly, and once you do, it is all profits with absolutely no overhead involved. No parts to purchase, no diagnostic time needed... just show up, do the work, get paid, pay your helpers, and count your profits! TLDR: I'm happy with my brushbeast, it works fine as long as you use it right, and although it is overpriced, the expensive price will pay itself off very quickly.
I use rotobrush beast, and it’s not bad at all it works great. I also have nikro and hyper vac systems. You probably just need more practice in cleaning air ducts. 👌🏼
@@digdug5945 yes! I have the attacker pro set, it’s a little pricey but we’ll worth it. It comes with the air whips, forward and reverse skipper balls and two single whips and rods for main line as well as thinner rods to navigate through the branch lines. Also you might wanna order the rotary brush button lock cable system by Nikro it’s a great combination with the negative air machine. you can also check out LTE products for micro lines for cases when it’s impossible to remove a vent cap. They have the micro bullet line as well as the micro whip air line. Hope this helps.
My Rotobrush Beast works awesome and has made me lots of money. Suction is powerful! I’ve been dealing with Rotobrush for many years and have never had any problems. I enjoyed your video up until you kept dropping the s**t word, upon which I stopped watching. Hope things work out for you! 😊
The s word is offensive to you and you work in the construction field? Late Bloomer explains it. I’m speaking from experience its no comparison to air scrubbers. Rotobrush does not clean 20-30” square ducts doe S! Anyone saying it does isn’t cleaning ducts very well.
