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'The Prospector" vac clean out bin~~~ ****reviews?****

chaz

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I have not...though interesting idea. Always a messy job cleaning vacs. I hate tossing $ but I’m sure I don’t rescue all the loose change and occasional bills. I have found best way is to empty the vacs of debris once a day...just takes a moment .....obvious more intense clean less often is still needed
 

soapy

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I have the regular non sifting style in many of my vacs. I generally like them but recently found a drawback to them. I must have pissed someone off because a person went around to my location and filled all vacuums with shredded paper confetti, about a full trash barrel each. In one of the vacs they even sucked up a bunch of water filling the bucket up. It froze in the bottom of the bucket and no way to get that bucket out now until spring. I will probably drill a small hole in the bottom of all of mine now. I think we get a lot of big stuff that would have to be picked through before you could start sifting. If you wanted to do this you could make a sifter out of wood and square wire fencing for about $5.
 

Overachiever

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I bought one, figured why would you need more than one, you can just dump the other vac canisters into it. There's a ton of money in my vacs but I'd have to clean them a lot more often for this to maybe work and honestly end up just throwing most of it away. Plus it seems like every homeless guy in town has a 6th sense that a car wash vacuum is being cleaned and shows up to bug me during the process. If you have time to do it every couple of days I bet it would save a lot of time.

It doesn't work well if the stuff is wet (mines always wet). Bigger debris like candy wrappers, peoples hair extensions, used condoms, still stay in the canister so you have to pick around that.

Only time stuff falls straight through it like the video is when people are vacing up there broken car windows. I tried shaking it to get stuff to fall through it but its not really sturdy enough to do that and one of the handles popped off.
 

PaulLovesJamie

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I havent tried the commercial version.
But I did make a sifter out of scrap 2x4's & 1/2" hardware cloth about 25 years ago when a woman said she vacuumed up her diamond ring. She couldnt remember which vac, and of course I hadnt emptied them recently so they were all full - hence the "sifter" which still sits in a corner of the ER.
I've only had to use it 3 times. Each time I got a LOT less coins that I thought I would, definitely not worth the effort at my wash. Thats been consistent for me, not enough to make it worthwhile.
Oh - no ring found. But the third time was just last summer, a tie clip that was grand-dad's, gold with a small gem. Sifted the dirt, no tie clip. Then I realized that since it was a clip not a pin, it *might* be stuck sideways in the hose, and sure enough it was. Wish I though of that before I sifted all that dirt.
 

MEP001

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I made one out of two buckets and a piece of hardware cloth by cutting the bottom out of two buckets, cutting a disk about six inches bigger around than the bucket, making some snips in the disk so it would bend easier, laying the disk over one inverted bucket and cramming the other over it. Then I can set all that into a third bucket and empty a vac into it. It was all a huge waste of time because I have to clean the vacs every day or it takes forever to sift, or there's a ton of big bulk I have to remove with my hands, or the dirt gets wet and I can't sift it. It's much easier since I clean them every day to just pick up what's on top and throw the rest away. I still get $4-5 in silver coins a day if I beat the homeless to them.
 

STXCW

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We bought 16 to try at a couple sites. We found that they fit well in JE Adams vacs and are a bit to big for IVS but the door does close ok. Looks like they work ok since its easier for employees to sift through the dirt and find change and gives them an incentive to clean them more often.
 

JGinther

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Do you guys lock your vacuum trash door or something? All of our vacuums are reliably cleaned out every night by I don't know who. The bigger the lock, the bigger the prybar the cleaning crew uses.

I think the better invention is a spring return trash door.
 

Kramerwv

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We always leave unlocked. Small mess a couple days a week well worth not having damage from when we used to lock
 

bert79

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Ours are always locked. They havent been unlocked in about 30 years. No break ins. Knock on wood.
 

MEP001

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I used to have no real troubles either with leaving them unlocked or putting a lightweight padlock on them, but my new-to-me wash I just can't keep them out, they leave the doors wide open, they throw the dirt everywhere (and the vacs get used so much I'm pulling about $300 from them twice a week) and there are between two and six people who go through them every day. I may end up with the world's most secure vac cleanout locking system just to keep them working.
 

JGinther

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I may end up with the world's most secure vac cleanout locking system just to keep them working.
Gosh, I really really hope it includes a booby trap. Would really love to see a small explosion in the dirt canister that totally covers them dust when they open it! I will buy you the video camera if you do it!
 

KleanRide

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Gosh, I really really hope it includes a booby trap.
I've been scheming on that idea too. Would love to rig up a device that I can control from my phone. Sitting in my easy chair in the evenings...watching the cams...punching a button and dousing trash diggers with skunk scent, pepper spray, raw sewage...

One can dream, right?
 

OurTown

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If it happens mostly at night then how about a strobe light?
 

KleanRide

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If it happens mostly at night then how about a strobe light?
I've thought about that too. Would also help discourage overnight car campers. Only problem is my neighbor is a Public Storage and the manager apartment sits adjacent to my parking lot. That strobe would push her over the edge.
 

soonermajic

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I used to have no real troubles either with leaving them unlocked or putting a lightweight padlock on them, but my new-to-me wash I just can't keep them out, they leave the doors wide open, they throw the dirt everywhere (and the vacs get used so much I'm pulling about $300 from them twice a week) and there are between two and six people who go through them every day. I may end up with the world's most secure vac cleanout locking system just to keep them working.
$30k/yr is unreal for vacs!!! That's enough to hire a dam armed guard, or install shock sensors & alarm to local PD
 
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