I wonder...

by milspec6 Mon Oct 07, 2013 10:59 pm

I was cleaning out my garage today and found a bunch of old military manuals from my younger days and it made me wonder. I spent most of my time as an NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) Warfare expert and we used to have a M17 LDS decon apparatus to wash down vehicles and equipment. This was a self-contained heated pressure washer that would run dual wands and heat water up to 248 degrees with an incredible gpm flow...although I don't recall the pressure anymore, but you had to really hold onto those wands or they would jump from your hands from the pressure.

Why do I bring this up? This machine was set-up similar to the El Diablo and could heat water to 248 degrees off the diesel burner, run dual wands with high flow, take up very little space, can be carried by 2 people, and did it with a 7 hp engine. If you rigged up a blower, you would have a pretty darn good machine for our industry, but even more to the point, how is it that modern machines struggle to match that performance? This apparatus came out probably in 1988 and with the exception of some burner ignition issues, was pretty impressive.

Might have to check the surplus auctions to find one and rig up a blower!

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/marinefacts/blm17.htm