# Dust control with a Bobcat sweeper?



## StuveCorp

I swept our lot this last week and the sand was real fine so it made a huge PigPen cloud, has anyone used a dust control attachment on a Bobcat pickup sweeper?


----------



## Plowfast9957

stuve the company I work for rented an attachment to sweep a road and they had a plastic tank mounted on it. I think it was around 75 gallons. They piped like 1/2 inch with small holes in it to the front with a valve to control flow.


----------



## Dwan

The dust control system on the bobcat is a must and is well worth the added price. For both your health and the health of others around you. Also you will get a lot less complants and do a much better job because the dust will settle in your bucket and not back on the parkinglot.


----------



## StuveCorp

Thanks guys, am going to stop in this week and price the dust kit.


----------



## vis

Dust control?

LOL we power broom all the curbs onto the lot, and then run a walk behind sweeper one pass around the whole lot, powerbrooming the corners...

then guys with BP blower + 10 HP Little wonder come by and windrow the sand and then the skid steerr comes by and picks up the heavy windrows.

once that is done all the dust is blown off in 3-4 passses with the walkbehind blowers.... comes out great.

when you wet the sand before sweeping it leaves a residue and doesnt look good IMO.

we wear dust masks and everything is fine...but its like working in a cloud some days when there is no breeze lol


----------



## Duracutter

vis;286496 said:


> Dust control?
> 
> LOL we power broom all the curbs onto the lot, and then run a walk behind sweeper one pass around the whole lot, powerbrooming the corners...
> 
> then guys with BP blower + 10 HP Little wonder come by and windrow the sand and then the skid steerr comes by and picks up the heavy windrows.
> 
> once that is done all the dust is blown off in 3-4 passses with the walkbehind blowers.... comes out great.
> 
> when you wet the sand before sweeping it leaves a residue and doesnt look good IMO.
> 
> we wear dust masks and everything is fine...but its like working in a cloud some days when there is no breeze lol


Doing it that way is ok if the parking lot is empty and no cars are around. You don't want to have dust over nice cars. It's best to do the parking lot with a sweeper unit that filters the dust in a filter. I know not everyone can afford one but it's the only way to go. You can also command much more money and get more contracts if you are clean and dust free. In the long run, you wind up making triple or quadruple the rates if you are running filters


----------



## Duracutter

Dwan;285939 said:


> The dust control system on the bobcat is a must and is well worth the added price. For both your health and the health of others around you. Also you will get a lot less complants and do a much better job because the dust will settle in your bucket and not back on the parkinglot.


I second that. 

Most guys I know who use the bobcat system complain they can't pick up the fine dust. Myself, I believe the sweepers that filter the dust do a much better job overall. Nothing but compliments when we do parking lots. It's not easy cleaning and auto shaking the damn filters, but in the end fewer complaints and a much higher rate is achievable with less complaints.


----------



## Oshkosh

*Water system*

A friend made up a water system for his Bobcat with all the parts coming from Northern Tool.
He mounted the tank on brackets up over the engine cover.Worked great for him....
It has been proven that sand dust is poison so anything you can do NOT to breath it would be a plus....
My old FMC sweeper had a pressurized cab to keep the dust out..Thats how much they wanted to keep the dust away from the operator...
Work smart and safe ,a couple $$$ isnt worth health issues down the road!!!!


----------



## Duracutter

Oshkosh;389754 said:


> A friend made up a water system for his Bobcat with all the parts coming from Northern Tool.
> He mounted the tank on brackets up over the engine cover.Worked great for him....
> It has been proven that sand dust is poison so anything you can do NOT to breath it would be a plus....
> My old FMC sweeper had a pressurized cab to keep the dust out..Thats how much they wanted to keep the dust away from the operator...
> Work smart and safe ,a couple $$$ isnt worth health issues down the road!!!!


Yes, dust is a killer. Me and the guys wear masks all the time, even with the filtered machines. Dust comes off the bottom broom and the side broom. Lots of dust comes off the old broom too when using them in small corners.

*Hey Oshkosh*, if you read this, have you had any feeback on the nilfisk true vac sweepers, the ones with the fan that pick up, like the rs501 or 850, or how about the Madvac. I'm thinking for next year, they say no dust and one of the colleges we do some work for say they'll give us the whole campus if we get that type of machine. Any ideas... I'm doing the research now, but they say no dust and it can pick up great even when it's raining!!!


----------



## Oshkosh

*I cannot say I've seen them?*

I'll have to ask around,I am not familiar with them. I just looked them up, they read well.I have never seen one.Looks like a versatile machine.
Over at Maine DOT we where still using power brooms and then a broom on the back of the truck to windrow , then the loader into the dump truck.We rigged up a gravity feed water system to help keep the dust down. Talk about being behind the times.
They did make a big deal about the silt and lung disease and wearing masks etc...They have even cut sand use by about 50% at this point.
It was frustrating from going from having/owning all the right equipment to the DOT which is just barely getting by and half as#ing everything...



Duracutter;389830 said:


> Yes, dust is a killer. Me and the guys wear masks all the time, even with the filtered machines. Dust comes off the bottom broom and the side broom. Lots of dust comes off the old broom too when using them in small corners.
> 
> *Hey Oshkosh*, if you read this, have you had any feeback on the nilfisk true vac sweepers, the ones with the fan that pick up, like the rs501 or 850, or how about the Madvac. I'm thinking for next year, they say no dust and one of the colleges we do some work for say they'll give us the whole campus if we get that type of machine. Any ideas... I'm doing the research now, but they say no dust and it can pick up great even when it's raining!!!


----------



## Duracutter

Oshkosh;389843 said:


> I'll have to ask around,I am not familiar with them. I just looked them up, they read well.I have never seen one.Looks like a versatile machine.
> Over at Maine DOT we where still using power brooms and then a broom on the back of the truck to windrow , then the loader into the dump truck.We rigged up a gravity feed water system to help keep the dust down. Talk about being behind the times.
> They did make a big deal about the silt and lung disease and wearing masks etc...They have even cut sand use by about 50% at this point.
> It was frustrating from going from having/owning all the right equipment to the DOT which is just barely getting by and half as#ing everything...


Thanks. Here in Alberta, some cities like Calgary are buying quite a few but they also have the taxpayers pocket to pick.  For our company they are quite expensive.
Some of the concerns I have when looking at the specs are the size of the hopper for that kinda of price, only 1 yard. That's not much and with no brush under the belly, you have to wonder how fast you can go and still vacuum up the grime and rocks. We now use tennant machines and they work, the old fashion brushes, fighting the dust from the filters is ever on going etc... I have mixed feelings but it's hard to find any feeback from a straight up user. The cities, they're so full of themselves, they'll never share knowledge and it's such new technology, hard to find unbiased reviews


----------

