Sensei/Ninja Mfr. Century 400 Sold to Karcher/Prochem

S

Setec Astronomy

Well-known member
For some time I've been wanting to buy a Mytee Lite, but there are so many problems reported with that unit and with Mytee customer service I've switched my longing to a Century 400 Sensei, but now I see that Century 400 has been acquired by Karcher/Prochem and the Sensei has dropped off their website (they don't even have a detailing category now).

I suspect that this is just some transitional issue with the website, but I have a message in to TOL to see if they will continue selling the Sensei. Anyone else heard anything about this?
 
Huh, that's news to me. But then the Century 400 went from being a "Ninja" to "Sensei" a while back IIRC (mine is a Ninja).

Eh, much as I despise Karcher based on my experience with their pressure washers, I do like the ProChem carpet cleaning chemicals that I've used so I guess I'll be neutral about this whole thing.

If you do decide scratch that Century 400 itch, be sure you have the proper electrical setup for it; it draws so much juice that you'll almost certainly need two separate circuits if you want to run the heater and both vacuum motors.

And I'm sure you've seen my previous posts about how you need a different nozzle setup to get things truly dry, at least by my standards....
 
From what I recall the Sensei was in the "auto" or "detailing" models, while the Ninjas are marketed to the carpet cleaning crowd. The Sensei is small and I think only has one vac motor, it's got two cords so you need two 15A circuits (as opposed to the Mytee Lite which requires a single 20A circuit). I think the Ninjas are all bigger than the Sensei Ninja Warrior

And no, I haven't seen your nozzle posts, I've been AWOL for a while.
 
Huh, well...see how little I know sometimes?!? I thought the Sensei and Ninja were the same.

You're probably right, when I was picking up a spare part for mine the guy at the vacuum shop was really surprised that a non-pro had one.

The Ninja also has two cords, and a switch that lets you choose one/both of the vacuum motors.

I myself would sure want that second vacuum motor though, even for simple stuff like carpeted floormats. Even with both running, I found it left *far* too much moisture behind for me, and don't get me going on how much moisture their "household carpet" nozzle leaves behind! The narrow "crevice tool" gets things dry enough, but it only covers a very small area. The nozzle most likely to be used for auto detailing stuff is better than the household one, but still leaves a lot to be desired so I cobbled together a half-@$$ed adaptor that lets me use a (plastic) Bissell nozzle on it. The slot/opening inthe Bissell nozzle is much smaller/more narrow so it sucks up water much better. Yeah, it probably makes the motor(s) work harder but that's never been a problem for me (heh heh, famous last words, huh?). It only works for pickup, not for spraying, but for the final drying passes it's a game-changer IMO.

SO- if you're really gonna spend that much money, I'd kick in a little more to get the two-motor unit and plan on putting together a different nozzle setup. Easy for me to spend your money though, and if the two extractors are significantly different in size/weight I guess that bears consideration too.
 
I have used the Mytee HP60 Spyder for 9 years and it has been a great unit for my Shop...
Yes, it does cost more than the Mytee Lite, but I wanted 3 motors, heated water, big tanks, and huge water lift all out of 1 cord..

Very easy to maintain - I run some Distilled White Vinegar through the system at least once a year, and never had an issue with anything..

What I read a lot of people doing is putting too much water down, and then not taking the extra time needed to extract it all up, or not having a machine with enough water lift to get most moisture up and out..

I tried out ProChem products at the beginning but quickly found that something like Meguiars APC+ is really good, foams very little, doesnt need a lot of water to work, and leaves a nice scent..

Finally, I found my way to using my VX5000 Steamer with the triangular brush with a white towel on it, to apply steam into carpets through the towel to the carpet that had been sprayed with APC+ and brushed, then use the Extractor only to remove even less moisture and I have really hit a sweet spot with this part of the Detail..

I have only had to use Mytee in Costa Mesa, CA I believe once to order some velcro hose connectors I believe, and they were pretty good at that task..

Know nothing of issues, chronic or not with the smaller version, but I can see how modular this machine is, and all the parts are easily accessible and replaceable, without even having to go to Mytee for anything.... Its just motors, pump, heating element, 3 switches, under there..

Have been on a few carpet cleaner forums in the past, and that world is full of people that are just as opinionated as some of our best here... :)
What they are doing and what we are doing on little carpet footprints (compared to theirs), is way different in that they are using huge power, pressure, brushes, etc., heat, and lift..

I have seen people use those little machines out there and while they may work for some things, I dont believe they will ever have enough power to really lift the moisture out of the carpets unless you want to spend extra hours holding that machine on each square inch of the wet carpet..

My carpets always come out dry and soft and standing up.. Those that are not rinsed and extracted very well come out hard and stiff and get dirty again very quickly..

I think that the carpet cleaner industry or whoever made the Water Lift test, should perhaps someday change that test to the Wet Sand Lift Test, and see how that works out.. :)

Good luck with your research !
Dan F
 
Stokdgs said:
Know nothing of issues, chronic or not with the smaller version, but I can see how modular this machine is, and all the parts are easily accessible and replaceable, without even having to go to Mytee for anything.... Its just motors, pump, heating element, 3 switches, under there..
Click to expand...

We had some threads on AGO about the Mytee Lite, and a LOT of people chimed in with problems with the machine and the customer service. There were also a lot of people who said they never had any problems. My observation was that the people who had the problems were pros who used the machine all the time, and the people who didn't were hobbyists who didn't use them very much (which is the category I would fall into).

Mytee redesigned the Lite this year, and the first thing I heard about it was that where the drain port for the recovery tank is, the water runs out right onto the switches, which didn't sound like much thought went into the redesign of the housing. It's arguable whether 1 cord or 2 is better (I could argue that potentially by using two 15A circuits you have 30 amps available and could get better performance out of the machine than 1 20A, besides potential difficulty with not having a 20A circuit), but a critical feature that they Lite is missing is a full recovery tank shutoff--shoot, you can buy a $40 shop vac that has that, and might be the cause of a lot of the problems (overflowing the recovery tank).

I remember studying the wiring diagrams on the Sensei on the Lite a year or so ago, and I don't think either of them seemed to have any circuit protection (internal breakers, fuses, or fusible links) so it's not too much of a surprise some of these machines had fried wiring when some of the components start to go south.
 
Setec Astronomy -

Thanks for your input to mine..

I use the heck out of my Mytee but it IS a different model and perhaps the Company did a better job of design (?).. And still no failures of any kind...

Perhaps some of the users of the other machine are "hard on parts" ? Using them in Production Shops without stopping.. ?

Cant think of a reason why a Company would design or not design certain things correctly that would cause imminent failure and possibly injury to the consumer...

Full Recovery Tank shut off - Wow .... My tanks are much bigger and I can always tell when Im getting to the top of it.. You just have to glance inside through the big clear plastic cover and see the level of all that black dirty water you are removing from the vehicle's carpets, etc..

I suppose if you just hammer the machine day in and day out and never really look at it, drain the water, run clean water to clear the extractor hose, run distilled white vinegar through the pressure hose to keep all the pumps and tools clean, there will have to be issues...
Dan F
 
Setec Astronomy -

Wow - the first link was 16 pages ! :)

Hard to say who and what is the cause of the failure/s..

I only use mine on a dedicated 20Amp circuit I installed using Romex 12Awg wiring, new 20Amp Circuit Breaker, and only 1 - 12Awg Extension Cord that is 25 feet long..

Have checked the temps of the wiring - their extension cord and mine, and have never felt them getting warm and certainly not hot - I would have shut it all down if that happened..

I noted that it was never asked or mentioned how this one 8070 machine was wired to the electrical plug, what size wiring, etc., so perhaps there could have been a mismatch ?

I always put my really nice Fluke Calibrated 77 Series II Multimeter on everything I plug into just to see what is available and how stable it is...

And for the Extractor's internal health, I Never use a soap solution, slurry, or anything else in the Water Tank for Detailing.. I dont really need it..

Hope that OP got all fixed and working again.. What a nightmare...
Dan F
 
Stokdgs said:
... I Never use a soap solution, slurry, or anything else in the Water Tank for Detailing.. I dont really need it..
Click to expand...

I sure wish that extractor makers would just build them with two tanks, one for detergent and one for the rinse, the way many homeowner-level carpet machines are. I too almost always use water in mine, but sometimes I do need the forceful chemical injection and switching the Century over/back is a huge PIA.

And yeah, the steamer/extractor combo works well, almost makes me interested in those units that combine the two features (not that I plan to buy any more equipment any time soon!).
 
Accumulator said:
One of my concerns was what I'd do if it needed servicing.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to say it looks unreliable (and expensive)?? Ok, I'll say it--it' looks unreliable, and it costs $1300 or something. Ok, it doesn't look unreliable...let's just say its looks are not confidence inspiring.

The service thing is a problem no matter what machine you buy, really, isn't it? We're in such a throwaway economy repair shops for all kinds of things just keep disappearing. Some years ago I called an applicance repair shop about my refrigerator, and they asked me if it was under warranty, and I asked why that was important; "we only repair refrigerators that are under warranty". Not much of a repair shop, eh?
 
Setec Astronomy- Heh heh, this seems to be our day for agreeing about stuff!

I've had to send my Daimer steamer back for servicing, and what an expensive PIA that was! But at least they did fix it just fine.

The Century is easily DIY-serviced (even for relatively ignorant user ;) ), and if it needs something beyond my capabilities the local vacuum place can easily handle it. There are so many of those in commercial use that servicing them just isn't an issue AFAIK.

And yeah, I'm running into the planned obsolescence thing all the time, "parts n/a" and so on. But my decision to switch to a slightly more expensive appliance place that emphasizes post-warranty service seems to be working out OK. And I just found a shop that repairs electric motors/etc. and they were able to fix an old die grinder and an electric motor that's a *LOT* older than I am.

Now if I could just find parts for the older vehicles...
 
And here I thought motor repair was a dying art. It seems to me the availability of cheap imported motors has killed off the motor repair industry (cheaper to replace than repair). Of course the problem with the cheap imported motors is...they suck! It's not so bad if you can buy the parts...but some of these white goods mfrs. have these very restrictive policies which make it difficult or impossible to get parts (Carrier and Trane come to mind).
 
Yeah, took me forever to find a (somewhat) local place that could fix 'em. Eh, just get me going on parts availability in general...
 
The Mytee Lite is fine for occasional use or as a second unit in a shop, but for daily use the bigger machines like the Century 400 or similar is better IMO. The double power cord is a drag though. With daily use of my Century 400 I have not had a problem other than the heater seems to be a bit weak...if you have the option to add warm water to the water tank it helps keep the heat up though.
 
Jpostal said:
With daily use of my Century 400 I have not had a problem other than the heater seems to be a bit weak...if you have the option to add warm water to the water tank it helps keep the heat up though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the heater could be a bit better. Mine gets nice and hot once it gets going, but that takes a while when the water's cold.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I see that Century 400 has been acquired by Karcher/Prochem and the Sensei has dropped off their website (they don't even have a detailing category now).

I suspect that this is just some transitional issue with the website, but I have a message in to TOL to see if they will continue selling the Sensei. Anyone else heard anything about this?
Click to expand...

Well, the Sensei is now listed as a "discontinued model" at the Prochem/Karcher website, and I never heard back from TOL, although they still show it as "in stock" at their store. I might actually have to use that phone thing and call them about it, although I just sent an email to Prochem asking them if they are still making the Sensei or an equivalent.

EDIT: I called TOL and they are checking. They said they don't stock them and they are drop shipped from the mfr. so they don't know if they can still get them (even though as I said above they show "in stock" on the TOL site).
 
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