Hibon Blowers - Friend or Enemy?

Is it just us or are Hibon blowers becoming more like boat anchors than the dependable high CFM, high vacuum blowers they are marketed to be?  Are the folks they "authorize" to work on their pumps a joke (or is that just our guy?).  Our recent experience with these blowers is really making us question both the quality of the product and, just as disturbing, the quality of the service and repair network as well.

We've been using Hibon blowers for about 10 years.  Our first was, I believe, a VTB 20, a 1400 CFM full vacuum blower that we used on a unique, home built truck for pumping car washes and other wet sludges.  It was an awesome unit, so awesome, in fact, that it is still in use today.  Next was a couple of 2100 CFM blowers, then another 1400, then......the 5500's which is where the problems really started.

In 2005, we purchased two new PresVac wet dry machines equipped with 5500 CFM Hibon blowers.  Both failed within a week of service (one failed the first day).  When torn down for inspection by our "authorized" Hibon repair center, both blowers were found NOT to have been torqued properly at the factory????  Then, it gets worse, because we are forced to wait an eternity and a day to get a new blower.  In the meantime our $250K machine sits, looking pretty, but unable to do a darn thing it's built to do. 

This year, we had one of our 1400 units fail, cracked housing our service man tells us.  This was in May.  In early July, yes you read that right July, we still had no parts.  Oh really?  We located another "authorized" Hibon service dealer and, magically, he was able to get us the parts - although first we got the wrong ones, before we got the right ones.  Now our original guy is putting it back together, since the guy we got the parts from only works on small blowers.  If things go right, we should have our blower back soon, TWO MONTHS from when we delivered it for repair.

Are you having similar problems with Hibon?  Are you having a great experience with Hibon and we've just caught some bad breaks?  Let me know because the way we're feeling these days about Hibon, our days of being a customer are numbered! 

Enjoy Your Day!  Mike

Comments

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[Mike Malatesta]

You're not the first one to share with me a similar story. We moved to Roots. I'm not convinced that there is a problem with Hibon technology, but I'm very concerned that there rebuild vendor approval and audit process is where it needs to be. And we are the ones who pay for that uncertainty, not a sustainable model for Hibon ( Ingersoll) in my view.

[M. Anonomous]

I too have been at the hands of hibon with the warranty issues. I trusted my "authorized service center" and they did not even contact the factory they decided on their own accord that it was not worthy of a warranty claim, with 15 hours on the unit. There was no loctite and improper torques on the bolts! What kind of quality is that really? My choices were simple with choice one being a rebuilt unit for 9600.00 or a new one at 13500.00? I shopped around a bit more and found a very different kind of blower shop In Edmonton that even with freight was still under half the other shops cost. It has been at least 5200hrs since the failure and it has not had an issue mechanically. I will be scheduling it in again soon to get it rebuilt once again with the guys who care and know what they are doing!