I am in the market for an auto carpet extractor for home use. I like to quality things and it has to work, but I also don't want to spend $1000 on it. I searched on here and couldn't find anything so any suggestions are welcome!
Auto carpet extractor
- Thread starter Wesley B
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mattyrattypoo
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- Feb 21, 2012
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- 126
I have a Bissel AutoCare and it works great! Quite a few people use it based on my lurking on Autogeeks forum. I bought mine from bed bath and beyond with a 20% off coupon.
Check it out for yourself.
http://www.bissell.com/autocare-proheat-deep-cleaner/
Check it out for yourself.
http://www.bissell.com/autocare-proheat-deep-cleaner/
rlitman
Well-known member
A pro model is an arm and a leg. The Bissel AutoCare looks like their Green Machine. I'm not impressed.
I bought one of these:
I then bought a 1 gallon plastic pump sprayer, fill it with very hot water, cut the crappy spray wand off the hose and connected the hose directly from the tank to the extractor wand using a hose barb on the NPT fitting. Then I use this with my wet/dry shop vac.
The shop vac has much more suction than any small extractor (because it can use the full power of the circuit and not have to run a heating element to heat the water). I can't say I've used it on the car, but I have used it on the couches and other upholstery, and it is amazing how good a job it's done, with nothing more than hot water so far.
I bought one of these:
I then bought a 1 gallon plastic pump sprayer, fill it with very hot water, cut the crappy spray wand off the hose and connected the hose directly from the tank to the extractor wand using a hose barb on the NPT fitting. Then I use this with my wet/dry shop vac.
The shop vac has much more suction than any small extractor (because it can use the full power of the circuit and not have to run a heating element to heat the water). I can't say I've used it on the car, but I have used it on the couches and other upholstery, and it is amazing how good a job it's done, with nothing more than hot water so far.
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DJ_Schmo
Well-known member
Nevermind
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DJ_Schmo
Well-known member
A pro model is an arm and a leg. The Bissel AutoCare looks like their Green Machine. I'm not impressed.
I bought one of these:
I then bought a 1 gallon plastic pump sprayer, fill it with very hot water, cut the crappy spray wand off the hose and connected the hose directly from the tank to the extractor wand using a hose barb on the NPT fitting. Then I use this with my wet/dry shop vac.
The shop vac has much more suction than any small extractor (because it can use the full power of the circuit and not have to run a heating element to heat the water). I can't say I've used it on the car, but I have used it on the couches and other upholstery, and it is amazing how good a job it's done, with nothing more than hot water so far.
I don't want to hijack OP's thread but could you post pics of that setup? I could use an extractor as well and this seems like a great idea!
How dirty of carpet have you cleaned with it? My carpet is pretty dirty, but I was planning on presoaking it with something. do you have any opinions on a good presoaker? Thanks!
A pro model is an arm and a leg. The Bissel AutoCare looks like their Green Machine. I'm not impressed.
I bought one of these:
I then bought a 1 gallon plastic pump sprayer, fill it with very hot water, cut the crappy spray wand off the hose and connected the hose directly from the tank to the extractor wand using a hose barb on the NPT fitting. Then I use this with my wet/dry shop vac.
The shop vac has much more suction than any small extractor (because it can use the full power of the circuit and not have to run a heating element to heat the water). I can't say I've used it on the car, but I have used it on the couches and other upholstery, and it is amazing how good a job it's done, with nothing more than hot water so far.
What size shop vac would you recommend? All I have right now is the 2.5hp/2.5 gallon portable vac.
I've also been considering this one. Not sure if its worth the money though.
http://www.autogeek.net/mytee-s-300-tempo-carpet-extractor.html
http://www.autogeek.net/mytee-s-300-tempo-carpet-extractor.html
That's way more power than the bissell. I own the bissell and it's meh..
ScottsGT
Well-known member
Silly question, but why not just use the garden sprayer to soak everything and then just use the shop vac's wide attachment to **** it up? Why spend $100 for a fancy end on a shop vac?
48RON54
Well-known member
Agreed, I would like to try this to get the dog smell out of my couch
rlitman
Well-known member
It's not a silly question. It's something though that would only be obvious once you use it as an extractor (i.e. go through the motions, and it starts to make sense).
If you soak the fabric in water, the water has time to soak into the cushioning below. Now you have soggy upholstry.
An extractor has a fan spray nozzle that is matched in spray pattern width to the width of the vacuum nozzle. You spray a line of water (or cleaning agent) a fraction of an inch ahead of the nozzle, while the nozzle is moving towards the spray. The idea is to wet the section of the fabric that is about to be suctioned. Spray water, and immediately vacuum it out, before it has a chance to soak in too deeply.
It's all in the motion. Done quickly, you can repeat over and over until any stain is gone. With each pass, whatever is there gets diluted a little more, and by doing it this way, the stain does not have time to spread or soak deeper.
Also, the extractor wand is clear, so you can see the exact results by looking at the clarity/color of the liquid being lifted. And the tip has a narrow slot (far narrower than a typical shop-vac tip) that is rounded/smoothed. It is made to drag on upholstery without snagging, and the narrowness of the opening helps in getting liquid from the depths of the fabric (focusing the vacuum on a smaller area).
A "real" extractor is just a wet vacuum, a liquid tank (better ones have a built in heater), and a liquid pump to spray the liquid under pressure with one of these wands.
The tank sprayer (I got a $10 one gallon cheapie for this) takes care of the pressure for me. I fill it with really hot water (so no heater required), but I need to heat the water on the stove for best results. So a real extractor would be much more convenient, but not enough to justify my once-per-year uses.
As for $100, it's more like $70 if you're buying new and going cheap. $50-60 for a cheap wand (more if you want a brass valve, which I recommend), and another $10 for the tank sprayer. I got the wand for $5 at a flea market. Real spot extractors start at around $500 (for economy versions, but don't expect metal parts).
I'd snap a pic if I remember, but it's hardly worth it. I just clipped the valve off the hose coming from the tank, and connected the hose to the wand (which came with a valve).
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Try detailking I bought a steamer from them. I was happy with it. They followed up with me to make sure I was happy with the product. Leading me to believe they have good customer service, though I did not really need to use it. They have products for different levels of service. The delivery time was exactly what they told me.
DTE
Well-known member
We wholesaled cars for 20yrs and have re-conditioned 1000's of them. If you want to do it right you need to pull the carpet out of the vehicle. Some cars it's a pain , some not so much. Hang it on a rack and wash away. Let it dry and put it back, no odor , no smell . If you soak it in the car it will never dry and it will smell. On a hot day it will take your breath when you open the door. An extractor is good for a clean car or to freshen up the seats and the rugs but the only way to clean the interior of a dirty car is to take it apart. We pressure washed seats and rugs , door jabs , trunk opening etc. all at the same time. It will just depend on the end result you are after.
rlitman
Well-known member
Agreed. Pressure washing carpet is the gold standard for a full cleaning of a carpet. But an extractor is still good for spot cleaning. Not much would do a better job on a coffee spill for example.
I wouldn't necessarily say that cleaning the entire carpet with an extractor will leave the car smelling. That depends a lot on the local climate (especially humidity). I couldn't get away with that most of the year on Long Island (way to humid here), but I'm not sure where Wesley B is from. If he's from Las Vegas, drying will not be a problem.
I wouldn't necessarily say that cleaning the entire carpet with an extractor will leave the car smelling. That depends a lot on the local climate (especially humidity). I couldn't get away with that most of the year on Long Island (way to humid here), but I'm not sure where Wesley B is from. If he's from Las Vegas, drying will not be a problem.
I was tired of the dirty carpet in my dd, so I ended up taking the carpet out the other day and used about a whole spray bottles worth of super clean purple degreaser on it. I then sprayed it off with the water hose, shop vac'd the carpet part dry, then flipped it over and let the padding dry in the sun for about 12 hours. The carpet now looks about 98% perfect. I still have stains on the cloth seats, but I feel like it would take a week for those to dry if I gave them the same treatment as the carpet. I guess I'll just deal with them for until I decide if i want to spend the money on an extractor.
I've done this(pulled the carpet) on a few cars of mine in the past and it works great. I don't have a problem pulling the carpet out. It's just the drying time that I was trying to get away from. Basically a full day for the carpet and who knows how long for the seats...that turns into a pain.
I had a safari van that was in need of cleaning when I sold it. I had the seats and carpet really wet with cleaner, used a shop vac to dry up as best I could. a few days in the summer dried up just fine.
a used car salesman told me years ago, :You'd be shocked if you saw how much water they use to clean car interiors"
rlitman
Well-known member
Not trying to resurrect a thread from the dead, but I recently needed to use my homemade extractor to clean up a couch after my 4 year old with a stomach bug ... Anyway, I remembered that I never provided a pic of it here, so I'm following up now. Here it is in all it's $20 or so of glory. The label came with it when I bought the wand at a flea market.
Nothing but really hot water in the tank, and I connected it to my Fein Turbo II wet/dry, and the couch was good as new. Remember to use cold water on protein (blood, egg yolk, etc) stains.
Stains that have had a chance to dry and set may require pre-treatment (what to treat with depends on the nature of the stain).
Nothing but really hot water in the tank, and I connected it to my Fein Turbo II wet/dry, and the couch was good as new. Remember to use cold water on protein (blood, egg yolk, etc) stains.
Stains that have had a chance to dry and set may require pre-treatment (what to treat with depends on the nature of the stain).
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DennisH2014
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- May 29, 2014
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I know this is an old thread, but it tends to remain relevant so I wanted to chime in! What I do is this:
- Vacuum carpet, use a brush to agitate and get out more dirt
- Dilute some Purple Power, and spray all over
- Steam the entire carpet (I use the Harbor Freight McCullough steamer)
- Vacuum again with wet/dry vac
Tends to work nicely for me, sometimes even better to brush the purple power in as well, or blot with a towel/microfiber clothe after steaming and before vacuuming again!
- Vacuum carpet, use a brush to agitate and get out more dirt
- Dilute some Purple Power, and spray all over
- Steam the entire carpet (I use the Harbor Freight McCullough steamer)
- Vacuum again with wet/dry vac
Tends to work nicely for me, sometimes even better to brush the purple power in as well, or blot with a towel/microfiber clothe after steaming and before vacuuming again!