Poor man`s shampooer

[viasevenvai]

So I want to have a shampooer for my car but they are too expensive and the hand held attachments are too flimsy and hard to get into tight spots.



Why not just buy a wet/dry vac and then use a spray bottle with a toothbrush?



you could use soap and then use just water for a rinse.



any problems with this idea?



thanks

[imported_Neothin]

I`m missing what your saying. Instead of a foam gun or a device like the soapjet nozzle attachment, you want to use a spray bottle, wet/dry vac, and a toothbrush? I don`t understand how that would work. please clarify what your talking about.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, I don`t quite follow this either. The idea of the foamgun is to provide constant lubrication and flushing of the surface with a frothy mix of shampoo mix and air. Just no way to duplicate it without some sort of aerating nozzle to mix the soap/water/air.



And no way a toothbrush is getting anywhere near my paint ;) but OK, you could substitute a BHB. But there`s no substitute for a foamgun, it really is a unique device for this application (I`m allowing that the attachments for pressurewashers work the same way, and are thus basically the same thing as the foamguns generally under discussion).

[travisdecpn]

I think he`s talking about an extractor. If that`s the case a shop vac with ample suction will do the job, in fact it`s what a lot of guys around here use. You can use a foaming or mixed carpet cleaner, work the area with a good interior brush and extract the solution with your shop vac. You don`t need to saturate the area with lots of water as it will just take longer for your carpets and seats to dry if you do.

[Spilchy]

just clean out the debris in the vaccum canister and remove the filter before you extract the water. A soggy filter and a muddy vacuum canister isn`t fun to clean up.

[imported_truzoom]

That`s what I do. I get a bucket mix of water and woolite, then get a good scrubbing brush and go at the carpets. Rinse out as well as possible, and then use the shop vac to suck out the rest of the water.

[imported_Neothin]

If you have mats in the car, you could even go so far as to pressure wash them after you`ve scrubbed them with a carpet cleaner.

[Accumulator]

I think he`s talking about an extractor....



Ah...OK, now I see!



I tried all sorts of things prior to getting my Century extractor (three Bissells, two Hoovers, one Sears). Nothing worked quite as well as the Century, primarily because of the powerful pump and, most important, the heater. But yeah, you can do a lot of good with just a wet/dry vac. Sears has a decent carpet cleaning setup that hooks up to a wet/dry vac; you hook the water hose up to a faucet so you can use hot (or at least warm) water. Spraying hot water/solution makes a big difference.

[viasevenvai]

ya you guys got it. Sorry for my explanation being vague.



I knew that getting the carpets too wet would be the thing I`d need to worry about the most.



But it sounds like this has been done before so I`ll purchase a decent wet/dry vac soon and get to work on my carpets.



Thanks!