Recommend a steam extractor?

**bennylava** · 03-13-2016, 07:50 PM

Its time for another steamer thread. I had another thread about an engine steamer, but this is related to a different tool. I`m now looking for a good steam extractor for use on interior carpets and cloth seats. To give a bit of background, I`m a small used car dealer/flipper and at this point I just work out of my house. I`ve got a lot to do on these cars and detailing them is just one thing on the list. So I`m looking to work smarter, not harder. I`m looking to cut out all of that scrubbing with a brush.

And if I have to pay $2500 for a good extractor that works well, then so be it. At this point I`m looking at it as a necessary tool of the trade. So does anyone here use one of those? Or perhaps have a recommendation of a good one that you know works well?

**Stokdgs** · 03-13-2016, 09:59 PM

Just so you know, there is a learning curve to using a very hot steamer/extractor...
Dan F

**ShaneB** · 03-13-2016, 11:29 PM

Ive had my eye on a diamer kleenjet 500v for a few months. since my season is starting up I may take the plunge and pick one up once I can save a few $$$. Depending on how things go I may spring for the 1000cv instead. Decisions decisions

as for using one, haven`t had the pleasure. I love the idea of it though. How effective it really is, is yet to be seen. Not too many people I know of can chime in on this topic

**Stokdgs** · 03-14-2016, 01:18 AM

I have used a VX5000 for many years and it is really good for what it is capable of doing..

It will get the distilled water very hot and you need to be aware of this so you don`t get 2nd-3rd degree burns from it if you accidently key it while it is pointed towards you..

I like to use the large triangular brush head with a white towel strapped to it and spray a good leather cleaner on a seat, then run the towel with steam coming through it over the seat just long enough to get it hot but not damaging, and then the same towel wipes down the seat and its amazing how much brown body oil and dirt comes off some leather that is really dirty...

I only use little clean white cotton towels because I can easily determine what color and how much ga-ga is coming off and know that when it looks clean there and my white towel is now clean after wiping, I have removed ALL the gunk there...

You can probably find the perfect, cheap, white towels like this at Target in their tiny automotive section...

Same set up for dirty Headliners and cloth covered Visors, just really mind what you are doing and do it quickly so you dont get the steam too far into the Headliner cloth and loosen the glue... You can actually clean an entire Headliner really fast using steam and sometimes a little APC+ on more stubborn things, and then the steam.. You have to absolutely do this carefully on Smoker cars to get all the Nicotine out..

Same set up for those especially dirty front seat belts... Spray a good APC like the old APC+ from Meguiars, scrub it in lightly, Steam through a towel one side and then the other and it will amazing how much oils come out of dirty seat belts...

Same set up for dirty carpet floor mats and carpets... Spray the APC+, scrub it in lightly or however much you need to, Steam it and all that gunk is now loose and my Mytee HP60 Extractor now comes in and just a little hot water keying and let the extractor suck up all that nastiness out of the carpet...
A good wet and dry Shop Vac could probably work pretty good in lieu of the Extractor too...

On all those front door dirty, nasty, door jambs, that have all those leaves, dirt, etc., at the bottom, its way more efficient for me to spray my good old APC+ in there, (avoid the door hinge rollers that are greased for a good reason), sometimes use a long handled brush if needed, and then Steam with the 1-hole steam tool and blast all the gunk out of there, towards the front fender bottom, and its rinsed of course and you have perfect door jambs now...
Same for trunk jambs and the area around the lid that gets full of gunk on vehicles especially in the Pacific Northwest...

Steam used very carefully around the DashBoard can help speed up the job, and nothing works better to clean out all that sticky, nasty stuff stuck to the bottom of deep cupholders, etc., than steam... Just spray the cleaner, agitate it with a brush, cover the cupholder with that white small towel you carry, and blast it all around...
Same for A/C vents if you cant get cleaned it out any other way...

Steam will get between the seats and the console clean, and underneath seats and blast everything out you cant reach sometimes with a good crevice tool and a good Metrovac...

Steam will get up under the floor and clean where you cant reach, especially on the driver side that is always dirtier - even more if its a stick shift...

Sometimes, steam will work good on hood badges, ornaments, etc., but still be careful...

Have never cleaned paintwork with it and don`t really see the need to, and it can`t really do better than what we all do to get paint cleaned before correction - unless you have a huge commercial grade $10K + steamer that has the fan and pressure of a huge pressure washer...

What is good about steam is that it not only (if its a good one that gets really hot) cleans and sanitizes, it also heats the material good so that it dries faster because its heated up..
Hope this helps-

Dan F

**bennylava** · 03-14-2016, 12:18 PM

Thanks for the replies. Seems like some very good info there.

But that highlights a bit of a problem with my question I guess. I guess I have my terminology mixed up, so please forgive my noobishness. Maybe what I`m looking for isn`t really a "steam" extractor, but rather a very hot water extractor. It will be something that has a hand held piece on the end of the hose, which will be attached to a vacuum unit. The water that comes out will be definitely hot enough to cause serious burns on your skin. This is a tool that obviously wouldn`t be used on leather. It would only be for carpets, and cloth seats. There will be 2 tanks, one with clean water in it, and one that the dirty, used water flows into after its been sucked back up. That way you`re not just reusing that old dirty nasty water to clean with. Which I have seen in some of the cheap units.

Its basically a vacuum, that can spout some seriously hot water. There will also be some soap that is for use in this type of unit. I guess the soap would be something that wouldn`t bubble or foam much. I hope I`ve actually been able to effectively convey the type of apparatus that I`m talking about here. Something like this, but probably not this particular model. It doesn`t look like its using very hot water. (don`t know how to embed here, so I just posted a link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXd9IfOGXP0

**Accumulator** · 03-14-2016, 01:08 PM

bennylava- I`ll be interested to hear what you end up going with! My Century extractor gets hot, but I dunno if it gets as hot as you want. It doesn`t cause serious burns if I spray myself, but it`s not enough that I`m careful with it.

I almost *always* just run clear water through mine, rather than using soaps in it. I do miss out on the forceful injection of soap that way though.

EDIT: almost forgot- I use a defoamer product in my collection tank. Suds are supposedly very bad for the innards/suction pump of an extractor.

**Stokdgs** · 03-14-2016, 02:39 PM

Oh, Sorry, I posted up info on a VX5000 Steamer....

What you really are looking for I also have - Mytee HP60 Spyder Hot Water Extractor -- Mytee HP60 Spyder Automotive Detail Extractor

I use this with very good results on carpeting, cloth seats, rubber floor mats, convertible tops, and sometimes on the carpeting in the house...

This model requires a 20amp circuit and uses they say around 18 amps.. I always put in a new dedicated 20amp breaker on 12awg wiring to the breaker panel, a 20 amp electrical receptacle which will have a little different pin configuration, and have never had any problems, circuit breaker pops, interruptions, etc...

If you do this I would recommend putting the dedicated plug close to the big door of the garage if you are going to do most of this work outside so you can see the Interior better... You will want to use a 12awg 50 foot max extension cord if you have to use one..

The HP60 has 2 separate tanks - 1 for the clean water, and 1 for the water that is extracted from the carpet, etc., you are working on..

You will need to go look at carpet extraction tools at a place that sells them, look at the length and angle of the head, and decide which one/s will work best in the sometimes tiny space you have to work on inside of the vehicle on the floor with the seat pushed all the way forward or back to give you the most room..

You will also need a long crevice tool that will really help getting to the underside carpeting of the floor - the part that goes up under the dashboard against the Firewall of the car.. This tool will also be much easier to use in that little space between the accelerator pedal and the bottom of the dashboard that goes all the way to the floor, yeah, that part... It is always dirty there from dirt that comes off shoes, wearing down of the rubber/plastic pedal/s that ends up turning that little area sometimes black...

That same crevice extractor tool will also be great at getting between the seats and the console, and along the entire tiny edge where the door sill meets the carpeting, and between the front seat there and the middle of the vehicle, that little area there, see it ?

This model extractor has worked very hard for me, for at least 10 years and never had an issue...

I occasionally run some Distilled White Vinegar through it, let it set overnight and then rinse the heck out of it and the hose the next day...
Mytee sells their own Maintenance Liquid product for it , but I have never seen the reason to purchase distilled white vinegar from them at much higher prices than they sell it for at Safeway, etc... by the gallon...

The HP60 has a 1200watt heater internal water heater, and if it didnt have this, I think it would probably run all day on a normal 15amp circuit..
Of course, you have to Option to turn the heater on or off on the front of the machine... I always use the heated water because it cleans so much better, and as I have said before, anything heated will always dry faster...

The hose that comes with this Extractor is long enough to go anywhere and the unit is on wheels and rolls easily around the car or you can choose to do it all from 1 side of the vehicle too if you want...

I always take the carpeted floor mats out and clean and extract them in the garage so I can get all the pressure I want to put on them and not disturb anything else around them, if they were still in the vehicle...

As I said earlier, you can spray down rubber non carpeted mats, brush them if required, and then use that same extractor carpet tool to shoot hot water into them and then extract that hot soapy dirty water back out leaving nice clean rubber/plastic mats..

Cloth seats - spray a good cleaner, hopefully it is always going to be a low foaming type, brush a little if needed (the Tuff Shine Tire Brush is perfect for this), then key up the hot water carefully, and it will rinse the seat and extract the water up as you go up and down the seat...
You have to figure out how much water to use and if there was ever an Extracting Truth - it would be - Use the least amount of water to get the best results -

This machine - the HP60 has a pretty high water lift number, but still, be realistic about it, and know that putting too much water anywhere, on cloth or carpeting, can get it way down there even to the floor of the vehicle and its then a lot harder to get it all back up and out...

The HP60 has great suction and 3-stage motors that go higher when needed...

I would Not Recommend you use an Extractor on a Headliner - Ever- If you pull that thing loose, you will then have a real mess to deal with, just dont go there..
Read my info on using the Steamer through a towel above.... Or just use a little diluted apc and a clean white towel - again, so you can see what is coming off on the towel and by the color know if you are removing something that should not be removed...

The HP60 is the best thing ever for totally cleaning and extracting all those long wide German Car Carpeted Trunks... They always turn out great and the sometimes stale, dirty, etc., smell is gone - because you Removed the source of the smell...

When you are finished with 1 Vehicle carpeted interior, including the trunk, it will be amazing to turn the Knob on the Recovery Tank and see all that Black water come out ! I have never Detailed a vehicle, no matter how clean (except if it was brand new), that did not give up 5 gallons of dirty, brown/black water and all that color dirt, etc., came out of the Bottom of all the carpeted areas where even the best Dry Vacuum cannot get it out...

You will still need to Vacuum the heck out of the interior really good, several directions, using that brush I told you about, to disturb and remove as much dirt as possible, before you go clean and extract the carpets, ok ? It will just turn out better, trust me on this one...

If you get too much water in the carpeting, you will need to get some small carpet floor air movers and set them up on each seat pointed down, to blow air in there to help dry it faster, so you need at least 4 of them... The key to drying anything is air movement across the top of the carpet ideally, like then those carpet guys come out and do your house and put those big air movers around that just blow across the carpets, remember ?

There are lots of extractors made for automotive use, this is a review of the one I have had for a long time, and it has never messed up or failed or had to be repaired...
Good luck !
Dan F

**bennylava** · 03-14-2016, 06:06 PM

Thanks Stokdgs! That reply really helps a lot.

But having read it, here are my questions:

1. Do you own, that smaller tip for the HP60? The handheld end piece for the hose, that you were referring to, that helps get into those tight areas. The areas that the larger stock piece that comes with it, just won`t fit into. Up under the dash and down in between the seats and such. I would think that it would come standard with purchasing a new unit for $1500. Should I buy the one in this link, or would you recommend a different one?

8700 Crevice Tool - Mytee Products, Inc.

2. What soap should I run through it? The do sell sudless soap for these things, but I figured I`d get your recommendation on which particular soap to use.

3. Does it get hot enough, that it negates the need for all that scrubbing? Cause I have to say, I`ve been doing a LOT of scrubbing with a brush and some soap. Getting real tired of doing that lol. Can you just do a thorough vacuuming, and then use the HP60, and be done?

**ShaneB** · 03-14-2016, 08:11 PM

You always need to agitate carpet using a cleaner. The tuff shine tire brush is awesome for this like stokdgs said, it`s become my new favorite. When I really need to scrub or when it`s easier, I reach for my dewalt drill and a couple drill brushes. This combo is AMAZING. I highly recommend it. Gotta be careful though cause with all direct drive rotary tools, you can damage things easily if you aren`t careful, but wow they make quick work of scrubbing carpets or even just helping to bring things up when vacuuming.

BTW great tip with the HP60 and leaving the heater off. I haven`t bit the bullet on a heated unit because of power restraints but if it`ll run on less than 15a with the heater off (or the heater on by itself) I could be in business! Do you know if it pulls less than 15a with just the pump and vacuum?

**Stokdgs** · 03-14-2016, 08:19 PM

Bennylava -

1. The stainless steel Crevice Tool does not come with the HP60. Only 1 standard stainless steel floor/carpet tool comes with the machine..

The Crevice Tool you have the link to is fine, except that the water jet is Outside the tool, and that can get the water spray in more places than you may want to have to deal with..

There are Crevice Tools with the water jet Inside the tool, so it is more accurate where it sprays the water; you just have to search around the Internet..
I believe SteamBrite dot com - out of San Antonio, Texas sells the tool I`m speaking of.. And many others...

2. I never have run a soap solution in my water tank to spray out the tool.. If you do this, then dont you have to rinse that soap out of the carpets, seats, etc.?

Some carpets are dirtier than others, so those for sure will need some extra work with a brush to get the dirt, grease, etc., dissolved and up so the Extractor
can get all the stuff up and out of the carpeting.

My method of doing carpets, mats, actually everything that gets extracted, is to first spray a good cleaner that is low foaming over the area, scrub it as needed,
to get the solution into the carpets, then Steam through a towel over the really dirtiest ones, then Extract, with a little of the hot water from the tool jet, and it
all comes out beautifully - most of the time - Some really badly stained places may take another shot of this...

3. Yes this Extractor gets the water hot enough and again, depending on how dirty we are talking here, you will have to pre-soak and spray some places or all
carpeting first, and then come back and extract, rinse, and extract all the dirty water and dirt out..

The Extractor is going to (if its a good one with a lot of water lift), pull as much of the wet dirt out of the bottom of the carpeting where all the dirt goes, and
remove it, so the carpets at the top level and bottom level and all in between is really clean and will smell so much nicer than before you did this...

To answer your last question - a thorough vacuuming and then using the HP60 with no soap spray, pre-soak, brushing will certainly be better than nothing,
but the level of Clean will be not as good as it could be if you did the spray the soap, scrub it in, especially on the dirty stains, etc., Steam it if possible, then
Extract, Rinse, Extract, it.... You just have to decide how much work you want to put into those vehicles to move them out and get more, right ??

In my experience getting Client`s vehicles ready for sale, whenever I did the full on Detail every square inch, inside and out, paint corrected and polished, beautifully, engine, engine compartment, - everything - clean, that vehicle sold the very first time it went on the Market and usually to the first person who came to see it... It was a NEW AGAIN Vehicle! They were so happy to see it not all beat up and dirty everywhere.. It was like starting its life over again..

Good Luck !
Dan F

**Stokdgs** · 03-14-2016, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by ShaneB

You always need to agitate carpet using a cleaner. The tuff shine tire brush is awesome for this like stokdgs said, it`s become my new favorite. When I really need to scrub or when it`s easier, I reach for my dewalt drill and a couple drill brushes. This combo is AMAZING. I highly recommend it. Gotta be careful though cause with all direct drive rotary tools, you can damage things easily if you aren`t careful, but wow they make quick work of scrubbing carpets or even just helping to bring things up when vacuuming.

BTW great tip with the HP60 and leaving the heater off. I haven`t bit the bullet on a heated unit because of power restraints but if it`ll run on less than 15a with the heater off (or the heater on by itself) I could be in business! Do you know if it pulls less than 15a with just the pump and vacuum?

Hi, Shane !

I believe a 1200 watt heater plugged into 120 volts normal electricity will use 10 amps of the normal 15 amp circuit that we all have..
So if Mytee says this unit, everything firing uses 18 amps, then I have to assume that the motor and the pump uses around 8 amps by themselves, so you should be able to be ok then - without the heater on...

It will always be better to get a real 20 amp circuit in there on 12awg wire, and a new breaker... I wire these up all the time, wherever I move to, in the garage...

I do not use GFI breakers out there because in my experience, they tend to pop sooner than rated sometimes for no reason..
I can see the need to have them in the bathroom and the kitchen around water, but Im smart enough to not ever let electricity and water mix outside...
Choose what you will be most comfortable with and go with that...
Dan F

**ShaneB** · 03-14-2016, 09:51 PM

When I have a garage I can setup for detailing I plan to have 2 separate 20a circuits installed. I use my customers electricity though so I have to assume 15a everywhere. Knowing this though, I can heat, turn the heat off, extract an area, then turn heat back on. I can`t believe I didn`t think of the idea before. Sure I won`t get constant 210 degree heat, but I bet it`ll stay pretty damn hot for a good 5-10 minutes. I can let it heat back up while I let cleaner dwell and brush in the next area.

**Accumulator** · 03-15-2016, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by ShaneB

..I may spring for the 1000cv..

The Daimer 1000cv is a steamer vacuum with some *really* impressive specs. It`s awfully pricey, but I just got an email from them saying it`s currently on sale. Still pricey though.

**bennylava** · 03-15-2016, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by ShaneB

You always need to agitate carpet using a cleaner. The tuff shine tire brush is awesome for this like stokdgs said, it`s become my new favorite.

BTW great tip with the HP60 and leaving the heater off. I haven`t bit the bullet on a heated unit because of power restraints but if it`ll run on less than 15a with the heater off (or the heater on by itself) I could be in business! Do you know if it pulls less than 15a with just the pump and vacuum?

If you`re going to leave the heater off, couldn`t you just buy a far less expensive unit? Isn`t the heater pretty much the whole reason this thing works so well?