Carpet Extractor Help

[OmegaDeatiling]

Hey guys, i have recently been looking to upgrade and get a carpet extractor but am not sure what the best ones are and if i need a hot water one. Im not looking to spend an arm and a leg but i want a good one, i have been looking at reviews everywhere and can`t find ones that really have more than a 3. Thank you for the help ($800 and less if possible or around that area)

 

[Accumulator]

OmegaDetailing- Welcome to Autopia!

Unless somebody else here knows about something I don`t (wouldn`t be a surprise!), in that pricerange I`d lean towards buying something pretty cheap and having money left over to replace it when necessary.

Most of my affordable extractors were..well, mediocre but they did the job, at least for a while. No regrets, just bought another when they died. Finally spent the Big Bucks and my not-nearly-affordable one is really in another league. I just dunno if there`s any truly good middle ground.

Now let`s see what people who`ve bought `em recently have to say..

Whatever you get, I strongly encourage you to only run water/rinse agent through it unless it has separate tanks for shampoo and rinse.

 

[Civicclutch]

I`ve got the mytee spyder and that was about 1200$ but oh was it worth it. It has the power to pull the water and grime out. And I only use water in the tank and use carpet shampoo in a spray bottle and a tuff shine tie brush to scrub the carpet


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[Accumulator]

I`ve got the mytee spyder and that was about 1200$ but oh was it worth it...

Yeah, if (maybe a big "if" ) you can afford to get into the four-digit range whatever you get is mightly likely to satisfy.

Noting how I love my pricey extractor, a lotta people would say to just buy a lot of Little Greens w/heat instead, treating them as disposables.

Has the Mytee been reliable?

 

[OmegaDeatiling]

I would love to be able to get that one as my first unit because i have only heard good things about it but I`m wondering have you heard anything about the Mytee S-300H Tempo Heated Extractor. Its about half the price but i don`t really see many reviews on it and it would be in my price range. What type of shampoo do you use, I`m going to be trying Shine Supply`s to see how that works.

 

[Lonnie]

My advice?
Find a carpet or flooring dealer who also sells carpet cleaning equipment and consult with them. Service after the sale is important. Plus, many of them will compete with internet sales on price. Maybe not as cheap, but when it comes service costs and time to fix it, being their customer who bought a unit from them, they will take care of you. You can also ask them if they sell used units or remanufactured units at savings that might fit your budget. They may also rent out units if you only clean out a few vehicles a year that may make more economic sense (cents?) than owning a unit.

Lastly, the carpet cleaner seller may take the time to show you how to use the unit if you buy it from them and that hands-on training is invaluable. Plus having and owning your own unit means you can use it for your own house`s carpet OR do home carpet cleaning as a (small) side business.

If you "cheap it" and buy a consumer-grade carpet cleaner from Target or Walmart, while it will work, it will NOT produce the results of a commercial/professional grade extractor. Do you get what you pay for??
Ask yourself,
1) "How many cars are you doing a year?"
2) "How "clean" do you want to get them?"
3) or more importantly,"How much time can you spend cleaning a vehicle`s interior with carpet and cloth seats (like a soccer mom`s van)?"
The return-on-investment is up to you and what is important to you in your detailing endevours.

 

[Civicclutch]

Yeah, if (maybe a big "if" ) you can afford to get into the four-digit range whatever you get is mightly likely to satisfy.

Noting how I love my pricey extractor, a lotta people would say to just buy a lot of Little Greens w/heat instead, treating them as disposables.

Has the Mytee been reliable?

Yes it has been very reliable especially since I don`t put shampoos in the reservoir


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[Civicclutch]

I would love to be able to get that one as my first unit because i have only heard good things about it but I`m wondering have you heard anything about the Mytee S-300H Tempo Heated Extractor. Its about half the price but i don`t really see many reviews on it and it would be in my price range. What type of shampoo do you use, I`m going to be trying Shine Supply`s to see how that works.

I have not really looked into that one but the spyder has the most lift and heat for the price paid two important things in an extractor. Also I use carpet shampoo as a spot/area cleaner out of a spray bottle or mixed in bucket depending on how filthy so the chemicals don`t strain the heating elements. I use detail king right now and will be looking for something when it`s bout gone, I hear poor boys has a carpet shampoo. And 303 spot cleaner works amazingly well on the crusted sal stains I come across from Wisconsin winters.


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[Lonnie]

..... And 303 spot cleaner works amazingly well on the crusted salt stains I come across from Wisconsin winters.

See! I always learn about a product or technique to remedy a detailing task that had been a troublesome problem for me. Being from Wisconsin myself, I run across salt-encrusted carpet floor mats or footwell carpets all the time, and most vehicle owners do not know what to do.
My stand-by process was/is to use a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and distilled water in a Pyrex measuring cup heated in a microwave as a "poorman`s heated extractor" and scrub the livin` daylights out of the encrusted salt and them soak it up with an absorbent microfiber and rinse it with water and then more soaking with an absorbent microfiber. Very tedious hand/manual labor-intensive process. (I have no extractor), Not to mention the smell of vinegar, which will dissipate in a few days from natural evaporation. The 303 spot cleaner sounds and smells "better" to me.

A professional/commercial grade extractor makes short work of that detailing task, to be sure.

One other interior detailing task that is overlooked is cleaning seatbelt fabric. Seatbelt belts really dirty just from grabbing them every day from the natural body oils on a person`s hands. Add sweat or touching bear skin in the summer time, and a 7-yearold vehicle`s seatbelt can get pretty dirty if they have never been properly cleaned. I know Dave Fermani used to use a pressure washer on them by pulling them out all the way, closing the door on them and then blasting them with a high-pressure washer and scrubbing them with a cleaning solution or APC/degreaser. I would imagine that the heated water and high-suction from a commercial extractor could accomplish the same thing, with the advantage that the water is being removed from the fabric, and you do not have to wipe-n-wick it with a microfiber, or that the natural drying time by evaporation is greatly reduced.

 

[Accumulator]

Civicclutch- Thanks for the reliability report on the Mytee. Should my one ancient Bissell (spot-cleaning in the house...think "pets" ) finally die that`ll be on my short-list.

Lonnie- Great advice about finding a local place that works with commercial extractors. Mine was a little surprised when a non-Pro showed up with the Century, but they give me great service and have products from ProChem/etc.

Heat does make a big diff when it comes to salt. Accumulatorette runs her oe carpeted mats year-round in the A8, and after 17 Ohio winters they`re still OK. I hardly ever use the DWVinegar, I simply can`t stand the smell of it and it doesn`t dissipate *nearly* as quickly as I`d like.

Ya know...I always find it odd when people don`t know how to deal with salt...don`t they have to clean it off their footwear/etc. during the winter? And the floors/etc. in their homes?