I have been using small carpet extractors for the last year, sold them, and will be upgrading to one that has 187 inches of water lift with a 20 foot hose. I prespray the carpet with adam's upholstery and carpet spray, scrub in if really bad carpet and then will hit with this carpet extractor that has 150 psi spray. my question is this. after I hit the area and it is clean, what methods do all of you use to speed up the drying time and how long does it take? I have heard to methods, one is to do the extraction and then hit the area over with a wet dry vacum and just turn it over to the customer. the other method is to do the extraction and to then turn up the heat high in the customer's car and close the doors and crack the windows and keep going back to check on the carpet dampness. the first method I am hoping will work for me since I am going to have so much vacum power with my new carpet extractor. the second method I saw used in a detail shop I worked at for a couple of months and quit because I could not believe what they were doing to the cars. any feedback would be greatly appreciated. ps. am thinking about adding a shampoo mixture to the water in the carpet extractor to aid in speeding up the cleaning ability with this unit. so I would prespray with adam's, then lightly scrub in and would then hit with carpet extractor that also has shampoo mix in the water that is being shot into the carpet. do any of you encourage this practice or no? thanks again.
I dont have as powerful a unit as your new one, I only have 137" of water lift and 100psi, and the water is heated in the tank. I think that the more you run over the carpet with that much power, the more moisture you will remove - but this will add time to your process. I do the carpeted mats, and if its nice outside, set them out in the sun to help dry them faster. If not I put them in a line and run an air mover over them all at once, to help dry them faster. I try to get away with as little moisture as possible so that there is less to remove, and then I put a couple of air movers, the same machines the carpet cleaning guys use, in the vehicle with all the doors, moonroof, etc., open, and blow air in there to help it dry faster. I NEVER use the Client's vehicle with the Heater/AC on high to dry the car, and never even thought about doing something like that. If I cant dry it with 2 air movers in the vehicle in a day, I keep the vehicle overnight and let those fans run all night too, so that the Client gets a perfectly clean and dry car back the day they pick it up Regarding putting in a soap solution in your water tank - I never do that, because I will have to somehow rinse it out of the carpet and that means more moisture now to extract. The only thing I put in the water tank is a little isopropyl alcohol just a little, to help knock the foam down, if I add to much spray cleaner to the carpet. I am not sure how the pumps like having soapy water run through them, if it hurts them later down the road, so to speak.. Good luck with your research ! DanF .
thanks for the feedback. I was wrong on the water lift. it is actually 150 inches of water lift per unit. I was already considering using air blowers like the ones that carpet cleaners use. my only hope is that with the combo if the strong water lift from my carpet extractor and the air blower, I will get quick dry times as I do not plan on saturating the carpets to be damp. even with the small units I had I got great results with the customer cars I had and no that this new unit will work great for what I am looking to do (5- to 10 cars per day. as far as using the car AC to dry out the car, I never felt this was right way of drying the interior as it is using the customer's gasoline and circulating moisture throughout the car as well as leaving a moldy smell in the car. plus it just takes too long, especially if it is a large suburban. never did like the way that the low end detail shop I worked at detailed their client's cars. thanks again!
air movement is the best way. Dry air is the best. On a hot day it will dry faster, on a cool day below 60 it will take longer. For every pass with the water on a HWE you will want to do 3 passes with the vacuum only. I used air king and it worked well. One in each foot well. Amazon.com: Air King 3-Speed Pivoting Utility Blower with Grounded Outlets #9550/9552: Home & Garden
For every wet pass, do two or three dry passes with your extractor. The amount of suction ( 150 IOL ) should leave the carpets or seats barely damp, and certainly not wet.
Where I work, we use there of these Amazon.com: Stanley High-Velocity BlowerFan, 655702: Home & Garden And park the car outside. On cooler days we keep the doors closed and place a small heater inside. On hotter days we open all the doors. We put a fan on the driver and passenger seat and face them down, and one in the back with the heater.
thanks for the feedback everybody, once again very greatful. I was hoping to hear from you how long it takes to dry the interior with two air blowers in the car (front seats facing down), I am guessing 20 to 30 minutes at the most. the units I am going to buy are below: INTERIOR DRYER - DETAIL PLUS - Car Appearance Systems they are expensive but I have seen these exact models in action and they should really do a great job at drying everything down in record time. my only concern is that with that much air blowing around, I will have to go do another wipe down of the interior to make sure there is no dust or dirt blown around on the dash. thanks again godoman
I am looking at the air king units on amazon.com and I am thinking that they will be too bulky for fitting on a car seat. do you guys find this to be the case or do you find these units to be just what I need? because the air kings are considerably less in price then the units I am looking at. thanks godoman
i have the same one from home depot. the orange snail. they work great wish they could articulate the blower around a little. price was exactly the same 199. got the wife to spring for it for my birthday. one of my better con jobs. it is wet here in oregon and it is a lifesaver.
no worse that the fullsize blowers. Air kings can articulate the head up and down. they also come in 2 sizes. I used the small and two of them. you can buy them from a carpet cleaning supply store for less than what bud sells them for. Plus you can get an attachment that fits on to the end of yours and runs 3 4" hoses to where ever you need it. So you would not have to put that machine in the car.
Grouse, When you get time, can you please advise where you bought your small Air Kings for less money? And where did you find the attachment for the 4"hoses please ? You know, I think there is a Detailer out here in Washington south of me that has the same Logo as yours. I believe his name is Aaron. I saw his advertisement in a local BMW CCA magazine.. Thanks for your help with this ! Dan F
For you mc dowels off fourth in seattle. Yes that was me we relocated. Also check the jon don website Dri-Eaz® TurboVent® InterAir Drying System™
Aaron, Holy Cow !! All the way to Connecticut ? Hope it's working out for you there. I hear its beautiful there. . Thanks so much for the information, will check these places out. Im just a little one-man shop working out of my 2-car garage in Bellevue. Dan F
so can any of you guesstimate for me, using the 150 inch water lift carpet extractor and 2 high powered air blowers, how long it will take to dry the interior of a car? I am guessing that with the high water lift the carpets will barely be wet and that the air blowers will dry the carpets in 20 minutes or less. thanks godoman
Grouse - Back in full effect ;-) Thoughts on the Hydro Kinectic Upholstery tool. Looked at the Prochem and the Drimaster.....I'm leaning on the Hydro Kinetic
I like the idea of the hydro kinetic but I am concerned that it is meant for higher powered extractors. I find this unit spoken on all the carpet cleaning forums very highly, but again, these are guys using units that put out 400 psi. Is a unit that puts out 100 psi with 137 water lift going to be sufficient? mine will be 150 psi with 150 water lift and still I am concered since the hydro kinetic is going for almost $400.00 dollars per online. thanks godoman
skip the HydroKin and spend the few extra dollars and get the sapphire scientific. No sharp edges and has dual vac. You can find it online for about $440 plus shipping. I clean carpets and upholstery, detail as well. The SS is THE BOMB!! Has a water flow adjuster and just basically kicks butt.. 100psi is not much at all but will work, just slow down and do more dry passes to speed up the time...
is this the unit you 2 are talking about because it is the one i was looking at on youtube.com and like what i am seeing from it so far. Sapphire Scientific: 67-019 Upholstery Pro Cleaning Wand [67-019] - 3 - 5 Inch Detail Tools - Wand prob is that it is more geared towards upholstery, not thick carpets. i have been emailing a promoter for it and they told me to use the 3 inch wand that comes with my extractor for carpets and then switch it out with the sapphire-scientific for doing the seats and what not, this will assure super quick dry time when i hit the interior with air blowers and will not get the foam in the seats soaked. thanks godoman
I like the looks of it also. very small and compact. it also has a vac release vent for headliners provided you down the psi the water and heat.
