Extractor or Vapor Cleaner

W

witness

New member
Ill start by saying I did utilize the search function before creating this thread. I see that there has been a lot of discussion about various carpet/interior cleaning regimens. I've been researching and comparing, and my initial plan was to purchase a carpet extractor and a vapor steam cleaner. However after further research I think it may be space wise, and budget friendly to decide on just one for the moment. I have been looking at the Aztec Hotrod Carpet Extractor vs the Vapor Clean tr5 vapor cleaner.

So far I'm leaning more towards the vapor cleaner for the following reason

-multiple uses- can be used on carpets, leather, vinyl, to clean the engine bay, windows, wheels, ect. vs the extractor which will only clean the carpets and upholstery.

-Drying time- I would like to be able to see finished and mostly dry results by the time I complete a mobile detail. I do have a heated air mover to aid in drying times, but from all of my research I deduce that steam is applied and then wiped with a mft to speed drying times. A carpet extractors rinse water is left to air dry.

-Sanitary purposes- A carpet extractor is just that.. an extractor. It extracts what you put down. So to disinfect I need to use disinfectant chemicals. This uses more time, more money, and could possibly lead to chemical residue remainders if not thoroughly extracted. A steam cleaner on the other hand produces enough heat to sanitize all applicable surfaces including the underside of automotive carpet without the use of chemicals.

-price- the tr5 i want is in the $500 range. The extractor we're drawn to is $670 to start. So that's $170 to put towards other chemicals or accessories or advertising.

I'm not trying to be one sided, just voicing the results from my research. I'm very open minded though and would like to hear others opinions on the topic. All in all I believe that the versatility, and price would make the vapor cleaner my interior (and in some cases exterior) weapon of choice.
 
save your money up and do it right ...get a good extractor ...is this for buisness or personal use?..if you are detailing for money you will get your money back and do a better job
 
witness said:
Ill start by saying I did utilize the search function before creating this thread. I see that there has been a lot of discussion about various carpet/interior cleaning regimens. I've been researching and comparing, and my initial plan was to purchase a carpet extractor and a vapor steam cleaner. However after further research I think it may be space wise, and budget friendly to decide on just one for the moment. I have been looking at the Aztec Hotrod Carpet Extractor vs the Vapor Clean tr5 vapor cleaner.
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From a business perspective, I think you are making a reasonable decision to hold down your initial start-up costs. And in this specific instance IMO you can choose one or the other w/o hamstringing your production.

witness said:
So far I'm leaning more towards the vapor cleaner for the following reason

-multiple uses- can be used on carpets, leather, vinyl, to clean the engine bay, windows, wheels, ect. vs the extractor which will only clean the carpets and upholstery.
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Very good point. Additionally, they (vapor steamers) work wonders on the numerous hard surfaces in the home.

witness said:
-Drying time- I would like to be able to see finished and mostly dry results by the time I complete a mobile detail. I do have a heated air mover to aid in drying times, but from all of my research I deduce that steam is applied and then wiped with a mft to speed drying times. A carpet extractors rinse water is left to air dry.
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Very perceptive. Warm weather is a huge benefit in aiding drying time, but air movers (fans) are excellent aids. And as you've read you really don't wet the surface much vapor machines vs extractors.

witness said:
-Sanitary purposes- A carpet extractor is just that.. an extractor. It extracts what you put down. So to disinfect I need to use disinfectant chemicals. This uses more time, more money, and could possibly lead to chemical residue remainders if not thoroughly extracted. A steam cleaner on the other hand produces enough heat to sanitize all applicable surfaces including the underside of automotive carpet without the use of chemicals.
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None of the chemicals I use disinfect carpet. AFAIK you can't disenfect carpet/upholstery textiles. There are chemicals to disinfect/sanitize hard surfaces.

witness said:
-price- the tr5 i want is in the $500 range. The extractor we're drawn to is $670 to start. So that's $170 to put towards other chemicals or accessories or advertising.
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I have (had) a Vapor Clean machine, though not the TR5 you mention. I can not recommend that machine or the company I purchased my machine from. I would do some further research before committing to that unit.

We preach process over product here a lot. In the case of paint I have no doubt that has proven itself to be correct. Cleaning carpets and upholstery, it has been my experience that the products specifically designed for the industry (cleaning textiles) will provide better results.

Finally as to your initial question, unless you are going to be doing large scale carpet cleaning I know you don't need an extractor to provide quality results for the majority of your automotive clients.

witness said:
I'm not trying to be one sided, just voicing the results from my research. I'm very open minded though and would like to hear others opinions on the topic. All in all I believe that the versatility, and price would make the vapor cleaner my interior (and in some cases exterior) weapon of choice.
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Edit: After seeing Troy's quote of my post I realized that some of witness' post wound up included in my own due to my errant quoting.
 
Mr. Clean said:
Finally as to your initial question, unless you are going to be doing large scale carpet cleaning I know you don't need an extractor to provide quality results for the majority of your automotive clients.

I'm not trying to be one sided, just voicing the results from my research. I'm very open minded though and would like to hear others opinions on the topic. All in all I believe that the versatility, and price would make the vapor cleaner my interior (and in some cases exterior) weapon of choice.
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I have a vapor cleaner and it is a great machine for doing some things. Don't expect it to do what an extractor can do for carpets. Like you said though, there are lots of things a vapor cleaner can do that an extractor can't.

To answer your question, if you're going to be cleaning some nasty carpets then you will want an extractor (a good one). Nothing is better at cleaning nasty carpets aside from pulling the carpet and padding out and pressure washing them.

In my case, I would rather have a vapor cleaner. I can clean headliners with it. I can clean all the nooks and crannies throughout the car with it (aside from delicate electronics). When you get good with it, you can clean really dirty leather as well as some bad stains in the carpet and upholstery (as long as there is no reservoir in the padding from a spill that will keep bleeding to the top).

I worked recently on a car that had been in an accident and a large specialty coffee had spilled all over the center console and center dash area. I was reluctant to get aggressive with the vapor cleaner but with some careful aim and not directing the spray straight on, I was able to make short work of an otherwise really tough clean-up job.
 
ArmstrongDetailing said:
I have a vapor cleaner and it is a great machine for doing some things. Don't expect it to do what an extractor can do for carpets. Like you said though, there are lots of things a vapor cleaner can do that an extractor can't.

To answer your question, if you're going to be cleaning some nasty carpets then you will want an extractor (a good one). Nothing is better at cleaning nasty carpets aside from pulling the carpet and padding out and pressure washing them.

In my case, I would rather have a vapor cleaner. I can clean headliners with it. I can clean all the nooks and crannies throughout the car with it (aside from delicate electronics). When you get good with it, you can clean really dirty leather as well as some bad stains in the carpet and upholstery (as long as there is no reservoir in the padding from a spill that will keep bleeding to the top).

I worked recently on a car that had been in an accident and a large specialty coffee had spilled all over the center console and center dash area. I was reluctant to get aggressive with the vapor cleaner but with some careful aim and not directing the spray straight on, I was able to make short work of an otherwise really tough clean-up job.
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To cut to the crux of the biscuit, that is where I was headed. Though honestly, I never quite ever acheived a comfortable feeling cleaning headliners with my vapor cleaner, always had a healthy fear of the heat. But I wouldn't feel any more comfortable with a hd/heated extractor and the possibility of overwetting the material. At least with the vapor steamer I could "buffer" the heat with cotton toweling.

As far as working really nasty carpet w/o an extractor, this is not something I see all that often. But this is a situation where IMO the proper chemicals can make up for the lack of an extractor. You want to treat stains, clean the rest of the carpet and most importantly remove the soap residues. Even the best extractor w/o the proper chemicals is going to only do an average job.
 
I appreciate the input everyone. I think we'll be ordering a vapor steamer. Headliners are a big concern for me as well. I think that having a vc gives an advantage in that I can position the steam away and move in closer as needed to use the least amount of moisture possible to attain desired results as opposed to either making a mess spraying water everywhere with an extractor or getting to close and possibly sucking the saturated headliner in.

To compensate i'm ordering some heavy, medium and light brushes both for a cordless drill and for my PC. A good assortment of proper chemical pretreatment, some oxyclean and some various brushes should suffice for the carpets and upholstery. Not to mention that the vapor cleaner should make quick work of heavy stains not only in the carpet but in hard to reach places and on the dash.

I believe my main deciding factor is the various uses for the steam cleaner. It's a more versatile machine all in all. It will be for business but our clientele lis is non existent as of the moment. We don't have any large scale carpet cleaning accounts so the most we should have to tackle are coffee, or juicebox stains. I'd rather just hit the needed areas with some water or solvent based chemicals and do it by hand right now. I'm drawn more to the machine that will help in detailing engine bays as this will be offered in majority o our services. I'm very sketchy about working around electrical components no matter how well they're covered, and I'm sure I'd feel way more comfortable with a controlled stream of vapor than a full on rinse of the engine bay.

At the point that our business develops into larger accounts or multiple accounts per day in which we'll need to make short work of interiors a carpet extractor will be added to our arsenal. At least then we'll know that there will be a steady stream of money coming in to pay for it. But as for now. With the limited space we have to work with in hauling all of our equipment, the Less we have, the better. And I'd rather have a multiple function tool at our disposal knowing it will be used for one thing or another 99% of the time as opposed to repeatedly pullin into job where the extractor is taken out only to remove a spot or two.
 
Do yourself a favor and find a janitorial or carpet cleaning supply house locally and get informed about the proper supplies for carpet and upholstery. A good TLC (Traffic Lane Cleaner) and an All Fiber Rinse product should be the minimum for carpet cleaning. An upholstery specific product will likely be recommended.

I have two such companies in my immediate area and you can't imagine the good information some of those independent carpet cleaning guys are willing to share as well as the store personnel.
 
Thank you very much for the tip. I've already contacted a local supplier and am meeting with them next week. It's nice to have two suppliers within 15 mins of home.
 
Yes, I find my local suppliers to be very helpful as well as the other customers (indy carpet cleaning companys -- most often owner/operators, sometimes franchisees) who come in. Most are very willing to talk about their business and offer suggestions/tips. I've even had a couple go into their truck and offer a product sample.
 
I actually have two friends that do carpet cleaning as a business. One on a semi part time basis. The other full time. They've been very helpful in making evident the differences in chemicals, the difference water temp makes, and in showing me the overall pros and cons of having an extractor.

I had settled on a vapor cleaner but further research of the models we were interested in Show that they may not be the most reasonable purchase. We're currently researching alternate brands, but at the point that none of them receive satisfactory reviews we may be forced to reconsider and begin looking at an extractor over a vapor cleaner for the moment.
 
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I actually have two friends that do carpet cleaning as a business. One on a semi part time basis. The other full time. They've been very helpful in making evident the differences in chemicals, the difference water temp makes, and in showing me the overall pros and cons of having an extractor.

I had settled on a vapor cleaner but further research of the models we were interested o. Show that may not be the most reasonable purchase. We're currently researching alternate brands but at the point that none of them receive satisfactory reviews we may be forced to reconsider and begin looking at an extractor over a vapor cleaner for the moment
 
That connection should prove helpful, if for no other reason you will be able to learn from their mistakes and successes. Carpet cleaning techs (they actually have a program of progressive training for certification) are likely drawn into the similar trap that we as detailers do, that is chasing the newest and best products. So on the backside your friends can probably help you shortcut that process (that is if they agree with each other :D)

One thing that will be a major difference IMO is that as carpet cleaners they are working with much more real estate than we do. Their carpets are bigger and their sofas/love seats/ottomans etc are bigger too. So from a tool perspective we aren't comparing apples and apples. One of the tools I would love to have, but can't justify is an upholstery tool by Dri-Master (I think that is the company). I got to play with it at a demo. It would be a great tool if I had more upholstered interiors to work with, because I think it would be just the thing for headliners. You will not over-wet with this tool unless you go to sleep.

Keep us informed as you continue to move forward.
 
BlackBetty said:
Has anyone priced out Attention to Detail Ltd.'s steamer? They claim that they have a heavier duty hose and brush attachment. Here is the link. I haven't called them yet. Still putting together Capital for Start-Up.
Vapor Steamers - Car Detailing school
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That's the steamer I have, although I did not get it from them (I can't remember which company I bought it from). Its a fantastic investment and has gotten me through some tough cleanup jobs, plus I use it in the house.
 
If you can figure out where you purchased it, let me know. That way I can compare prices. I think I'm going to plan on spot cleaning for the present until I have all the information and quotes in.
 
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