# Help me understand wet vacs....



## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

I need to understand wet vacs and extractors so I make sure I get the right thing.....

Which type of machine will pump a cleaning solution/water into the carpet and then suck it up again? I want to be able to either:

1. spray fabric cleaner on the carpet and work it in, then be able to use the vac to pump clean water through to rinse it all out and then suck it up

or

2. have cleaning solution in the machine and simply use that to pump it through the carpet and suck up all the dirty residue, so no further rinsing is needed.

I dont really understand the difference between these types of wet vac and an extractor  Was looking at the Vax 020 and 6131 and of course the good old George, but what is the real difference and which machines do what?

thanks for the help...


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## Detail My Ride (Apr 19, 2006)

An extractor is purely a vacuum that can suck wet and dry, a wet vac can spray both Detergent/Water, as well as suck wet and dry. There isn't a huge amount of difference between machines. I much prefer my little Vax to a George, I actually think its more powerful, not as big either, and the nozzle is smaller which is ideal for tight interiors.

I personally tend to use your option 1, purely because aggitating the Detergent tends to give better results, as the nozzle of wet vac's tend to be not too good at aggitating the product. 

I have a Vax 020, and use this process:

- Shake the mat to remove excess dirt and debris
- Spray Fabric Cleaner (I really like ValetPro Interior Cleaner) onto the surface, aggitate with a stiff bristled brush, being sure to get the edge of the mat if cleaning mats.
- Fill the wet vac detergent compartment with Warm Water, give 2 passes in each direction with water being sprayed, then after 2 passes in each direction just purely extract the water/detergent without spraying water onto the area. 
- You will know when you aren't going to get any more from the area, you'll see the nozzle won't be taking up any liquid. 

HTH,

Gaz


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

thanks Gaz - hoped you might chime in :thumb:

much clearer now. Was looking at the Vax 020 and the 6131, so will keep an eye on ebay for a good deal. Right now, most of the 020's seem to go for the same price as I can get a 6131 for, by the time you include shipping...


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

i use the george and think it's great, :thumb:

i use a very simalar method to GAZ,

again using valet pro interior cleaner or auto glym interior cleaner,
i fill the resevroir in the vac and start.

firstly i dry vac the whole car then i go back around with the wet vac doing 2-3 passes with the trigger pulled to spray and suck in one and then 2-3 passes with out the trigger pulled to dry the area,

if the area is badly stained i will lift the nozzle of the surface and spray the area with the trigger then aggitate followed by the first process to dry the area :thumb:

hope this helps u a little,


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## Schnorbitz (Aug 18, 2007)

Someone's posted a link to Vax 020s for £35 from Makro. If you can afford it, the Numatic is better built from what I've seen. I have a Vax 2000 which I think is similar to the 6131? Uses suction to draw the wash water through, it's not pumped or sprayed. Works well enough though, plenty of spares available. I just ordered a smaller wash head for car work.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

saw the link but no Makro within 50 miles of me.... Found the 6131 at £70 new so might invest in one fo those if a 020 doesnt come up on eBay at a decent price


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Vax 020 all the way.
Great wee machine. Agree with Gaz the small Upholstery tool is fantastic to get into all those tight areas.

I guess the only down side of the machine is you cant use it as a dry VAX. But if you do not require this. Its a smart buy as it does not take up that much room.
Gordon.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

thanks Gordon - small is good as we have too many gadgets already :lol:


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Good price for the 6131 Damon :thumb:, I think that would work better for me. One machine that does wet & dry , or is it better to have one machine for each ?? therefore having a machine designed to do the best job - rather than one that has to compromise doing 2.

Which option is better ?


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

ads2k said:


> Good price for the 6131 Damon :thumb:, I think that would work better for me. One machine that does wet & dry , or is it better to have one machine for each ?? therefore having a machine designed to do the best job - rather than one that has to compromise doing 2.
> 
> Which option is better ?


Adam - looking at the description it appears the 6131 does the same as 020 with the added benefit, so probably not worth 2 machines...


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## hus55 (Apr 23, 2008)

feel a bit trying to give advice but here goes....

being 38 and a profesional dry cleaner i have often seen Hagerty being advertised in laundry magazines but never really went into the carpet cleaning side of my business.

well my brother inlaw however did, and regularly lended me his Hagerty car cleaner.

a friend of mine brought a vito van that was filthy to say the least!! the seats had no pattern left in the fabric. just one colour, black. headliner was nicotined too

IT GAVE UNBELIEVABLE RESULTS TO SEATS,CARPETS AND HEADLINERS. LIKE NEW :thumb::thumb::thumb:


it had the shampoo part on the main body and washed,cleaned and sucked dry in one go.

i have seen a karcher very very similar,if not the same.

hope this helps,rgds hus.


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## drive 'n' shine (Apr 22, 2006)

Gaz W said:


> An extractor is purely a vacuum that can suck wet and dry, a wet vac can spray both Detergent/Water, as well as suck wet and dry. There isn't a huge amount of difference between machines.


Well I've always seen it the other way around! a wet vac is just that, a vac that can suck up liquids.


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## drive 'n' shine (Apr 22, 2006)

Most of the domestic machines i.e. George, Vax etc. are pretty much of a muchness.


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## AstoN (Dec 21, 2008)

So the Vax 020 can't do regular dry vac??

I need something that can be used dry day to day, but has the wet vac function for mats/dirty carpets when needed. The 6131 a possibility?

Or a decent website with a few options, need a new PW soon too so maybe one with those on too?


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## giblet (Feb 26, 2008)

I have a 6131 along with the smaller car attachment. As a dry vac its alright, but not as good as my old dyson dc5, but then again the dyson cost 3 times the price of the vax. As a wet vac its great, I used to stick the aa cleaner stuff that came with the vac into the solution bucket and apply it onto the interior but recently I tried mixing apc at 10:1 in a bucket, and used a stiff brush to scrub the interior with it. Then extracted the liquid from the interior using the vac. This seemed to work much better, although im planning on trying a dedicated cleaner like the valet pro heavy duty extraction one


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## TimG (Apr 2, 2008)

+1 drive 'n' shine.. I thought an extractor is a machine that sprays liquids into the fabric and simultaneously pulls the liquid back out of the fabric

Sample hand tool from an extractor.










Wet/dry vacs are just normal vacs w/o the sprayers.


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## Guest (Feb 8, 2009)

Got a George and find its got quite a wide "mouth" which makes it difficult to get into tight corners.

Also got a seperate vac for dry work so I dont have to empty the dry vac then wet vac then empty that and dry vac again which will of course start to leave a "mud" behind.


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

I have had a Vax extractor and currently have a Numatic/George, wasn't that impressed with the power of the extraction from the Vax in comparison to the Numatic. Plus point to the vax is the nozzle being a lot smaller than the Numatic, as it can be awkward to get into certain areas with the Numatic.

TBH I rarely use it other than cleaning mats and larger areas, prefer to clean by hand but this obviously doesn't clean deep down into the fibres.

The problem I also found with the Vax was the quality of the fittings, most are made from plastic and are easily broken or become brittle, went through a few chemical feed hoses in a year.

As already said a wet vac is purely that it will suck water, an extractor applies chemicals from a seperate tank and extracts them into a contaminant tank.

Apologies I'm waffling on now.

So in summary both have their plus and negative points, neither will give a miracle clean without some elbow grease with a brush to break the soiling down, if I was to buy another machine I would probably just go with a machine that can draw water in, apply my own cleaning solution through a hand sprayer and work in with a brush then draw out.

In the summer I find the most effective method for removable mats being a good clean by hand using a brush and detergent, pressure rinse, extract through machine and leave to dry.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

thanks guys :thumb:

I think its an extractor for me then, and use the hand application of carpet cleaner and use the machine to rinse through clean water and suck it back up :thumb:

As its only a few cars a year for me, then I think the lower cost and small Vax is probably the right option. Now to find one...


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## drive 'n' shine (Apr 22, 2006)

Any good?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WASH-VAX-PET-...3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:3|39:1|240:1318


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

yep - thats the deal, but hoping to get one less than that if possible. I can get a 6131 for less than that all in....

will keep watching the bay and see if I can grab a bargain.


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## nicks16v (Jan 7, 2009)

Wet Vac, Wet/Dry vac, extractor.Oh the choices !!! Is a George an extractor or a Wet/Dry Vac? What the best one that sprays water, sucks it up too and is also a dry vac ? What do all the pro's use for say rotten carpets/ dirty fabric trim ?

Thanks in advance


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## andy monty (Dec 29, 2007)

problem with a wet and Dry vac is that you wind up having to stip the machine empty the "dust" change the filter put back together its much easier with 2 dedicated machines IMO


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## Dan Carter (Jun 21, 2008)

andy monty said:


> problem with a wet and Dry vac is that you wind up having to stip the machine empty the "dust" change the filter put back together its much easier with 2 dedicated machines IMO


For sure

I used to use my George as both but got fed up of changing it over all the time, vac the car and then set it up for extraction only to find you have missed a bit with the vac (we all do)

I also found unless you dry it up really well the hoover bags go all manky very quickly

I now have a George for the wet stuff and Henry for the dry:thumb:


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## giblet (Feb 26, 2008)

Same here, using my old dyson for the dry and the vax for the wet stuff. saves time dealing with the faff of swapping bits over


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## JoeAVS1 (Jul 8, 2008)

Gaz W said:


> An extractor is purely a vacuum that can suck wet and dry, a wet vac can spray both Detergent/Water, as well as suck wet and dry. There isn't a huge amount of difference between machines. I much prefer my little Vax to a George, I actually think its more powerful, not as big either, and the nozzle is smaller which is ideal for tight interiors.
> 
> I personally tend to use your option 1, purely because aggitating the Detergent tends to give better results, as the nozzle of wet vac's tend to be not too good at aggitating the product.
> 
> ...


agree with you there gaz the George can be a bit bulky at times & the hose is a bit cumbersome although its a great machine, clear nozzle end is great for the OCD


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## JoeAVS1 (Jul 8, 2008)

Dan Carter said:


> For sure
> 
> I used to use my George as both but got fed up of changing it over all the time, vac the car and then set it up for extraction only to find you have missed a bit with the vac (we all do)
> 
> ...


Agreed thats the way forward with separate machines although Iv'e had my VAX vacuum (dry) for 2 an half years and still going strong its incredible considering the abuse its had & will also handle a bit of damp:thumb:


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## David (Apr 6, 2006)

ive got a karcher puzzi for extraction - had a vax v-020 

karcher is superior (and around £240 more expensive) but the vax has a brilliant see through extraction head which is tiny - excellent for getting into tight areas especially around the tunnel of the cetre console along the sides that are usually fabricated rather than plastic the whole way down.

The karcher is a big commercial unit but the spray head is a lot larger (3" or so) which makes it more awkward - but when doing seats/mats - takes half the time because the head is double the length.

Get a dedicated extraction machine for shampooing and a dedicated dry vac, i find it better that way.


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