Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

[The Wash Doc]

Hey guys, I saw some pictures on a website of how this guy turned his shop vac into a carpet extractor and I want to know do you all think this would work good, if at all? He had one of those little water pumps (not the kind that you put down in water, the type that sits on top of water tank) He had this pump sucking up solution water out of a empty greased lightning jug (the big ones) with a 3/4 solution hose which was connected to the pump. Then there was a longer solution hose (clear tubing you get from lowes) coming out the other side of the pump and at the end of it, it looked like he got some metal couplings and attached to them to the end of hose. Now, with the shop vac, he took the hose and instead of putting on a vacuum attachment, he had purchased a carpet extractor wand for like $100.00 and somehow fit it into the end of the shop vacs hose and then had the sprayer hose of the wand connected to the metal couplings on the solution tube coming from the pump. I don't know if I explained this good or not, so hopefully you all know what I'm talking about. So, how would this work and would it be worth a damn? If so, what kinda pump would I need and how much power? Where would i get just the extractor wand attachment?

[Don]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

I have a 3.5 hp Shop Vac that I use for extracting all the time. I use a garden hose sprayer with the nozzle set to "mist" for my water source and a Bissell upholstery nozzle for extraction

[The Wash Doc]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

i believe my shop vac is 5hp so I'm sure that might pull the water back up, I just have no good attachments that would actually pull water up. Does that Bissell wand fit right into your vac hose?

[Don]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

i believe my shop vac is 5hp so I'm sure that might pull the water back up, I just have no good attachments that would actually pull water up. Does that Bissell wand fit right into your vac hose?

It's a bit loose, but the suction holds it in place nicely.

[The Wash Doc]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

Whatever works! What exact steps do you take cleaning your carpet using your shop vac?

[Don]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

Whatever works! What exact steps do you take cleaning your carpet using your shop vac?

Dry vac the whole carpet then mist on my cleaner...I've even used diluted laundry detergent... and mist in a bit of water from the hose, scrub with a stiff bristled brush and repeat as needed.

[The Wash Doc]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

Is this something I can do in a reasonable amount of time doing customers cars or is that like a weekend thing? I've been using the Bissell Little Green Machine, and it took forever for me to dampen the carpet with water and cleaner, brush it all in, and then use the LGM to rinse and extract the soapy dirty water. It always seemed like I cleaned the carpet, but by time I was done, stains somehow just magically re-appeared. I just really need a new method and I can't afford one of those expensive carpet extractors

[Don]

Re: Turn A Shop Vac into a Carpet Extractor???

Shampooing carpets is a time consuming task and sometimes you can't get all the stains out no matter how hard you try.