What is a Carpet Extractor?

Have you ever had the question "What is a carpet extractor?" Don't worry, you're not alone. Many people search for that question on the Internet, too.

More popular terms that come to mind are things like "carpet cleaning machine" or "carpet shampooer". Not many people use the term "carpet extractor" - unless you're in the business of cleaning carpets. For those people looking for information on cleaning their home carpet you will probably run across more information on the first 2 terms listed above. "Cleaning machine" or "shampooer" are terms that rental places use more frequently because it makes sense to the average person just looking to clean their carpets once a year with a rented machine.

But, if you're becoming more serious about getting into the cleaning business and starting to do your research you'll find out that "carpet extractor" is the term most commonly used for this kind of machine within the industry... which you are probably starting to find out. So, how does a carpet extractor differ from a "shampooer"? Not much, really.

Let's take a look at some styles of carpet extractors out there...

Different Styles of Carpet Extractors

There are 2 main styles of carpet extractors: box style, and self-contained. The style that you'll find at most rental places is the self-contained type. The carpet scrubbing and suctioning happen on the front end of the machine, but a vacuum hose can usually be attached at the back if you want to do stairs, upholstery, or maybe your vehicle.

Typical self-contained style carpet extractors.	Typical hot water box style carpet extractors.

The box style carpet extractor is, essentially, like a box with 2 chambers - one for clean water (and maybe some added cleaning solution), and another for the dirty water. A hose is attached to the machine, along with a carpet wand or an upholstery tool, to deliver clean solution to your carpet and then vacuum up the dirty water right away.

Here's a video on how to use a box type carpet extractor, the Galaxy 5 Upholstery & Car Detailer. The video also demonstrates how the external heater is used with this machine. This heated carpet extractor is a bit unique in that it runs on one power cord. Most heated machines use 2 power cords - one for the vacuum motor(s) and one for the heater. (If you have a heated machine with 2 separate power cords it's critical that the cords are plugged into different outlets that are on different circuits - plugging both cords into the same circuit will cause the circuit to trip because of the amount of electricity that's being drawn for the machine.)

The above video is particularly useful because it also shows how to mix in your cleaning chemicals, how to use defoamer to prevent soapy foam from entering the internal vac motor, how to pre-spray upholstery, and how to prime the solution hose. Even though the video just demonstrates use of an upholstery tool the instructions are equally applicable to using a carpet wand attachment.

Here's another video, this one demonstrating how to use the EDIC FiveStar, which is one of our small self contained extractor.

Which One is Right For You?

If you have some experience using one of those rental carpet machines then you have a bit more information on what it's like to run a self-contained carpet machine. Next time you rent one make sure to take along the optional vacuum hose to try out how it feels to manage a long hose and upholstery tool.

With either kind of machine you'll have to manage filling the solution tank with clean water/solution when you run out, and then emptying the dirty water tank when it gets full. The smaller the machine the more you're going to be filling and emptying it during the course of your cleaning.

And don't forget the carpet extractor defoamer! Defoaming agent is absolutely necessary to keep the suds down in your recovery tank. If suds get too high within the recovery tank you run the likely risk of suctioning them into the vacuum motor - this is a bad thing. Any water suctioned into the motor will reduce the lifespan of your machine, as well as possibly voiding your warranty. Using defoamer is cheap insurance to keep your carpet extractor running smoothly for years to come.

So now you have a little more information to answer "What is a carpet extractor?" For further information take a look through some of these carpet cleaning machines.