Carpet Extractor Buyer's Guide

Carpeting adds warmth and comfort to homes, hotels, schools, hospitals and all sorts of buildings. In order to keep carpets looking their best and create a sanitary environment, regular cleaning is key. How to pick the best machine for the job? Read on for details on what’s out there and how it works.

Why buy an extractor versus just using a carpet brush or bonnet on your rotary machine? Because rotary carpet scrubbing with a “buffer” offers no means of recovering the dirty water left behind in the scrubbing process. It can be a powerful pre-extraction tool, but rinsing and extracting after scrubbing can provide a higher level of cleanliness.

Different Styles of Carpet Extractors

Box Style Carpet Extractors are just what the name implies. They’re a boxy type machine with both a clean water tank and a dirty water recovery tank. Powered by a pump, a vacuum system and sometimes a heater, these units deliver their cleaning power through a wand and hose connected to the “box”. Water pressure does the cleaning, so the pump’s P.S.I. (pounds per square inch of pressure) matters. A word of caution: the higher the P.S.I., the higher the risk of oversaturating the area. Also, some people get double the use and clean upholstery with their carpet extractor. You’ll need to stay at 100 P.S.I. or lower to safely clean upholstery. In addition, there are great rotary accessories that can add more powerful cleaning options to your box-style extractor, such as this Rotary Extractor. This tool works with water pressure but also has extraction power. These types of machines are often used in the following settings:

Self-Contained Extractors are machines that work via a brush roller and vacuum “shoe” mounted on the front of the machine. Typically, you walk to the far end of the space being cleaned and pull backwards to scrub and extract. These units are powered by a pump, vacuum system and brush motor. Self-contained units don’t offer a heat option, but using hot tap water to fill the solution tank is always an option. The cleaning path is generally wider than the opening on wands used with box-style units, making cleaning large, open areas faster. If you need to clean smaller areas in addition to the wide-open spaces, many models offer a wand or hand-held tool and hose set as optional accessories to help access narrower areas. These types of machines are often used in the following settings:

For more details about our wide selection of carpet cleaning equipment, please contact our customer care team at 1-888-722-5508.