As discussed earlier in a couple of posts I have made, the keys to success with a Rug Doctor are basically the same as with any other carpet cleaning machine.
The video below shows a carpet being vacuumed prior to the extraction process being started with the Rug Doctor...
Pre-vacuuming carpet is a necessary pre-cursor to successful carpet cleaning, but in some situations, the carpet needing cleaned may be so full of debris that would damage a typical vacuum cleaner that this step may be considered impossible.
But it isn't impossible with the right tools to do the job.
In this instance, a Wet/Dry vacuum is capable of handling the debris, but as anyone who has ever attempted to vacuum a carpet with one of those has discovered, the floor tool provided with the vac "locks down" on the carpet, and makes it very difficult to use.
Additionally, the carpet can be pulled apart at the seams, pulled up from the tack strip on the wall and corners, and generally causes more trouble than it solves.
But there is a way to use a Wet/Dry vacuum for carpets!
There are attachments available for helping Wet/Dry vacuums effectively clean carpet without all the problems caused by the "lock down" effect. Carpet nozzles are readily available...but do they work?
In the video provided, a specialized nozzle is affixed which makes the job of vacuuming with a Wet/Dry vacuum very easy to perform. As you can see, the nozzle is easily maneuvered, and the nap of the carpet is being lifted, which also shows that some agitation is being accomplished as well.
Now, anyone who has ever used a canister vacuum cleaner with a carpet nozzle without the turbo (air powered) or electrically driven brush roll, has surely noticed that they don't really pick up all the debris.
This is because agitation is an important aspect of vacuuming carpet effectively.
Take the older style of Hoover, with beater strips and brushes, and you can see how the carpet was actually beaten to release dirt into the air stream that is pulled in all around the cleaning head of the vacuum (Kirby, Sanitaire, many other brands still utilize this well proven design).
Some newer models (Dyson with its floating head for instance) don't really pull from all around the head, but centralize the vacuum into a suction chamber with a brush bar to agitate and release dirt into that zone.
You can see many video examples of one weakness in this "closed head" design, as opposed to the older "open high airflow" design in videos where large particles are pushed (snow plowed) by the cleaning head, instead of pulled into the vacuum. These designs excel at picking up fine dust and flour off of hard floors, but push large debris away. This is why it is nice to have good tools to affix to the hose for getting those hard to pick up by the head items.
Now, agitation was the point of that digression, but the argument that the attachment in use in my video example lacks a brush bar is a legitimate concern.
Wet/Dry vacuums, at least the larger ones have a lot more airflow and CFM generally than even very expensive home vacuum cleaners.
When combined with comparatively massive suction, the agitation needed is provided (to a point) by the movement of the nozzle in a motion which lifts and releases the carpet fibers in such a way as to allow removal of embedded debris (even long hair and thread) and allows the suction to pull all the debris right out of the carpet.
To make use of this agitation requires gaining a feel for when the attachment is grabbing and releasing, adjusting the angle the wand is held, speed of the stroke, and direction (multi-direction passes when possible) to fully remove as much debris as possible.
In practice, with practice, a very high level of debris removal can be achieved, much higher than any canister vacuum with a similar tool can achieve.
Lower powered Wet/Dry vacuums probably would not work as well for this application by that standard, but I haven't tested this thoroughly.
Additionally, wet pick up is also very good with this tool, as I have used it to clean up water heater spills and floods with great results as well.
It isn't as useful on glue-down carpets and hard floors, it works, but the hard floor nozzle provided with most Wet/Dry vacuums works a little better.
But on average carpet like most people use Rug Doctor's and similar machines on this tool is very effective.
The price at the time of this post was just under $15 at Home Depot, which is a very attractive considering how effective it is.
It should be noted, that I don't have any affiliation with Home Depot or Emerson (who makes most Ridgid WD vacs and accessories) so I am providing this information Gratis to be helpful.
Check the video, and on my channel you can find more video's showing this tool in use...
(The power unit for this video was a Ridgid WD1450 Wet/Dry vacuum, which is not only powerful, but much quieter than most Wet/Dry vacuums, perfect for use in the home...it sells for approx $100 at the time of this post)
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