A Great Idea!
Back in 2006 Dave from Aqua Air sent me a carpet cleaning kit as an attachment for a central vacuum and I must admit that I never really thoroughly tested the concept. Yes, I thought the idea had merit but cringed at the thought of using the central vacuum in conjunction with a water extraction system for “washing” my carpets. I only perform this task once or twice a year (because the central vacuum keeps it clean on a daily basis) and I normally rent a high-powered extraction machine from my local rental company. I figured it would be useless to have this expensive system sitting around for just those few annual usages.
Well I stand completely corrected on the value of this system! First, it comes with a 5-gallon stainless steel bucket on wheels with a 3 foot hose that plugs into the nearest central vacuum outlet. The end of the hose also contains a five or six foot hose bib connection and an extra 20 foot hose to connect to the water-heater or washing machine bib. At the other end of the 30 foot suction hose it has a beautiful commercial-grade connection and trigger system. To this you attach a stainless steel wand and the carpet cleaning head.
Although you cannot spray a cleaning solution from the trigger of the hose (with the water) you mix the carpet solution in a separate spray bottle and pre-treat the carpet letting the solution sit for about 15 minutes. You then come back with the Aqua-Air attachment system and spray hot water on the carpet rinsing it and sucking the moisture out of the carpet with the power of your central vacuum. The wet solution is caught by the stainless steel tank prior to getting into the central vacuum lines. I was absolutely delighted with the results! In fact, I think this is the system did a better job than any extraction system I had ever used! The carpet still looks beautiful five weeks later.
One of the key elements is having a strong central vacuum to create the suction power to properly extract the moisture from the carpet. In my case it was dry in less than two hours. The kit also contained a hand-held wand for cleaning upholstery and stairs. This was the absolute best tool I have ever used for cleaning my stairs with a liquid solution. The staircase looked new again even though my carpet is over ten years old. Again, the versatility of the central vacuum with the long hose made this a convenient and thorough method for proper cleaning.
Probably the most difficult part of this system for most homeowners will be locating an adequate place to tap into the hot water system. I believe a key element to the cleaning is the use of hot water as opposed to cold water. I found the bib on the bottom of my water heater worked well and the 20 foot extra hose helped get me there. At the other end of my home I unscrewed the washing machine connection and attached at that point. If you let the system sit too long the water gets cold and I recommend purging it into a sink or toilet. The stainless steel tank holds quite a bit of water and contains a float that will shut the suction off if it gets too full or if it gets tipped. It was quite easy to simply dump this into a drain but I was amazed at the amount of “yuck” that had come out of my carpets!
Interestingly enough, two days later we had a neighborhood party at our home and five minutes before the guests arrived we were pouring a 3 gallon tub of hot wassail into a glass bowl and it broke, pouring two gallons of sticky fluid all over the kitchen island and cupboards. Having the Aqua Air system handy in the garage, I whipped it out and cleaned up the mess in no time. As the first guest arrived right on time, they had no idea of the fiasco that had just been averted.
So thank you Aqua Air for a great new attachment set. I stand corrected asking your apologies that I did not thoroughly test your product when you first sent it to me. MD will likely be offering these soon to our clients.