On Fri, 9 Oct 2009 07:08:45 -0700 (PDT), johnboy wrote:
We bought a Vax about a year ago but never got around to using it.

Plan to try it this weekend but not sure how long we should plan for
the room to be off limits?

Should I leave the heating on to help dry it out?

I don't have a VAX, but with my Hoover Aquamaster it's typically a few
hours. If you don't mind getting damp socks (or leave your shoes on)
you can walk on it immediately. Though in practice I leave it to dry out
overnight.
All it does is spray a small quantity of water into the carpet weave,
then on the second pass sucks most of it back out. You can tell how much
is left behind by the difference between the quantity you fill it's tank
up with and the (alarmingly dirty) water that's collected in pass #2.
The difference isn't that much and it's spread over the whole area of the
room.
'corse if you decide to tip a few buckets of water over the carpet
until it's sodden and *then* vacuum it up it will take days - and probably
ruin the carpet, too.