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?

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?

Depends on the temperature, of course, but for me a couple of hours is
plenty. The whole point of a Vax is that the bulk of the water is
removed with the dirt and the surface of the fibres is all that gets
wet.

R.

johnboy
wibbled on Friday 09 October 2009 15:08

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?


It'll take a couple of days with the heating on. The needent be "off
limits" - it'll just me damp.
--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

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.

On Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:08:45 -0700, 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?

Depends on the carpet. I've not tried with a Vax, but with other machines
I've found it's usually a few hours to at least to be walkable on without
getting damp feet, and probably a day to fully dry.

I did make the mistake of trying to clean a foam-backed (about 1/2"),
deep-pile carpet once; about a week later it was still damp and smelled
yuck as the foam just wouldn't dry out. Thankfully it was due for
replacement anyway, so I bumped that job up and tore it all out...

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

Probably. If you've got a big portable fan (we've got one that's 2'
across) those *really* help; you can quickly dry high-traffic areas.

Talking of which, make sure people only walk on it with clean feet for
the next day or so - dirt just loves to stick to anything that's even
slightly damp, even if it might feel dry to the touch.

cheers

Jules

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?

Depends on (a) the efficiancy of the vacuum recovery system and more
important (b) the material the carpet is made from.

For example if the carpet is wool or wool/nylon mix. Wool can absorb 40% of
its own weight of water & no vacuum can remove absorbed water. If its an
acrylic or nylon it can't absorb any water so the vac can remove almost
100%.

Ventilation is the key to fast drying, heating makes little difference. It
helps if you go over the carpet with suction only half an hour after
cleaning.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk