Lidl Vax spotwash washer

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@£69 Tempted to get one of these today as my car and van seats are grubby.
I usually use a bucket of hot water, scrubbing brush and washing up liquid then wet n dry vac. But sometimes I’d like more control over the water like the trigger as on these as my seats are usually damp for a few days when I ‘bucket’ them. Anyone already use one of these budget machines?

 

[Bullet2012]

will be better than a sponge and bucket, cleaning solution can be a bit pricey

 

[marlinspike]

Are these the Vax ones shown online?
We have an upright Vax carpet washer with an attachment for spot cleaning and it's very good. £66 new is as cheap as you'll ever see them I reckon. The ebay official Vax outlet has damaged box ones at similar prices. Ours pulls the water out of the carpet and upholstery very well, though I guess it depends on the motor power. Leaves it slightly damp but dryer than if you've scrubbed it. Home Bargains and B and M sometimes do the detergent quite cheaply. Only downside is washing it out and it's just another thing you don't use regularly but have to store somewhere.

 

[daleyd]

We’ve got one of the spot wash, great for little dog/cat/children mishaps - it’s a fair bit easier than scrubbing and the fact it actively sucks the water back out is better - as said it leaves the area damp but much less so than if you were to scrub it.

 

[Bluemotion]

will be better than a sponge and bucket, cleaning solution can be a bit pricey

Well, I usually just use fairy liquid so I’ll play with the cheaper options first.
Not bothered if it only does one car seat at a time to empty and fill water compartments if it produces a ‘good enough’ job

 

[marlinspike]

Astonish do a version of the carpet solution. £2.50 at Dunhelm so cheaper than the Vax original, but only 1 litre.

Astonish Specialist Vac Maxx Carpet | Dunelm

* 1 litre bottle * Loosens and removes dirt Astonish Vac Maxx Machine Carpet Shampoo is a powerful cleaning agent that loosens and lifts away dirt, all while neutralising unpleasant odours. For use with most major carpet cleaning machines and is extremely concentrated, so be sure to dilute with...

www.dunelm.com

 

[Bluemotion]

Astonish do a version of the carpet solution. £2.50 at Dunhelm so cheaper than the Vax original, but only 1 litre.

Astonish Specialist Vac Maxx Carpet | Dunelm

* 1 litre bottle * Loosens and removes dirt Astonish Vac Maxx Machine Carpet Shampoo is a powerful cleaning agent that loosens and lifts away dirt, all while neutralising unpleasant odours. For use with most major carpet cleaning machines and is extremely concentrated, so be sure to dilute with...

www.dunelm.com

Good to know

 

[qwakers]

ive got one. works well. can buy the shampoo in 5l tubs at a fraction of the cost of the vax stuff. use it to clean cars all the time and works well. got is full size upright big brother too for house floor cleaning.


www.amazon.co.uk/Dirtbusters-Professional-Protection-Technology-Treatment/dp/B0C4BDJGCY?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

 

[jimbo84]

We’ve got this one, we wanted the cheaper model but they were out of stock so they sent us this one instead for the same price, had it getting on for 2 years, they’re like lathes, once you have one you wondered how you ever managed without.

Ours gets used a lot, in the car, in the house for everything from a spilt drink to toddler vomit.

 

[Turbo]

I used to service carpet cleaning machines.

DO NOT use washing up liquid in any carpet cleaner. It creates foam in your waste tank that gets sucked into the vacuum motor and will knacker it.

Carpet cleaning detergent is designed not to foam, same way as automatic laundry detergent.

Quality carpet cleaner detergent will clean carpet/seats a lot better than fairy liquid or similar detergents. Autosmart do a really good one.

If you are cleaning a carpet that has been previously cleaned with standard foaming detergent you can get an anti foaming agent to add to the waste tank. Or you can use an old car valeters trick of adding a small drop of diesel to the tank.

 

[Turbo]

Vax machines do not use a quality pump in their machines, especially at that price.
It will be a low pressure pump like a aquarium pump. It means that you will get little penetration into the carpet fibres to deep clean it.

You would get as good or better cleaning with a spray bottle of detergent, give it a scrub then use a wet and dry vacuum on it.

A Numatic or Karcher machine uses a proper pump with decent pressure to penetrate deep into the carpet and loosen the dirt. The better machines have twin pumps.

Best way I can describe it is the difference between washing your patio with a garden hose vs a pressure washer.

Keep an eye out for a used pro machine. If it needs repair all the main parts are available aftermarket. Even genuine numatic parts are cheap.

I bought a used karcher machine for £50 and all it needed was a new hose and upholstery tool.

 

[qwakers]

funny. that doesnt match my experience....

 

[Turbo]

funny. that doesnt match my experience....

Have you compared it back to back with a pro machine?
I have seen the results of carpets 'cleaned' with a cheap vax machine followed by cleaning with a karcher pro machine. The water in the karcher was dirtier than the vax water!

I have worked on vax machines and they are really cheaply made.

 

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I think these days Karcher are very much budget in this sort of range too.

 

[Turbo]

I think these days Karcher are very much budget in this sort of range too.

Depends on model. They still make a pro range of carpet cleaners.