Tips for cleaning your hot water extractor

Mike Phillips · 12-12-2016, 10:06 AM

Tips for cleaning your hot water extractor

Almost 4 years ago I was asked a question on the forum about how to clean a hot water extractor? I meant to return to my original reply and turn my answer into an article. I'm teaching a class at Mobile Tech Expo this year on how to use Hot Water Extractors and Steam Cleaners and as such I'll be creating a Power Point Presentation for the class and this provides me the opportunity to take my answer 4 years ago on the forum and turn it into a real how-to article.

Here's the start.... the below was a question to me and my follow-up reply from this thread.

Originally Posted by KS_Detailing

Questions...

1. What defoamer are you using? Which brand and how do you use the defoamer in the machine?

2. How often are you using the Mytee system maintainer? Mytee suggest once a week! Its $50 per dozen!

3. Is there any other maintenance I should know about?

I don't plan to use chemicals in the solution tank but would pre-treat carpets with an APC or Folex.

Thanks for the help

Here's my updated answer to how to clean a MyTee Hot Water Extractor with more info and a full how-to article to come...

First - we don't use any carpet/upholstery cleaners "in" our Mytee Lite 8070 or our HP60 Spyder even though you can if you so choose. The reason why is because you never really rinse anything or extract anything clean because you're always injecting cleaner into it. Instead we pre-treat with a dedicated fabric and upholstery cleaner.

Since we don't use any cleaning agents we don't need to use a de-foamer. (water doesn't really cause a foaming problem)

The most important thing you can do to keep your extractor clean is immediately rinse out the dirty water holding tank as soon as you're done using the extractor for the day. If you make this a best practice, the dirty water holding tank will stay clean and thus won't have a foul odor over time.

I take our MyTee 8070 shop extractor outside and tip it on it's side and then blast it with water from a sprayer and aim the spray all over inside the tank letting the water run out the vacuum line inlet. The MyTee 8070 is much easier to clean since it has a drain valve on the very bottom of the dirty water holding tank so no tipping is needed. For what it's worth, the HP60 Spyder is so much easier to use and clean than the MyTee 8070 due to just a few design features that are upgrades you pay for when you move up to this model.

After flushing the dirty water tank out, as an option you can add some white vinegar to the dirty water tank and then fill the tank and let it soak for a while for a natural deodorizing.

Also, flush your vacuum line with fresh, clean water and find a way to hang it vertical from end to end so it will drip dry, you don't want crud accumulating inside your hose and hardening.

And remove the sprayer tip using the appropriate wrench and flush and clean it with water. I use an APC and a swab plus a nylon detailing brush, (like a toothbrush), to clean it after use. Then I blast it with an air squirter to blow it out and blow it dry.

If you don't flush it and clean it out, all the minerals and other elements in city water will tend to form corrosion around the tip opening and the water spray coming out can get clogged or spray unevenly.

It's really best to do all of the above after use before any of the water in any of the above components can dry.

It's the same idea for cleaning Pad Washers after a hard day's detailing. If you clean your pad washer after using it you can pretty much just rinse it out with a blast of clean water. If you let it sit instead of cleaning it, the compounding residue and the paint your remove will compact inside the bucket on the bottom, in the Vortex base and inside and on top of the water pump cups and now you'll have to actually do some scrubbing.

Immediate cleaning is fast and easy cleaning. Waiting just makes everything harder, take longer and stinkier.

Hope this helps...