Washing Carpets via Extractor vs Vac:PW : sucking vs blowing

[chefwong]

Catchy title

I suppose you gotta use what tools you have. I do have a extractor and prefer that when doing fabric

I've seen plenty of videos of pressure washing carpets, taking a drill brush and spin brush agitating, etc.
In my mind, I've always looked at it as pushing the dirt into the fiber...vs. vacuum and extraction
I have never used a Tornador and never quite *got the concept of it* as well

I dunno if today's -detailing related event- that triggered this post relates to it
I'm returning a loaner car. I'm just doing my 5% so before I return it, I decided to take my leaf blower....and blow out the lower carpets and trunk. Fast, easily, low input effort. While it did make some difference, it wasn't as much as if I just spent 5 minutes taking a vacuum to it, and *sucking* it all out. Even with the blower on full tilt boggy, many stuff remains on the carpet fibers that I can clearly see

 

[Setec Astronomy]

A lot of people swear by blowing out the interior with compressed air, maybe that's mostly for cracks and crevices, but certainly people take floor mats out of the car and blow them out with compressed air.

I would tend to agree that sucking is better than blowing...sheesh, maybe this should be PG-13 thread.

 

[Eldorado2k]

If the Tornador didn’t need an air compressor to run I think we’d all have 1 and be using it.

I like the concept of how it’s supposedly able to blow sand out of carpets & matts that would take a vacuum a much longer time to do.

Also, I don’t think you can compare a leaf blower to a tornador. Maybe if you use a small blower like a Metro Sidekick which has a small nozzle output, but even then it’s much different than what a Tornador does.