Cleaning Upholstery with an Aerus/Electrolux?

[ronni]

I just found the tutorial vid below on how to clean upholstery with a Kirby cleaner which got me wondering if one could do something similar with an Aerus/Electrolux tank, canister, or upright cleaner such as:


1) Vacuum with an Aerus or Electrolux
a) Sidekick, Sidekick II, or Sidekick III
b) Litt'l Lux, Little Lux, or Little Lux II

2) Use a vintage Electrolux sprayer attached to blower end or a Little Pro to apply Turbo Shampoo.

3) Work in the shampoo with:
a) the floor/rug tool connected to the hose on the blower end of the cleaner or on 1 or 2 wand sections apart from the cleaner
b) the Electrolux Little Pro
c) a Rug Washer attached to the hose on the suction end
d) a white cotton cloth

4) Vacuum when dry using a Aerus or Electrolux
a) Sidekick, Sidekick II, or Sidekick III
b) Litt'l Lux, Little Lux, or Little Lux II


I'd appreciate your thoughts and knowledge about the procedure and the suggested equipment. Also, I am wondering if this would work well in a vehicle in addition to furniture?

There seems to be an abundance of Kirby How-To videos but not many for Aerus/Electrolux products. I wonder why--or are they uploaded on another site other than Youtube?


The demonstrator in the vid mentions Kirby Guard--doe Aerus/Electrolux have something similar?

 

[ronni]

I didn't think that the Aerus/Electrolux shampooing system was all that popular, but NO responses from users? That's hard to believe--especially considering that there seem to be a fair number of Vacuumlanders that are Electrolux fans. Perhaps, though, they are only fans of the vacuum cleaners (or appliances made by AB Electrolux).

 

[ronni]

Of course, #4 of my original post should also include the conventional use of the upholstery cleaner on the hose of the tank--an oversight to be sure.

 

[ronni]

At the risk of continuing to "tallk to the wall" I've got a question for longtime Aerus/Electrolux salespersons. Look at the photo below and tell me the purpose of the nub. It is too far in to touch the handle bar, so it isn't a support; and the fact that there isn't also one on the other side helps refute that.

 

[tig21er]

The nub

was the best way to have a way of putting the tank on the handle. When you are putting the tank on you can push the nub with little effort to assure the tank was in place. I will check the manual and see if there is anything there.
You are right in some of the ways you talk about shampooing upholstery with Electrolux products. Not having time right now, I will post as soon as I have the necessary materials together on the subject.

 

[kirby519]

If I'm reading your question right.

Any vacuum that you can hook the hose up to the exaust and attach a spray gun to the end of the hose like on the kirby and following those steps will produce the same results. Years ago many manufaturers had a spray gun attachament for their machines for that purpose. To create foam to clean upholstery and carpets. As well as applying floor waxes and sraying surfaces with cleaners or insecticides. As for cleaning a car interior. The results good or bad will be based on the soil level of the surfaces being cleaned. Just as they are in your home.

 

[kirby519]

You also want to be carefull what your choice is to work the foam/cleaner in to the fabric. Some do not respond well to harsh aggitation as it damages the fibers of the fabric. A sponge or very soft brush to work the foam into the fabric would be the safest and a light touch. (Like a soft work shop bench brush or brush used to wash your car.)

I used an encapsulation cleaner (Liquid) and a bench brush to clean some fabric wall covering at one of our accounts. It worked very well and cleaner didn't leave any water rings and the soft bench brush didn't damage the wall covering.

 

[ronni]

John and Steve--thank you much for responding. I really appreciate your knowledge and thoughts.

So, Steve, if I understand you correctly you are skeptical of using a rotary tool with shampoo on home or auto upholstery? I say this, because I am thinking that the soft shampoo brush of the Rug Washer wouldn't be any stiffer than your bench brush (although you may be unfamiliar with this). Perhaps the circular motion of a sponge would be easiest on auto upholstery anyway--good idea.

John, I am interested in your thoughts about using any of the standard Electrolux cleaning tools for working the shampoo into auto or home upholstery (e. g. the rug cleaner, the Rug Washer). Looking forward to finding out what your literature states about the dispenser nub, and if it mentions cleaning upholstery.

 

[kirby519]

I like rotary or powered tools. I have the zip brush for my kirby and use it often. I do have a couch that is supposed to be solvent cleaned. I have used hot water extraction with a commercial extractor to clean the couch with no harm done.

How ever the manufacturer doesn't recomend using any type of brush attachament to vacuum the upholstry. I do how ever use the zip brush and the wall brush to remove lint and cat hair. it has worn the fabric to some degree but that is what it takes to get the lint and hair off it. A straight suction tool with no brush doesn't cut it.

Just advising chose wisely or you may be disapointed in the end result or cause damage you handn't expected. Best advise is to start out with the least aggressive approach and step it up from there. Things like color bleed on cotton fabrics. abrasion of the surface of the fabric.

Over cleaning or over aggressive cleaning is equally damaging to surfaces as not being cleaned often enough. If you are unsure ALWAYS test a small area that will not be visable to anyone before going any further until you are sure that is the result you are looking for.

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[DesertTortoise]

Huh, never would have thought about using a vacuum cleaner like that to shampoo furniture.

One caution, I ruined the foam underneath the door upholstery of one of my Audis shampooing it. The foam underneath disintegrated and the cloth trim would continually come loose from the door panel. Not sure using any amount of water on upholstery is a great idea.

 

[floor-a-matic]

The B8 upper handle (left) latch holds the tank nub so it doesn't fall off when shampooing carpet or scrubbing floors

 

[ronni]

Thanks, Erik. I've checked out your idea and although you're correct that the left handle latch does touch it when it's in the locked position it doesn't seem prevent the dispenser from falling out if it weren't correctly placed in the locating lugs. It is probable, though, since there is only one nub that it helps to guide the dispenser into position.

I just located my Model B-8 manual which states the following for installing the dispensing tank:

"4. Install dispenser tank on the machine with the upper handle in the upright position and the hinge lock on the left side in the locked down position. (See figure 4) Snap tank into position. The sides of the tank have grooves that fit over locating lugs on the lower section of the machine handle. Turn other hinge lock to locked down position."

 

[ronni]

Thank you for your cautionary advice, Dircik. I would imagine that the shampoo didn't cause the foam to disintegrate but accelerated its breakdown. You didn't mention the age of your Audi, so that seems likely if it were older.

'twould be interesting to learn what professional auto cleaners use in terms of product and application.

 

[ronni]

In reviewing the video above, I noticed that the Kirby sprayer has a sudsing cap. The cap was installed on the sprayer after spraying the upholstery with a mist of the liquid without its foaming property in order for the foam to bond better to the upholstery. So is an Electrolux sprayer designed to be used with dry foam? I know that Nuvo Shampoo was developed in Electrolux's early years to be used in the sprayer, but it seems that Turbo Shampoo was developed in the 1960s with the introduction of the Rug Washer which came with its own hand-operated mist sprayer.

 

[DesertTortoise]

That is a good catch regarding that first spray Ronni. Could the Electrolux shampooer do that?

Yes, the car is an older model so it did indeed accelerate the foam breakdown. But consider the two doors we did not shampoo (the cousin I bought the car from is a professional carpet and furniture cleaner, owns his own business, and it was he who did the cleaning that day, gotta love it) have no problems. Oh well.

 

[ronni]

Thanks, Dircik. I was given a NIB Electrolux sprayer today so will experiment with the density control knob to see if it produces both a mist and a foam. Regarding your Audi's upholstery cleaning did you use dry foam?

_____________

All: Is there a difference between the Electrolux Floor Polisher & Scrubber's brown and black brushes (the vacuum cleaner accessory that preceded the Turb-O-Tool)? To the touch their pliability feels identical.

Due to the floor polisher/scrubber's smaller size (than the Rug Washer) and soft bristles I am thinking it may be just right for doing upholstery.