Since I keep reading (and experienced myself) how a regular vacum cleaner can become clogged with the damp fibers, would a shop vac work well? I read Mark Dullea saying he uses the Little DEvil - I think that is a hand held little thing, unless I'm wrong. Seems like you would need to be on your hands/knees to use it. Would a small shop vac work with a proper head on the end of it? YOur thoughts everyone, please.......

not a dumb question.

my thoughts are no it wouldn't work. the suction would pull that head to the floor and keep it there. unless there is a head with wheels for it.?.

i have 2 vac's that i regularly post-vac when the carpet is still damp : 1 Bissel Cleanview upright ; 1 Dyson DC07 upright (yellow model).

the Bissel for some reason gets clogged with damp staple fibers. the Dyson does not. i figure this is because the Bissel i have been leaving the height adjustment too low...it has a manual height adjustment. the Dyson has an automatic height adjustment, so it must leave it at a higher level.

the Bissel also has a more aggressive brushroll, the excessive moisture it picks up.

my Dyson works great and although it has awesome suction power, it doesn't pick up any moisture but does pick up those excess staple fibers that rise to the surface after cleaning.

BTW, if you can afford it, i recommend having at least 2 uprights (both should have attachments / wands so you can vac the edges). 1 should be for homes without pets, the other for homes WITH pets. you don't want to go into a nice home after you've just vac'ed up damp dog hair....at least i don't. while others will say to just change the bag or filters or dustcup, that moisture will leave particles of "dog smell" in the plumbing.

that's just my experience tho.

thanx --- Derek

i agree with derek but will add this........
the pre-vac part of yer service should remove most, if not all existing loose fibers providing yer using a quality vacuum. if and when its affordable to you, i'd recommend the hoover conquest with dirt cup. the conquest has whats called an auger brush roll and really preps the carpeting for cleaning. kinda like a poor mans pile lifter if ya would.
when OP'ing, you'll still end up with some fibers after cleaning but not nearly as much without the good pre-vac part.

keep an eyeball out on ebay (rare) for used conquests, or check out some local vac stores for a used one.
just my thoughts

---micky

how much are they new???

The 14” or 18” Conquest is by far the cheapest on this site : http://www.vcdiscounter.com/hoovconu7.html

One thing to know about the Conquest: they will blow a slight amount of dust when 1st turned on (something i do not like in a residential setting, but keeping the dust-cup and cloth bag clean would help with this). At least this is the case with the dust-cup version which is the one I have…not sure if it happens with the cloth bag model. For residential I would look at the 14", I think the 18” is too big. But it is what I use for commercial carpet cleaning. Also, if you buy this vac I would think you’d want to also bring into a house a canister vac or backpack vac so that you can clean to the edges. The Conquest does not have attachments / wand for edge cleaning.

Remaining anonymous.