Witty one line comment goes here.... now all I need is to think of one
Witty one line comment goes here.... now all I need is to think of one
Member since:01.01.2006
Reviews:17
Members who trust:2
Introduction ---------------- Well it looks like a bike orange upright vacuum cleaner but that's one thing its not. The first thing to realise about the Rapide XL is that it will not vacuum up your carpets. The manual also specifically warns against using it to "suck" up pools of spilt liquids.
About the machine ----------------------- This machine is a carpet and upholstery washer. There is a clean water tank in the upright section (where your dust bag would be). You take this out and fill it straight from the tap - using water as hot as you like. Underneath this is a soap reservoir thing (more on that later). In the foot section is the dirty water tank. The tanks are all see-through so you can see just how much is in them. There are three main switches
(a big one and two little ones). The two little ones are to turn the brushes on and to turn the soap on. The big one turns the main water motors on. On the handle is a trigger.
When empty this machine is big, orange and heavy. Put a couple of litres of water in and its big orange and very heavy. It moves like a normal upright so you can push it around with the foot staying perpendicular to the handle. Push a large foot plate on the back and the foot will hinge to the floor. It's not particularly easy to manoeuvre in either mode so it can be a struggle to get it to where you want.
Using the machine ---------------------- So with clean water in the main tank, soap in the middle one, you get the machine to the dirty piece of carpet, set brushes to on, set the soap to on and turn on the master switch. From now on you can hear nothing but the motors in your Vax, it is loud, really loud. Your next task is to try and push it along, pull the trigger to squirt out some water and soap mixture and pull it back. The water squirts out somewhere underneath, gets brushed in and then sucked back up into the dirty water tank. Do several forward/backs like this, then turn off the soap switch and do it again with just water. You will see the dirty water being sucked into the tank in the foot. Were my carpets really that filthy? You'll be surprised.
What your left with is an area of carpet that is definitely cleaner than it was but will be slightly damp. You really don't want to be walking on it straight away. Most marks clean up quite well; we have a cat that will go through spells of using the carpet in place of the litter tray. You can try all your sprays, tea trees and vinegars but hot water and soap beaten into the carpet and sucked back out is about the most effective.
It's the brush bars that do the beating in of the water/soap. There are actually two of these, one behind the other; together they "groom" the carpet.
If you need to clean near the edge of the carpet or you want to do the settee then this isn't going to help you. It's not up-to the edge and I don't think it pretends to be. You will need to take the big plastic hose off the back and plug it into the top of the dirty water tank, there is a small hose attached to the big one that connects to a little outlet at the bottom of the foot. At the end of this hose is a tool a bit like the stair cleaning attachment on a vacuum cleaner. There is another trigger on this. Set the soap on, brush off and turn the machine on - it's just as noisy as before. You now use this little attachment in just the same way squirt a bit, rub it in, suck it up. When you plugged the hose in you did remember to put the other lever to tools so it sucks from the right place as well didn't you? (Otherwise your settee will take days to dry out.
Soap tank ------------ The soap thing I've just not managed to work out. You put liquid soap into this tank but the level never seems to drop. As far as I can tell, the machine mixes water with the soap in the tank and squirts it out, there's certainly soap mixed in with the water coming out (you can feel it) but when does it actually run out. The instructions say the soap will last about four full tanks of clean water but if it still looks soapy and its still cleaning, perhaps it just lasts a lot longer. They really could have explained this bit a lot better.
Vax liquid soap also isn't that easy to find either. Strangely the coop on the Isle of Mull have it (or they did last summer) but that's a really long way to go. I've not seen it in local supermarkets of any size. Of course its rather pricey as well - perhaps that's why they want you to keep replacing it.
The dirty water tank is a bit faffy to take off, empty, rinse out and fit back in but it is acceptable. Of course you'll have to disconnect the hose, drain it out and wrap it back up. The machine also has hooks for the mains lead to wrap up, you need to do the hose and the lead just right for it all to fit back together though.
Recommendation ---------------------- Overall I'd generally not recommend this to people. Its big, noisy, and heavy - I still don't know what I'm doing with the soap thing either. Unless you have a need to regularly shampoo your carpets (kids, pets etc) just hire a machine when you need one. Other than that, it has to have been possible to do something a bit better than what Vax did with this.
We got ours from Currys or Comet or somewhere like that. I can't really remember how much we paid but the best thing is just to do a price comparison online. There's probably some adverts at the bottom of this page as well.
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Rapide XL Pre-treatment Carpet WasherWashes Carpets and UpholsteryPre-treatment Applicator ... more
and Solution - Revitalise High Traffic Areas and Remove Stubborn StainsExtra Long 4.2m Stretch HoseOn-board Wash Tool&HoseTwo-contra Rotating Brushbars Agitate D...
Postage & Packaging: £6.99 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Rapide XL Pre-treatment Carpet WasherWashes Carpets and UpholsteryPre-treatment Applicator ... more
and Solution - Revitalise High Traffic Areas and Remove Stubborn StainsExtra Long 4.2m Stretch HoseOn-board Wash Tool&HoseTwo-contra Rotating Brushbars Agitate D...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Jan 20th, 2006
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