[Timm]

Hello,

can any one recommend a good upholstery cleaning machine .
I read about CFR hand tools do they add too the per formance greatly?
What are the most important features
i.e. lift , pressure , heat ?
any experienced operators could point me in the right direction .

Tim

[Mike Osbourne]

The cfr hand tool is well worth the money as you can clean upholstery without it getting too wet and risk problems.

You can use it pretty much with any portable. I think though you need a reasonable psi ie 135 min.

I use pureclean from prochem and there fabric something or other with an acid rinse.

A portable with good heat will be a boon for the cotton mingers that will find you.

[Paul Simpson]

Well worth investing in a CFR tool, got one approx. 3 months ago and was using a Kleenrite upholstery tool before that and found it a great improvement in both performance and speed.

[Joe H]

I have had the CFR with a 5" head for about 4 years now. Good buy.
12 months ago I got the 3" head.
Use M-Power for general areas of suites with Heavy Duty for the arms and head rests if needed (greasy).

[Timm]

Thanks Paul , Joe and Mike that has given me a head start before i approach any body.
Tim

[Joe H]

but you asked about upholstery cleaning machines (before you mentioned CFR tools)

Like Mike said the CFR tools require a certain minimum pressure so the machine you work it with must have that in its spec - or the tool wont work efficiently.

Do you have any machine now, or do you have something in mind?

[Timm]

Hi Joe ,
i have not yet got a machine so was also wondering what kind of money to pay.
Saw the cfr tool on a site and wondered if it made a big difference.
Tom

[Joe H]

I presume you are going to do carpet cleaning as well. So you will be using the same machine.
There are hot water extraction machines on the market that will do a job for around £1000., and many more costing more then that.
What you looking for (in my opinion) is a machine that has 2 x 3 stage vac motors, and a minimum of 135psi pump.
Take a look at Ashbys, Cleansmart, Prochem, Restormate, Solutions Cornwall, Amtech, Craftex and more that I forgot (but not on purpose).
Also what you looking for is good customer service - and some on the above list are brilliant and some are a bit iffy. Keep reading past posts on here and you will spot who is in what category.

[robert meldrum]

Ideally you should use the CFR tools with a CFR machine for which it was designed. The re circulating of the CFR machine means you can dwell on really heavy soiling without having to re fill every 20 minutes, or so.

Brilliant system for upholstery cleaning.

[Mike Osbourne]

If you went for the drimaster handtool they will use a hell of a lot of water. When I used my cfr handtool with my ninja 135psi and later my speedster at about 200psi I found I could easily do a suite without filing up/emptying out.

[Joe H]

Na Robert - may be a sales gimmick to make one stick with the machine.
I did have the CFR machine a few years ago but used the CFR tool with my Scorpion and with the Prowler truckmount to good effect - no problem.
The tool and heads may be expensive (never thought of importing it  ) but mine is very well engineered with no sharp bits at all.
Its good having the hide-a-hose cause the solution line has no chance of snagging around an arm etc.

[Timm]

Thank you every one .

[robert meldrum]

 Only used the tools with the CFR machines always thought they would go through a lot of fluid with other machines, but from your and Mike O's comments obviously not the case.

[JS2]

Yes, the CFR hand-tool with its enclosed jet / airway system is great.  I did a greasy armchair with one the other week and was randomly asked if I could then clean a small dirty carpet as well.  Using the standard carpet wand for the latter the whole lot was done with far less than 15 litres of made-up solution.  The point is, the CFR tool at 100 psi and the correct jet didn't require much solution to do a very good clean, but my hide-hose did keep coming loose at the tool end and this was frustrating me a bit. 

Pete (JS2)