[Shaun_Ashmore]

What psi do you tend to clean at for carpets and upholstery?

I'm a stead 350 on each may be slight change now and again but not much.

Shaun

[Colin Day]

80-100 for upholstery and 200-300 for carpets depnding on soiling, carpet type etc..... I have gone up to 400 on a really smelly school carpet which came up a treat

For upholstery cleaning I like to keep it to a fine mist thus preventing over wetting.... But I am aware that a lot of people prefer a higher PSI..... I suppose it an individual choice!!!!!

[JandS]

400 carpets 300 upholstery.

John

[richy27]

3-400 carpets 200 upholstery

[deep-cleaningukltd]

350/400 with a wand. 130/150 with the (original) Rotovac. About 135 for upholstery.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

350-400 for carpets; 100-150 for upholstery as a general rule of thumb.

Roger

[Steve Chapman]

400 for carpets 200 for upholstery

steve

[Neil Williams]

As a general rule
carpets 300 upholstery 150

[markpowell]

250 carpets and 100-150 upholstery
Mark

[Jim_77]

3 months ago my answer to your question would have been "135"

But how useful is knowing everyone's PSI?  300psi on my machine is different from on a porty or small TM.  Only if we all used the same machine and tools it'd be a fair comparison wouldn't it?  (surely flow rate is the key?)

On my bluewave I generally run a 2-jet wand (total flow '06) at 300-350 for carpets up to 100', crank it up a bit on longer hose runs to compensate for loss of pressure and heat.

With a standard detailer, can't go much above 250 or it gets the walls and ceiling wetter than the upholstery.  This is the nice thing about the drimaster tool, because it flows constantly you can use a little higher psi and have oodles of heat pumping through - a hand tool never really gets properly hot because you simply aren't pulling enough solution through to keep heat at the tool.

It's just a shame I've had to send my drimaster back because it sprang a leak after a couple of weeks :

[stu_thomson]

350ish on carpets unless im using wonder wand in which case 400 +

400-500 on upholstery using cfr handtools

stu

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I use a cfr and find that you need a good psi to make it to the end of the tool problem is I have too much suck with my TM but the drying times are very good.

What upholstery tools do everyone use?

Shaun

[stu_thomson]

Shaun it can be a problem with my T/M but thats why ive got a right arm like pop-eye!

may help to turn the valve open on the cfr tool...

sometimes go back to my porty for upholstery but dont like to

stu

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I have the dial open full most of the time, I was thinking of getting a porti for that reason.

Shaun

[Magic Dry Perth]

With the EMV I use 70 on carpets but have gone up to 90 and about 45 on upholstery

[Shaun_Ashmore]

What's the flow rate in gallons? what size jets do you have?

Shaun

[richie]

Shaun,
As Jim has pointed out portables & truckmounts differ in the psi department. This is due to water flow on a truckmount been much higher than on portable units. Domestic and light commercial carpets about 300-350 psi. Night club carpets 350-450 psi.  Upholstery around 200 psi.

Jim,
Im surprised that regardless of hose runs you are seeing a significant reduction of water pressure from your truckmount. In theory you should not get a drop in pressure.  I can honestly say that in 15 years of using truckmounts ive never needed to up the water pressure on long hose runs as it has stayed the same. 
Richie.

[Jim_77]

Doesn't matter what machine or hoses etc.... the more you use, the more you lose (there's a catchphrase in there for someone!)

In theory there will always be a drop in pressure the more hose you put on,  I agree though that a CAT 3CP isn't going to show much difference going up from 50 to 200 ft but there is a little difference.  (sorry, science lesson coming up :\ )  The walls of the hose expand under pressure (like blowing up a balloon) and the solution compresses under pressure, so the more hose and solution the pump is pushing against the more loss of energy you'll experience.  Obviously these amounts are small but it is happening.

But bumping up the PSI isn't so much for the pressure but the heat really, especially in winter.  Getting more flow keeps it hot at the wand.  When you've got solution lines outside in sub-zero temps and laid along frosty ground you're losing quite a bit!

[richie]

As i said Jim,  ive never had a noticeable drop in pressure where i have had to up the water pressure to compensate.
I know what you mean regarding the heat loss.  There are ways to limit the heat loss though.  The common solution hoses sold by most suppliers are steel braided.  Hydramaster ued to supply solution hose that was not steel braided and it does keep the heat in more.  We still have some of it & use it regular so you could buy a couple of lengths if you can source it. Another way is the obvious one. Keep the minimum amount of solution hose outside and the rest in the property been cleaned.  In the warmer months any extra solution line i leave outside but inside when weather is colder.  Another way that could help is pull out a extra length of vac hose. Feed the solution hose through the vac hose that way the solution hose will not be directly open to the cold.  I cant imagine it would help much but would do so a little.  Another way would be to buy some of the pipe lagging like the one in the link below.

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/DEF/product/!!PLF42X13F%2FLAG!!/

Richie.

[JandS]

Wether it's a Porty or a TM you'll still get loss of pressure the longer the run
through friction loss and also if it's pushing it uphill you'll lose some.
Would imagine it would be minimal though depending on the smoothness
of the bore of the solution hose.
Probably no more than 10psi over a 200 foot run.

John