Truckmount Carpet Cleaner

A truckmount carpet cleaner is a carpet and upholstery cleaning unit that is generally mounted to the floor of a van or trailer. Its cleaning method is hot water extraction. The operator would park the van near the premises, connect the vacuum hose and solution line hose into the machine, bring the hoses into the building, and connect a carpet cleaning wand to the end of the hoses.

Benefits
Typical small machines start off at 16 horsepower (12 kW) and range up to 60 horsepower (45 kW). Van powered power take-off (PTO) units are available on the market. Traditionally, truckmount carpet cleaning machines have been more powerful than portable carpet cleaning units. Although recent changes in technology have allowed portable manufacturers to approach the power of truckmount carpet cleaning machines, to date truckmounts are more powerful as they produce the cleaning power from an engine and electric portables generate the cleaning power from an electrical socket in the customers home.

Components
A petrol or diesel fueled engine powers a high pressure pump and vacuum blower by direct drive. The engine will generally have a starter motor fitted alone with a pull starter and an alternator that charges the battery and supplies 12 volt DC current to all the electrical components. An on demand electrical fuel pump is bolted to the fuel tank or the machine and supplies the carburetor or injectors on the engine with a fuel tank that is normally fitted to the chassis of the van to supply the fuel pump.

A PTO or power take-off unit has the same driven components as a petrol or diesel driven unit except that the unit takes mechanical power from the vehicles engine via a specially fitted power take off unit which is usually fitted to the vehicle transmission. The power is usually transmitted via a drive shaft or hydraulic pump and motor. Heating the solution is either by a vehicle exhaust heat exchanger, coolant heater or LPG fired heater.

Accessories
Cleaning tools connect to the vacuum and solution hose. Cleaning attachments such as upholstery tools for upholstery cleaning, and power heads and rotary tools for carpet, can also be used to further increase productivity and enhanced results on certain carpet types and soil conditions. The attachments to the machine are also an important factor in delivering the right amount of solution and also the extraction of the solution. A well-equipped operator will often have a large percentage of the cost of the machine invested in accessories, in order to achieve optimum results.

A hose reel can be bolted to the floor of the van for storing the vacuum and solution hoses. Recently, electric rewind hose reels have been introduced to allow for quicker hose storage. A main water tank is often fitted to the floor of the van. It holds fresh water, supplying water directly to the high pressure pump or the mixer tank. When such a water tank is installed, an on-demand supply pump is bolted to the main water tank, supplying water to the mixer tank or high pressure pump.