Carpet extractors are an important piece of janitorial floor maintenance equipment that can be used to deep clean the commercial carpets in your facility.
Commercial carpet extractors differ in size, type, power source, and other factors that will affect how effective they are at maintaining your building’s carpeted and upholstered surfaces.
Depending on the type of commercial carpet extractor you’re interested in purchasing for your facility, you will be able to spot clean tough stains and embedded dirt, or deep clean large carpeted areas.
The variety of commercial carpet extractors that you can choose from may make it hard to find the best one for your facility.
The right carpet extractor for your business will be based on the size of the area you’re looking to clean, your budget, and some other factors unique to your facility.
To help you narrow down the options, we’ve compiled a list of the 6 best commercial carpet extractors.
Best Carpet Extractors of 2024
Spot Extractors
- VIPER® WOLF130 Carpet Spotter
Box Extractor
- Clarke® EX20™ 100H
Self Contained Carpet Extractors
- CERTO® 16/9 Pro Extractor
- Advance® ES400™ XLP
Large Battery Automatic Extractors
- Advance® ES4000™
- Tennant 1610 ReadySpace® Dual Technology Extractor
Spot Extractors
Spot extractors are small canister carpet extractors that are used for quick spot removal, upholstery cleaning, or emergency clean-up, or smaller spills.
These types of commercial carpet extractors are portable and require the user to use a hose and wand attachment to clean the carpeted surfaces.
Since these machines tend to have a small cleaning capacity, they’re best for cleaning in small areas that would be difficult to clean with a larger-sized carpet extractor.
VIPER WOLF130 Carpet Spotter
The VIPER® WOLF130 Carpet Spotter is a portable spot cleaner that is perfect for completing spot or upholstered surface cleaning.
This commercial carpet cleaning machine is the smallest on this list, making it perfect for use in tight areas or where a larger capacity carpet extractor would be too difficult to maneuver.
Power Source
The VIPER® WOLF130 Carpet Spotter is a cord electric carpet spotter.
The bright yellow safety power cord for this machine is 21 ft long allowing your cleaning staff to reach difficult stains throughout your facility.
Cleaning Capacity
This machine has the smallest tank size with a 1-gallon solution and recovery tank.
The small cleaning capacity makes this machine perfect for quick cleanups and small spot-cleaning jobs.
Water Lift
This machine has a water lift of 85 inches.
The water lift of the machine is how far the carpet extractor is able to remove water that’s been removed from the carpet. In a commercial carpet extractor, the water lift defines how effective the machine will be at achieving clean, dry floors.With 85 inches of water lift, the WOLF130 Carpet Spotter is strong for its size. It is able to remove a large amount of wet matter from the area of the carpet during extraction.
Box Extractor
Box extractors are larger machines than spot extractors.
These carpet extractors are corded. The size of these commercial carpet cleaning machines are best for areas where a spotter would be too small or take too long to clean.
These extractors are recommended to be used to clean areas up to 2,000 square feet, making them a good option for congested office areas.
Clarke® EX20™ 100H Carpet Extractor
The Clarke® EX20™100H is a heated portable box extractor. This machine uses higher heat and reduced water to cut carpet drying times and reduce wicking and chemical use during and after cleaning. In fact, the wand tip can achieve a maximum temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
While many heated extractors require two separate cords and circuits to operate, the EX20™ 100H only requires one.
Power Source
The EX20™ has a single 25-foot power cord. The length of the power cord will allow your cleaning staff to clean carpeted and upholstered surfaces in your facility easily and minimize the number of outlets needed throughout the cleaning duration.
Cleaning Capacity
This machine has a solution tank of 12.5 gallons and a recovery tank of 11 gallons.
The EX20™ also has a pump pressure of 100 PSI.
Water Lift
The machine has a water lift of 140 inches.
This makes it possible for your commercial carpet extractor to remove as much water as possible from your carpet.
Self Contained Carpet Extractors
Depending on the size of your facility, a self-contained carpet extractor will be able to complete cleaning in larger, open carpeted areas.
Self-contained carpet extractors do not require your staff to use a hose and wand to extract dirt from carpets.
Instead, these commercial carpet extractors have a brush that scrubs the carpet as your staff uses the machine. These brushes eliminate difficult manual scrubbing or maneuvering that your cleaning staff will need to do in order to achieve clean carpets.
Mid-sized carpet extractors can be used to clean up to 2,000 square feet per hour. These machines usually have a tank size of between 8 and 12 gallons.
Clarke® EX40™ 18LX
The Clarke® EX40™ 18LX is a self-contained carpet extractor that offers cleaning options that will make extracting soils from your carpets easier.
The handle is adjustable to accommodate for different heights, making for easy maneuverability in tight spaces. Additionally, its unique design provides the operator with enhanced ergonomics. This, in addition with the large and easy-to-empty tanks, will not only make cleaning easier, but faster too.
The floating brush head on this commercial carpet extractor has an improved suction that results in better contact with the carpet, leaving your carpets drier.
Power Source
This walk-behind carpet extractor is cord-electric, coming equipped with a 50ft power cable.
Cleaning Capacity
This carpet extractor has an 18-inch cleaning path, which is the average cleaning path for mid-sized extractors on this list.
The machine also has a 12-gallon solution tank and a 10-gallon recovery tank. With the front-mounted drain hose and removable tank on this model, emptying the recovery tank is a quick and easy process.
Water Lift
With a water lift of 120 inches, this commercial carpet extractor has the same water lift power as the other mid-size self-contained carpet extractor on this list.
Advance® ES400™ XLP Carpet Extractor
The Advance® ES400™ XLP self-contained carpet extractor offers two cleaning modes, quick clean that can shorten downtime to as little as 30 minutes after cleaning, or deep restoration for a deep, thorough clean. 
This mid-sized machine is also great for cleaning larger areas in your facility, like office spaces, that aren’t open enough to be cleaned with a large area carpet extractor.
Power Source
This carpet extractor is a cord powered with a 50-foot power cord.
The long power cord will allow you and your cleaning staff to clean as long as the power cord is plugged into the wall.
Cleaning Capacity
This mid-sized self-contained carpet extractor has an 18-inch cleaning path. The 18-inch cleaning path will allow your janitorial staff to clean your carpets faster, increasing worker productivity.
The Advance® ES400™ XLP also has a cleaning capacity of a 12-gallon solution tank and a 10-gallon recovery tank.
The capacity provides increased productivity per tank and allows your cleaning staff to clean your facility with fewer interruptions to fill and dump the tanks.
Water Lift
This machine has a water lift of 120 inches.
This allows for powerful water removal during cleaning, leaving your carpets dryer and with less water in them, leading to shorter drying times.
Large Battery Automatic Carpet Extractors
Large self-contained carpet extractors can be either walk behind or ride on.
Commercial carpet extractors that are designed for large area cleaning are usually battery operated, not corded, and can clean up to 30,000 square feet.
These extractors are best for use in large facilities with open carpeted areas.
Advance® ES4000™ Carpet Extractor
The Advance® ES4000™ is a ride-on carpet extractor.
A ride-on carpet extractor helps reduce operator fatigue and increase worker productivity. Instead of pushing a carpet extractor or having to use a hose attachment, the brush roller is able to deep clean the carpets in your facility.
This machine has 4 cleaning modes; dry vacuuming, pre-spray, quick clean, and deep restoration.
The Advance® ES4000™ is the largest capacity machine on this list. This means if you have a large facility with wide, open carpeted areas, you will benefit from the cleaning path of this powerful machine.
Power Source
This battery-powered carpet extractor offers continued cleaning for up to 3 hours or 30,000 square feet per charge. The Advance® ES 4000™ also has an onboard charger.
Cleaning Capacity
This machine has a 28-inch cleaning path.
Both the solution and recovery tanks are 28 gallons, which makes the machine ideal for extracting soils from areas like hallways, conference rooms, or convention centers.
Water Lift
This machine has the lowest water lift on this list at 67 inches.
Though the water lift on this machine is low, it is more than enough for a large carpet extractor to thoroughly remove water and soil from your carpets.
Tennant 1610 ReadySpace® Dual Technology Carpet Extractor
The Tennant 1610 ReadySpace® is a large walk-behind carpet extractor that has two cleaning modes to help you and your cleaning staff achieve clean, dry carpets.
The ReadySpace® technology makes it possible to have your facility’s carpets dry and clean within 30 minutes using two Ready Space rollers.
This carpet extractor has two brush rollers that achieve double agitation and attracts dirt from carpets to remove more soil in one pass. The restorative extraction mode is perfect for deep extraction of your building’s carpets to extend the life and protect your investment.
Power Source
This commercial carpet extractor is battery-powered and can run for about 2.5 hours per charge. This machine can clean up to 33,000 square feet per charge.
Cleaning Capacity
The 22-inch cleaning path of this machine makes it perfect for cleaning carpeted hallways and large carpeted areas, like ballrooms and conference rooms.
The 1610 ReadySpace® also has a solution and recovery tank of 21 gallons each. This makes it easy for your staff to complete cleaning tasks without having to stop and empty your recovery tank during cleaning.
Water Lift
This machine can achieve a water lift of 120 inches, which is powerful for a large, battery automatic carpet extractor.
Final Thoughts
Depending on the specific needs of your building, you will be able to narrow down the best machine for your facility.
A facility that needs spot cleaning or would benefit from a small carpet extractor can use either the CERTO ® Pro Spotter or the Clarke® EX20™ 100H.
The Advance® ES400™ XLP and the CERTO® 16/9 Pro Extractor are perfect for facilities that have larger carpeted areas but can’t use a walk-behind or ride-on carpet extractor.
For buildings that have large open carpeted areas, the Advance® ES4000™ and the Clarke® Clean Track ® L24 are perfect for cleaning and maintaining your facility. These large-area carpet extractors make it easy for your cleaning staff to clean with the least amount of physical fatigue.
Imperial Dade can help match you to the best commercial carpet extractor for your facility, whether you’re located in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, or Canada.
If you are still not sure about which carpet extractor is the best option for your facility or have a question about commercial carpet extractors, let an Imperial Dade Specialist help.
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- How To Remove Stains From Carpet Using a Commercial Carpet Extractor