Carpet Shampooer

[Jo]

Hi all,

can anyone recommend a good carpet cleaner - one that shampoos the carpet (or similar)?

Jo

[Tony Williams]

I did a whole-house purge of the carpets last summer, with a Vax (which I would not recommend as a purchase).

The quickest and best method I found was to get on my knees and scrub the carpets first, say a 6ft length at a time. Leave it stand for a while, then suck off with the Vax. Fill with Vax with clean water and rinse until the return-water clears.

Carpet shampoos (like Rug Doctor) were nbg, and I ended up using sachets of low foam, 'colour fast' washing machine liquid.... mind you, with dog and wellies our carpets needed something *strong* to get them clean.

[sPoNiX]

The problem with using chemicals that aren't specifically carpet cleaner is that they leave a residue. This residue is left behind no matter how much you rinse the carpet. The same is true of those aerosol carpet cleaners..they all leave residue behind.

The residue attracts dirt and dust so the carpet will get dirty far quicker than if proper professional carpet cleaner had been used.

Also, by 'over-wetting' the carpet you are in serious risk of causing the carpet to shrink.

You'd be far better off hiring a proper machine with professional cleaning chemicals or getting a pro in to do the job.

sPoNiX

[Andrew Gabriel]

As a spot carpet cleaner, I use 1001 Troubleshooter Stain Remover for carpets and upholstery which works brilliantly. You spray it on, work up a small lather with a brush or cloth, and leave it to dry. Then vacuum up the dried powder with the dirt embedded. I don't know if it would scale up to doing a whole carpet, or if you can buy it in suitably large quantities.

[Gordon Henderson]

I have a Vax.. Had it for nearly 8 years now. Generally quite pleased with it too, although I don't use the carpet shampoo feature that often. Did use it in my old flat to give the existing carpets a bit of a rejuvination when I first moved in, and in the current house (Vax was cheaper than new carpets which weren't that old and just needed a good scrub) and used it in the current house to good effect to remove leaky cat smells from a very old and terminally ill cat.

I also have a Dyson (DC7) which sucks better than the Vax does!

I don't know what that tells you, but there you go...

Gordon

[Tim]

Hire a Rug Doctor. Heavy, but it blasts a ton of cleaner through the carpet and the vibrating brush really shifts the grime. Even the bits taht looked clean were producing dark grey effluent :/

Quite cheap to hire twice a year. Homebase do them and RugDoctor have a site here:

are useful to own, but after comparing, the Rug Doctor does a better deep clean by far. Since brought a Miele hoover with a power brush head which dry cleans better than the Vax. Relegated the Vax to workshop/DIY duties at which it excels, being nearly indestructible.

HTH

Tim

[N. Thornton]

an ordinary sponge mop works fine.

NT