Using cheap carpet shampoo in a Rug Doctor spot cleaner

[Murmansk]

I've just bought one of these:

It was well reviewed in Which? and by 500 Argos buyers, it seems very good.

It came with a tiny bottle of shampoo stuff - about 250ML which is enough for two tanks of water at 1.5 litres each.

I have a big 5 litre container of low foam carpet shampoo from Toolstation or Screwfix which I'm thinking of using in it, of course the Rug Doctor instructions say you have to use their stuff and not doing so will invalidate the warranty - but they would say that would't they!

Anybody got any experience of this?

[tabbypurr]

Been using carpet cleaners for years. I've come to one clear conclusion: Vax AAA carpet cleaning liquid is crap as well as way overpriced. Washing powder is vastly superior. Each time add a little of one of: ammonia, bleach for bleachable carpets only (most aren't bleachable), washing soda, bicarb, vinegar. I even tried HCl once, worked a treat!

There's one small downside to washing powder: it eventually blocks the spray nozzles, just poke em out on occasion and Robert's related.

NT

[spuorgelgoog]

The Q&A for the Rug Doctor fluid all say it's suitable for use in other manufacturers' machines, so I don't see why the reverse wouldn't be true.

Owain

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

I remember many years ago, having a hoover carpet shampoo cleaner. It worked well with almost anything thinned down. My main grip with it was it was a bit hard to control both in the dispensation with the trigger thing, and tended to try to go sideways all the time. I would hope by now the tech was a little better. Brian

[spuorgelgoog]

I think you bleach for unbleachable carpets only :-)

Most carpets are bleachable, which is the slight problem with bleaching them. They do come up clean, just a different colour.

Owain

[TMH]

Buy 5 litres of Prochem S774-05 Contract Carpet Extraction Cleaner from Amazon. Dilutes a lot, works a treat. About £17.

[Murmansk]

Thanks everyone - tried it today at it seems OK to me

[tabbypurr]

but a waste of £16.50

[TMH]

I ran a carpet cleaning company, I trained people to clean carpets, wrote the D.I.Y FAQ & was a member of the British Institute of Cleaning Science. Prochem are the leading brand in UK & USA.

What did you do wrong?

[tabbypurr]

I gather that. Yet I still get better results with cheap diy solutions than Vax AAA. The cleaner mostly used is a domestic upright Vax with counterrotating brush bars & solution pump.

Bleach I've found especially good added to the mix with suitable carpets.

Have you played with assorted homebrewed mixes, or always stuck with pro mixes?

FWIW I've had kill or cure carpets to do that wouldn't clean with the usual methods, it's those I tried all sorts on as a last resort, with sometimes surprisingly good results. Even had HCl take off dirt nothing else would - for anyone else reading NO don't try this, it really was absolute last resort & comes with serious issues.

NT