Which carpet steamers

This cleaner is a beast! The machine knew how much to dispense in every part of the carpet based on the mess underneath. It costs so little for such an incredible tool. It used to take an hour and a screwdriver and a lot of cursing. Bravo on a very evolved design! For the grosser ones, I spray them down before I take the pass, and they generally come up pretty easily.

Unlike the portable model above, this one comes with a professional-grade cleansing formula, a deep-stain tool, and a self-cleaning hose for an even deeper clean. In fact, over 1, customers take this steam cleaner by its name and use it to spot clean. This SpotBot steamer is totally hands free; all you have to do is place it above the stain in your carpet, push a button, and leave it to do its job. Some worry about the price, but he assures it is worth it.

This machine will pay for itself and still look brand new unlike those gross dirty rental units with who knows what germs and filth residue hidden within. Settings to consider: Some manufacturers claim their models clean hard floors, like wood and tile, and carpets. There are also carpet cleaners that have dry-only settings so that you can suck up more water after your initial cleaning, which may speed up drying time.

Our testers noted that hose length varies widely. Some models have a inch hose; others have a inch hose. Look for a model with a longer hose if you need to clean in tough-to-reach areas. Carpet cleaners are loud. An average vacuum cleaner can produce up to 70 decibels of noise. A carpet cleaner is much, much louder—in our tests, the average noise level was 80 dBA.

In decibels, a reading of 80 is twice as loud as So grab noise-canceling headphones or earplugs that guarantee protection for up to 85 dBA.

Check out these tips for preventing hearing loss. Cleaning takes time. A vacuum can come out of the closet ready to go. But a carpet cleaner? Not so much. First, you have to move furniture out of the area you plan to clean, then you should vacuum the carpet. Next, fill the machine with cleaning solution and water. When using a carpet cleaner, you push and pull it just like a vacuum. For a dry cycle, release the trigger and complete the same steps.

To suction the cleaning solution from the rug, make dry passes with the carpet cleaner. The head is slim enough to clean stairs easily, meaning no carpeted area goes untouched.

Our only niggle is that the cleaning solution comes out in a thin stream, rather than a wide spray, which means it covers less area in one go. Key specifications Clean tank capacity: 1. This large carpet cleaner is designed for use on carpets, rugs, stairs and upholstery, and is equipped with a wealth of useful attachments. Performance-wise, we found it hard to fault.

We tested all three of its settings; Express Clean removed stains after a number of sweeps and is best suited to everyday dirt, while Deep Clean and Max Clean removed stains in a single sweep. The upholstery and stair attachments were equally useful.

The upholstery head cleaned sofas and seat cushions well, applying the cleaning solution evenly and easily reaching corners and crevices. Deeper stains needed slightly more work but the carpet was left damp rather than wet, while the machine also lifted the carpet pile to make the whole carpet look new. We love the handheld upholstery attachment, which allowed us to target the cleaning solution on specific spots, and its shape means you can get right into crevices and corners for a more thorough clean.

This compact portable spot cleaner does a brilliant job of cleaning carpet and upholstery, but isn't the best option for hard floors.

We found almost all stains were removed after just a few passes of the brush, and only a few more passes were needed to make the carpet look new. The brush handle makes cleaning upholstery easy too, and produces excellent results. This lightweight, budget-friendly machine is designed for carpets and rugs only.

We were pleased with how well it tackled dirty carpet, removing mud and tea stains with minimal effort. It also left carpet damp, rather than wet, and the carpet pile had lifted too. The carpet colour remained the same and fibres were left separated rather than matted.

It really struggled with red wine stains though, leaving a dark patch after multiple passes. The spray trigger also needed to be held down quite forcefully in order to dispense the cleaning solution, which caused some strain on the wrist and fingers. Love what you're reading?