Most Effective Carpet Cleaners
You're bound to need the use of an effective carpet cleaner at some point during the lifespan of your home or apartment. Whether you're throwing raging parties every week or whether it's through general wear and tear, your carpets are going to get dirty. The endless parade of foot traffic through your home will track in all manner of dirt and embed it right in your rugs, so a periodic cleaning is a must. Most experts recommend a thorough carpet cleaning every 12 to 18 months. But where to begin? If you don't want to pay expensive rates to hire a professional carpet cleaner and you'd rather invest in owning your own cleaner, then this is the guide for you. Choosing the best and most effective carpet cleaner can be overwhelming. There's a whole lot out there to choose from. Take a second to read over this comprehensive list of some of the best carpet cleaners on the market, and your carpets will be like-new in no time.
Options
First, you'll have to choose between an upright or a compact cleaner. Upright cleaners are more durable and offer more cleaning power, but are also more expensive and bulkier, requiring more storage space. Compact cleaners can be maneuvered more easily and can fit better in hard to reach spaces, but they are most effective for spot cleaning. They cannot clean an entire carpet.
You should also consider the tank size. A smaller tank will mean the machine is lighter overall, but it will also have to be refilled more often. You must find a balance between having to constantly refill the tank and the overall physical toll a heavy machine can take on your body.
The length of the hose and the cord will also make a difference. Most machines come with a 20 foot cord, but they can range from as short as 15 feet on more compact models to 30 feet on more industrial size machines. It is also worth considering the length of the hose in terms of what will work best for your individual home. Now, to look at some of the best carpet cleaning machines out there.
The Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F5914-900
This machine has more review recommendations than any other upright carpet cleaning machine out there. It is modestly priced at around $135, and more effective than many other Hoover cleaners. This model's suction power is better than some of the pricier machines and has received very few consumer complaints. It features an 8-foot hose, five spinning brushes, and two separate tanks-one for clean water, and one for collecting dirty water. The SteamVac offers great results at an affordable price.
The Bissell QuickSteamer PowerBrush 2080
This lightweight carpet cleaner is highly maneuverable and extremely affordable, coming in around $99. It's a great carpet cleaner if you're on a budget. It;s great for spot cleaning and light cleaning jobs, but reviewers claim its motor doesn't quite have enough power to take on high-traffic carpet areas. It features two half-gallon tanks, which require frequent refilling. This is a great machine for the money, and easy to use, but if you've got a big house with a whole lot of carpeting, then you might want to go in a more heavy-duty direction.
The Bissell SpotBot
The SpotBot is an excellent portable cleaner that is capable of working entirely on its own. You just park it over a stained area and walk away while it goes to work. Pricewise, the SpotBot comes in around $120. Perhaps a bit on the higher end of the market, but it is great at what it does. As its name indicates, this carpet cleaning machine is made primarily for spot cleaning. If you are looking for a machine that you can put to work to really dig in and remove tough spot stains, the SpotBot is the way to go.
This should give you a good starting knowledge of what direction you want to go in for your carpet cleaning needs. The most important thing to remember is to try before you buy, if you're going to make a financial investment in a carpet cleaner for your home, you want to make sure you are getting exactly what you're looking for.
