The Vax V-123 Agility Upright Carpet Washer

Modern vacuum cleaners are extremely efficient and there are many different types available. However, there are times when you just can’t get deep dirt out of carpets by the use of a hoover alone. Spills and mud would be good examples.

Anyone who has children, pets – or both – would probably benefit from the use of a carpet washer from time to time. It’s (hopefully) not something that you’ll need to use on a weekly basis. A quick wash once every three to six months should be enough to keep your carpets looking good and clean. If you have pets, the odour in your house will also be improved by periodic carpet washing.

Carpet washers come in a number of different styles these days. The upright type is probably the most common – but cylinder types are also available.

They are also very useful for cleaning up any unexpected spills – before a stain has even had a chance to get established and ingrained into your carpet.

If you have children, especially very young ones who spend a fair bit of their time crawling around on the floor, then having nice clean carpets will give you extra piece of mind – especially if you happen to have pets.

You can pick up carpet washers fairly cheaply these days. They start at well under £100 – which isn’t a great deal of money when you consider that regular carpet washing can extend the life of your carpet and defer the replacement cost.

Of course, you can hire a carpet cleaner if you prefer. You can usually find them available for hire at many larger supermarkets. That might not be a bad option if you just want a “one shot” solution – maybe if you’re just moving into or just moving out off somewhere for example. However, given that the price to buy a carpet washer is now really quite reasonable, buying may be a better option for you if you plan to use it on anything like a regular basis.

Regular washing of your carpets will help to keep your home as hygienic and free from germs and other allergens as possible. Regular vacuuming is important – but the deep cleaning, which can only be achieved by the use of a carpet washer, will remove much larger quantities of these allergens and improve the environment for any allergy sufferers.

As well as the health and hygiene benefits, washing your carpets twice a year will greatly improve the appearance of carpets by removing extra dirt and dust and also by fluffing up the pile of the carpet. Carpet life will be extended and, whether you choose to hire a carpet washer or purchase one outright, this should more than compensate for the carpet washing costs.

The Vax Rapide Spring Carpet Washer - currently discounted at Amazon UK

Dyson DC24 bagless vacuum at Amazon ...

If you get yourself a carpet washer do you still need a vacuum cleaner? It’s a fair question and the answer is – yes you do. Although they look very similar – at least at first glance – vacuum cleaners and carpet washers work in a different way.

Vacuum cleaners use suction to remove loose dirt and dust from the upper layers of the carpet. Most modern types use brushes to agitate the fibres of the carpet. This is intended to agitate and free as much of the dirt as possible so that it can be removed by suction.

There are any number of different designs of vacuum cleaner these days, upright and cylinder, bagged, bagless, cordless – even robotic ones, but they all work more or less as described above.

In order to keep your carpet looking good and odour free, you need to vacuum on a regular basis. What you want to do is remove as much dirt and dust as possible before it has a chance to get ground into your carpet.

However, it doesn’t matter how diligent you are – some dirt will be ground deep into your carpet and become trapped. That’s where carpet washers come in.

Carpet washers use a mixture of water and detergent to free dust and dirt which is trapped deep in the fibres of your carpet. The dirt clings to the detergent which is then removed, along with the water. Some carpet washers use pre-treatment sprays for heavily stained areas. Most of them also uses brushes to scrub the carpet so as to better release the trapped dirt.

The good news is that you don’t need to – and in fact you shouldn’t – wash your carpet anything like as often as you need to vacuum it. The actual required frequency will depend on a variety of factors – but, for the average family home, once every six months should probably be enough.

Most carpet washers also have a selection of tools so that they can be used for cleaning stairs and also upholstery, curtains – and even car seats. Apart from being very useful for cleaning up any accidental spills before they get established and become stains, you’ll find plenty of uses for your carpet washer around the home in between “big cleans”.

So, in order to keep your carpets in tip-top condition and to maximise their lifespan, vacuuming alone isn’t enough and using a carpet washer alone isn’t enough either. You need a twin pronged attack:

1. Vacuum clean your carpets twice a week to remove loose dirt and dust before it has a chance to become established. Areas of very heavy traffic may need to be cleaned even more often.
2. Use a carpet washer to deep clean your carpet once every six months. Also use it to treat any accidental spills – whether on carpets or upholstery – quickly before they turn into stains.

If it all sounds like too much effort then you can console yourself with the fact that apart from looking good and being odour free, even if you have pets, your carpets will last a lot longer – so you will save a lot of money and hassle in the long run.

However, if you still can’t summon up the energy for a cleaning regime as described above then have a look at what modern technology can do for you:

iRobot Roomba 581 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

Vax V-028CC Match Rapide Carpet Washer at Amazon ..

One comment that you may hear from time to time is .. “I washed my carpet using a carpet washer and, it certainly got much cleaner, but it got dirty again really quickly” .. or something along those lines.

This can certainly happen – but it is entirely avoidable. The culprit is the detergent. It attracts dirt – that’s how it works. The water and detergent are injected into the carpet, the dirt is attracted and collected and then removed.

The problem of carpets quickly becoming dirty after washing tends to have two main causes:

1. Too much detergent is used resulting in a detergent residue in the cleaned carpet. The detergent then does just what it’s supposed to do and attracts and traps dirt. The end result is that the carpet quickly begins to look dirty again.
2. The detergent is not fully removed from the carpet after cleaning and the results are the same as item 1 above.

If you experience this phenomenon after cleaning your carpets, then there are a couple of things you can try.

Use a little less detergent in your cleaner than the manufacturer recommends. You may need to experiment a little to find just the right quantity to use – but as a rule, manufacturer’s recommended dosages tend to be fairly generous and using a little less will probably still get your carpet perfectly clean.

Make sure that you remove as much of the detergent, water and dirt as possible in order to minimise any detergent residue in the carpet after cleaner. Pass the cleaner slowly over the carpet whilst removing the dirt and, if you have previously had problems with cleaned carpets becoming dirty again quickly, give any heavy traffic areas a couple of extra passes with the cleaner just to be on the safe side.

You should also follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding drying time of your carpets following cleaning. Depending upon the cleaner used, these can be relatively short these days – but check the instructions. Making sure that the area is well ventilated will also help speed things along.

The video below shows just how easy it is to use these carpet washers. Watch it to the end and take a look at the colour of the water that’s recovered from what – in my opinion at least – looked like a reasonably clean carpet to begin with.