When it comes to cleaning your carpets on your own, you basically have two choices: purchase a carpet shampooer or rent one.
For most people, a carpet shampooer rental is a good choice, especially if they are not going to use the machine more than once or twice each year.
The more cost effective option, however, may be to buy your own unit, especially since the prices have been coming down in recent years and top models from leading manufacturers now cost only $100-$300.
In this article we will highlight some things to consider when looking at carpet shampooers for home use.
The first thing you want to be sure of when considering a carpet shampooer for purchase is that it is a stand alone unit, meaning that it doesn't have to remain attached to the sink during operation.
Otherwise you will be maneuvering around bulky hoses when trying to clean your carpet, which can be a real inconvenience.
Additionally, attached units are not as versatile as their stand alone counterparts, since you will only be able to clean carpets that are located near a faucet.
This really limits where you can operate your machine.
In contrast with the non stand alone units, most carpet shampooers today come with built in tanks to hold both the clean and the dirty water, making them functional just about anywhere in your house.
But this leads to another important thing to consider: the capacity of these water tanks.
The larger the capacity, the less often you have to stop cleaning the carpet in order to empty the dirty water tank or fill the clean water tank.
But don't just rush out and buy a unit with the largest tanks you can find.
The larger the tanks, the heavier the machine will be during operation, and this should be taken into consideration when making your purchase.
Another consideration is brush type: fixed or rotating.
Fixed brushes, as the name implies, don't move.
They simply loosen the dirt as the machine moves across the carpet, and then the machine sucks it up.
Rotating brushes scrub deeper down into the carpet and bring a lot more dirt and debris to the top where it can be sucked away.
Rotating brushes also work the carpet shampoo deeper into the carpet.
The advantage to the fixed brush machine is that it causes less wear and tear on the carpet's fibers.
The advantage to the rotating brush unit is that it does a more thorough job of cleaning.
If you are only going to clean your carpets once or twice a year, the rotating brush machine would probably be your best option.
If you think you will need to use it with more frequency, then the best carpet shampooer for you would be the one with a fixed brush.