I need to clean our carpets as over the past several years they have become slightly marked. They are just ‘normal’ carpets - nothing elaborate or special, and we have a small bungalow.
I’ve been looking at machines from the likes of Vax and Bissell at around £250 - £300. These seem to be good and some models have received recommendations from the Good Housekeeping Institute - whatever that is! Is there an official organisation, based perhaps in some obscure and remote country mansion, that deals with housekeeping matters? Sounds like something from an episode of The Avengers to me!!
Anyway I have has some experience of one of these machines - many years ago now at a previous property. I remember I only used it a couple of times as it was such a nightmare. Constantly filling detergent tanks, emptying waste tanks etc. Such a faff that I gave up on it in the end.
Does anyone have any experience of modern machines? The alternative is just to buy a manual push-along cleaner from Ewbank at £36! Certainly a lot less faff, but will it clean well enough?
Any thoughts / experiences anyone? BTW, I don’t want to rent a machine.
Bissell is a good brand. Mine was about £350 eight years ago. It’s a solid industrial machine. Spare parts are easy to get too. It cleans carpets well. I fully recommend it.
As they are only used so infrequenly these days now the kids & the mess have fledged the nest, we rent a machine. The best I’ve found in UK is ‘Rug Doctor’, the machines are heavy duty industrial type & using there recommended cleaning procts do an excellent job.
They have many outlets typically at supermarkets within just a few miles (in my area).
£25 for 24 hrs, £30 for 48 hrs.
They can be either collected from the store or delivered to your home.
Search www … rugdoctor. co. uk/
Thanks for the replies so far. Has anyone tried one of these cheap manual machines? It’s not that I want to save money so much as I want something that’s easy and fuss-free to use.
I see a good deal on a Vax machine at the moment with £100 off - at £199. Was there anything particularly bad about the Bissell or is it just that you prefer the Vax?
Another question - and one directly linked to hi-fi. These machines leave carpets wet/damp. Therefore there will be considerably raised humidity in the internal atmosphere. Is this likely to be problematic in the room where the hi-fi is? I’m thinking of speaker drive unit cones in particular - could the moisture in the air cause damage to them?
We had a couple of Bissell cleaners in the past - they worked reasonably well in fairness, as did a couple of Vax cleaners but with both they tended yo ‘gunk up’ underneath with pet hair/human hair/fluff/lint or whatever and that could lead to poor suction and lumps of the stuff matted on the carpet.
One of the suspended floors annoyingly had chipboard underneath and a few cleans of a foam backed carpet years ago made it rot.
I’ve seen the rug doctor machines and have been tempted in the past to rent one, but never thought they looked particularly ergonomic to use.
We don’t have any carpets these days (too many of us with allergies) but if we did I think I’d now be tempted go simply get a professional in to clean them or replace the carpets sooner.
We did that a few years ago, but carpet was much warmer underfoot and unless there’s a rug it potentially increases sound reflections which might have an adverse effect in the listening room. The surprise with a wood floor was the amount of dust/fluff etc you find simply beacuse it’s not sunk into and hidden in the carpet!
I had already thought of that. Ordered a specially made 10m one from a dealer just the other day in readiness. He confirmd that it would add bounce and vitality to the cleaned carpets so worth every penny at £2K IMO.
