Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaning Machines for Hire

Here's a wee dig at the 'Rug Doctor' carpet cleaning machines you can hire from all your favourite supermarkets etc. Damn! even I've used one of these in a past life. Anyway, as I'm now a professional carpet cleaner (no laughing in the cheap seats!) I find these machines to be unsuitable for the purpose of carpet cleaning for the following reasons:

The suction is very poor so they leave your carpet wetter than it should/could be (this may lead to brown rings (no not those type!) on light coloured carpets- especially wool carpets).

The detergent you buy with it is 9-9.9 pH this is quite high in alkalinity terms, especially if you have a wool carpet which is unsuitable for this type of fibre.

There are no 'pre-spray' solutions supplied with it; all carpets should be presprayed with an appropriate solution in order to 'loosen' up the dirt, especially where a carpet is heavily stained, e.g. near doorways/traffic walkway areas etc. Otherwise, by just using the water extraction method of this machine you will only achieve a 'superficial' type cleaning- that's ok if you just want a quick spruce-up, say after a party etc.

The water is not hot (50 degrees) as professional machines are, so, again it fails the test on this aspect. It is, in my humble opinion, seriously ineffective at being a carpet cleaner ( water extraction machine).

I don't like the colour (red).

On the upside it is reasonably cheap to hire - £29.00 for a couple of days -and the detergent at say a tenner for a litre is ok.

A monkey could use it.

But if you want a good deeeeep carpet clean the only way is 'professional' (then I would say that..). Seriously, we guys in the trade know the shorty comings of the 'Rug Doctor' type machines, but 'Joe public' are unaware that they are being taken for a ride due to their ignorance of what true carpet cleaning is all about.

Anyway, I could go on, but I'd better get off my soapbox. Thanks for listening/reading

Bissell's Home Care Emergency Spot & Stain Cleaner 3698 Series machine

As a professional who provides a spot & stain removal service, I thought I'd buy this as a handy flushing-out machine rather than use my professional machine. On first use I was seriously disappointed. This product is only suited for attempting small fresh stains -and that's being generous. The suction/vacuum aspect is terrible; combined with the sprayer on the tool you are in danger of  over-wetting the targeted stained area, which may lead to wicking and subsequent browning rings on lighter carpets. This is due to the suction/vacuum not adequately removing enough water from the carpet. Indeed, because of the poor suction you are in danger of causing piling to any carpet you are treating; during my test I was tending to rub (in frustration) at the stained in order to extract the sprayed on water/formula.

The incorporated 'heat wave technology' (ha-ha)  is so poor you definitely need to add warm -to-hot water to assist in the flushing out of all stains as a necessity.  The built quality is adequate- although it could be misconstrued as being a toy.  My test, although not scientific, leads me to consider that this machine struggles to remove any serious stains that had been left for a short period of time and that would, possible, require repeat treatments- its ok for the immediate lifting of fresh minor type stains. But you could achieve the same with a cloth/sponge and soapy water which you already have available!

 Not a product you should buy at this price. I recommend (yes I know I would) sticking to using a professional service - I mean, for the cost of this machine (£99.00) you can have your stain removed by  a professional stain removal company and still have money left over.

Once again ( I'm getting on my hobby-horse) we see the large companies trying to sell us goods, which in my opinion, that are not fit for purpose.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-BISSELL-3698E-Homecare-Emergency-Cleaner/dp/B00MGT9MUM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452253013&sr=8-1&keywords=bissel+spot+cleaner

Regards
Tom
Acleanerplace.co.uk

Steam Cleaners

I thought, as a professional cleaner, I'd share my thoughts about these type of handheld steam cleaners.

They are in the main a good bit of kit, but only for the small cleaning jobs in and around the home, perfect for small sterilization jobs when you have kids and pets . With the attachments provided they are quite versatile; you can clean windows, curtains and even your clothes. The cost is very reasonable, at the time of writing the Vax S4 Grime master was the cheapest at £25.00 which has a decent rating.

The down side is that they require constant refilling (only for small jobs remember!), there is a lot of condensation that needs wiping off the object to be cleaned.  In addition, the time it take s to clean a large area you'd be better off calling in  a professional, just to save your self the aggro- especially if you are contemplating cleaning your oven...

Notwithstanding, a great small cleaning tool for the price and which will save you lots on the usual cleaning products.

Regards

Tom
Acleanerplace.co.uk