Choosing a carpet steam cleaner

Weather your doing a little spring cleaning, getting ready for guests, or hosting a holiday meal, now is the perfect time to invest in a new carpet steam cleaner. The problem is, with so many on the market to choose from, which one is right for you. Let's walk through some of the options and figure out which options you need before you lay out your hard earned cash.

First we need to clarify that there is no steam used in a carpet steam cleaner. It is usually a combination of hot water and a scrubbing action which loosens the soiled debris. The excess water is then extracted along with the debris into a holding tank where it is later discarded. Some models have the cleaning wand and the container separate and others are all self-contained. The self contained models are the ones we will be concentrating on for now.

If you are a home owner you will most likely be looking at a consumer grade model. Bissell and Hoover are the big players in the market. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, it really depends on what features you are looking for and what you will be using it for. If your house has very large area rugs or has several rooms with wall to wall carpeting, an upright unit will probably be best for you.

Bissell has three basic product lines with several machines to choose from in most product lines. The top of the line Bissell is close to a professional grade machine, and unless you are a land lord or you need to clean a lot of carpeting, the Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine will be over kill for you. The second line of cleaners Bissell offers is the Pro Heat line of carpet steam cleaner. Most of these cleaners have all the same basic design, with some basic feature differences to make them stand apart. They range in price between $279 and $149 and are the most likely candidates for home owners. The last line in Bissell's arsenal is the Power steamer and Quick Steamer line of cleaners. These range in price between $129 and $79.

Hoover does not seem to categorize their cleaners the same way Bissell does. Each one seems more specifically designed for a certain usage or a certain set of cleaning situations. Their top of the line is the Platinum Collection and they retail around $399. At the bottom of the line is the Steam Vac Quick-N-lite for around $99. The nice thing about Hoover is that it appears each model is specifically designed for a particular type of cleaning tasks, instead of just piling different features on a certain model to change its purpose.

The first thing to keep in mind is the construction of the unit. A consumer grade unit will not be as durable as a commercial grade, and the cheapest model will probably not be as durable as a mid grade unit. Sometimes price is an indicator of the quality, but not always. A mid to high priced unit may be priced high because of all the added features and attachments, not because of durability. Make sure to look at durability and the ease of fixing the unit yourself if you have problems. Repair shops will likely charge big dollars to fix things that can easily be ordered and fixed yourself.

If you have pets one thing that needs to be kept in mind is the cleaning of the brush rollers. Almost all carpet steam cleaners on the market today have some type of brush system that is designed to aid the soap solution in dislodging the dirt. Make sure you pick a unit that the rollers are easily removable. Pet hair will end up clogging the rollers and will need to be cleaned. There are several models on the market that will publicize easy removal of the roller brushes.

Another nice feature you will need to keep in mind is the units' method to heat the water, if at all. Several of the lower priced models do not offer the ability to heat the water on board the machine. These machines rely on the temperature of the water the user adds to the machine, which cools rapidly as the machine is being used. Hot water really helps break down the embedded dirt amongst the fibers. Mid level to high end machines almost always have on board water heating systems. Some heat water in the tank, some heat water in the line between the tank and the discharge nozzles, and some actually heat the floor where the solution is being sprayed. The key here is to make sure the water is hot when it passes through the nozzles. The dispersion of the water out of the nozzles will drop the temperature a little, so the closest to the nozzles the water is heated the better.

While we are on the subject of heating the water, make sure you have the ability to turn off the heater in cases where you are going to clean something delicate. You don't want to ruin an Oriental rug, wool carpeting, or delicate furniture with excessive heat.

The last basic feature you need to know about selecting a carpet steam cleaner is the ability of the unit to pick up the water after it's already down in the carpet. The extraction process is really what separates many good cleaners from bad. Many different models offer many different patented methods for picking the water back up, and they all sound great, but this is where you really need to read customer reviews. After narrowing down your search to three or four models, go to Amazon.com or some other site that offers customer reviews and read through them carefully. Customers are usually most vocal about wet carpeting. So, if a particular machine is leaving the carpeting wet, choose a particular machine with little or no negative comments about the extraction.

Those are the major components to look at when choosing a carpet steam cleaner. There will be other options that make some machines more attractive than others, but if you get a machine that gets the above options right there will be a good chance you will be happy with your purchase.