Is a Heated Carpet Cleaner Worth It
Yes, a heated carpet cleaner is worth it when you're fighting oily or sticky messes in carpet or upholstery and you want the machine to make its own steam. If your problem is one spill or one pet accident, a non-heated spot cleaner handles it.
A carpet cleaner machine sold as a carpet shampooer or a steam cleaner is a hot water extraction machine: it sprays a mix of hot water and formula into the carpet and sucks it back up together with the dirt. BISSELL draws the line between its two portable families, ProHeat and HydroSteam, and that line is the answer to which BISSELL carpet cleaners heat the water. ProHeat uses HeatWave Technology to maintain water temperature during cleaning, and HydroSteam combines steam with the cleaning solution. Which is better comes down to where the heat comes from: the tap you fill from, or the machine itself.
Are Carpet Cleaners Worth It Reddit
A carpet cleaner is worth it when you deep clean your carpet every 6 to 12 months, more often in a high traffic room or a home with pets or children. A dry tool won't do that job.
A manual sweeper is non-powered. It runs on your own push, and its 7 brush system sweeps dirt, crumbs and hair into dual dust bins on the forward and the return motion. Dry debris is all it picks up, so a stain is out of its reach, and BISSELL's REFRESH manual sweeper is no longer available.
That leaves the wet machines. A portable spot cleaner handles smaller messes, not entire rooms, and the best handheld carpet cleaners are built for that work. Fill it with hot tap water, never boiling water.
If the mess is one stain, one accident or one flight of stairs
The portable spot cleaner clears isolated stains, pet accidents, stairs, upholstery, rugs and car interiors.
Best Heated Carpet Cleaner
The best heated carpet cleaner is the Little Green HydroSteam Pet, and for oily and sticky messes in carpet and upholstery we'd get this one.
The ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro does not heat the water itself: BISSELL states HeatWave Technology helps maintain the water temperature through the cleaning process by using the motor's heat, and that the tank should be filled with warm tap water.
Holding a temperature is a different job from raising one, and raising it is what the best portable carpet cleaner with heat does. A BISSELL carpet cleaner heats the water itself in the HydroSteam family: a built-in flow-through heater with a temperature sensor heats the water and the cleaning solution until it steams.
Steam feeds three modes: SteamWash for oily and sticky messes, Steam for refreshing upholstery, grout and tile, and Wash for spills and pet accidents. For a greasy patch, SteamWash is the mode you want.
It holds 64 oz of clean water and 51 oz of dirty water and weighs 13 lb, with a 15 ft cord and a 4.8 ft hose. A 5 in Tough Stain Tool and a Multi-Surface Tool come with it, and it's built for auto and garage surfaces too. You carry this one to the stain, and its two tools take on the couch and the car seats.
The ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro takes warm tap water and holds it there. The Big Green Machine takes warm tap water and does not heat it. Neither makes steam.
Heated Carpet Extractor Rental
A heated carpet extractor rental is the machine for a whole room. Rug Doctor's traditional uprights, the Mighty Pro and the Wide Track, are what you'll find on 24 hour or 48 hour terms at thousands of locations across the United States and Canada.
Both are hot water extraction machines. Both scrub the carpet with a vibrating brush rather than a rotating brush roll. Each carries two large capacity tanks and an adjustable fold down handle.
Add the upholstery and stair tool and the same rental cleans stairs, sofas, upholstered chairs, area rugs and auto interiors, with a 12 ft hose and a 4 in wide tool. Some locations also stock a Pro Portable Spot Cleaner for the smaller jobs.
If you're renting the machine for a weekend
If you want the 48 hour term, ask for it when you rent: at some locations you have to choose it at the time of rental. Ask about the refundable machine deposit when you pick up the machine. Bring it back clean and on time, or the cleaning and late fees apply.
Commercial Heated Carpet Extractor
Carpet extraction, the job a heated carpet extractor does, is hot water extraction: the machine injects hot water and cleaning agents into the carpet fibers, and a vacuum pulls the lifted soil out. The same job is sometimes called steam cleaning.
For heat in a machine you plug in at home, get the Little Green HydroSteam Pet for carpet spots and upholstery. For a whole room, rent.
Questions
Do BISSELL carpet cleaners heat the water?
It depends on the family. BISSELL's HydroSteam machines heat the water themselves, using a built-in flow-through heater with a temperature sensor that heats the water and the cleaning solution until it steams. ProHeat machines use HeatWave Technology to maintain water temperature during cleaning, so they hold warm tap water rather than raising it. The Big Green Machine takes warm tap water and does not heat it.
What is carpet extraction?
Carpet extraction is hot water extraction, the job a heated carpet extractor does. The machine injects hot water and cleaning agents into the carpet fibers, and a vacuum pulls the lifted soil back out. The same job is sometimes called steam cleaning. A machine sold as a carpet shampooer or a steam cleaner works this way, spraying hot water and formula into the carpet and sucking it up with the dirt.
Do dry carpet cleaners work?
A dry tool only handles dry debris, so it will not remove a stain. A manual sweeper, for example, is non-powered and runs on your own push. Its 7 brush system sweeps dirt, crumbs and hair into dual dust bins, but stains are out of its reach. For deep cleaning, a wet machine is what does that job.
Is a heated carpet cleaner worth it?
Yes, a heated carpet cleaner is worth it when you are fighting oily or sticky messes in carpet or upholstery and want the machine to make its own steam. If your problem is one spill or one pet accident, a non-heated spot cleaner handles it. For a whole room, renting a hot water extraction machine is the better route than buying.