A carpet cleaner isn’t something you’ll use very often, but if you have a relatively large home and/or a lot of carpet, it will save your shagpile on more than one occasion. And one thing's for sure: it's a far more effective and less arduous a cleaning method than scrubbing away on your hands and knees with a bucket and sponge.
Carpet cleaners aren’t just for occasional stains; they’re especially good at removing ingrained dirt and knotted-in animal hair on a wider scale, and are an essential tool come spring-cleaning time. However, one shouldn’t expect miraculous results in every instance. If your carpets look relatively clean and stain-free after having been given a thorough vacuum, chances are you won’t notice much visible improvement after a carpet-cleaning session.
However, if the dogs have been traipsing through the lounge after enjoying a mud bath in the local creek or your oft-trodden carpeted areas are beginning to look grubby, you absolutely will notice a difference. Stains, too, are easily removed but it’s essential they’re dealt with as soon as possible – no domestic carpet cleaner will completely remove a stubborn stain if it’s been there for months.
Thankfully, there are only about half-a-dozen worthwhile carpet-cleaner manufacturers to choose from so it shouldn’t be as flummoxing an issue as choosing, say, a washing machine or a fridge. That said, some makes and models accomplish more than others and in this respect, Bissell, Vax and Rug Doctor invariably produce the best-performing machines.
To make thing a bit easier for you, we’ve gathered together a soupçon of highly rated cleaners and put them to the test so you don’t have to.
How to choose the best carpet cleaner for you
How easy is a carpet cleaner to use?
Well, let’s just say it’s not rocket science. True, chances are you will look into the box of parts you’ve just received and wonder how on earth you’ll put it all together (most carpet cleaners require some form of assembly), but get past that bit and you’ll find it almost as easy to use as a vacuum cleaner. Just remember that cleaning carpets isn’t like vacuuming – everything has to be done very slowly and methodically with an inch or so of overlap to prevent streaking. To avoid over-wetting the carpet, never use more than four shampooing strokes on a single section and, as a precaution, be sure to test-clean a small hidden patch of carpet first just in case the detergent causes discoloration. When dry, slide your foot over the carpet to ensure all areas of pile are facing in the same direction or it may look a little odd.
Domestic machines like the models reviewed below use relatively small water tanks (usually around 3.5 litres) and this water is used up so quickly you’ll be back at the tap for another refill in no time. Most domestic carpet cleaners use a two-tank system: one for the clean water/detergent mix, and the other to collect the dirty stuff. You can safely expect them to clean about 10 square feet of carpet per tank.
Do I really need one?
Domestic carpet cleaners are much bigger than vacuum cleaners so storage can be a real issue. However, whether you actually need one is solely based on how much carpet you have installed in the home and whether you have animals or clumsy kids about the house. Odd spot stains can be dealt with in the old-fashioned way – on hands and knees with a scrubbing brush, a bucket of hot water and some specialised carpet-cleaning detergent – but if you have a household full of cream carpets, a pair of dogs and two messy sprogs then, yes, a domestic model will save a lot of hassle and time.
Is there an alternative to spending good money on a carpet cleaner?
If you only ever expect to use a carpet cleaner once in a blue moon then consider renting one. Companies inclluding HSS Hire, Rug Doctor and Homebase hire out various models for around £22 per day plus £10 for detergent. But if you need the whole house doing or you have a badly soiled carpet or a stubborn stain, then your best option is to call in a specialist carpet-cleaning service. These companies invariably use professional cleaning machines that cost in excess of £2,000 (the average domestic model is around £250). The machines themselves not only have much large water tanks (35 litres compared with 3.5 litres), but the people operating them know exactly what they’re doing. Professionals will have experience in recognising the type of stain and the best chemical detergent for the job and whether or not the stain is actually removable in the first place. As a rough ballpark figure, you’ll find that professional companies charge around £65 for an average-sized bedroom.
Can I use a carpet cleaner on my wooden floors?
Not advisable, especially if you have laminated flooring installed. The amount of water administered during the process will seep into the cracks and expand the floorboards, leaving them permanently warped. However, they’re fine to use on tiled and vinyl floors, although a standard squeegee mop will be just as effective and far less hassle.
The best carpet cleaners to buy
1. Vax Dual Power Pro Advance W85-PL-T: The best carpet cleaner under £200
Price: Around £200
The Dyson-like Vax Dual Power Pro Advance wins top prize for looks, but is it any good at doing what it was designed to do? The answer is a resounding yes. It’s a doddle to assemble and, in many ways, easier to use than the Bissell model below. It also has an excellent dual-water tank system that really shows the level of dirt collected.
The Vax also comes with a raft of tantalising features that include ‘Dual V’ technology to provide extra suction for dryer carpets, separate wash and rinse functions, an auto-mix system that negates the need for any tricky water and detergent measurements, a ‘Cleaner Boost Trigger’ for stubborn stains, a 4.6-metre hose with a ‘Spinscrub’ hand tool and a pre-treatment wand. Perhaps best of all, it also comes with a clever 360˚ brush system comprising a forward rotating main brush and a group of seven circular brushes for extra cleaning power. Crucially, everything on board is easy to clean, including the brushes, which pop off to run under a tap.
The Vax performed exceptionally well in all disciplines we threw at it without ever soaking the carpet. Yes, it struggled against an ingrained stain, but overall it was extremely satisfying to use. The generally low price, six-year warranty and the very decent bundle of cleaning detergents it comes with can be considered a bonus.
Key specs – Weight: 9.5kg; Cable length: 9m; Cleaning width: 30cm; Tank capacity: 3.5 litres; Hose: yes; Heater: no; Warranty: 6 years
2. Bissell StainPro 6 Carpet Cleaner 20096: The best carpet cleaner under £350
Price: Around £330
The new StainPro 6 is ideally suited to households with two or three carpeted rooms. Despite its cumbersome dimensions, it’s an excellent performer and pretty easy enough to manoeuvre, though whether you’ll have the storage space for it is a moot point.
After mounting the handle and fitting the stair hose attachments together, we followed the scant instruction booklet and filled the 3.7-litre tank with hand-hot water and then added a cupful of the Bissell-branded Deep CleanPlus detergent that came with it. The Bissell’s unique ‘HeatWave’ tech keeps the water it uses at optimum temperature during the cleaning process, while the six rows of cleaning brushes do stalwart work at agitating the dirt. It then sucks up the moisture, leaving the carpet slightly damp for a couple of hours or so.
For our stain test, we tried the StainPro 6 on a two-year-old dog mark and, as expected, it made no impact whatsoever. However, it easily dealt with a newly added spillage of red wine after just three passes. And that just goes to show that you really do need to attack the stain almost immediately or it may be too late. Aside from one mishap involving a small spillage when the water lid’s catch inadvertently popped off, this top-tier cleaner performed with aplomb.
Key specs – Weight: 9kg; Cable length: 8m, Cleaning width: 30cm; Tank capacity: 3.7 litres; Hose: yes; Heater: yes; Warranty: 5 years
3. RugDoctor Portable Spot Cleaner: The best compact carpet cleaner
Price: Around £155
If you have dogs or messy toddlers and just want a stain-removal alternative to a bucket of water and a sponge, then consider this small, easily stored portable option from the carpet-cleaning ninjas at RugDoctor. Its small, 11.5cm motorised hand wand is excellent at dealing with one-off stains and perfect for keeping the car’s interior spick and span. However, it does require a good deal of energetic back and forth scrubbing action to do its work.
The two water tanks (one for clean water, the other for dirty) are clearly visible and easy to handle, although filling the main water tank is a bit fiddly since it requires careful measurements of both water and the detergent solution.
The RugDoctor isn’t an especially light machine at around 8kg, but thankfully it comes with wheels and a pull-about handle for relatively easy mobility. Many owners have reported exceedingly good results when dealing with spot stains, and some users have found it a godsend at cleaning up after puppy accidents.
Key specs – Weight: 8.2kg; Cable length: 4.6m; Cleaning width: 11.5cm; Clean capacity: 1.9 litres; Hose: yes; Heater: no; Warranty: 2 years
4. Numatic George GVE370-2: George is more than just a carpet cleaner
Price: Around £186
Have a peek into the janitor’s room of any commercial premises and you’ll likely spy a happy-faced Henry vacuum cleaner smiling away in the corner. The Henry is one of the most reliable and toughest vacs on the market, and certainly the most simple in terms of design and function. Well, meet his brother, George, who not only deals with the vacuuming but is a dab hand at dealing with wet stuff, too. That doesn’t make George a top-tier carpet cleaner but it does make him the best all-rounder on this page.
George is a true do-it-all machine capable of general day-to-day vacuuming, cleaning up hard floors, carpets and stains, and sucking water out of blocked sinks and boat bilges. Granted, it’s never going to perform as well as a genuine carpet cleaner, but it makes a fair fist of it and is especially good at dealing with spot stains and general spillages. If you’re looking for one easy-to-stow option that is laudably efficient at dealing with most of life’s domestic mishaps, then George is your man.
Key specs – Weight: 8.8kg; Cable length: 10m; Cleaning width: 30cm; Clean capacity: 9 litres; Hose: yes; Heater: no; Warranty: 1 year
5. Oreck Platinum E85-ORZ: Light and effective, but it's not cheap
Price: Around £300
At just 7.2kg unloaded, this is the lightest carpet cleaner on test, and what’s more it does hard floors too, with the exception of laminated flooring. The Oreck is noticeably easier to manoeuvre than the Vax and Bissell, and it’s also arguably the least difficult to assemble out of the box. Like the Vax, this machine’s dual water tanks are clearly visible, and that can make a big difference because not only can you easily monitor the level of clean water left in the top tank, but you can also see the amount of dirty water being deposited into the bottom tank. The downside is that the top tank accommodates only two litres of water, and that’s pretty poor for a machine at this price range.
The Oreck uses a similar 360˚ brush system as that fitted to the Vax, and we can vouch that these brushes really do dig deep into the pile. That said, it didn’t perform quite as well as the Bissell or Vax, and some users have expressed dismay at the amount of water the machine leaves in its wake. Thankfully, we never came across that issue. This machine comes with a decently long hose, a small hand brush for stairs and upholstery, plus £20 worth of free carpet solution. However, it doesn’t offer quite the same value as the much cheaper Vax.
Key specs – Weight: 7.2kg; Cable length: 8m; Cleaning width: 32cm; Clean capacity: 2 litres; Hose: yes; Heater: no; Warranty: N/A