Yesterday I was at Target standing in front of the carpet cleaners,
wondering.

On the Bissell upright deep cleaner, it says "out cleans all other
brands"

On the box of the Hoover, it also says "out cleans all other brands"

Hmm

I was a professional carpet cleaner several years ago. (I am not now,
so I have no axe to grind.) All of the portable units have a common
defect-they lack sufficient power to extract the cleaning liquid they
inject, a portion of the dirty liquid therefore "weeps" down into the
jute, or underneath fabric, and over time, this goo wicks its way back
up the carpet fibers. After three or four "cleanings", the dirt will
wick up after you walk on it a few times.
Another defect of the portables is that unlike truck-mounted units,
they use hot water, not steam. Believe me, nothing cleans like steam.
Steam will also kill bacteria, dust mites, and the tiny bugs that just
get a nice bath when you use a portable.
A truck-mounted unit has the suction power and heat to do a good
cleaning job, a portable does not. After that, it depends on the
operator's skill, which varies.-Jitney

I have a Hoover. It's great.
After many more than three or four cleanings, nothing wicked up.
I've never had a problem with bacteria, dust mites, or tiny bugs.
Buy a ServiceMaster stain kit for spotting in between deep cleanings.

Yours sounds like a light duty floor area. My post is based on years
of work in restaurants, day care centers, rental housing, and the
like.-Jitney

wrote:
Yours sounds like a light duty floor area. My post is based on years
of work in restaurants, day care centers, rental housing, and the
like.-Jitney

I can see how it would pay to have a supersucker truck mounted system
for commercial needs. Even if you were doing residential work - - the
average homeowner has carpets cleaned maybe what? Every two years or
so? Lotta dirt to pick up. [I am sure that I will hear from at least
ONE person that has his home carpets professionally cleaned several
times a year and thinks he average]

I have a Hoover Spin Scrub cleaner (I think the name is SpinScrub or
something close). I use it regularly, meaning that all of the carpet
in my house gets cleaned at least twice a years - high traffic rooms
more often. I also find it great for small catastrophes like knocked
over wine bottles. I have had it for almost four years and its does a
pretty good job. If I tried to use it everyday, like a commercial
unit, it would probably have failed long ago.

Unless they have improved a lot over the last couple of years, I
wouldn't touch a Bissel upright. My parents went through two of them,
the second repair was out-of-warranty to they had it worked on a local
vacuum shop. The shop owner said he see more blown up Bissels than any
others. Motors were well know to self destruct - the second time my
folks' unit failed it literally had chunks of metal coming out of the
exhaust. If you are looking at one with that stupid dual tank that has
sort of a bladder thing in it - don't even bother.

We bought our from Sears and talked to two different sales people while
shopping. Both said they recommended the Hoover over the Bissel solely
for reliability. Combined that with my parents' experience and the
info from a guy that repairs them everyday, we decided on the Hoover
and have been happy with it.

.... Won't say the same thing about our Hoover self propelled vacuum
cleaner.

wrote:
I have a Hoover. It's great.
After many more than three or four cleanings, nothing wicked up.
I've never had a problem with bacteria, dust mites, or tiny bugs.
Buy a ServiceMaster stain kit for spotting in between deep cleanings.

I have never had a problem with stuff wicking up either. But I very
careful not oversoaking the carpet and then go over the carpet several
times without spraying solution to suck up as much as possible.

I have never done a "culture" on my carpet - so I wouldn't know how
much bateria is there. Though the cleaning solutions claim to take
care of practically all dust mites and allergens.

I have never had a problem with stuff wicking up either. But I very
careful not oversoaking the carpet and then go over the carpet several
times without spraying solution to suck up as much as possible. (snip)

Good technique. A tip from a pro:go to one of those pro cleaner supply
stores and get some "Formula 90" for cleaning, and "Grease Buste" for
food stains, it has a bitch kitty of a powerful enzyme to get out those
protein stains (the hard part of food stains). Pre-spot the food stains
with a sprayer at the recommended solution twenty minutes or so before
you clean. The Grease Buste is a good idea even if you have it done
professionally-if you ask them, they will hit you with a big upcharge
for an "enzyme treatment". Better to pre-treat yourself, you only need
the enzyme, water, and a good spray bottle.
IMO, what really dirties up a carpet fast is dogs, kids, and cats, in
that order. The only stains that are near impossible to get out after
they dry is mustard and cat**** smell.
If you have a new carpet installed, have the installer save the ends
and cuttings from the carpet, to do matching "cutout" replacements for
cigarrette burns, difficult stains and cat****. For cat****, they tend
to go in the corners and edges, cut out the carpet AND THE PAD
underneath to replace, bleach the concrete w/ 50/50 bleach/water
solution. Also replace the affected tackstrip. I hope this helps.-Jitney

What do you recommend to clean the "high traffic areas? I have a lot of
tile in my house. Basically every entrance to a carpeted room is really
showing the dirt. I've tried cleaning with my Hoover but haven't been
really successful. The best I seem to be able to do is clean the top of
the carpet but the lower part of the fiber still looks dirty.

See my earlier post on the advantages of a truck-mounted unit. You may
want to pay to get it done once in a long while to extract the
accumulated crud. Stanley Steemer and Coit are usually good, although
there are some good independents as well. Just make sure it is a
powerful unit and that they are turning up the heat all the way to
steam, not just hot water.
High traffic areas have an additional problem. Over time, the sand and
silt gets ground in to the plastic body of the fiber (usually nylon)
and becomes physically part of it, impossible to clean beyond a certain
point. You may want to replace just that section if your carpet
supplier can match it, or just keep a throw rug over it.-Jitney

Jitney knows what he is talking about! I recently replace carpet in
high traffic areas. After pullling out the carpet and pad down to the
subfloor, it was like going to the beach. There was so much sand and
dirt on the subflooor - ground up dirt, sand and powdery jute. It is
smeared into the carpet backing. After a while there is NO way to clean
carpet anymore. After you steamclean the top will look clean, but that
is only for a short time, then the underlying dirt creeps back up. We
replace all of our carpet with high quality hardwood floating floor.