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Originally Posted by Ice
Those type of retail carpet cleaners all leave cleaning residue on your carpet. It will clean the stains, but the residue left behind clings to dirt and dust and what you can end up with is larger, but lighter, carpet stains. So over time, and with regular use, the overall look of your carpet will begin to look worse. I made this mistake with my carpet and did a little research and found a solution that has produced much better results.
For small stains in my carpet, from a kids spilling something or dropping food, I boil water, pour it on the stain, use a towel (a thick enough towel to prevent burning my hand with the water), pat and rub the area until the stain is lifted and then use a shop vac to suck up the water, then cover the area with a dry towel until it is completely dry. Water leaves no residue behind so it won't cling to dust and create another stain from the cleaning.
When cleaning a larger area, I use the carpet cleaner, but while the carpet is still damp, I go over the area again with the carpet cleaner, but this time without cleaner in it, only hot water. if I still see cleaner residue that's visible, I'll go over again with hot water only. This way it limits the amount of cleaner left behind and new stains don't show up as quickly. I have a professional steam clean the carpet once a year and the guy I use makes sure to leave little to no residue behind when he cleans the carpets.
One thing to remember is it takes longer for your carpet to dry with these home cleaners because they are not as powerful as the professional truck mounted vacuums. They don't remove as much of the moisture so if you can avoid walking directly on the carpet until its completely dry, your result will be much better.
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yeah i have long had the whole "clean it with roarin hot water" thing going on for years...but this is beyond that and as well we need to do the other areas as well, but the clean a second time without using detergent thing makes sense as well. Good advice, thanks.
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I would stay away from Hoover. I have a two year old Steamvac that works great, but the hose broke recently and you can't get parts in Canada. The hose is 42 bucks and I have to throw away the unit because I have no way to get it in Canada. It sucks because it is a good unit and I am fully willing to repair it and continue using it.
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I am in the states for now so that part really doesnt bother me as i wouldnt be bringing it with me even when i move back.