Which Carpet Cleaner Comparison

Which Carpet Cleaner Comparison, aimed at domestic homes and cleaners purchasing a DIY carpet cleaner, carpet washer etc. Read before investing in a piece of junk!

Foreword – by no means is this blog linked to Which? As in the expert testing, reviews and advice…
For the official review, please see their blog here Which? Carpet Cleaner Reviews.

The machines

For this blog, I will compare the following machines; using information available on the internet and linking to reference sources for readers to check the information.

1. Ashby’s Enforcer (Machine we use)
2. Karcher Puzzi 10/1
3. Numatic Wet & Dry Vacuum
4. Rug Doctor ‘Might Pro’
5. Vax Platinum SmartWash
6. Bissel ProHeat 2x Revolution Pet Pro
7. Swan DirtMaster Pro Carpet Washer

Already, as you can probably tell by the names, all of the bottom 4 have extremely impressive names, to consumers, they will sound amazing, but are they any good or marketing nonsense?

Tank capacity

All of these machines are classed as spray/extraction carpet cleaning machines and due to this, they will all have a clean water tank and a dirty water tank. 

First, let us compare the capacity of those tanks, this is important as those with smaller tanks and you’ll find yourself filling, re-filling and disposing of dirty water after each stroke or for a professional machine after each area.

• Ashby’s Enforcer (Machine we use)

Solution tank – 52 litres – self filling

Recovery tank – 40 litres – self emptying

• Karcher Puzzi 10/1

Solution tank – 10 litres

Recovery tank – 9 litres

• Numatic Wet & Dry Vacuum

Solution tank – 17 litres

Recovery tank – 32 litres

• Rug Doctor ‘Might Pro’

Solution tank – 11 litres

Recovery tank – 14 litres

• Vax Platinum SmartWash

Solution tank – 3.5 litres

Recovery tank – 3.5 litres

• Bissel ProHeat 2x Revolution Pet Pro

Solution tank – 3.7 litres

Recovery tank – 3.7 litres

• Swan DirtMaster Pro Carpet Washer

Solution tank – 2.1 litres

Recovery tank – 2.1 litres

Solution tank heater

For the most part of cleaning carpet, HEAT is required, different temperatures for different cleaning scenarios.

None of the above machines has internal heat elements, except for Ashby’s Enforcer and this comes with three options; the first being no heater, immersion heater (similarly to a kettle’s element) inside the solution tank and finally an inline heater, which sits outside the machine heating solution as it passes through the element.

Water recovery/extraction

Recovery is a major factor in spray/extraction carpet cleaning because you need to recover (suck) out as much water as you have put in… If not this then leads to other problems such as overwetting, shrinking, rippling and browning. 

• Ashbys Enforcer (Machine we use)

230 inches of water lift / 17 inches of mercury lift. Will operate up to 200 ft / 61 metres of vacuum hose.

• Karcher Puzzi 10/1

Airflow 80 l/s 

• Numatic Wet & Dry Vacuum

Airflow 98 l/s

• Rug Doctor ‘Might Pro’

Airflow 100 l/s

• Vax Platinum SmartWash

No data available

• Bissel ProHeat 2x Revolution Pet Pro

No data available

• Swan DirtMaster Pro Carpet Washer

No data available

Spray pressure

• Ashbys Enforcer (Machine we use)

400psi 

• Karcher Puzzi 10/1

25psi

• Numatic Wet & Dry Vacuum

50psi

• Rug Doctor ‘Might Pro’

28psi

• Vax Platinum SmartWash

No data available

• Bissel ProHeat 2x Revolution Pet Pro

No data available

• Swan DirtMaster Pro Carpet Washer

No data available

Recommended cleaning products

Each manufacturer will recommend a product to use with their machine, but as a professional, I can categorically state that one product DOES NOT clean all carpet fibres. 

As a reference, the safe zone is between pH5 – pH9 for colour loss.

To effectively clean carpet, operators need to shift the pH to alkaline, with the use of pre-spays, agitate this, then remove by using an acid rinse thus leaving the carpet at its usual resting position which is around pH6.5. 

With the DIY machines, their instructions do not provide this information and only show you how to use their own shampoo which will not clean the carpet effectively.

The best way I can describe this is by washing your hair as it’s something [hopefully] we all do and can relate to.

Pre-spay is the shampoo and you buy this whether you have dry frizzy hair, greasy hair, coloured hair etc… That’s the product that cleans your hair. You need to use the right carpet pre-spay to make your clean effective.

The carpet shampoo is a conditioning agent, which will rinse the pre-spray and dirt out and condition your carpet leaving it feeling soft after drying. 

Summary

My unbiased review on DIY carpet cleaning machines available to the general public…

There are lots of different types, and to be fair they will not get you the desired results. Instagram influencers are usually paid through #aff and #ad promotions, to flog cheap, ineffective carpet washers, carpet refreshers etc.

They are not brilliant, and you certainly do not need one! In most cases, individuals will purchase one, it’ll be used once and then slung into a cupboard/under stairs/garage etc never to see the light of day again. These machines don’t come cheap either and retail c£150 a pop.

Carpets need to be cleaned on average every 12-18 months but this depends on the traffic, high traffic areas may need more regular cleaning, whereas less used carpets may only need cleaning every 2.5 – 3 years.

For what it is I would only have a professional, clean my carpets, hard floors and upholstery. Social media is littered with ‘professionals’ using cheap DIY machines and charging £20 a room and it’s these people that have no training, go around ruining carpets and couches and are NOT insured.

If you are looking to hire a carpet cleaner that will get you GREAT results, you need to visit the NCCA’s website – the National Carpet Cleaners Association is a trade association only for members that have completed training, hold adequate insurance for their services, complete an entrance exam and continue to study to gain their CPD points.

Not all carpet cleaners need to join the NCCA but it’s worth it for £140 membership fees a year because this demonstrates to customers your competence and commitment to the industry.

Cheshire Cleaning Co joined in September 2019 and subsequently, became advanced members in September 2021 and upgraded membership to TrustMark which is separate and is a Government Endorsed Quality Scheme. Again, not everyone can become TrustMark members, only those that are deemed competent within the industry.

We further attended training by the WoolSafe Organisation and became WoolSafe Approved Service Providers and WoolSafe Fibre Care Specialists as they’re more accreditations for us.

We tend not to complete jobs for price shoppers as our clients come to us as they know that they will get guaranteed results.

We’re booked in advance around 2-3 weeks, complete the majority of our work on a B2B basis, through our referral scheme.

Booking with us is made simple! You can either contact us or send a WhatsApp message to get the ball rolling.

We deliver throughout the north west, from our Widnes base.

When you book with us, you book with confidence, we’re backed by industry leaders:

If you have any specific questions or would prefer to speak to someone, please call 07539412391

Image credits: HouseBeautiful.com