The ideal carpet cleaner is lightweight and easy to use. Buying your own home carpet cleaner allows you to clean your carpets whenever necessary, which is very convenient since accidental spills do happen at inopportune times. Cleaning your carpets yourself will also save you professional service costs.

Fortunately, many carpet cleaners for the home are affordable. Here’s what to look for when shopping for a home carpet cleaner:

Performance

Look for a carpet cleaner that offers excellent agitation by way of having two or, ideally, more brushes. The more brushes the cleaner has, the more it can thoroughly lift dirt from the carpet.

Another important factor in a carper cleaner’s performance is suction, the best kind of which is surround suction, which will extract water from the area covered by the base of the cleaner and not just from the front of it with one nozzle.

The best home carpet cleaner will also feature heated air-drying for quicker drying times to prevent damp and musty carpets, and a built-in tank heater for hot water supply that’s necessary to kill bacteria and germs.

Design and Size

Your needs should determine your choice of a home carpet cleaner. What is your primary use for the machine? If you want to buy one because you want a convenient way to clean frequent spills and messes from children and/or pets, then choose a lightweight design, which would be much easier to use since you need to operate the cleaner more often.

Also, for pet owners, choose a cleaner that allows heated cleaning so you can sterilize your carpets. Look for one with detachable brushes for easy removal of tangled pet hair.

If you only need a home carpet cleaner for periodic cleaning of your rooms, choose one with a large-capacity tank.

Consider your type of flooring. Choose a cleaner with vertically revolving brushes if you have a shaggy, high-pile carpet, and a cleaner with horizontally spinning flat brushes for low-pile carpets.

Accessories

With the right accessory and tool, removing stubborn dirt and cleaning hard-to-reach areas would be easier. The ideal home carpet cleaner will have useful accessories like a hand-powered tool with a rotating brush, on-board tools for cleaning furniture and upholstery, or edge cleaners to clean edges of corners and walls.

Warranty

Most carpet cleaners come with a one-year warranty, but the best ones offer up to three years of warranty, which will give you longer protection in case the machine has a mechanical problem. Always check if the product you’re interested in has a service center in your area.

When You Need Professional Cleaning

While it’s great to have your own home carpet cleaner, sometimes a professional service is still necessary. To find reliable carpet cleaners in your area, use TalkLocal. We’ll connect you with the service professional you need in just a few minutes!