5 Things to Know Before Buying a Carpet Cleaner

Weight, cord length, and other factors to consider when shopping for one of these machines

Designed to remove deeply embedded dirt and debris, a carpet cleaner might be a smart addition to your cleaning arsenal, especially if you have a busy household and a home with lots of carpet. It can make short work of ground-in dirt in a way even the best vacuums can’t. Stains, for that matter, too.

“Carpet cleaners are nothing like a standard upright vacuum,” says Larry Ciufo, who oversees Consumer Reports’ carpet cleaner tests. In fact, “the instructions for these machines tell you to vacuum your floor first using a conventional vacuum cleaner, and then use the carpet cleaner to clean up embedded dirt.”

The carpet cleaners in our tests cost from about $100 to nearly $500, but you don’t have to spend a bundle to get spotless carpet.

How We Test Carpet Cleaners

It takes three days to put one carpet cleaner through our battery of cleaning-performance tests. Our engineers soil large swatches of off-white nylon carpet with red Georgia clay. They run a carpet cleaner over the carpet for four wet and four dry cycles to simulate a consumer cleaning a particularly dirty spot on a well-trafficked carpet. Then they repeat the test on two more swatches.

Over the course of the test, our experts use a colorimeter, a device that measures the absorption of light wavelengths, to take 60 readings of each carpet per test: 20 in its “virgin” state, 20 after it has been soiled, and 20 after it has been cleaned. Sixty readings on three samples make a total of 180 readings per model.

How to Choose a Carpet Cleaner

Considering one of these powerful cleaning machines? Here are five things to keep in mind as you shop.

Carpet cleaners are heavy when empty—and even heavier after you fill up the tank. Adding a cleaning solution to the models in our ratings adds 6 to 15 pounds. We list the weight of the carpet cleaner when empty and when full on each model page.

The largest cleaner in our tests, the Bissell Big Green Machine Professional 86T3, weighs 58 pounds when full and may be difficult for one person to maneuver. The lightest model we tested, the Hoover SmartWash Automatic FH52001, weighs 12 pounds when empty and 20 when the tank is full.

For routine carpet cleaning, the standard solution will do. Manufacturers recommend that you use their brand’s cleaning solution with their carpet cleaner—but they might sell a dozen or more types of specialized solutions.

For routine carpet cleaning, spot stain removers aren’t necessary. If you have a stubborn stain, like a pet mess, you could try the solution marketed for that type of stain.

Check the settings, accessories, and length of the hose. Some carpet cleaners have only one tank for water and the cleaning solution. But we found that it’s more convenient to have two separate tanks, one for water and one for the cleaning solution. Some even premix the solution and water within the machine, saving you the hassle of having to measure out a full tank each time. Also look for a carrying handle, which makes it easier to move the machine around.

Settings to consider: Some manufacturers claim their models clean both hard floors, like wood and tile, and carpets. There are also carpet cleaners that have dry-only settings so that you can suck up more water after your initial cleaning, which may speed up drying time.

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