We may receive commission from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. This content is created by a 3rd party partner for Yahoo.
Has your carpet become dirty and dull with accumulated dirt, stubborn stains, and offensive odors caused by spilled drinks, food, and pets? Unfortunately, scrubbing its surface by hand is not ideal because it takes a lot of time and effort. So that’s why you should grab one of the expert-recommended carpet cleaners capable of removing stains, odor, dirt, and grime effectively and effortlessly! These products are available in multiple types — power-operated vacuum-styled cleaners, sprays, and powders.
Vacuum-styled cleaners can cover larger carpet surfaces, while a dry powder or foam cleaning product is ideal for versatile uses and small areas. Whichever method you decide, check if your cleaner ensures soil and water removal while still being gentle on carpets and rugs for optimal results. Below, we have curated a list of the leading carpet cleaners of 2022 and a complete buyer’s guide to help you make a wise and practical purchase for a cleaner and fresher home.
Top Picks
Best overall: Rug Doctor Mighty Carpet Cleaner
First up is a premium power-operated carpet cleaner that produces a powerful solution jet, ensuring the cleaning liquid can penetrate deep into the carpet to break up all accumulated dirt and grime. Its triple-action vibrating brushes scrub thoroughly for a deep clean removing embedded dirt and odors from each carpet fiber. It also comes with an extractor vacuum, which generates high suction power to remove stains, dirt, and unpleasant odors while speeding up the drying process. This model is reinforced with a 3.9-gallon clean water tank and a 3-gallon dirty water tank so you can cover more surface area in a single fill. In addition, its large wheels help in effortless maneuvering over different carpet surfaces giving you optimal mobility and functionality. This carpet cleaner wins “best overall” on our list because of its professional, commercial-grade results and high-level gentle action on dirty carpets.
Runner-up: Bissell Multi-Purpose Carpet Cleaner
This carpet cleaner is a savior for every pet owner, not only because it keeps your carpets and upholsteries free of stains and unpleasant odors, but also because every time a Bissel is purchased, a portion goes towards helping and saving homeless pets! The Little Green model is lightweight and compact for unparalleled portability and multi-purpose functionality, making it great for detailing your car! Its 3-inch Tough Stain tool generates a strong spray force, ensuring the solution can reach deep into the carpet’s fibers, while the nozzle produces a powerful suction force to remove soap water, stains and embedded grime. It also comes with a 48-oz clean water tank with transparent walls, allowing you to check the water level and know when it’s time to empty and refill. Lastly, to help you get started, this model also comes with a trial-sized Spot and Stain cleaning formula with a fresh fragrance!
Compact design: Hoover PowerDash Carpet Cleaner
Next up is a power-operated carpet cleaner by Hoover, a trusted brand that’s been delivering high-quality cleaning products to its customers for decades. It comes with 0.5 gallons of a clean water tank, sitting right above the dirty water tank, and has transparent walls, so you know when it’s time to refill or empty. If you have pets, then you’re going to love the PowerSpin Pet brush roll! It provides a powerful action to clean each carpet fiber thoroughly, removing hair and dander while the microbial properties extract odor and germs. Thanks to this model’s HeatForce technology that dries the treated area in no time, you won’t have to worry about waiting for your carpets to dry. Lastly, its trigger button ensures you have complete control over the cleaner’s operation.
Best for tough stains: Woolite Heavy Foam Carpet Cleaner
This foam spray carpet cleaner option comes in a pack of four, ensuring you can easily keep your carpets spotless and odor-free for a fresh and healthy home. Each unit produces a powerful foam to deep clean your carpet’s fibers and softens hardened dirt and grime. This premium foam technology effortlessly quickens the cleaning process, ensuring you get a fresh-looking carpet, especially in high-traffic areas. In addition, thanks to its StainProtect technology, which simultaneously removes even the toughest stains and odors while preventing new ones, you can let your pets be pets and kids be kids!
Wallet-friendly: Arm & Hammer Carpet Cleaner
This budget-friendly carpet cleaner packs the powerful action of OxiClean to thoroughly remove dirt, grime, and odors for long-lasting freshness. If your carpet has some unpleasant smells, all you do is sprinkle the powder over the surface area, let the product sit for 15 minutes, and then use your vacuum to remove the excess residue. While for strong odors, you should let the powder sit for at least 30 minutes before vacuuming. After using this first-rate carpet cleaner, your home will have a herbal aroma filled with jasmine and citrus fruit notes. What’s more, you can also remove mold and mildew with this cleaning solution.
Buying guide: Carpet cleaners
It is easy to remove dirt, pet stains, grime, and odor, ensuring long-lasting freshness with a premium carpet cleaner, but choosing the right one isn’t as easy. You can find many products on the market, ranging from foam solutions to power-operated carpet cleaners, all having different features and performance levels. So, to help you find a long-lasting and first-rate carpet cleaner, take a look at our buying guide in the section below and find out which product will be most suitable for you.
What to look for in power-operated carpet cleaners
1. Spraying power
For power-operated carpet cleaners, check whether or not the product sprays cleaning solution with a jet force. If you want deep cleaning action, the cleaner’s nozzle must generate high pressure to ensure the solution can reach deep into your carpet’s fibers. This helps in better shampooing and releasing dirt and grime from within.
2. Surface compatibility
Some smaller and compact power-operated carpet cleaners deliver optimal results when used on your upholsteries and when detailing your car. If you do want a multi-purpose cleaner product to use in multiple areas, then check whether it is compatible with the surface you want to clean or not before you go ahead and use it wherever you want.
3. Drying action
If a power-operated carpet cleaner fails to generate heat and dry the carpet, it will remain damp and can cause mold or mildew. So, it’s best to choose a cleaner with heating technology that dries your carpet, rug, or any other surface where you have used it.
4. Suction force
If a carpet cleaner cannot generate high suction force, it won’t be able to obliterate stains, odor, and grime. As a result, your carpet will remain the same and might suffer from damages due to unremoved water. This is why ensure your chosen product can suck in the dirty water and leave a fresh carpet.
5. Performance
Usually, carpet cleaners can remove stains, dirt, accumulated grime, and odor. While choosing the best product, you must check whether it can perform all these functions or not. For instance, if one carpet cleaner can remove stain and grime only, another product might show excellent work on odor and dirt only. Some cleaners can soften the carpet fibers, ensuring high-performance releasing action on dirt and grime. For best results, choose a product meant for high-traffic areas like living room, lounge, kitchen area, porch, and bedrooms.
6. Water tank
You will have two tanks in power-operated carpet cleaners — a clean and a dirty water tank. If you have a lot of carpet surface area, get a product with a larger tank volume to ensure maximum coverage between refills. For example, let’s assume two cleaners with different water tank capacities — 0.375 and 3.9 gallons. For cleaning a single rug or your upholsteries, you can go for the product having a 0.375 water tank, whereas when you have to clean multiple carpeted rooms, it is best to go for the 3.9 gallons water tank. This way, you can use the carpet cleaner for a long time between two refills.
7. Wheels
As you need to maneuver the vacuum-styled carpet cleaner, ensure its wheels are durable and easy to roll over various kinds of surfaces. If not, you won’t be able to pull or push the cleaner or turn it around to cover the entire carpet surface, causing more frustration than you need.
Which carpet cleaner is better: Power-operated or manual cleaning products?
It is pretty evident that manual cleaning products like sprays, foams, and powders are far more feasible than power-operated carpet cleaners when it comes down to accessibility and affordability. Still, they do take more effort in the cleaning process. On the contrary, a power-operated carpet cleaner effortlessly removes dry impurities and dirt from the carpet like pet hair, chips, small packets, dry dust, and other such solids, so you can have a clean carpet without breaking a sweat!
What does a carpet cleaner cost on average?
Since there are many different options for carpet cleaners, the average cost can vary from as low as $7.69 and as high as $599.99. To find the most optimal cleaning product within an affordable range, follow these tips.
-
Power-operated carpet cleaners are significantly more expensive than foams, sprays, and powders
-
If you choose a vacuum-styled carpet cleaner, higher tank volume will increase the price and vice versa
-
The carpet cleaners that use suction and a bristle scrubbing technology to remove stains, odors, and dirt will typically have a higher cost than other products
People also asked
Q. How do I use my powder carpet cleaner?
A. Sprinkle the dry-cleaning powder over a carpet and leave it for 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Once done, use a vacuum to remove odor and grime.
Q. Can I use my carpet cleaner to remove wine stains?
A. Yes, you can use a carpet cleaner to remove wine stains. But before you do so, ensure the chosen product is suitable for removing stains.
Q. Do I need to use a dryer after I clean my carpet?
A. No, you don’t have to use a dryer after working with a carpet cleaner. But some power-operated models have a quick-drying or heat technology to create optimal results.