This only uses a minimal amount of water so your carpets dry in around 30 minutes. To get pet urine out of your carpets, it’s best to blot up the excess moisture first using a paper towel or cloth. You can then follow with the use of one of the carpet cleaners we’ve shared here to really get out the resulting stain. Bear in mind that carpet cleaners are noisy—some are so loud that we recommend wearing hearing protection. In our tests, we found big differences among models from the same brand.
Check out how we evaluate carpet cleaners in our Lab at the end of this guide, plus everything you need to keep in mind while shopping for one. Looking for more ways to achieve pristine-looking carpets and area bissell cordless rugs? Check out our recommendations for the best carpet stain removers plus our complete guide to cleaning your carpet which has step-by-step instructions for tackling all different kinds of carpet stains.
You could call a professional cleaning service, but if your home has lots of carpeting and upholstery, a carpet cleaner is a worthwhile investment that is less costly over time. Plus, you’ll be able to tackle messes as they happen so stains don’t set in and become tougher to remove. This is a big, serious machine for big, serious cleaning jobs, and it won’t be the right choice for everyone. But if you want perfect results every time and have the space to store a machine this large, then we can’t recommend Big Green enough.
Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Katie Berry is a cleaning expert with 30 years of household management experience and 12 years of writing about cleaning methods and routines for Housewife How-Tos.
The whole thing is 11.5 pounds, making it comfortable to move between rooms. This two-tank cleaner offers a 25% larger capacity than the competition to help you clean for longer periods of time without needing to dump gunky water every half hour. There’s even “automatic detergent mixing,” so you don’t have to do any math before you get to work.
For pets and kids, we carry a line of carpet cleaners to tackle tough messes and stains on your carpet. Stop in at your local Big Lots store or shop online to find the perfect floor care products for your home, all at Big Lots everyday low prices. In the Good Housekeeping Institute Home Care and Cleaning Lab, our experts clean a lot of carpets and floors every year while evaluating the best vacuum cleaners, robot vacuums, steam mops and more. Most recently, we tested four new carpet cleaners that were submitted for the latest Cleaning and Organizing Awards. We have also collected data from 14 other carpet cleaners, 21 carpet stain removers and several in-home professional carpet cleaning services.
Many of the models we reviewed also include features like pet hair removal tools that’ll undoubtedly be appealing to pet owners. You can also easily move a portable cleaner around if you want to clean a stain out in your car or on a stairwell. If anything goes wrong with your cleaner, the SmartWash+ comes with an extended five-year warranty. It has one of the widest cleaning heads we tested at 12 inches, an inch wider than the Bissell ProHeat, and it’s 0.5-gallon dirty water tank was a bit larger than the Bissel’s 0.4-gallon tank. A 22-foot power cord and 8-foot attachment hose give you plenty of room to work. If you’re dealing with set-in stains on your carpet or upholstery, you’ll need to pre-treat them with a carpet-cleaning spray or solution before shampooing your entire carpet.
It’s rare to get a full-sized quality carpet cleaner for less than $200, but Hoover delivers with this model. It features a special PowerSpin Pet brush roll with antimicrobial-treated brushes to tackle odors, while the cleaner’s HeatForce helps you get dry carpets fast. This cleaner is also lightweight—just 12.5 pounds—making it easy to schlep from room to room.
You can see this by watching the tank, since no more water will flow into it. Find the dial located on the front side of the cleaner, next to the tank. The dial will have settings for light, normal, and heavy cleanings. Depending on how dirty your carpeting is, select the correct setting and adjust it as you go.