How To Use The Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaner Like A Pro

One of the most effective ways to give your carpets a thorough, deep clean is through the use of the Rug Doctor. This is the unit that's most often rented to customers at places like hardware stores and supermarkets. It's kind of like an upright rectangle vacuum cleaner. It uses a combination of cleaning solution, vibrating brushes and vacuuming action to do the job. It's generally accepted that these machines are not quite as effective as a professional cleaning service. That said, it's better than nothing. Running one of these machines across your carpet once a year is an excellent way to keep it in tip top shape. This will ensure that the health and value of your home is always strong.

So how the heck do you use the Rug Doctor anyway? Well, it's not that hard at all. There are instructions that come with the product but I thought an article may help some folks as there are a couple things that the manufacturer's literature leaves out.

Ok... So the first thing you want to do before you even touch your carpet cleaning rental is mix your solution in a fairly large clean bucket. Make sure you get this step right. If the solution isn't mixed right, all your efforts will be pointless. Read the label for the proper ratio of hot water to cleaning solution.

Now you can look at the machine. Take the white bucket off the top of the machine. This is where the dirty water will go when it's through shampooing your carpet. Don't put your mixed solution inside this white bucket! You want to put the solution in the red compartment that became exposed when the white bucket was removed. Fill it to about the halfway point and then put the white bucket back on the machine. Make sure it is secure before moving on to the next step.

Now It's Time To Clean Your Carpets!

Take the machine to the room you want to clean first. Put it in a corner and plug the machine in. Tilt the handle back and up until it's comfortable for you to hold. Turn the machine on. At this point, you'll hear a loud grumble coming from the machine.  Don't worry - It's note spitting out water yet.

In order to get the solution to come out, you need to hold down the red button on the handle. This is a great feature because it means the Rug Doctor won't just let water run out all over one spot on your carpet.

Hold down the red button and start moving backwards. The manufacturer recommends moving at about one foot per second. Don't worry if you're going a bit too fast or a bit too slow. It doesn't really matter. You just want to make sure that you're always moving backwards while the red button is depressed. Water damaged carpet isn't fun to deal with...

When you get to the wall on the opposite side of the room, release the red button. You can now tilt the machine up and push it back to the where you started. Move the machine over a bit and do the next "lane". You're going to repeat this process until your home is nice and clean!

At some point you'll need to empty the white bucket because it will be full of dirty water. I find that it's better to do this fairly often. When this bucket is completely full of water, it's actually really heavy. Emptying it when it's half full is way easier.

That's it! Happy steam cleaning!