Do your carpets need a little love and the vacuum on its own isn’t enough to remove deep down dirt? If you’re ready to make spills, stains and embedded dirt a thing of the past then there’s only one thing for the job: the Carpet Cleaner!
Working its magic deep down in the fibres of your carpet, a carpet cleaner will help to remove stains and make your floor coverings fluffy, clean and pleasantly fragrant. An invaluable tool when cleaning up spills and accidents, it’s easily incorporated into your regular cleaning routine. Washing every 6-8 months will not only leave your carpets looking clean and smelling fresh, but it will prolong its life and help to avoid the expensive costs of carpet replacement.
Tip: If you’ve got kids and pets rolling around a lot or just love that clean carpet look and feel, you may want to wash even more regularly.
Getting started
The first thing to do when preparing for a proper carpet clean is to clear the area as much as possible, so you can navigate quickly and easily around your home.
Have a quick vacuum around the area before you begin carpet washing to remove any surface debris, as this will help prevent your carpet cleaner from getting clogged.
Check that everything looks in order with your carpet cleaner. Rinse the tanks and check the filter and brush bar are clear. If there’s an obvious problem with your carpet cleaner, don’t attempt to fix it – contact Vax Support for more help.
Fill the clean water tank on your carpet cleaner with warm water and cleaning solution. Now you’re ready to go!
Tip: always plan your route. For best practice, start in the far corner and work your way back to the door.
Pre-treatment
Before you go any further, take this opportunity to check your carpet for marks and stains. These can really benefit from pre-treatment, using the Vax Pre-treatment Wand, free with the Vax Platinum Power Max model. Simply put Vax Pre-treatment Solution in the clean water tank, plug in the wand, turn on machine and it will produce a fine spray to put on the mess. Leave this on your carpet for 15 minutes and then begin your full carpet wash.
Remember when it comes to stains, time is of the essence. If a spill or accident occurs, don’t just blot it and then leave it, as even when the carpet looks clean again, the mess can still lurk deep down getting stickier and making it easier to re-soil. For best results, get to it quickly with your carpet cleaner.
Tip: Do you have wool carpets? Choose a cleaning solution that is WoolSafe. This way you will know it has been tested and approved for carpet care specifically on wool. And as a bonus, all Vax Carpet Cleaning solutions are WoolSafe.
Carpet washing
Switch you carpet cleaner on. Now move slowly forward with it, holding down the trigger. As you do so, the cleaning solution is released into the pile and the rotating brush bar agitates the fibres, providing deep down cleaning. Then release the trigger and pull the carpet cleaner backwards over the spot you’ve just cleaned.
As you pull backwards on your carpet cleaner, it will suck everything up into the dirty water tank, keeping it separate from the clean water. Continue moving backwards and forwards, moving smoothly and more slowly than you would a regular vacuum cleaner. Repeat up to four times in the same area and work your way across the entire room. To leave your carpets as dry as possible, use more dry passes (pulling back with trigger released) than wet passes.
All Vax carpet cleaners come with a hose and upholstery tool included so you can clean not only on your carpets but also your sofas, stairs, car seats and footwells. Plug it in and you’re good to roam, just remember not to let your carpets and other surfaces get too wet!
Post-treatment
Now your carpet is clean it’s time to get drying. Powerful extraction in our Vax machines mean carpets don’t take long to dry at all. If it’s warm and summery outside, open the windows and ventilate the room with fresh air. If it’s just too cold for that, put the central heating on for a couple of hours and this will aid the drying process. Our Vax Platinum Power Max even has a quick dry mode, leaving your carpets dry in under an hour.
Empty out the water tanks in your carpet cleaner and put it away safely for next time.
When all is done, grab yourself a job-well-done cuppa and relax! You have arrived at carpet perfection.
