Stanley Steamer

Any steam cleaner can spray water. The magic is in the vacuum. Our home steam cleaner is a Mean Green. Same unit Loews rents.

One should distinguish between Stanley Steamer which is a steam-propelled automobile. Stanley Steemer is a carpet cleaning business.


Jay Leno runs a Stanley Steamer on the street. Shows up sometimes at the Rock Store. You can probably find a video of it online.

There is a company here named ZERO REZ we have used at our Elk's club with relatively good results. The process uses a dry cleaner and seems to pull most of the coffee stains and drink spills rather well.

We do our own all the time. We never use any soap or cleaners. Just super hot water. No soap residue to deal with. Carpets come out clean and have no build up of sticky residue to trap the next round of dirt. We've done it this way for years and it works great..

B.O.

Its also not a steam cleaner but a hot water cleaner. True steam cleaners are far and few between.

I used a commercial steam cleaner company in our home, and wasn't happy with the results. I felt like they pulled the dirt from the top 1/8" of the carpet, so when they left, it looked great. But within weeks, it was like the deeper dirt oozed back to the surface.

I rent a "Rug Doctor" DIY unit, and since I know where the dirty spots are, I can spend more time on them and clean deeper. Yes, the carpet will be damp, but a good fan blowing will have it dry overnight. I prefer to spray stains with a spray bottle; then just use clean hot water in the machine. No residue left behind that way.

One other thought: if you just have some spots that need to be cleaned, you could go to an auto detailer, who will use a "spotter" (a small version of the spray/vacuum system).

I rent a Rug Doctor also. The trick I found that works well is to clean with the solution, then refill with plain hot water and go back over the entire carpet. It pulls the cleaning solution and more dirt out so there isn't residue left in the carpet to attract and hold dirt. This has kept the carpets looking nice for a much longer period of time.