A carpet in a high traffic area will eventually begin to look a little worse for wear, no matter how much care you take. Regular footfall will wear down the fibers, carry dust and dirt into the material, and embed stains deep within the pile.
Add a cat or dog to the mix, with shedding fur and muddy paws, and you might find your carpet is desperate for a refresh!
A carpet cleaner is able to lift and remove even the dirt that has become trapped deep within the fibers. As well as removing stains, this can kill bacteria and germs lurking within the carpet, plus banish bad smells that might be hanging around.
However, carpet cleaners are often expensive, and you might find your carpet only needs this kind of deep clean once or twice a year.
Instead of buying a carpet cleaner, you might prefer to rent a carpet cleaner. This is a cheaper option, allowing you to spruce up your carpets, without investing in a machine that won’t get much use. Brands such as Bissell, Vax, Rug Doctor, and Hoover are all highly recommended.
When choosing a carpet cleaner, you have to consider the size of the carpet, the strength of the carpet cleaner, and the ease of use.
Some rental carpet cleaners are recommended for industrial use, while others are better around the home. Let’s take a look at some of the best carpet cleaner options, and consider the advantages of renting versus buying.
How Much Is Carpet Cleaner Rental?
Using a vacuum cleaner is a quick and easy way to clean a carpet, but you might find it doesn’t give very impressive results.
While the top layer of dirt is sucked away, stains and marks are left behind in the carpet. Over time, you’re likely to find the problem builds and builds.
Carpet cleaners are a specialist piece of equipment that efficiently and quickly clean a carpet. They use a combination of three cleaning methods: a cleaning solution, a powerful scrub, and a high suction.
The cleaning solution gets into the fiber of the carpets, where it’s agitated by the bristles to loosen dirt, which can then be removed by the suction.
A carpet cleaner is an excellent way to clean a very dirty carpet, remove deep stains, or spruce up a larger floor area in a short amount of time.
However, these machines can often cost several hundred dollars. Add in the cost of purchasing a cleaning solution, plus any repairs that might be needed, and the expense can quickly add up.
Rental services allow people to use carpet cleaners for short periods of time. Some offer hourly or daily rental, others provide a weekly service, and some industrial carpet cleaners can be rented for months or even years.
Twenty-four hour carpet cleaner rental typically costs between 25 and 50 dollars, for a standard carpet cleaner. The price is determined by the model of carpet cleaner, and how long you want to rent it for. Many companies will allow you to rent a high quality model for a fraction of what it would cost to buy.
When you decide to rent a carpet cleaner, it’s essential to carefully check the rental agreement. This will lay out the terms and conditions, including what will happen if the machine is damaged.
Stores such as Walmart, Lowes, Menards, and Home Depot offer carpet cleaner rental services. These stores will have brands such as Rug Doctor, Bissell, Vax, and Hoover available for rent, with various rental period options.
Choosing A Rental Carpet Cleaner
If you’ve decided to rent a carpet cleaner, then there are a few things you need to consider.
First, what floors are you planning on cleaning? A family home will need a smaller, less powerful carpet cleaner than an industrial site. Consider both the size of the carpet, and the level of foot traffic.
Don’t forget other factors that might affect the cleanliness of a carpet, such as pets and kids, and location. Some carpet cleaners are designed for particular messes, such as pet hair, or food stains.
Next, consider the model of carpet cleaner you want to rent. Brands such as Vax, Hoover, Rug Doctor, and Bissell come highly recommended by customers. Each of these brands have various carpet cleaner models, so check the specifications when making your choice.
Third, think about where you want to rent the carpet cleaner from. This might be from a store, or delivered to your home. Consider stores such as Menards, Lowes, Walmart, and Home Depot.
Finally, set a budget, and decide on a rental period. A half-day or full-day rental might be all you need, but for larger properties, you might prefer a longer rental time. Decide on a price, closely check the rental agreement, and you should be ready to go!
When you rent a carpet cleaner, you should be given close instructions on how to use it.
Pros Of Carpet Cleaner Rental
Much cheaper than buying a carpet cleaner that you might rarely use.
It’s an opportunity to use a high quality carpet cleaner that you might not be able to afford.
There are no storage worries.
Cons Of Carpet Cleaner Rental
You only have the cleaner for a limited time period, and it might not be enough.
Breaks and damages might end up costing a lot.
You have to transport the cleaner to and from your home.
The Bissell JetScrub Pet Upright carpet cleaner is designed to tackle tough stains. The CleanShot Pretreater and XL DirtLifter PowerBrush work together to lift and remove embedded dirt, with 10 rows of bristles penetrating deep into the carpet.
Once these stains are loosened, the powerful suction ensures everything is lifted away, leaving behind a clean carpet. Weighing less than 13 compounds, this is a lightweight cleaner that is easy to use.
LED headlights help you see where the stains are, while electronic fingertip control adds to the intuitive use. And with the Express Clean Mode, you can work quickly, as the carpet can dry in just 30 minutes.
The Bissell JetScrub Pet Upright is an excellent rental choice if an unexpected spill has left a stain on the carpet: think red wine after a party!
If your carpet is really starting to look worse for wear. The Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution carpet cleaner can give it a total refresh. This is a cleaner designed to remove dirt, stains, and allergens that have become deeply embedded with the pile of the carpet.
The MAX clean mode works with the 12 rows of Dual DirtLifter PowerBrushes to agitate the fibers, shaking loose the mess that can then be sucked away.
Clever Heatwave technology maintains the water temperature throughout the process, ensuring the ProHeat is cleaning just as well at the end of the day as it is at the start.
And thanks to the low footprint which allows the cleaner to pass under furniture, plus the pet stain and tough stain tools, you can take your cleaning further.
The Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution carpet cleaner is perfect for when your entire carpet needs a refresh.
Effective and hardworking, the Bissell Big PET Pro Carpet Cleaner is an incredibly popular rental choice. Offering professional grade cleaning in the home, the Bissell Big PET PRO Carpet Cleaner uses eight rows of XL DirtLifter PowerBrush bristles to dig deep into the fibers.
Large capacity tanks ensure you can clean for longer, while the ergonomically designed handle makes movement easier (particularly useful, as this is a heavy machine).
With an efficient clean and a quick dry, the Bissell Big PET PRO allows you to tackle the big messes without extra work. It can also remove odors, leaving you with a fresher smelling home.
The Bissell Big PET PRO carpet cleaner is for pet owners who struggle to stay on top of the cleaning. As a professional grade machine, this is also a fantastic rental choice for businesses.
Initially designed for commercial spaces, the Bissell BigGreen is a carpet cleaner with some serious power behind it. The large capacity carpet cleaner uses edge to edge suction to remove dirt from every inch of your carpet, leaving behind clean fibers and a refreshed appearance.
The 10-inch cleaning path allows the Bissell BigGreen to cover more of the carpet in just one movement, with a 25-foot power cord making it an excellent choice for big spaces. The two motors add to the efficiency of the model, cleaning as it moves both forwards and backwards.
The obvious advantage to the Bissell BigGreen commercial carpet cleaner is the capacity and size. For commercial spaces, it offers an efficient and effective cleaning solution.
But it can also be used around the home. Use the Bissell BigGreen during your spring clean, and get the entire house sparkling.
Sometimes, you don’t need a carpet cleaner to cover a big house. Instead, you need a powerful cleaner designed to work hard in smaller areas. The Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner is an excellent choice for tackling tough to remove stains from carpets, rugs, and upholstery.
A portable design, it’s easy to move around the home, allowing you to clean wherever it might be needed most. The carpet friendly wheels make for smoother maneuvering, while a retractable handle is comfortable for the user.
With a handheld pet tool, this is a carpet cleaner to reach all those out of the way places, where dirt and stains have a habit of building up.
The Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner isn’t ideal if you have a lot that needs to be cleaned, but if you’re struggling with just a few small stains, the powerful and portable design is worth considering.
3.9 gallon clean water tank, 2.6 gallon dirty water tank.
Designed for serious cleaning.
The Rug Doctor X3 Commercial Carpet Cleaner is designed to give commercial grade results with just one pass. A single sweep of the Rug Doctor X4 uses a spray, scrub, and extract system, loosening embedded grime and odors, before pulling them away.
An enhanced vacuum motor adds exceptional suction power, and also increases the dry time so you can clean quicker. The impressive tank capacity ensures the Rug Doctor X3 can tackle big jobs with fewer stops, while the large wheels make the cleaner easier to move on carpet.
The level of clean provided by the Rug Doctor X3 is so good, it’s been awarded a gold rating by the Carpet and Rug Institute.
Heavy and expensive, this might not be a carpet cleaner you regularly need to use in the home. However, as a rental option, it can provide spotless carpets quickly.
The Hoover Power Scrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner delivers a high quality clean from a lightweight and portable model, making it an ideal choice for cleaning in the home.
The SpinScrub brushes operate on a 360-degree rotation, driving deep into the fibers of the carpet to agitate and lift even deeply-embedded stains. A powerful suction then pulls everything away, leaving behind a cleaner carpet.
Weighing less than 19 pounds, it’s easy to then move the carpet cleaner around the home, revitalizing all the carpets. And with an 8ft hose, you can get into all the corners and under the furniture, while a stair tool, an upholstery tool, and a crevice tool mean no inch goes uncleaned.
Easy to use and easy to maneuver, the Hoover Power Scrub Deluxe offers awesome cleaning power for the family home.
Hoover is a brand with plenty of experience in home cleaning, and you can see that in the Smartwash Automatic Carpet Cleaner. A lightweight body might trick you into thinking this is a carpet cleaner that lacks power, but you might be surprised by the level of performance.
Although it isn’t a commercial grade carpet cleaner, the Hoover Smartwash can still lift away dirt and odors that are deep within the carpet.
Flexforce Powerbrushes push deep into the carpet to remove mess, with a triggerless design that makes carpet cleaning as easy as vacuuming. After cleaning, activate the HeatForce technology, and you can quickly dry the carpet, and get on with your day!
The Hoover Smartwash Automatic Carpet Cleaner is easy to use, and the lightweight build makes this a portable design. And with the HeatForce technology, you don’t have to worry about a damp carpet.
The Hoover Spotless Portable Carpet and Upholstery cleaner is designed for spot cleaning. Got a spill you can’t get rid of? The spray, scrub, and remove system used by the Hoover Spotless will clean deeply, tackling everything from red wine stains, to embedded dirt, to pet messes.
The longer reach of the integrated hose allows you to get under furniture and into the corners. The hose itself is also self-cleaning — after each use, the hose flushes itself to remove dirt and bacteria.
So, if you do choose to rent this design, you know you’ll be getting a fresh clean. The multipurpose tool is also antimicrobial, protecting against the formation of bacteria, mold, and mildew.
If you want to clean the whole house, the small build of the Hoover Spotless Portable Carpet and Upholstery Spot Cleaner is not ideal. But for targeted cleaning, this powerful and portable design works well.
The Vacmaster portable carpet cleaner is a 3-in-1 model that provides a wet clean, a dry clean, and an upholstery clean. With an 8 gallon tank capacity, you can clean more, and clean longer, making this an excellent choice for larger homes, and even businesses.
Around the home, the multiple tools and uses of the Vacmaster portable carpet cleaner enable a versatile clean. Instead of using different cleaners and vacuums, you can trust the Vacmaster to do (nearly) all the jobs.
A multi-filtration system keeps dirt and allergens trapped, and not released back into the carpet, making it a good choice for homes with pets. Meanwhile, the quieter operation will appeal to families — you can clean thoroughly without disturbing anyone else.
The Vacmaster Wet Dry Shampoo 3-in-1 Portable Carpet Cleaner is excellent for cleaning big homes and different surfaces.
When To Use A Carpet Cleaner
On the surface, a carpet cleaner is very similar to a vacuum cleaner. They’re both used to clean fabric carpets, lifting away dirt from the fibers. However, carpet cleaners add an extra step to proceedings.
These work a cleaning solution into the carpet, before using bristles and brushes to agitate the fibers. Then, like a vacuum cleaner, the carpet cleaner sucks away the mess.
But because of these extra steps, even more dirt is removed, leaving behind a cleaner carpet. For this reason, carpet cleaners are used when a deeper clean is needed.
What Are The Different Types Of Carpet Cleaners?
There are two main types of carpet cleaner: industrial and household. Although their usage is somewhat interchangeable, each type is better used in certain circumstances. Read on to discover the differences.
Industrial Carpet Cleaners
Industrial carpet cleaners are favored by businesses and commercial establishments. An industrial carpet cleaner typically has an increased tank capacity, allowing the user to clean for longer without needing to stop.
These machines are generally very powerful, able to work deep into the fibers to clean and remove mess.
While industrial carpet cleaners generally offer a better clean over a longer period of time, they do have disadvantages. Big and bulky, they can be hard to navigate around the home.
They also tend to make a lot of noise — easy to ignore in an industrial setting, but frustrating on a personal level.
Home Carpet Cleaners
Household carpet cleaners tend to look similar to vacuum cleaners, and have the same easy navigation and handling. A smaller tank capacity means more regular stops and refills are needed, but it also reduces the overall weight, making for a portable model.
Within the household carpet cleaner category, there are two common designs: the wet carpet cleaner, and the dry carpet cleaner.
Wet carpet cleaners come with a water tank. This is filled with a mixture of water and cleaning solution, which is sprayed onto the carpet as the carpet cleaner moves.
Brushes inside the head drive the cleaning solution into the fibers, releasing the dirt which is then sucked away. Using a wet carpet cleaner will leave the carpet damp, which can add to the overall cleaning time.
Dry carpet cleaners are a cross between wet carpet cleaners and vacuums. Dry carpet cleaners are used with a chemical cleaning solution, which is applied to the carpet before use.
The carpet cleaner then sucks up the solution, along with any loosened dirt. Quicker to use, they’re less effective on embedded dirt than a wet carpet cleaner.
Disadvantages Of Carpet Cleaner Rentals
As useful as a carpet cleaner rental can be, there are a few disadvantages to consider.
A rental service requires some advance planning — you can’t just grab your cleaner from the cupboard whenever someone spills a drink. If you frequently rent a carpet cleaner, you might actually save time and money buying one instead.
You only have a limited period of time with a rental, which can be difficult if you have an entire house to clean. If you’ve chosen a half-day rental, you might find you’ve only just started the cleaning process when it has to be returned.
You’re responsible for transporting the rental to and from your home. For a big model, this might present some difficulties.
Depending on your rental agreement, you might be held responsible for any damage to the carpet cleaner. Even a small bump might result in you needing to cover the cost of repairs. This is particularly frustrating if you chose a rental to save money.
Advantages Of Carpet Cleaner Rentals
There might be some disadvantages to carpet cleaner rentals, but there are also some notable advantages.
A rental service is significantly cheaper than buying a carpet cleaner, often just a fraction of the cost.
Carpet cleaners work to remove embedded dirt, so they aren’t an everyday cleaning solution. In a standard household, you might only need to use the carpet cleaner once or twice a year. A rental works best in this situation.
If you find the vacuum cleaner does most of the work for you, a carpet cleaner can spruce carpets up before special occasions.
When you’re done with your rental, you can return it, rather than finding a place to store it. As these are often big and bulky machines, it can be hard to find a storage place for a carpet cleaner around the home.
With a rental, you can access the power of the best carpet cleaners available for a lower price.
By renting a carpet cleaner, you can enjoy a high quality clean at a fraction of the price. Another option is to hire a carpet cleaning service. They might be more expensive, but they also do the hard work for you!
We hope this guide has helped you to understand the advantages and disadvantages of carpet cleaner rentals.
Hi, my name is Johnathon Gooder and I have been in the flooring industry for almost 20 years. I’ve done it all - lay flooring, painted carpets, repaired sections of an entire floor - you name it, I’ve probably had a hand at it.
I like to help wherever I can, which is why I’ve seen more than most. I could diagnose an issue with your carpet over the phone, within 30 seconds, with the amount of knowledge I have on all types of carpet repairs!
Anyway, I have made this website to share my tips and tricks on all things carpet related. From DIYs to maintenance, the best products to use to useful information on your chosen flooring, I’ll cover it all.
So, get ready to get to know your carpet on a more personal level, and let’s see if we can’t solve whatever problem you’re facing right now.
