There’s nothing like the soft feel and touch of carpeting in your home. However, sometimes taking care of it and keeping it clean is not an easy task. Especially if your family has children, pets, or a family member who suffers from allergies then you know justr how important it is to keep your carpeting clean. That’s where using steam vacuum cleaners for you home can be a solution to the problems you face when cleaning your carpets.

How do steam vacuum cleaners work?

The basics are quite simple. Steam vacuum cleaners will spray warm water and a cleaning solution onto your carpet. What this does is the fibers in your carpet will be washed completely. After that the water is then vacuumed up. No worrying about using separate machines to wash and dry because the steam vacuum cleaner handles it all.

In some models of steam vacuum cleaners there may even be brushes that rotate or spin to work any stains and dust out. This is very handy if your carpet experiences lots of spills or maybe you are trying to lift a stubborn stain out of your carpet that just won’t budge with other cleaning methods.

Are these big bulky machines?

While the traditional steam cleaning is done by a professional company with a very large unit that sits in the back of a van, household steam vacuum cleaners are small enough to fit into your closet. You will be able to choose from models that have larger or smaller canisters that resemble regular upright vacuum cleaners. This is a large step forward from previous steam vacuum cleaners that had to be hooked up to a hot water faucet using a long hose. You then had to use a wand with an attached bottle full of cleaning solution which allowed the water and detergent to mix before you sprayed your carpet.

However, improvements in design has made modern steam vacuum cleaners much more convenient and practical for the home user. Nowadays there is a self-contained canister for your detergent and water built right into the steam vacuum cleaners. This is where your detergent and water mix will reside as you are cleaning. Isn’t that convenient? No more long hoses all over your house.

Another type of steam vacuum cleaners are the “canister” types that have a separate hose and nozzle. The solution canister and suction motor are both built into the cause that is part of the cleaner. This method allows you to spray a light layer of detergent across your carpet using a hand wand that is attached to the main unit via a hose. You can then pull the machine along as you needed.

As mentioned earlier, you can opt for steam vacuum cleaners that are equipped with rotating brushes built into the nozzle which allows you to really get a good agitation to remove dirt and stubborn stains out of the fibers of your carpet. The advantage to this style is that you are only moving the nozzle vs the entire machine like you would with an upright model. There are some disadvantages to this style though because it can be a bit more of a hassle to fit into your storage area and setting it up takes a slight more amount of work. Plus pulling around steam vacuum cleaners as you work may be difficult when you consider the possibility of using it up and down stairs.

So which type is best for me?

It all really depends on your situation. Most home owners opt for the upright models because they come with brushes built in so that the cleaning is much more thorough and it’s easier on you too. Look for a model that comes with hoses and nozzles so you can clean stairs and your furniture too.

The one thing you want to remember is that you should use steam vacuum cleaners often enough on your carpets when they are only lightly soiled. The cleaning job is much quicker and easier. What you don’t want to do is use steam vacuum cleaners on a heavily soiled carpet because then you will be doing much more work.