Need advice from MN cleaning experts

[JuanFootInTheGrave]

We recently invested in a steam cleaner (Thane H2O if that's helpful). We bought it because there's a stain on a mattress that I need to get out. (Nothing lewd or gross ).

I haven't tried it on the mattress yet, because I wanted to test it on the carpet. There are stains where tea has been spilled and I'd like to get them out. I was under the impression that all I would need was the steam cleaner and that's it. But the stains don't disappear completely like I envisaged they would.

Assuming the device is not faulty, and it's not a case of user error, does anybody have any advice on what I might need to pre-treat a stain with before steaming it so I can get it all out? Some of the stains have been there for months. Are they ever going away?

I wouldn’t ever use a steam cleaner on a stain. In the past I’ve basically burned stains onto carpet by trying to steam them out, ended up having to replace the carpet (it was pee/poop stains from a puppy not quite toilet trained).

Depends what the stain is, the elbow grease spray is only £1 and does a great job at removing stains, or Dr Beckams cleaner. If there are a lot of stains then perhaps a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment is more what you need?

Ah, you know I have elbow grease spray and I never considered using it for that purpose!

We have a carpet/upholstery cleaner which was great for getting the carpet clean, but for some reason wouldn't lift any of the old tea stains. These carpets are just over two years old so I'm determined to save them .

I shall try elbow grease. I think I will focus the steam cleaner on tiles and Lino from now on

Just be warned as you’ve already steamed the carpet they might be more difficult to remove. Perhaps investing in a professional carpet clean might be something to look into to try and save the carpet if it doesn’t work. I did that with mines, but I’d well and truly set the stains!

I had the h2o steamer and really didn’t rate it much for anything. I had such grand plans for using it for all sorts (oven cleaning, tiles, lino, sofas), but it was very mediocre at actually cleaning and quite a bit of a faff. I ended up giving mine to my mum who used it a bit for a year (she thought it was ok) and then it promptly broke. Hope you have better luck with yours!

As a side note, I bought a vax platinum carpet cleaner which comes with an upholstery attachment and it has been amazing. I’ve not used it on my mattress yet (that will be a job for the summer I reckon) but it’s brought up so much dirt from my carpets and sofas. It isn’t cheap at all, but we have A LOT of carpet in the house which gets dirty quickly with a dog and a toddler running around.

I’ve previously hired rug doctors which have been good too at lifting dirt and stains, but the vax cleaner is far easier to use and doesn’t leave the carpet half as wet.

Bicarb and warm water dissolve tea stains but you need to be careful it doesn't wreck the carpet.