If you have a carpet washer, how often do you use it?

[pleasenotmondayagain]

I've got one, bought about four years ago in the hope that it might resurrect some dull looking pale carpets. I've probably used it twice a year since then, once in the early summer, and once in December as part of a house cleaning effort before Christmas, and occasionally to clean up any spills.

It turns out that MIL has the same machine, and washes / cleans her carpets at least once a month. I may just have cemented my slatternly reputation in her eyes! I'm certainly not keeping my carpets pristine by leaving the cleaner in its box, I suppose. If you have one, how regularly do you find it is worth using it?

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I shampoo all my carpets roughly 4 times per year but there is only me and DH, no dc or animals anymore.

Thanks for the reply raffles. I've been packing away Christmas today and decided to whizz round the lounge with the washer before the space gets cluttered again. Our family seems to have ground a lot of dirt into the carpet in the space of a month if the colour of the water is anything to go by! I'll take a leaf from your book (and MILs) as part of my little and often plan for keeping on top of the house in the new year.

I have been looking at getting one. I think it will be a Vax, but there are so many!

Every six months the carpet people recommend. My hall carpet needs doing more often imo. Two dogs here.

I bought a refurbished Vax and probably use it too much but our carpets look so much nicer and fresher after as very old

i have the vax one no children at home but 4 cats so i use mine on average once every two months for upstairs carpets and once a month for downstairs and its surprising how black the water is

We’ve got a Bissell carpet washer. We use it 2, probably 3 times a year.
One thing that a professional carpet cleaner told me is that the problem with the home shampoo machines is that they don’t rinse, so leave a lot of residue in the carpet which causes rapid resoil. Basically the shampoo it leaves behind goes sticky and dirt clings to it, so the carpet gets dirtier much quicker.
Best thing to do is use the carpet washer normally and then go over it again with warm, clean water to rinse the shampoo out.

Thanks Eco I hadn't heard that about carpet cleaners and rinsing, but it makes sense. I have a Vax, and although it has a setting for shampooing, and another for sucking up the dirty water, there is no option to follow that with a clean water rinse. Perhaps I should give that a try next time. I always thought that the carpets showed up the dirt after I washed them because they were cleaner to start with and every little mark was therefore more visible.