I have an upright Vax carpet cleaner, do I HAVE to use the Vax cleaning stuff with it?

[chloemegjess]

Hi. I want to clean my carpets with my vax, but the problem I have is that my cat seems to be having an issue with wee and poo on the carpet. I am well aware that cleaning products make this worse and that the best thing to clean carpets with is a mixture of water, napisan and washing powder. Can I put this in the vax to use? The instructions say never use anything but VAX products as it might damage the cleaner but they would say that though wouldn't they.

Does anybody know if it is ok?

No - you can use any cleaner designed for machines (ie low foam).

I buy Rug Doctor products from Homebase.

SO I couldn't use the washing powder mix? If I am going to use any machine mix it can be Vax, its just I ideally didn't want to use any because of the cat problem

I think you will end up with too much foam.

Oh ok. If I try it though, would there be anything else that can go wrong? Could it damage my machine or carpets or anything? Just need to clean it with something but if I use the shampoo I will probably end up making the problem worse.

i used bi owashing powder in my vax yesterday and i also used a mixture of warm water and white vinegar never thought about it damgaing machine oops

If you use ordinary detergent, you risk not being able to rinse it properly from your carpets (even worse with lots of foam). Any residue will attract more dirt in record time, and this will not be the kind of dirt that lends itself to easy hoovering.

babyjj - did it work ok? Did you end up with excess foam?

tbh i never really noticed how ever i did go over it again with just plain water

Yes I was thinking about going over it again with water. I clean the carpet with washing powder anyway when my cats have had an accident as everything else makes the problem worse apparently. So not too worried about it being on the carpet iyswim.

What cleaner do you have? I am more worried about my Vax than anything else?

i'll try and fine a link

this one