I get a lot of questions related to my Carpet Cleaning with OxiClean method and my Carpet Cleaning with Young Living Thieves Cleaner method. I figured I would answer them all in one spot for you today.
Dear LJ,
When I am cleaning my carpet, do I stop when the water is clear?
Cleaning For Hours
Dear Cleaning For Hours,
No! Oh my goodness, I don’t think I could ever get completely clear water in a home carpet cleaner. Stop when the floor looks clean. If you want it clean until the water comes back clear, you’ll need to hire someone. I suggest Master Cleaners.
LJ
Dear LJ,
What does it mean when you say “rinse the carpet”?
Confused on Details
Dear Confused on Details,
Rinse simply means you are using your carpet cleaner with water only, no soap. Just don’t add anything to the cleaning tank. Just water. I use tea tree oil in my rinse because it makes the carpet smell nice and disinfects.
LJ
Dear LJ,
Can I use OxiClean in a rented carpet shampooer?
Rebel of Carpet Cleaners
Dear Rebel,
Your rental agreement likely says you cannot. I am not going to tell you to do it because I never have. The rental machines state you can only use their product. I have used them before with their product. Buy the pet version, it is better. And follow my same steps or washing, scrubbing, and rinsing. If you want to use OxiClean, buy your own machine. It will still void the warranty, but you won’t be potentially messing up a rental.
As for the long term effects on OxiClean on my machine. It creates more residue than the cleaners suggested by the manufacturers. The rinse cycle does help clean some of that out. But you’ll notice white powder residue in several places on my machine. So far, in the years I have been using OxiClean in my machine, it hasn’t killed it. But I’m not sure I’d risk it on someone else’s machine without their permission.
LJ
Dear LJ,
Can I use Thieves Cleaner in a carpet shampooer?
Natural Cleaner
Dear Natural Cleaner,
Yes, you can! I wrote about that here. It doesn’t clean as deeply, but it leaves the carpet pretty darn clean and soft! Try it. But yeah, it is still going to void the warranty on your machine, so make sure you are okay with that.
LJ
Dear LJ,
Can I use bleach in my carpet cleaner?
Giant Mess
Dear Giant Mess,
No. I have tried. Don’t do it. And I’ll just go ahead and address the next question. Don’t use peroxide either. I’ve tried that, too. Bleach will unevenly bleach your carpet. It looks bad. Peroxide will turn it orange in spots. It looks bad. So don’t do either of those things. Seriously.
Other things I have put in a carpet cleaner:
Dawn dish detergent: way too foamy. You can barely keep the machine going with all the foam. It takes forever to rinse all the suds out. Definitely not the trick I was hoping for.
Laundry Detergent: It cleans clothes, carpet seemed logical. While it smelled amazing, it was too sudsy and too slippery and just didn’t deep clean all that well. It took a few tries to get the amount right, and then it just didn’t clean any better than straight water.
Fabric Softener: I know. I was going for a good smelling carpet. It wasn’t the best. You have to use very little to not end up with a blue hue and then it doesn’t do much. Carpets shouldn’t be that soft. It is more creepy than cozy.
Lysol: I was attempting to disinfect my carpets post tummy bug. It did nothing. Skip this and use cinnamon oil or tea tree oil or Thieves Cleaner instead.
Febreeze: Again, I wanted the carpets to smell good. Just spray it on your carpet. It was way overkill and didn’t clean or do much of anything. Tea Tree Oil works so much better on fixing carpet stink.
Essential Oils: These are great. They work. They help with smell. They don’t stain, someone asked me that. They could potentially break down the plastic of the carpet cleaner, but I haven’t had issues. I also put them on my vacuum bag. I’ve tried many, but tea tree oil and cinnamon bark are my favorites for carpet cleaning. You can try others. I’ve done orange, lemon, fir, frankincense, lavender, and a few others. I still prefer tea tree or cinnamon.
LJ
Dear LJ,
Will you come clean my carpets?
Needs Help
Dear Needs Help,
No. I am not a professional cleaning service. See my recommendation above for Master Cleaners.
LJ
Did I miss your question? Feel free to ask in the comments. This post contains some affiliate links.
Lindsey,
I love your before and after pics and the great information you’ve posted! I’m now ready to go try it. I have a good Hoover carpet cleaner (that I love) AND I have a container of Oxi Clean versatile stain remover but the scoop is missing.
So—two questions: If I use measuring spoons or cups instead, how much is actually in the scoop that you use? Also, is this the exact product you are using–Oxi Clean or Oxy Clean or ?? There seems to be a lot of similarly named products out there! Plus some say laundry detergent or carpet cleaner, stain remover, etc. Just wan
t to be sure that I am getting ready to use the right kind so I don’t accidentally ruin the carpet. Thank you so much!! Bev
Oxi Clean is what the box says, I think. I think the scoop is probably 3 tablespoons. I have had a more concentrated version at some point. But the regular stuff seems like it would be somewhere around that.
Your blog is as amazing as always … I am a regular visitor of your blog due to its innovative and interesting content, they are helping me in my career a lot. Thanks for sharing this amazing information.
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I am trying to find your blog on cleaning carpets with Dr Bronners. Is it still here somewhere? Thank you!
I have tried Dr. Bronners in the carpet cleaner and it just foams up too much and clogs the vacuum mechanism. You can spot clean with Dr. Bronners by hand (with a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush) and then rinse the carpet after using just clean water in the carpet cleaner or tea tree oil and water in the carpet cleaner. Hope that helps!