Carpet steam cleaners use a variety of different carpet cleaning equipment. There are gas powered truck mounted machines, electric truck mounted machines and electric portable machines. This article will provide you with the basic differences between these machines.

The first machine is a gas truck mount carpet cleaner. This is one of the most common machines used in the carpet cleaning industry. This machine uses either the trucks engine or a separate gas engine to drive a vacuum blower and water pump. These machines have the capacity to provide the greatest amount of vacuum and the highest heat. They are the preferred piece of steam cleaning equipment because of their power, speed and efficiency. With this machine, the cleaner only needs to bring 2 hoses into your home. This eliminates the need to bring bulky equipment into your hose and decreases noise in your home.

Electric truck mounted cleaners are another type of carpet cleaning machine. They are similar to gas truck mounts but they use an electric motor to drive a vacuum blower and water pump. They are nice because they are a little more environmentally friendly and they are much quieter to run. They do not provide as much vacuum power as gas powered machines but do an adequate job. With this machine a cleaner also only needs to bring 2 hoses into your home.

The last machine I will discuss is a portable carpet cleaning machine. This machine uses electricity to power a vacuum motor and water pump. All of the equipment is located in a portable assembly that the cleaner will bring into your home. This machine is great for areas not serviceable by truck mounted machines like apartments and high rises. It does not provide as much power as the the truck mount machines but it has enough power to get the job done. The drawback of this machine is that the cleaner must bring it into your home and it can be loud and cumbersome to use.

While there are other carpet cleaning machines, these are the 3 most common steam cleaners. Remember, carpet cleaning machines are just tools. Even the best machine will not get the job done with a bad operator. You should choose your carpet cleaning service based on the skill, ethics and motivation of your carpet cleaner.