Home carpet shampooers may never do quite as thorough of a job as a professional carpet cleaner, but they can remove a great deal of dirt and grime from your carpet – as long as you use them the right way! Follow these tips to ensure your home carpet shampooing session is as effective as possible.

Use the right brand of carpet shampoo.

Most carpet shampooers tell you to only use their brand of shampoo. The company is not just telling you this to increase sales; it's an instruction you really need to follow. Different carpet shampoo brands come in different concentrations. If you buy the wrong brand, the machine might dilute the shampoo incorrectly, leading to a carpet that's either not as clean as it could be, or that has shampoo residue left behind from a too-strong solution.

Give the machine time to warm up.

The hotter the water, the better it will be at extracting dirt, dander and dust mites from your carpet. Most carpet shampooers need some time to warm up the water before you use them. Don't skip this step, or you'll be washing your carpet with lukewarm water, which won't remove much dirt. Usually, 20 minutes is enough time, but check the user's manual – your shampooer may need more or less time based on its design.

Go slowly.

You're probably anxious to get the carpet shampooing process finished so you can move on with your day, but pushing the shampooer back and forth over the carpet quickly is not doing anyone any favors. Instead, move the machine slowly. This will give it more time to evenly moisten your carpet and then suck the debris out from deep within the fibers.

Use the suction-only mode to extract more water.

The more water you're able to suck out of your carpet, the more dirt will come along with it. After you've gone over your carpet with the shampooer on the regular shampooing and extraction mode, turn it to suction-only mode. Then, go over the entire carpet again. You'll be surprised how much more dirty water makes it into the waste tank.

With the tips above, you can get a pretty clean carpet using a home carpet shampooer. But, every year or so, it's important to have a professional like Pristine Cleaning Systems come clean your carpet. Their high-powered equipment will extract the deep-down grime and set-in stains that your shampooer can't quite get at.