How good are Kirby Carpet Shampoo Systems/Portable Shampooers at cleaning carpets?

[amtraksebo1997]

I get that this is by no means an original question, however, it's one that's been burning inside me.

I recently have gotten back into Kirbys, and of course, that includes their various accessories, including the carpet shampoo system. When I lived in a different house, I used mine to shampoo my bedroom with a homemade shampoo mix, and with that mix it worked pretty good. It managed to get up a lot of dirty water in the recovery tray.

Anyways, recently I did a bunch of steam cleaning with my Hoover Steam Vac All Terrain, with the exception of my dad's room, as it's simply too large to adequately clean the small amount of carpeting in there. So, I've decided that I'm going to use my Ultimate G to do it, whether it be with the full CSS, the Portable Shampooer, or both. I'm also going to use actual Kirby shampoo this time around.

With all of this being said, I'm still not entirely sure of the effectiveness of Kirby Shampooers. Are they really not as good as carpet extractors/steam cleaners? And are all Kirby shampoo systems (rug renovators-Avalir) created equal?

In addition to this, I've heard from a certain someone on Youtuber that they can potentially ruin carpets, which is why they're not approved by the CRI (which is kind of ironic since the Avalir 2 was approved). Is there any truth to this? I mean, with the Gen 3-Avalir Shampooers, you can control the amount of suds released (though idk if the older rug renovators can), so that could mitigate/prevent that from happening.

What are your guys' input? I'm curious to hear it.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Kirby carpet cleaners

Trying to be fair to Kirby by saying that I've only used the carpet cleaners that came with older models like CR1 and Classic III machines. I don't know if the Avalier/Sentria models have better carpet cleaners than the older models. The newest Kirby I have is a G-2000LE and I haven't tried using the rug cleaner on that. It looks pretty much the same as the others.

I just didn't get the results I had hoped for. I ended up stopping after about 30 minutes and borrowed my friends Hoover Spin Scrub steam extractor and never looked back. I wanted to like Kirby's system as much as I like everything else about Kirby, but for me steam extraction just cleaned and dried the carpet so much faster. So, like you I'm curious to know if the newer Kirby rug cleaners have evolved over the years.

Too bad Kirby doesn't have a stand alone carpet steam cleaner as Hoover,Bissell,and other companies have but with the build quality of their vacuum cleaners.Price wise they'd have to offer them as commercial duty. Sorry for the novel,just my thoughts.

 

[luxlife]

I always thought it would be cool if the carpet attachment had 2 brushes like a CRB machine.

 

[lesinutah]

The

Rainbow rainmate from the black e2 is amazing.
The kirby shampoo system is okay but it's nothing special.

 

[blackheart]

shampooer

I've used them over the years but yeah they're definitely not as thorough as a water extraction. I mean I know they're supposed to like crystalize and take the dirt with them but It's like would you put soap onto a surface and not remove it?
I think it's better than nothing but it's definitely not going to be as effective as something that is using clean solution to wash out the dirt.

 

[human]

I have a couple of Kirby Shampoo systems, but after I refurbished my G7 Diamond Edition, which had apparently seen heavy shampoo use, I was always hesitant to run one. Part of the problem was the previous owner appeared to have repeatedly vacuumed the shampoo up before it had a chance to dry, and then never cleaned the machine afterward. The inside of the floor nozzle was completely gunked up and the belt lifter mechanism was very rusted out. Cleaning the nozzle was a pain and the belt lifter had to be replaced because it was so bad. Once I got the machine shined up, I didn't want to use the shampooer with it. In fact, I've never used any of my Shampoo kits.

All that said, I've agreed to shampoo the carpet at my church sometime in the next couple of weeks, and I'm trying to decide which machine to (ab)use. One thing's for sure. After all the work I put into fixing it up, it won't be the Diamond G. I'm thinking probably one of my frankenKirbys, maybe the Gsix that's been retrofitted with a G4 bag and a couple of other non-Gsix parts will get the job. No sense messing up a nicer one.

 

[kirbyg6]

I do like it even my parents who aren’t really Kirby fans were impressed with the results but a bit of a hassle getting it all set up onto the Kirby but we don’t use it now because we have a carpet cleaner which is way much easier to use and set up

 

[panasonicvac]

I think they're fine for scrubbing the carpets before steam extraction. But it's not something I'd depend on entirely. Personally, I'd prefer a commercial scrubber or at least a floor machine like a Kenmore/Koblenz cause they can get a bit closer to the edges.

 

[luxlife]

I have to wonder if the Kirby would work better with a true encapsulation shampoo and not just a dry foam formula.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

Thank you for all of the replies.

Even if it wasn't what I was hoping to hear about Kirby Shampooers, it was still valuable.

That said, I still plan on shampooing my dad's room with my G7 whenever I get around to getting it serviced/polished. However, looking back on the results I got with the homemade Kirby mix I used with the machine, I'm wondering if maybe I should use that again instead of genuine Kirby shampoo, as I was able to get up a significant about of dirty water in the recovery tray (yes dirty water, not just foam). However, I'm also a little worried about over soaking the carpet, but then again, I thoroughly did that when I used my Steam Vac All Terrain, so would it even be as big of a deal? Plus, unlike the Steam Vac, I can control the amount of suds released to my liking, so there's that too.

With that also being said, I am curious about the genuine Kirby shampoo, since I've never used it. However, I'm also thinking that it will do seemingly nothing to really remove the dirt and stuff. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Here is the link to the recipe for that homemade Kirby shampoo, by the way:
https://threelittleferns.com/2012/12/homemade-kirby-dry-foam-shampoo.html

 

[evolutionclean1]

For what they are

I think the Kirby shampoo system works fine for it's intended purpose. Being low moisture means you can use it for maintenance cleans in between deep extractions. I haven't tried anything but the genuine shampoo in mine; now that I'm experienced in using it it's not as bad as I remember it being when my mom used our G5 I don't remember if a piece was missing or what but it blew foam all over the room and my mom decided she wouldn't try it again lol

From what I understand it's designed to be more of a surface brightener than an actual deep cleaner, there was a fair amount of gunk in the catch tray the last time I ran my Sentria 2 with it. If you do it right the carpet is dry within an hour and ready for a vacuum, which is supposed to remove all of the crystallized shampoo and dirt that is trapped. I did pick up a Bissell ProHeat awhile back that does great for actually extracting the carpet, but the Kirby system is great for a quick zip!

 

[luxlife]

If I ever get my hands on one again….

I’m going to play around with some different encapsulation formulas in the shampoo tank. Kirby makes a good “dry foam” shampoo, but there are high foaming formulas out there that contain the polymer encapsulant and might do a better job of sequestering the soil for vacuuming. I feel like the Kirby setup would be more effective as part of a scheduled routine to be done later after a thorough extraction. Even the commercial encapsulation chemicals/machines are referred to as “interim cleaning” for carpets.