CARPET CLEANING Q: . We rented a carpet cleaning unit last month and cleaned our carpets with it. At first, the carpets looked liked they cleaned up nice but the carpet seemed to be wet for a couple of days. Then, after a week or so we started noticing that the spots we thought came out when we cleaned the carpet ourselves were Doug Jones Owner coming back. Did we do something wrong? A: you wvene wonking with Mwhat dompieie dieaning of smpe e with you were working with. What it comes down to is that the portable unit cannot give you a deep, complete cleaning of your carpet. I will give you a couple facts of why a portable cannot compete witha truck mounted system has a professionally trained technician operating it. First, you said that the carpet was wet for a couple days and you noticed spots reappearing. Portables cannot extract the shampoo and vater from your carpet thoroughly enough to prevent deep down soil from wicking back. Also, the portables can leave some of the shampoo residue in the carpet which will promote any soil to stick to the areas here it was not rinsed completely. Water pressure and temperature are the other big differences. A portable might get you 100-150 psi whereas the truck mounted machines will generate 300-400(or more, if needed) psi. The higher psi wl help agitate the carpet fibers and can help break down the heavily soiled areas. Lastly, the temp. of the water being used for extraction is key. The water you put into the portable is maybe 120 degrees when it comes out of your faucet. The temp. is significantly lower when it reaches your carpet. The truck mounted system will produce a water temp of 230-250 or higher. High heat is needed to effectively rinse and clean the carpet If you have used portables in the past and would like to see what a difference it can make with a top of the line carpet cleaning system, call ServiceMaster and ask for a free, no obligation quote...218-751-4081 in Bemidji or 218-732-3468 in Park Rapids ServiceMASTER. Clean