Guides · 5 August 2026
What should I ask a carpet cleaner before booking?
Ask what pressure they run on carpet, where their quoted temperature is measured, how much hose they run from the van, whether they pre-spray and how long it dwells, and how many dry passes they finish with. Those five answers tell you more than any amount of marketing.
Written by Bency John, owner-operator at ApexClean — who does the cleaning as well as the writing.
Nobody expects you to know this trade. But you can ask five questions, and the answers will tell you almost everything.
This page is the take-away from every myth on this site, in one place. Screenshot it. Use it on three quotes. Use it on us — that’s what it’s for. A cleaner who enjoys these questions is a cleaner who has thought about the answers.
Each one links to the article that explains why it matters.
The five that matter most
1. What pressure do you run on carpet? 2. Where is your temperature measured — at the machine or at the wand? 3. Where will you park, and how much hose will you run? 4. Do you pre-spray, and how long does it dwell? 5. How many dry passes do you finish with?
If you only ask five, ask those. Everything below is detail.
On pressure
| Ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| What pressure do you run on carpet? | A range, not one number. 200–500 depending on fibre and soil |
| Can your machine adjust pressure? | Yes, and they can tell you what they’d change it to |
| What would you use on wool versus a synthetic loop? | Not the same number. If it is, they don’t adjust |
| What happens if the carpet delaminates? | A straight answer, not a silence |
Why it matters: past the point the fibre needs, extra pressure stops lifting water out and starts pushing it into the backing — which is slow drying, returning stains and delamination. A four-figure PSI number is a hard-floor figure. → Does a higher PSI truck mount clean better?
On heat
| Ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Where is that temperature measured? | “At the machine” — the only place it can honestly be stated |
| Does the heat hold on a big job? | They know whether their heat is engine-recovered or separately fired |
| What temperature would you use on wool? | Much lower. Wool caps around 49–60°C before it shrinks and loses its lanolin |
| What about olefin? | Lower again — it melts and mats at surprisingly low heat |
Why it matters: water sheds heat all the way down the hose, so a precise temperature quoted at the carpet is describing something that changes minute by minute. And there is no single correct temperature — anyone quoting one number for every carpet is telling you they don’t change it. → Are all truck mounts the same?
On vacuum and hose
| Ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Where will you park, and how much hose? | Shorter is better. 10–30 m is ideal |
| If it won’t reach, do you add hose or move the van? | Move the van. Adding hose is the convenient answer |
| Does the extra distance change your dry-time promise? | An honest yes |
| Is your vacuum set up for lift or airflow? | You’re finding out whether they know there are two |
Why it matters: vacuum is what takes the water back out, and it falls away sharply with every extra metre of hose. How much water is left when they leave is your dry time. And nothing about a long run looks any different while it’s happening. → Vacuum: the number nobody talks about · Why long hose runs leave your carpet wetter
On chemistry
| Ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Do you pre-spray, and how long does it dwell? | Ten minutes. That’s the number |
| How do you agitate it in? | A groomer, a brush, a rake — something |
| Is your chemistry in the tank, sprayed on, or both? | Sprayed on. In-tank alone barely beats plain water |
| Do you dry vacuum before wetting anything? | Yes — three quarters of the soil comes out dry |
Why it matters: laboratory testing for the Carpet and Rug Institute found detergent used only in the machine’s tank cleans 4.6% better than plain hot water. Sprayed on first and given time, the same chemistry cleans 3.54 times better. → Pre-spray vs in-tank: what actually cleans your carpet
On the promises
| Ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| What dry time are you quoting, and what happens if it’s wrong? | A number and a remedy |
| If a mark wicks back, what then? | This one tells you the most about the person |
| What’s included, and what’s extra? | Said before the job, not after |
| Are you insured? | Yes, and they can show you |
What a good answer really sounds like
None of these have a single right answer, and a cleaner giving you a confident number for every one of them isn’t necessarily the best cleaner — they might just be the most rehearsed.
What you’re actually listening for is whether they change their answer depending on the carpet. Wool is not olefin. A 30 m² lounge is not a 400 m² office. Somebody who runs the same pressure, the same heat and the same technique on all of it has stopped making decisions.
The best answer to most of these questions starts with “it depends” — and then explains what it depends on.
How we answer them
200–500 PSI on carpet, matched to the fibre, and never past 500. Temperature quoted at the machine, because that’s where it can honestly be measured, and dialled to the fibre in front of us. Hose runs of 10–30 metres, and we move the van rather than pull more off the reel. Dry vacuum first, pre-spray with real dwell time, and slow dry passes at the end.
And if a mark comes back, we want to know.