Rug Doctor is given a Platinum Level rating with the Carpet and Rug Institute. They also have a Gold Level rating. Of course the Platinum Level is the highest level a carpet extractor (or other type of carpet cleaning equipment or system can achieve), but what does that mean?
I have placed a link to the page on the CRI site which shows ratings of several brands of carpet cleaning equipment. It also shows details with each brand of equipment how they achieved that rating.
Some of the equipment you would think should do really well on carpet cleaning test didn't perform all that well, while other surprise entrees did much better than you'd expect.
What it shows is that equipment alone doesn't matter nearly as much as some would say, and that the method used to clean with that equipment can make a huge difference in the final result. After all, regardless of how expensive and well touted a piece of equipment is, the final cleaning result is what matters.
If you go to this link: (Commercial Seal Of Approval-Certified Deep Cleaning Systems), you can see that most of the equipment tested is more expensive by far than Rug Doctor. So whats the point?
If you want to evaluate whether a carpet extractor, or other type of carpet cleaning equipment is really as good as the manufacturer claims it to be, you would hope to find a review or opinion somewhere to consider before jumping into a purchase right? Well, CRI is a good place to check out and compare various extractors etc. and see if they can perform on a standardized test of actual dirt removal.
To test each product they have a testing procedure. This link (Commercial Deep Cleaning Extractors And Systems), describes the procedure (NASA-enhanced x-ray fluorescence technology) that they use to evaluate how each extractor (or other equipment) performs in Soil Removal, Water Removal, and Texture Retention (not harming the carpet pile). A segment of this testing protocol is quoted below:
"Soil removal — CRI uses NASA-enhanced x-ray fluorescence technology to measure the precise amount of soil removed from the carpet, and soil removal efficiency is rated on four levels. Extractors that exceed average soil removal levels receive a Bronze Seal rating. Those achieving higher levels of soil removal receive a Silver or Gold rating. Extractors that remove the highest level of soil earn the CRI Platinum Seal of Approval.
Water removal — The extractor or system must remove most of the moisture resulting from a wet cleaning process. Dirty water that remains in the carpet could be a source of fungal growth and could prolong the drying process.
Texture retention — The extractor must not harm the carpet pile".
How does Rug Doctor beat out more expensive (MUCH more expensive) equipment and achieve these high ratings?
I want to insert here another quote from the CRI page which discusses how they test these various machines and methods:
"Regular professional cleaning is as important to your carpet as having a trained mechanic perform routine maintenance on your car. What vacuuming and spot cleaning miss, extraction cleaning should fix. CRI tests deep cleaning extractors and deep cleaning systems: the ones professionals use. The extractor is the machine, while the deep cleaning system is the combination of that machine and a particular cleaning solution, following a set procedure".
So the machine is one part of a process or procedure to obtain the desired result. What procedure does it require to obtain a Platinum Level rating with a Rug Doctor? Below is the picture of each machine submitted for testing along with the description of how each was employed to get the Platinum Level rating:
Mighty Pack® with Rug Doctor Oxy-Steam® 2XMighty Pack® with Oxy-Steam® 2X Cleaner solution diluted 4 oz / gl Procedure: Clean using the Rug Doctor Oxy-Steam® 2x formula diluted 4 oz per gallon with the MightyPack machine 2 wet passes and no dry passes at a rate of 0.6 ft/sec on each pass.
Mighty Pro® with Rug Doctor Oxy-Steam® 2X
Mighty Pro® with Oxy-Steam® 2X Cleaner solution diluted 4 oz / gl Procedure: Clean using the Rug Doctor Oxy-Steam® 2x formula diluted 4 oz per gallon with the MightyPro machine 2 wet passes and no dry passes at a rate of 0.6 ft/sec on each pass.
Mighty Pro™ X3 with Oxy-Steam® Green Cleaner
Mighty Pro™ X3 with Oxy-Steam® Green Cleaner solution diluted 3 oz/gl. Procedure: Rug Doctor 2 step cleaning process. Step 1 – Vacuum prior to cleaning at least 4 passes. Step 2 – Hot water extract with Rug Doctor Oxy-Steam® Green Carpet Cleaner detergent diluted 3 oz per gallon using 2 wet extraction passes at a rate of .7 ft/sec on each pass.
So what's the conclusion? Rug Doctor has been in the carpet cleaning industry for a long time. They targeted a segment (rental machines) for many years that the professional services ignored.
The name Rug Doctor was a joke for most carpet cleaning services, who bad mouthed the quality of the equipment and the results that could be obtained while using one. This was aided in part by the fact that many inexperienced users made a bad job of it and blamed the equipment when they got unsatisfactory results.
But I hope what this article shows is that the equipment itself is fine. It works well enough to earn a Platinum Rating after all (and if you check out the whole CRI site, you'll see that they aren't a gimmick set up to sell machines, they deal with many aspects of carpet from cleaning to manufacturing and installing as well).
I speak from personal experience (and have produced hundreds of videos showing) that Rug Doctor as a carpet extractor is exceptional for carpet cleaning. Truly, if I have poor results on one of my videos, you can be sure of one thing; my method may be lacking at times, but the Rug Doctor is never a limiting factor to my final results. It is truly a great piece of kit, for an unbelievable price...especially when compared to those machines which it equaled or bested in CRI testing.
I hope this article was of some help to those who are considering a carpet extractor purchase. And I hope you'll watch the videos on my YouTube channel joerwheelervideo to see more Rug Doctor examples...
I want to credit CRI for being the source for a large portion of the material in this post including pictures with descriptions, and direct quotes. Please visit the Carpet and Rug Institute for many useful and informative pages helping all of us to learn more about carpet and the various aspects of it's manufacture, choosing and installing it, and cleaning and maintaining it. Visit CRI at this link to see more www.carpet-rug.org
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