I have been in the cleaning industry for over 35 years. I have used both types of machines. I still own both types of machines and these machines are used regularly at my company. I can also tell you that both types of machines do a good job. I can give anyone a quality cleaning job with either Machine. What? You may think this defeats the whole point of the article but read on and find out.

Here is the difference, while I can do a good job with either machine it is easier to do a good job with the larger truck-mounted machine. The portable takes a more experienced and better-trained individual to do a good job. The Truck Mount is larger and is run off a gasoline engine, and therefore has a lot more power. This power helps to flush out the soil with a high-pressure pump. The increased power also means more vacuum. This means more soil extraction and a dryer carpet. The truck mount also has a superior heater to a portable. More heat makes it easier to clean out the dirtiest of traffic patterns.

Truck mount cleaning types of equipment cannot serve places like high rise buildings. The only option then will be to use electricity or gas powered portable carpet cleaning machines. Carpet cleaning services that primarily use truck mount carpet cleaning equipment use this type of equipment too. The drawback is that it takes the attention of additional people and extra time to get the machine to work.

A portable has a lot less power. The reason for this is that a portable works off an electrical circuit. Most circuits in a home either have 15 amps or 20 amps. This is asking a lot of a circuit to support a pump, vacuum motor, and a heater. Some of the professional machine help with this by have 2 cords and ask you to plug into 2 circuits, not 2 outlets but 2 circuits. By splitting up the heater from the vacuum and the pump this can help with the power problem. This will not close the gap between the truck mount and the portable but it certainly helps.

In an owner operated a business, where the owner does all the cleaning, and he is a highly trained individual the quality of work is pretty close between the 2 types of equipment. When you are dealing with a larger company with employees of various levels of training results can differ. I have always found that the easier you can make it for an employee to do a good job the better off you are. McDonald’s owes a lot of its success to simplicity. The more steps, the more difficult you make it for an employee to get superior results the less likely you will get superior results on a consistent basis.

Machines and equipment matter but training and systems matter more. So when looking to hire a carpet cleaner this article may be helpful but don’t forget to inquire about the longevity of the company. Ask about criminal background checks and drug testing as well. If a company takes the time to hire the right people, they are more likely to take the time to train the people and provide them with the right equipment to do the job properly.