Everyone is mentioning Safeway, but I've rented/seen them in a variety of larger grocery stores. Might be worth checking other chains too if they are more convenient.
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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I rented from Home Depot. Later I discovered many other places have these for renting, include a Safeway very close to where we live. We used it for a few hours with a cleaner liquid the clerk recommended to us and it was fine.
I've rented and purchased a carpet cleaner.
Dog went crazy on the rental unit. I imagine everyone rents those things for the same reasons I had so the unit must have smelled like 1000 animals for all I know.
After that thought, I happily just bought a standup carpet cleaner and made plans to remove as much carpet I could to replace with vinyl.
Mind if you share which model you bought and how it compared to the one you rented? Thanks
For rental, I've tried the one in the grocery store, which is Rug Doctor.
https://www.rugdoctor.com/rent/machine-options/
For purchase, I've had the Bissell branded ProHeat 2X Revolution. I've owned this one for a few years now, occasional use for pet accidents. While the unit isn't remarkable, hasn't changed much over the years, and doesn't perform much better than the rental, I typically can access the unit quickly to clean up the mess.
I think if I'm able to get to the mess early enough, it's simply easier to lift out of carpet. This unit does warm up the cleaning fluid - for whatever that is worth. But, like any carpet cleaner, it's super loud. I think the uprights definitely have the advantage for cleaning open areas, but they have a hard time getting into the crevices. There are other units out there with an extendible wand that you might want to wait out for a sale.
Hot tip though, if you do go for the purchase, these units usually come with special plastic tools to get into its own crevices to remove dirt and hair. Keep that bit of plastic! You're never going to find it again. I didn't for a few years lol.
But like I said, nothing's better than just removing the carpet entirely. I know not everyone is a fan of that.
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/BISSELL-ProHeat-2X-Revolution/6000196048164?classType=REGULAR
Hoover makes a good upright one that does a really good job, but we have rented too. ProTip add a few capfulls of LA Totally Awesome carpet cleaner to the water tank. And pretreat bad areas with the LA Totally Awesome spray bottle.
It really does work amazingly well. An old Pro cleaner gave me that tip since he was retiring his business.
The dollarstore sells it, as does homedepot, I think.
Thank you for the tips. Will definitely look through LA Totally Awesome.
I've rented one from Safeway too. Don't remember the cost, but I remember the results. Did a great job cleaning, so no complaints. I've been thinking about renting one again. Space is at a premium at my place, so I'm happy to not have to store one of those beasts.
Great. The Safeway nearby does have one. Will take a look. Thanks again!
Owning one is great if you have the occasional cat barf to clean up. But for a real “cleaning” they are inferior to the ones you can rent.
I used to rent one for cleaning the house from Safeway. A day’s rental wasn’t that expensive and the machine performed like a beast.
My Safeway doesn’t rent them anymore, I don’t think. Home Depot might offer them from their tool rental department?
i have rented one from home depot twice (usa) and it was worth the 50 bucks
Will check out Safeway and home Depot. Hopefully it won't be too much more in Canada. Thanks!
My local Sobeys also has rental units.
Thank you!! Really good to know the rentals are actually the more serious machines then the home ones. I will go look for one of the rentals
If you have pets or are otherwise cleaning up lots of spills, I recommend getting a handheld one for spot-cleaning.
If you're doing whole rooms, I recommend renting one, as they work better than most of the consumer ones you can buy. I've rented from Home Depot before, many big hardware stores have them.
If you're on a budget, ask around to friends and family to see if anyone owns one. Getting them a six pack of their favorite beer is cheaper than renting. The performance isn't as good as commercial ones, but it's still better than nothing.
Thank you so much for the info. I did borrow one from our friend few years back and was wondering the cleaning wasnt that clean. I was originally thinking it was my problem. Good to hear the rental are more the real machine. Will go rent one then.