I have an old Hoover cleaner that has seen me through many cleaned carpets. But I really want one of the new ones with the heating element. The water just doesn't stay hot in my old one.

When we moved into this house, I just used cheap carpet cleaner solution and a half cup of bleach in each tankful. Luckily, the carpet is light gray, so it wouldn't really matter what the bleach did to it. That oxy stuff didn't work worth a beans. Trial and error led me to the bleach.