The quickest way to help ruin a carpet (Glade Shake N Vac)

Member Name: mattrichardson

Product:	Glade Shake N Vac
Date:	11/10/08 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Where do I begin

I've had to give this product a 1 star rating. Sadly I can not give it 0 stars.

So were do I begin?
Years ago I used shake and vac, however I soon wished I hadn't. Alas, I was young and foolish. I was using it on a medium cut pile carpet... Something pretty standard in today's homes. A cut pile carpet is as the name says, a cut pile. The fibers of the carpet stand upwards and are not connected to one another in the way that a looped pile carpet would be. A cut pile carpet has got to be the easiest for keeping clean as it is far easier for trodden in dirt to be drawn out with a vacuum cleaner.

So there I was, sprinkling shake and vac over the carpet, I left it 10 minutes or so and then vacuumed it out. Well, everything seemed fine and dandy at the time. I was using a decent upright vacuum cleaner (A Dyson DC04) and I was quite happy with the results. A few months later when I bought a new vacuum cleaner and long forgetting having ever used shake and vac I started to notice a problem. When vacuuming the carpet in question white sand was appearing all over the lower section of the vacuum cleaner, stuck due to the static electricity new vacuums can generate.

The next time the vacuum packed up and I bought a new one the same thing happened. In fact every time I cleaned this carpet with a new vacuum cleaner there would be shake and vac stuck to the bottom of the machine due to static electricity. Do you see the pattern yet?
So years later when I splashed out on a new Kirby vacuum cleaner, I was pretty disgusted to see how much shake and vac it drew out of the carpet. Bearing in mind over the previous years this carpet had been vacuumed daily with numerous expensive and powerful vacuum cleaners, both cylinder and upright, there was an astonishing amount of shake and vac left within the carpet pile.

The texture of shake and vac is almost like sand. And can anybody guess what helps ruin carpets extra fast?
Sand, grit and other dirt held within the carpet pile slowly wears a carpet away from the bottom up. As it rubs against the pile it almost creates a cutting effect. This is why you should vacuum carpets on a regular basis, daily if you can, to help prevent the build up of damaging dirt. I know this as I used to work for a flooring company.
So tell me, if sand and grit help speed up the damaging wear on a carpet, why would anybody want to buy and then pour a sand like substance onto their carpets and rugs?
I've read other reviews were people advice 'rubbing' shake and vac into carpets to help it work. Well, I don't know what to say to that really, other than if you do it after reading everything I have told, you're clearly utterly stupid. You may as well wash a cream carpet with red wine.

Upon removal of the carpet I had once used shake and vac on I then discovered that the shake and vac had worked its way so deep within the carpet that it was even on the underlay! So after YEARS of vacuuming with various high performance vacuum cleaners there was still shake and vac left hidden deep within my carpet. I'll tell you now, unless you have ultra low pile carpets, if you do decide to use shake and vac, you will NEVER get it all out.

Oh and on top of all of that there is the damage it causes to many modern vacuum cleaners. Clogging bags and filters... and it really doesn't do the cyclones in Dysons any good at all, as I later found out!

For all you avid shake and vac fans out there, feel free to challenge this review. Contact carpet manufacturers and ask them about it, because they will say the same.
If you want to SAFELY freshen carpets, without helping speed up the ageing process try a few drops off essential oil, such as lavender, in a plant sprayer full of clean water. On a fine mist it will freshen your floors just as much, if not more, without any damaging effects.

Shake and vac, as healthy for carpets as cigars are for children.

Summary: As mad as washing a car with paint stripper