Some carpet extractor machines recycle and reuse its water. How does this work and what are the benefits?

There is a family of carpet extractors that recycle, filter and chemically treat the solution before reusing it. This process allows you to recycle the cleaning solution up to seven times. This increases productivity and is a very green process since it conserves water, decreases chemical usage and maximizes productivity. The filters are easy to clean and there are safeguards in place so when the water is unable to be filtered and reused then the pump will not dispense any more solution.
- Eric Hickman, Product Manager, Powr-Flite, Fort Worth, Texas

The benefit is longer times between dump and refills. It works by taking the dirty water extracted from the carpet, filtering it and putting it back down on the carpet. The problem is, once the water is dirty, virtually no amount of filtering can make the water pure again. Ideally, the water should be filtered enough that it could be used for drinking water. If it isn’t, I would not recommend putting dirty water back on the carpet.
- Brian Simmons, Product Manager, Nilfisk-Advance, Inc., Plymouth, Minn.