The way I clean carpet using a wand is, pull the wand towards you with the trigger on, push it back exactly in the same groove, trigger off, Overlap at the top of your stroke by 1/3-1/2 width of the wand and repeat. When I am done the width of the room, I dry stroke back over the same area. I get 3 dry strokes for every wet stroke. Only in heavily soiled areas, will I flush back and forth. The more dirty water you remove, the cleaner and drier the carpets. No carpet cleaner knows his drying times unless he goes back with a moisture meter. 2 hour drying time on a heavy residential carpet over pad is bullshit. They mean "dry to the touch" which doesn't mean anything. A dry time under 24 hours is acceptable. Faster is always better of course.
