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- First reviewFebruary 5, 2009
- Last reviewFebruary 5, 2009
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gummyroach's Reviews
This Hoover SteamVac features a SpinScrub multiple brush system for outstanding cleaning performance. The translucent tank makes it easy to view water levels.
Posted by: gummyroach
from Salt Lake City, Utah
I've had my house for about 6 years. The previous owners, (I call them Billy-Bob and Bubba) were absolute slobs. I doubt the carpets have ever been cleaned since it was installed. My carpets were so full of every kind of stain imaginable. Here a stain, there a stain. I will obviously need to replace the carpet, that's how bad it is, but I thought until I can afford to do that, why not get a steam cleaner and at least attempt to clean them anyway. Even if the carpets still looked horrible, I would at least have the necessary tools to maintain the new carpet when I finally install it.
The setup of this steamvac was very easy. The instructions are very clear, and it didn't take me more than about 15 minutes to assemble it and have it up and running.
The machine feels heavy-duty, but it's not too heavy. It's easy to move around. The accessory hose was a bit cumbersome. I couldn't figure out how to get it to store successfully on the back of the machine, so I just tossed the hose in a closet, will use the hose attachment some other day.
There are two tanks on this machine; one for the detergent and water, and a separate tank for recovery. The tanks are fairly small, but I wouldn't say they are necessarily too small. They're just about right, in my opinion. It DOES require freqent trips to the sink to refill or empty, and the machine can go thru a LOT of detergent, so it's best to pick up some extra bottles if you plan to really put this machine to use. One bottle will probably clean 2 rooms, depending on how dirty the carpets are.
Filling and emptying the tanks is a breeze. The cap on the detergent tank doubles as a mearsuing cup. It would have been nice if this cup had a pour spout to make pouring the detergent into the tank a little bit easier, but the fact that it is a mearsuing cup is still a great idea.
The trick behind using this machine is to go over the carpet S-L-O-W-L-Y. I probably went too fast when I first started using it. I later found that if I go forward, pulling the trigger and moving slowly, and then pull the machine slowly back, while pulling the trigger, I got better results. I would then go forward and back again without the trigger, to vacuum up the remaining solution. This worked pretty well, and the carpets dried in less than an hour.
Did it clean all the stains? No. But this really didn't surprise me much, as some of those stains were dried, latex paint, motor oil (Did I mention Billy Bob had a monster 4x4, and probably had oily truck parts all over the front room at one point?), food, and pet stains. It DID get a LOT of the stains up, though. I was impressed. Next time I may try some pre-treatment, along with some fabric softener.
It is true what professional carpet cleaners have said; if your carpets are extremely dirty, it is not uncommon for them to appear dirtier at first, when you first have them steam cleaned. This is because you are extracting dirt that has been embedded deep down into your carpets, and pulling it to the surface. You can keep a clean carpet clean, but for a carpet that is absolutely filthy, sometimes it requires several cleaning sessions to really get all the dirt out of it.
The recovery water in my machine was FILTHY! I was impressed! My carpets did look MUCH better on the first try. And the house smells wonderfull, too.
What's great about it: Easy to use, great suction power
What's not so great: Small tanks require frequent emptying/refilling, goes thru a lot of detergent
I would recommend this to a friend!
Quality
5
Features
5
Performance
4
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