Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge, F5914-900
by Hoover
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge, F5914-900
Customer Review: Excellent Cleaner - Beats Dirt Devil CE7900 Platinum Force
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used both the Dirt Devil CE7900 Platinum Force Dirt Devil CE7900 Platinum Force Carpet Extractor and this Hoover SteamVac CleanSurge F5914-900. The Hoover is by far the superior machine in terms of features, build quality, and cleaning performance. The difference is night and day, no comparison.
I've actually used two very similar Hoovers - this model, and the older SteamVac Ultra F5881-900. They haven't changed much, and for good reason. It's a great design that works amazingly well. This newer one adds the "heated cleaning" feature, which simply directs the electric motor's hot exhaust air down through a vent in the bottom of the unit. I find that it helps dry the carpet as you work. I find this design to be superior to the newer, flimsier Hoovers like the Agility and the V2. Those seem to be made much more cheaply.
The greatest strength of the F5914-900 is it's incredible suction power. It really pulls up the carpet fibers, making the carpet soft and plushy again. It extracts dirt like nobody's business and it seems to reclaim nearly all of the water it sprays onto the carpet. My carpet is dry in no time after using this machine. The unit is a bit heavy, but that's because there's a serious motor in there, positioned right in the center of the unit. This weight helps keep the unit pressed on the carpet for maximum suction...I never have to press down on it trying to get it to really create a good vacuum like I do with other models.
The SpinBrush system is superior to the beater bars used on competitors models. Instead of a horizontal bar using brushes that simply mat down the carpet fibers, the Hoover's brushes are vertically aligned and scrub into the carpet rather than over it. Pet hair does not get wrapped around the SpinBrush scrubbers they way it does on a beater bar. The scrubbers really work! If you let the machine sit in one spot and and then turn it off, you can lift the machine and see the sudsy, circular scrub marks set deep into the carpet. As the suction passes over the area scrubbed, it lifts out all of the detergent and dirt and pulls the carpet fibers straight up again. The end result is a carpet that looks new again. My bare feet leave perfect impressions in the plush carpet after it dries. Nice!
The Hot Water tank is easy to fill and the cap provides and easy way to measure the detergent. The Dirty Water tank is great, because it does not leak and is bucket-shaped with a large removable lid. It is very easy to empty. It doens't have crazy baffles or empty through a tiny hole like other models. Usually when I empty it I find it's picked up a good lump of pet fur...and it pours right out with the dirty water! The filter is large and easy to clean as opposed to the tiny one-inch-square filters used in other models that seem to limit suction power. Both tanks are translucent to let you see the water levels. I find I have to empty the dirty tank fairly often, but that is because this thing sucks up nearly all the water it puts down, along with the grime in the carpet. That's a very good thing.
The suction path can actually be dismantled to clean carpet fibers and pet hairs out without having to use some kind of silly skewer or tool or trying to shoot water through it hoping to get it clean. In fact the whole machine can really be gotten into and cleaned/maintained properly - unlike all the fused-together, throw-away, molded plastic junk parks in other models. The Hoover also does not use a belt, unlike the Dirt Devil, so there's no belt to break, buy, or replace (trying to place a belt back into a bunch of wheels in some crazy serpentine pattern is no fun).
The unit comes with both a hand tool with powered SpinScrub brushes, and one without. Both work very well. The powered tool actually does a good job of scrubbing on stairs and spots. The only complaint would be that the water sprayer on the hand tools does spray too far out to the sides and makes it a little hard to control where exactly you're spraying. Not usually a big deal, but it can make the job a little messier than it needs to be. The suction on the hand tools is also very strong. I've used the hand tools on my high-end, light-colored, microfiber upholstery and it brough it back to new condition (and made it all allergen free!). All the tools store nicely on the unit, including a bare floor attachment seperately available from Hoover. I've seen it, but I've never used it.
If you have pets, I highly recommend using Hoover's Premium Pet shampoo with this machine Hoover 40321130 Premium Pet Formula Carpet/Upholstery Detergent, 128-Ounce. It smells great, doesn't create too much foam in the machine, and contains enzymes to help eliminate and protect against pet odor. It also left no "crunchiness" or noticable residue on my carpets. There isn't any residual perfume smell - it just smells clean! The Deep Cleansing is also very good if you don't have pets and don't need to pay for the enzyme formula Hoover 40321128 Deep Cleansing Carpet/Upholstery Detergent, 128-Ounce.
Customer Review: Good but not great
Summary: 4 Stars
We have a 2 year old new home that had never been cleaned with anything other than a vacuum cleaner. We have 2 dogs and a 2 year old so I was expecting this thing to pull all kinds of dirt and grime that we couldn't see from our light colored carpet. It did pick up quite a bit of dirt that was evident in the collection bin by the brown water, but it did not have that wow factor that so many other reviewers had. I think in large part this is due to our vacuum cleaner doing a tremendous job. We have the platinum hoover vacuum and it made a huge differnce over our old vacuum. It's basically the same as a dyson from everything I can tell when it coems to cleaning power. I would be interested if anyone else had a similar experience. I don't think it left much behind for the steamvac to pickup honestly. I guess I'm glad there was not a ton or dirt and grime left behind that could only be extracted with a steamvac but at the same time I'm like what did I spend my money for.
I don't have a lot of experience with steamvacs either but this one seemed to work well. Like others have said it leaves the carpet barely moist which is a huge plus for us since the dogs or kid are always running around. We didn't have to banish them to other places for to long while it totally dried, which only took a couple of hours. Assembly was pretty simple and it didn't take long to figure out how things worked. The attachment hose and tools are kind of funky to hookup but they did a wonderful job what little we used them. I'm anxious to try them on the furniture which is a big reason we got this. The attachment peice is basically a miniturized version of the floor cleaning peice with rotating scrubber heads and spray nozel that plugs into the machines cleaning solution. There is also a fixed brush attachement that I haven't quite figured out what I would use it on. I would highly recommend reading all the instructions before putting this steamvac together or trying to use it.
The overall use was fairly simple. Forward and back once with spray trigger pressed and forward and back again without the spray trigger pressed to pick up the solution. I did go over the carpet multiple times without the trigger pressed to pick up as much solution as possible but honestly it didn't pick up much after the first dry pass. I've seen lots of others complain that the collection bucket filss up to fast but this was not the case for me. I did 2 large rooms and it filled up twice. The vac shuts off suction when it fills up and makes this higher pitched noise than normal. It is louder than our vacuum btw, but your cleaning not trying to sleep when you run this, so I'm not sure why anyone would care. Emptying the bucket was simple and not very messy as long as you don't slosh the collection bucket around. I didn't notice any leaks that weren't a direct result of me spilling something. The cleaning solution that came with the vac was more than enough for me to do 2 large rooms. I think I still have about 1/3 bottle left after filling up the cleaning solution bucket 2 and 1/2 times. The one complaint I have with using the steamvac was where the cleaning solution comes out when you squeeze the trigger. I'm not sure if this is normal on all of them but the solution comes out well behind the brushes so I found myself making puddles of solution behind the area I just finished and conversly I'm not sure much if any cleaning solution got close to the walls. After I figured this out I adjusted by letting off the trigger early and pulling the brushes back further than I would normally and going parallel with the walls instead of perpendicular. It's not a huge drawback but I would think the solution would come out right at the brushes instead of 6-8 inches behind them.
Cleaning is pretty much a mandatory step after using the vac or I can see it caking up and eventually leaving the unit useless. This is probably why I gave this 4 stars instead of 5. The brushes do pop out easily but I have 2 dogs and cleaning the hair out of the brushes was a pain. The hair got stuck behind the brushes and took lots of effort to try and get it to come up enough so that I could manually pull it out. It looked like I could take the brushes apart but I did not want to bother with small peices and unscrewing things. The clear suction part where you can see the water being extracted is great, but the recommended cleaning method is to poor water on the floor and suck it up to rinse it out. I dont' think this step is as necessary as the brush cleaning but it seemed like it should be easier than making a mess on the floor to clean this peice.
Overall for the value I would recommend this to others who want to save some money and clean their carpets themselves.
Customer Review: Outstanding price:performance
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned all kinds of carpet machines, from little hand-helds to a monster commercial RinseNVac (that cost a small fortune) and I have to say, this relatively inexpensive one handily outperforms them all. I wouldn't say that it's up to commercial use because *everything* that could be made of plastic *is* plastic, however with normal household use, I don't expect to have any problems with breakage. It's robust enough to stand up to normal handling.
There are a few things that are important to me in carpet cleaning: 1) Does it get the carpet clean? Yep. If you use hot water and the right amount of detergent, you'll do as well as any more exotic machine with this one. (While this has nothing to do with the choice of machine, I find that premixing some detergent with some Clorox-2 and applying to problem areas with a brush (don't soak it) will often get things out that the machine in normal use will not.) 2) Is it easy to fill and drain? Yep. Very easy if you just tilt back the handle against a wall or table while you're changing tanks. The top tank snaps in and out in a second. The bottom tank unlocks with two easy to use tabs. The two tanks stack securely for easy carrying. Even more importantly, IT DOESN'T DRIP EVERYWHERE!! This is the first carpet machine I've had that doesn't make a mess dripping everywhere during tank changes. The dirty water tank lid comes off for easy dumping. The detergent tank fills through a large hole. It couldn't be easier. 3) Does it have enough static vacuum to pull the water out of the carpeting? Yep. They don't specify the static water lift of the motor/fan, but it's strong enough to extract nearly all the water that goes in. If the atmospheric dew point is reasonably low (40s or less, let's say) and you use a fan to circulate air over the just cleaned area, you should expect to be able to use the area in a matter of two or three hours. That's just outstanding. 4) Even without the squeegee, it does a reasonable job on hard floors. I can't say that the rotating brushes are all that effective on carpeting (though they can't hurt), but they do work effectively on hard floors. From what I've observed, the water pickup might be slightly better with the squeegee, but it's usable as-is. 5) Cleanup is very simple. Aside from the tanks, you needn't fuss with anything else. Just set it on a towel to dry off the bottom. 6) It's surprisingly good at reaching edges. On the sides, you can clean within ~1/4" of the wall. Because the nozzle is in the front, it can't reach closer than about 1" in the front. 7) It's just heavy enough to push the nozzle against the carpeting tightly for good extraction without being too heavy to make moving it around a nuisance. Hoover hit this trade off just right.
There are a couple of minor complaints I have with it, none of which are deal-breakers: 1) it's LOUD. Wow. You should use ear plugs. 2) There are acres of plastic. Fortunately it's thick enough that nothing should be expected to break in normal handling. 3) I'd have liked a longer cord. 4) I'm not crazy about the foot-pedal on-off switch. I'd have liked it on the handle a lot more. I suppose this was a practical consideration having to do with running AC power wiring within the handle.
Other comments: Are you confused about the difference between this and its somewhat higher-priced twin (the 5912-900)? Did you visit Hoover's web site and come away even MORE confused? Me too. Turns out there are only two differences: The warranty for this is one year. The warranty for the 5912 is two years. The color. (I'm serious). This is "blue", the other one is "black". In reality, they're mostly gray plastic, so who could possibly care? The tool set is the same. You get a hand-held air-powered spin-brush tool, and a simple non-spin brush version of the same thing. I haven't used the spin-brush yet, but would be concerned about the loss of vacuum that the air motor causes resulting in poor extraction.
One other comment about these kinds of things generally -- I wish they'd stop using the term "steam"! Argh. At best, you might see some water vapor. Steam is invisible. And dangerous. The stuff that you see coming out of a teakettle is WATER VAPOR, not steam. If you can see it, it's NOT STEAM. If a carpet cleaner REALLY used steam, it would probably instantly destroy every carpet it touched.
In summary, I'm a happy camper. Even though I've had this a mere week, we've spent quite a few hours of quality time together cleaning all sorts of places. I can't wait to clean even more.
Customer Review: Excellent, Easy to Use Cleaner
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used this cleaner several times since I purchased it in January. Prior to it, I have never owned nor used anything but old upright vacuums.
Summary:
- Generally cleaned multiple surfaces and various levels of dirt quite well with little moisture left behind (surfaces were mostly dry within eight hours)
- Main unit works well when it's not defective (first unit was returned for a strong leak)
- Hand tools worked well, but I suggest using the standard tool after using the hand scrubber to vacuum up excess dirty water
- The unit is quite heavy, and some poor design decisions could result in some confusion
Detail:
As with other reviewers, I initially received a defective SteamVac. Once I loaded the clean reservoir, the solution immediately began leaking onto my floor at a high rate. Needing to finish what I started (cleaning cat urine from a chair), I alternatively cleaned the chair and vacuumed the leak. After waiting on hold with customer service for too long, I returned to Amazon and promptly received a replacement. The replacement had no leak.
I used the main component on a large recreation room and foyer that had last been steam cleaned professionally five years prior. I first vacuumed with an old upright, then treated the stains with a standard carpet stain remover, then proceeded with the SteamVac. The cleaner did a fantastic job with light and heavy spots. In one spot under a sofa where my cat apparently urinated in the past (a common story), we cleaned with a spot cleaner, but couldn't get down to the carpet pad. Using the Clean Surge option, I made several passes over the spot. The slight odor remained, but has since disappeared. Since I like to let the cleaning solution sit for a minute, I suggest spraying the clean solution as you push the SteamVac, wait a moment, then pull back over to scrub and vacuum the dirty result. I further suggest taking a second pass over the cleaned area without spraying additional solution to pick up more water. My carpet was mostly dry eight hours after cleaning.
With the hand tools, I've cleaned two flights of stairs (heavy traffic), an oversized upholstered chair (cat urine), and a car (heavy mud and beer from a tailgate party). In all instances, the tools worked great. The powered hand scrubber worked especially well on the stairs and in the car after judiciously spraying the clean solution. But, since the brushes are powered by the vacuumed air itself, the suction on it is mediocre. The other hand tool has great suction, and I ended up taking one pass with the hand scrubber, and a second pass with the standard tool. Everything was mostly dry within eight hours (including the car with doors open in the garage).
For cleaners, I initially used the one packaged with the SteamVac, but have since turned to diluted Simple Green, an all-purpose, biodegradable cleaner. I've seen no difference between to the two. Also, cleaning the unit has been easy.
As for complaints, my main issue is that the unit is quite heavy without water. This becomes a real issue when trying to do stairs, but also makes normal use into a strength training event. Another is that you have to recline the arm to get the dirty reservoir out. Strangely enough, the dirty reservoir will fill up before all of the clean reservoir has been used. While I can accept that the dirt will add volume (and I've always had very dirty water in the return), I think that this was fairly poor design. Also, when the dirty water reservoir hits the volume threshold, the SteamVac just stops suction. This was confusing when I first hit the threshold and couldn't figure out why the solution wasn't getting sucked up. The sound on the unit changes, but given that the reservoir is far from filled, I initially suspected that the second unit was defective. It would have been better to have some indicator light to provide further feedback.
Update 12/2009:
I've continued to use the cleaner about once-per-month for the past 2.5 years. It still holds up, with great suction and good cleaning capacity. Unfortunately, the pump that drives the cleaning solution to the hose attachment seems to have failed. Solution still comes out, but only in drops versus the spray, and the sound of the unit changes noticeably. So, I've had to switch to using a spray bottle for distributing the solution when using the hand attachment. Otherwise, the unit is still great.
Customer Review: Glad to be a FORMER Bissell Proheat x2 carpet cleaner owner
Summary: 5 Stars
BELOW ARE PHOTO LINKS FOR PROOF OF CLEANING POWER! :) :)
My title says it all. I bought it a little over two years ago when it was the supposed "best of the best" according to a Best Buy associate. I am a former Bissell Proheat 2x owner and I disliked the machine because it was bulky, I found myself replacing side brushes within the first use, in which I had to pay about $25.00 US when I barely used it! The bag was difficult to clean, was heavy, hard to move around, held little detergent, had terrible suction power so the carpet would remain moist for at least 2 days, it was just an overall big headache. As if cleaning isn't a headache period!
DO YOUR RESEARCH/READ FEEDBACK!:
I did my mini research this time instead of listening to one good comment. I'd like to say it took me about an hour or so to decide I was going to get this Hoover steam vac to see what the 1,500+ Amazon and Best Buy 160+ review-fuss was about.
TIME OF ARRIVAL (delivery):
The Hoover steam vac arrived in its original manufacturer packaging. I quickly took it out and assembled it. It took me approximately 10 minutes or less to put it together. So not bad at all considering I have little patience for these things. It was so simple!
DOWN TO BUSINESS (cleaning!):
I obviously vacuumed before attempting to clean my off white colored carpeting. The target area was the living room because it contains the most traffic literally had BROWN dirt trails of people walking through. My old Bissell was able to remove some of the dirt, but you could see the trail. My mom would say "I think you just wet all the dirt and spread it all over evenly" (saying it didn't clean at all...lol).
After vacuuming the area to be steam cleaned I began cleaning the carpet with the Hoover Steam Vac with Clean Surge. Once finished I was extremely impressed. First off, its suction of the water is out of this world! You see all the dirt just getting picked up as it were a fresh spill. Yes my dirty collection tank was black, but it did not take me that many passes to get the dirt out! I forgot to mention I have two dogs. I recently got a puppy who likes to pee on my carpet. There were previous pee stains from my old dog that were visible even after I cleaned it with my old Bissell steam vac. Furthermore, with this new steam vac the old and new pee stains are gone. I can't begin to explain how good of a cleaner this is. I don't like writing long reviews, but all you guys were right. I am very glad I went on here (Amazon) and BestBuy.com to read over the reviews of the pros and cons.
I literally took pictures of the carpet before and after. This is just a piece of the living room:
BEFORE: [...].
AFTER: [...].
(copy paste the link to a new browser tab or open in new window)
Again my carpet was an off-white/beige color, that had black trail marks from heavy traffic, pee stains that were cleaned before, but still visible. Now my carpet almost looks new! Judge for yourself look at the photos!
My hat goes off to Hoover. This is the best steam vac I've ever owned. Very happy customer here sharing the results with everyone.
Enjoy!
PROS:
- not heavy
- good detergent and water collection tank size
** For those complaining about the collection tank or the detergent tank being too small. Think about it, if either tank were bigger the machine would be so much heavier. Then those same people would complain about weight. I feel the tank sizes are just fine!
- suction power is excellent! Within 2 hours! (windows open & doors open).
- the price tag. Half the cost of my old Bissell!
CONS:
- the detergent is a tad too price'y (at least to me it is) so I went ahead and used the Home Depot cleaner called ZAPP Professional for high traffic for $8.00. Worked like a charm. On the vacuum itself says to avoid using detergents other than the Hoover, because it may cause too much foaming. Well of course they would say that! They want you to buy theirs! Not to worry Zapp is great! I even added a little bleach and there was no foaming.
- The collection tank (of dirty water) sits directly above the motor and wiring. Never know *buzzZz* might get shocked? I'm just a paranoid person.
- no heating! Problem solved... I just fill the tank with hot water every time :)