Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge, F5914-900
by Hoover
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List Price: Our Price: $139.83 You Save: $40.16 (22%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Home See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner with Clean Surge, F5914-900
Customer Review: Almost perfect, best purchase I made in a long time
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this for only one reason: I have two cats who apparently find it fun to reject their food... after they ate it. Resolve only worked so well, there was still a noticeable spot where we attempted to clean up. It got to the point where we needed to call a steam cleaning company once a year, but would have preferred to do it even more often than that.
Enter the Hoover SteamVac. I was skeptical because I didn't expect it to do as good of a job as a professional cleaning, but I was ready to try anything. It has been easily the wisest purchase I have made in a long time. When I first received it I tried it on all the remaining noticeable spots in the house, I did so in one tank of cleaner and all the spots were gone. And wow was that water pretty disgusting when I dumped it out.
Now I use the SteamVac once my felines' little accidents occur 3 times. Clean all three, use the rest of the tank on the surrounding areas, the way I see it I'm fully steam cleaning my carpets yearly anyways.
There are some quirks that make this product less than perfect, but they are easy to deal with. First of all you really have to read the manual cover to cover. Its instructions, while not complicated, are crucial. For example you truly do need to vacuum beforehand, otherwise hair on the carpet will bunch up and be spit out in a wet wad. (Although this is actually really easy to clean up, perhaps not a downside!) Also I noticed after a few uses that the unit noticeably stops its suction after a while, the manual states that it does so once the discharge tank is full. Turns out the discharge tank fills up slightly faster than the cleaner reservoir empties, so you will have to pay attention to this loss of suction and empty the discharge tank before you have used up your cleaning fluid. This unit also does not actually warm your water, so if you do want to use super hot water you are responsible for its temperature going in, and you better clean fast. I have also noticed that the trigger you use to spray the cleaner sometimes doesn't let up all the way, meaning that it keeps spraying cleaner after you let go (I just pull it down manually when this happens). These flaws should probably knock the rating to 4 stars but honestly this steamer is so helpful that I can't bear to give it less than 5.
One thing I noticed in other reviews is how often you need to fill the tank. For me I am not using this for regular cleanings of the entire house so it is not an issue, but I estimate that one tank should be able to cover roughly a 15x15 foot area. So if you do want to clean an entire room with this, assume you're going to refill the tank once per small room and twice per large room. This doesn't bother me in the least, but I feel I should report my experience.
Minor issues aside, this unit has been so helpful to me that I can't give it anything less than 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone else needing a steam cleaning solution.
Customer Review: Great value for the price (got it on sale for $135.00 and free shipping)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent carpet cleaner for the price. For the price of just a couple of rentals of a Rug Doctor or about the price professionals charge to do one room and a couple of hallways you can have a very decent rug cleaner. The fact that it came with the hand cleaner nozzle and the powered handbrush was just icing on the cake. I used my AMEX to purchase it, so the two year (doubled by using AMEX) warranty is great.
I have been renovating my carpet since buying it by doing small patches, and it is working very well. In addition to the Hooever, I picked up a pump sprayer at Ace Hardware, as well as a kitchen sponge mop that also has a small scrubbing brush on the head as well as the sponge. I mix up a batch of pre-spray by using a 8x the amount of rug cleaner in the sprayer (since I do small areas at a time I just mix up 1/2 gallon of spray with 8 oz. of Ace's carpet cleaner per 1/2 gallon and 1 scoop of powder Oxyclean). I spray a roughly 6' x 5' area with the premixed cleaner, and gently scrub it into the carpet with the brush on the sponge mop and let it soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Any spots I spray-douse with a bit more of the premixed cleaner and scrub a bit more with the brush. Then, I fill the Hoover with hot water (set your water heater to high a few hours before doing the job if your water heater is usually set on a cooler setting to save energy. Be sure to set it back to normal when you are done.) I use about two or three gallons (tankfulls) of just pure hot water to pull up the premixed cleaner out of the carpet. I do this with the rotating brushes set on high. Then, to finish, I set the brush to off (it gives better suction) and then go over the wet area until I see almost no moisture being pulled up into the cleaner (the heated air from the Hoover helps to dry it as well---yes it does put out heated air, thus it is a heated cleaner). Then, I set the brushes back to high and do one more pass. If I really want to pull up the pile, I use the mop brush again and gently brush the pile to bring it up. I then put fans on the area and let it dry. Vacuum often over the next few days to pull the pile up and to soften the somewhat stiff pile after cleaning. Voila! Clean and beautiful carpet.
I can do a better job than the professionals this way. It's a lot of work, but after you have done it, you will only need to do high traffic area maintenance. This is a fantastic cleaner for the price. Oh, and be sure to clean the machine after each use according to the instructions and get all water out of the system. Then, don't leave the brushes in it when storing nor should you leave the lid fully clipped down the return tank .....leave it open just a bit to keep the gasket from getting compressed and wearing it out. Oh, and just so you know, you CAN indeed clean non-carpeted tile floors with it without the so-called floor attachment. It sucks up the water just fine WITHOUT the optional squeegee attachment.
Customer Review: Love it! Does a great job.
Summary: 5 Stars
I am impressed with this cleaner.
I have just used it again today after a few months since the last use. And I realized I had not left a review for the Hoover Steamvac that I had purchased from Amazon. And I feel strongly enough about it that it deserves a positive review.
The Hoover SteamVac cleans great. It is easy to use and isn't hard to push or pull, and I have arthritis in my shoulder and my knees.
The assembly of this machine is easy and didn't take long.
I recommend reading the manual thoroughly and follow directions carefully and learn about this cleaner.
If you do that I don't see how there will be any hitches.
I find this machine is efficient, my carpet looks bright and clean again today, this is great in high traffic areas, and we have a cream colored carpet, so you know it shows up dirt and spots quickly. The Hoover steamvac pretty much deals with that. I can't believe how bad our carpet was, I just emptied 3 canisters of dirty water, but it was well worth it.
I feel that I won't be embarrassed if anyone visited me right now as my carpet looks great.
How to USE: I recommend pushing the cleaner slowly but surely and evenly, the slower you go the more the spin brushes can do their job, and on the pull back the water gets sucked up more efficiently and the carpet will be drier.
I like the fact you can see the water being sucked up and you can tell when there is no more moisture to suck up and so you can move to another strip of carpet. I find the carpet dries quickly.
When you walk forward you squeeze the trigger to release the water/solution, then let go of the trigger and pull back the steamvac over the same strip of carpet, on the bull back the cleaner sucks up the water from the carpet. You can move the cleaner forward again without squeezing the trigger and pull back the cleaner again so as to suck up more of the moisture. And when it seems majority of moisture has been sucked up, you can move over to the next strip of carpet and so on.
I think the canister to fill up with water is easy to remove and to replace. The canister with the dirty water is easy to remove, empty and replace. No problems there.
The only thing which I agree with other reviewers, this does not use 'steam' as such, you are meant to use only the hottest tap water, not boiling water. There is no built in heater that keeps the water hot.
I recommend this Steamvac to anyone. I am very happy with it. I am sitting here and I can't stop looking at my carpet as I just cleaned it today and it just makes me feel better.
Oh and the Hoover Deep Cleaning Detergent is recommended to use with this steamvac, that is what I used and it has a pleasant scent but not overpowering and it did a good job of cleaning.
Customer Review: Impressive
Summary: 5 Stars
It was that time of year again to get the carpets cleaned. I checked with several carpet cleaning companies that use the hot water extraction method and most wanted between $200-$300 to clean the carpets in my house! Being a do-it-myselfer, I decided to purchase a carpet cleaner myself and tackle the job. I did extensive internet research about which cleaner was the best, and this cleaner was consistently ranked the highest. Amazon reviews also held a lot of water for me. It was impossible to read all 1,400+ reviews, but the ones that I did read, sang the praises of this machine. After using it to clean the 10 year old carpets in my home, I am also singing. The people we bought our home from did not properly take care of the carpets, so now I'm playing catch-up. The Steam Vac does a fantastic job! Obviously, the carpets are never going to look like they are brand new, but the improvement has been dramatic. I could not believe the color of the water that was coming out of the dirty water tank. I do have a few hints and tips that will help you make the most of the machine, however. The cleaner that comes with the machine is very concentrated and I found that even two passes over an area (2 wet, 2 dry) left some soap in the carpets. I discovered this when I went back over the carpets a couple of days later using hot water only. If you leave dried detergent on the carpets, you are going to attract a TON of dirt. If I had it to do over again when using the cleaner that came with it, I would probably only use about half. That being said, I still think that one cleaning with detergent should be followed with a few cleanings using hot water only. I was still getting dirty water (and the water that was sucked back up into the tank was a bit sudsy). I plan on going back over the carpets until the water runs clear and there are no suds. My second tip is to pass the cleaner over the area slowly. I found that I extracted more dirt when I did this. It seems common sense, but it does take patience. If you move the machine too quickly, you might as well have just vacuumed the area instead. Third: Use twice as many dry passes over the area as you do wet ones and that will help the carpets to dry more quickly. Fourth: When you turn the machine off and remove the dirty water tank, also remove the clean water tank, as it has the propensity to leak when the handle is all the way back on the ground. You will discover a small puddle on the floor under the handle if you don't. Fifth and final: Clean the machine before you store it. Make sure the tanks are dry and clean and also make sure the brushes don't have lots of carpet fibers wrapped up in them so that they can function properly the next time you want to clean. I think I'm a bit addicted to cleaning the carpets now...I am obsessed with the water in the tank being clear! I love this cleaner and it was truly the best $140 that I have spent in a long time!Customer Review: Slower than the pro machines, but cleans just as well
Summary: 5 Stars
The Hoover F5914-900 SteamVac with Clean Surge works astonishingly well for a consumer carpet cleaner. There are some limitations and some gotchas; I'll tell you about both.
There's a 2-page "Quick Assembly Guide" and a 40-page manual. If you want your assembly guide with pictures and few words you'll like the QAG. If you prefer verbal instructions, turn to pages 4-6 of the manual; I wish I'd started there first. (It takes me longer to figure out "Store Hose" with four illustrations showing a hand in various steps of the process than to understand the eight sentences that accomplish the same instruction.)
There's no heater in the "SteamVac", so make your gallon of water VERY hot for best cleaning. And prepare your carpet for cleaning before filling the tank with these two steps: (1) vacuum thoroughly; and (2) pre-treat heavily soiled or grease-stained areas. The vacuum in the SteamVac is designed to suck up water (which it does very well), but will only pick up the tiniest bits of solid crud. Hoover recommends buying their PreCleaner, but you can make your own for a lot less money. Just mix 10 parts sudsy ammonia to 1 part Simple Green in a spray bottle. Hit the stains with your spray, and work in with your fingers or a clean cloth.
When cleaning you'll need to go over the carpet quite slowly to clean it well. This is the one area where the Hoover SteamVac is down a peg compared to the pro cleaners. Make two passes (one forward, one back) holding the trigger down; this is what squirts your hot detergent mix into the carpet. Then make two passes without using the trigger to suck up the bulk of the water. I found it really helps to clean your carpets barefoot. Because the "dry" pass greatly cools the carpet while it sucks up the water, it'll be easy to tell with your bare feet if you step on a warm, wet patch that you didn't dry yet. There's also a thumb button -- the "Clean Surge" -- which squirts the hot detergent mix more vigorously than the trigger does. Hold this down while making repeated passes over the really dirty parts of your carpet, then do your dry passes. The machine changes its pitch quite noticeably when the dirty water reservoir fills up, so you don't have to wonder about that; just pop it out, dump the yucky water in the sink, and make sure to clean the carpet fuzz off the fibrous filter.
You use 5 ounces of Hoover's detergent to 1 gallon of water, and I found this was barely adequate for a medium-sized room. You get a 16 ounce bottle with the SteamVac. The manual says not to use other carpet detergents, as they sudse up too much. Amazon sells Hoover's gallon size, which is handy if you want to clean your carpets regularly -- it IS the best way to maintain them.
There are other carpet cleaners, both from Hoover and its competitors. But THIS is the one you want.