Excellent Steam Cleaner
Written: Sep 30 '02
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Pros: Easy to use, cleans as advertised
Cons: Heavier than a vacuum cleaner
The Bottom Line: It really works as advertised. Scrubbers in the front pull out the worst soil. Well-designed.
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| gsearle's Full Review: Hoover F6024 SteamVac WidePath Upright Vacuum |
The ads say that those little spinning brushes will really get your carpets clean. Well, for once an advertised claim is completely true. This beauty really works. Those brushes give it the extra edge to scrub out bad stains and pull out ages of dirt.
I had to use one of these on a badly-stained, light-beige berber carpet. Some of the stains had been there for many, many years. The room was entered through a carpeted stairway that also had years of ground-in dirt and stains. This steamer vacuum got everything out, and the carpet looks brand new.
I was very impressed with the Hoover's attention to detail on this unit. The company really went out of their way to make the typically-difficult steam cleaner as easy to use as possible. The accessory rack on the back holds the tools and hose firmly and keeps them out of the way. The large wheels make the well-balanced unit easy to move with the generous handle grip. The large foot controls on either side for on/off and handle release are easy to reach.
The instruction manual is thorough and error-free. I recommend that you take the time to read it. It contains a lot of tips that can help you use the unit easily and effectively. For instance, the locking handle for one of the solution tanks also serves as a well-balanced handle for carrying the whole unit.
Some assembly required: If you can get this assembled by the store, go for it. Otherwise, you either need to be good at putting these things together, or you will need some help. One tip: Look for the Quick Assembly Guide in the instructions. This is a thoughtful addition that really helps you get the unit together. The only tool that you will need is a philips-head screwdriver. I found the most difficult part was pushing the cord into the cord-holder clip on the back. By the way, be sure to place the nuts into the nut-shaped holes in the back, because you really don't need a pair of pliers.
This model has six little spinning brushes in back of the vacuum pickup. The brushes have three speed settings: high, low, and off. You can set the speed to your needs. If you are working with a badly-soiled carpet, set it to high. If you have a worn or lightly-soiled carpet, set it to low. In delicate situations, or when picking up spills, turn it off. This assembly can be removed for replacement, because brushes do get worn out.
These brushes effectively scrub the detergent solution into the carpet and loosen dirt so the vacuum can pick it up. You can maneuver the brushes over a stain for as long as you like until the stain is gone. There is also an extra button on the top of the handle on this model for spot cleaning. This button gives an extra dose of detergent solution to the spot. Just be sure not to soak the carpet, as this can cause other problems. There is an attachment for the front of the unit for use with non-carpeted floors, as well.
There are two separate containers on the unit, one for clean detergent solution and one to collect the dirty wastewater. These have convenient, locking handles that serve both to lock the containers in place on the unit and as carrying handles for transporting the containers for refilling and disposal. Removing and replacing the containers is very easy and straightforward.
You'll be impressed with how dirty the waste water is when you dump it out. You should replace both tanks at the same time, as the unit will stop working when the waste water tank fills up. It's easier to do it this way, anyway. Just detach and carry both tanks by the handles, one in each hand (so they don't dump), to your bathroom or sink, fill up the detergent tank and dump out the waste tank. The detergent tank cap doubles as a convenient measuring cup.
The unit comes with sample size cleaning solutions. I recommend that you purchase more. The tough cleaning job that I performed took five refills of the tank. This would have been more than these little bottles could have provided.
A very long hose wraps around the accessory rack in the back and tucks out of the way. It could reach from the second floor all the way to the bottom step of the stairway that I had to clean. (Admittedly, I threaded the hose through the railing at the top straight down to the bottom step.)
To use the attachments, you simply lock the handle upright, grab the hose, and attach an accessory. There is a button on the hose for spraying detergent. (You will have to wait a moment for the detergent to make its way up the hose when you first use it.) This model comes with an attachment with its own spinning brushes. It came in very handy for scrubbing those dirty steps. It also has a "green scrubby" attachment for hard floors, a crevice tool, and a general-purpose upholstery tool.
When you are finished with an accessory, make sure to push the end of the hose back into its holder on the accessory rack, or else you will lose floor-cleaning power. This requirement encourages you to put the hose away when you are done with it - a safety issue.
When you are done, you will need to clean the unit. The instructions show you how to do this, and it involves sucking up a little bit of water with the unit (and any attachments you used) to flush out the dirt and detergent. It comes with a little tool to extract stuff (like cat hair) from out of the front. You also need to run the unit "dry" for a few seconds to empty out the hoses and such. It might be a little hassle, but it's not difficult.
I am really impressed with this cleaner. I wouldn't have expected it to get such a soiled carpet as clean as it did. The design is very effective, and it made cleaning the carpet as near to painless as it could be. The unit is lightweight for a steam cleaner, but is still heavier than a vacuum cleaner. The well-balanced carrying handle in the front makes carrying it up stairs less of a chore. The two containers are easy to manage, with their built-in handles. The generous accessory hose allows make quick work of hard to reach places and carpeted stairways. If you need a carpet steam cleaner, this is the one to get.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 340
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Epinions.com ID:
gsearle
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Greg Searle
Location: Nashua, NH
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
Computer graphics designer and software developer with interests in technology, home improvement, and family life.
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