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I have previously used the Bissell 9400 ProHeat 2X Select Upright Deep Carpet Cleaner to clean the inevitable stains associated with cats and potty training little boys from my Berber carpet. A friend has that cleaner, so I borrowed it on several occasions before finally deciding to get one of my own. Just before I was ready to buy, Good Housekeeping ran a review on the Hoover SteamVac so I looked it up on Amazon. I read the reviews and decided to take my chances with it.
I am amazed at the difference in the two machines. The Bissell used to shear off fibers from the carpet and leave a nasty trail of what looks like hairballs behind as I worked. The clean and dirty tanks are in the same unit which is clever, but almost impossible to clean.
The Hoover has two tanks one for clean hot water with a compartment for the cleaning solution, and one for the dirty water. Both water tanks hold a gallon. I had no problems loading the clean tank or removing the dirty tank. No dripping of dirty water, no puddles on the rug or the kitchen floor when changing tanks.
Like I said before, I've cleaned my entire house several times with the Bissell machine, but I was amazed at the almost muddy water that came out of the carpet. It was as if I'd never cleaned the floors before. The dirty tank is easy to rinse out and reattach. The trick is to "recline" the machine so the clean tank is laying on the ground attached to the handle. Unsnap the clips and the dirty tank comes right off with no problem at all. Clean it out, snap the lid back on and clip it back into place and then you can stand the handle back up and deal with the clean tank.
The suction on this machine is amazing. It used to take hours and hours for the carpet to dry when I used the Bissell. I'd have to turn the fans on high and let them go overnight to have dry carpets in the morning. Two hours after cleaning the carpet (2 cleaning/rinse passes plus a rinsing only pass) and the floors were nearly dry.
I tested the Hoover on my kitchen tile. I hate ceramic tile. I will never have it in another house, but I'm stuck with it for now. I usually use the Vapor Clean II steam/pressure cleaner on the tile, but decided to give the Hoover a try since it came with the cleaning solution for the job. I wouldn't want to use it every time I clean the kitchen floor, but for a quick cleaning before company comes it'll do the trick. Again, I did not have any puddle problems. If you release the trigger just before you finish your pull stroke you won't have any puddling to speak of. The Hoover does a great job sucking up the water on the tile and even gets the water from the grout. It doesn't do a great job on grout because that's not what it's designed to do. I'll stick to my VaporClean and the special brush I have for that.
I'm also happy with the amount of cleaner used. The Bissell goes through cleaning solution at a much faster rate than the Hoover does. I like that, since leaving soap on the fibers is just going to make the floor get dirty faster.
The only things I'm not thrilled with:
The cleaning solution dispenser is integrated with the clean water tank. I wish it came with a spout or something attached so that pouring out leftover solution wasn't so messy. I know I could leave the solution in there between uses, but I have already had to pour out leftover carpet solution to switch to the hard surface cleaner then I had to put the hard surface cleaner back in the bottle to switch back for more carpet work. Some sort of retractable spout or a reversable plug with a spout attached would be great.
The hose attachment is kind of flimsy. I've had the whole hose assembly fall off several times as I was changing tanks. It's not a huge deal, but it's annoying to the point that I'm considering taking that part off and storing it separately until I need to use the hand tools.
Buy this cleaner you won't be disappointed!
UPDATE: January 2011
I still love this machine. I don't consider the drips that come from laying the handle down to be a problem. It's how the unit was designed. It's certainly not a return-worthy concern. I am capable of placing a towel on the floor to wipe up the drips from that, and it's never more than a few drips. And it's clean water, so who cares?
It still works great for me with no problems at all since I got it in 2007. I quit buying the detergent that goes with it and only use vinegar in the detergent tank now with no problems.
As far as the performance on carpet, it's still great. I shampooed the white carpet at my grandparents' house recently and they were mortified by how much black water came out of the machine. They've had their home professionally shampooed within the last year, too. Their carpet came clean and looked fantastic when I left.
I haven't used it on my carpet upstairs lately because I don't allow food up there, so there's not much need for more than regular vacuuming. I do use this machine more frequently on my kitchen tile than I thought I would, and I'm still happy with it. It gets the job done quickly, and the floor is dry when I'm done. It's loud, but not so loud that I don't want to use it.
Maybe they've changed things with the model since 2007, but my unit is still going strong. There may be better tools for the job out there, but until this one breaks I'm happy with what I've got. I'm not crazy, just satisfied. I'm not sure why that's so difficult to believe.
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So i've been looking for a steam cleaner for over a week,reading reviews on any steam cleaner that has a review to try to choose one that will work for my family. With all the negative feedback on the Hoover I was disappointed and thought about changing brands. I had a hoover spin scrub and it has worked wonderfully for over 5yrs but with bringing up and down the stairs and my son letting it pound on the stairs the front plate broke off. Although i could get it repaired, honestly i felt it was a good excuse to get myself a new one and chose to give my old one to charity.Of all the reviews i have read, the one that i felt had any true meaningful information was a gentleman that was an engineer that said that the plastic on the tank was too brittle. Armed with this information, i did go to my local Hoover store to see what they had in stock. I was ready to purchase another spinscub or to have mine repaired.
I purchased the All-terrain steamvac after talking to the rep. She did not dispute that the tanks plastic is more brittle and should be able to withstand a little more abuse, however, she also said that all of the people that have come into the store to have the tanks replaced, have abused it in some way. The plastic is not made for EXTREMELY hot water, so if your tap water is extremely hot, then fill the tank with some cooler water. the hotter temp. will crack the tank. She said her hot water heater is set so high that when you run only hot water it is too hot to touch. and she mixes her water with cold to get the temp. right. The other scenerio she explained is people dropping the tank when it is full of water. In all the years i can't remember ever dropping the tank so i wasn't concerned about that. And the last scenerio she explained that one woman had her teenager using the machine and had shoved the tank into place and it cracked somehow.
i tried replacing the tank myself in the store and it seemed pretty simple. so i bought it.
i have only had it for a few days but have already cleaned with it. and i love it.something must be wrong with the other reviewer's machine because i filled mine with 16oz. of cleaner and have cleaned my formal living room, formal dining, family room, guest room, stairs and basement , probably close to 1500sq. ft. and still have over half of the solution in it.
The new design is much better than the spinscrub. The hose for the hand attachments attaches in the front so it won't crack at the base like in the older models. I like that the cleaning solution is in a separate container so when you run out of clean water or the clean water gets cold, you can just refill the water side without having to waste cleaning solution or needing to measure out solution every time you need to fill the tank.
The rinse button is nice when you've sprayed down a stain in the carpet and it gets too soapy, then just flip the button and it only dispenses water.
The people I talked to at the hoover store say that most of the repairs with the valves involve the solution that is used. Oxy-clean eats at the rubber and then they don't seal properly. Never put oxy-clean into the tank. It is fine to use the spray oxy on the carpet but not the powder stuff.
i have to say that it cleans great. My dog barfed some green stuff on my carpet a week ago and since i haven't had anything to clean it up with, it has just sat in the carpet. Well the stain is gone and it sat in the carpet for a week!
The dirty water tank is always coming up with dirt and stuff. The dirt stains in my carpet from my dogs/kids are gone and the carpet looks great. I am very happy with it. I will buy the extended 3yr warrenty on the machine. For 50bucks it will protect my investment in case i change my mind about it in a few months!
But I recommend for anyone go to your local shop. I read a lot of the reviews with women bitching about the tank not fitting into the bathroom sink or the cord not being long enough. Personally, I don't want a small tank that fits in my sink. I have too much carpet to clean and the smaller the tank, the more I have to refill it. We've all had those days when nothing is going our way. Just relax. Get a grip! It's just a steam cleaner and our country is at war!!! Hope this was helpful!
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We purchased the All Terrain about six months ago. The instructions are very well written and assembly was easy. I fired it up for the first time and it cleaned the carpets beautifully. I thought we had a real winner. After that initial use the problems began to creep up. Starting with the second use, the clean water tank began leaking around the seal at a fairly significant rate. I probably should have returned the unit, but I didn't, and now regret it because it is now totally out of commission. The brushes are connected to the unit via a drive shaft that is less than 1/4" thick plastic. On our cleaner this shaft sheered off and is stuck in the unit. Only at this point did I do any serious research about the All Terrain on the Internet and realized that these two issues are very common with these units and apparently dealing with Hoover for repair can be a nightmare. Caveat EmptorHonest reviews on Hoover MaxExtract All-Terrain Carpet Cleaner, F7452900PC
I rated this a 4 because overall I think it's a good machine for the money. I bought this cleaner mainly because I have nearly 550 sq ft of ceramic tile in a newly purchased home that had disgustingly dirty floors. I contacted a local professional company and they wanted nearly $500 to clean and seal my floors... So, I figured for that money I could do it myself!It was fairly easy to put together out of the box, although I will say that setting up for the hard floor cleaner took me a little extra time. I have not yet used this cleaner for carpets so I am only speaking to the hard floor portion of this machine.
I tried "Swiffering" my floors but that left dirt in my grout and some grime on the tiles... then I tried an older model Floormate (that I already own) and it did an okay job but just didn't have the power to get the deep down dirt left by the previous owner... (I don't think she EVER cleaned her tiles!)
Anyway, this cleaner did a fabulous job on my hard floors BUT it did take me a long time, lots of trips to the sink to empty dirty water, get clean water and lots of cleaner (they don't give you enough floor cleaner in the box... at least for the size of my job so buy extra before hand if you have anything larger than a 100 sq ft or so!!).
There are some drawbacks as mentioned by another user... it is VERY loud. I'm sure the fact I was using it in a large, tiled area didn't help! It does leave puddles if you don't go over every single inch of the floor where you laid down the cleaning solution... but you can overcome that if you switch the mode to spill clean up mode. If you just set the cleaner in Auto mode... then you get the solution with cleaner when you press the button followed by a rinse on subsequent passes... which is probably why you have puddles. So, I just switched the machine between auto mode for cleaning to spill pickup which is basically a wet-vac mode... and voile...no puddles. It took me some time to figure that out...
It also doesn't get really close to the edge of the walls... BUT it has an on board attachment that you can use if you feel the desire to get that up close and personal with your floorboards!
Overall I liked this machine... Now I know why the professionals charge SO much for this type of job but since I purchased this big guy, I can do it myself over and over... after this first job... it has paid for itself!!!
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This is a great steam-vac. It does a great job, easy to use, and the other reviewiers have covered the high points pretty well.On the other hand, the thing that is driving me nuts is trying to buy replacement parts. All I need are the two clips that hold the receiver tank on the unit's base. My girlfriend managed to break them and now the receiver unit doesn't seal as well and the unit doesn't clean as well either due to lack of suction, minor leakage, etc.
I've tried Hoover. I've tried the other stores that sell them. You can't just buy parts for the damn thing. So people should just know if something breaks and it is out of warranty, you may just be buying a new unit as opposed to buying a few dollars worth of plastic.
With that one caveat, it is a great cleaner. Just don't break anything and don't let anyone else break anything.
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