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: 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.
Customer Review: Great for its price! -comparing to Rug Doctor
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first steam vac I own. We used to rent a Rug doctor so I just like to compare it with Rug Doctor. We were thinking of buying Rug Doctor because it cleaned pretty good and it was the only steam vac we tried.(We didn't know anything about other carpet cleaner) I'm so glad I didn't spend over $400 for that.
1. No matter how great the vac is, it should be easy to use so I can grab and use it immediately. My idea of steam cleaning the carpet is "Do it often". It is just like laundry. If you leave stain on your clothes too long, it is very hard to remove it.
This Steamvac is easy and light(very important for me) to use. It is Way lighter than Rug Doctor. I'm small(5feet and 100lb). It is almost impossible to carry Rug Doctor to up-down stairs and even 2 steps down out to our garage. This Steamvac is much lighter and I can carry it fine.
3. Hand tool is easier to use. After I used Rug Doctor hand tool, my whole hands and fingers were sore because I had to grab the lever tight. If you used it, you know what I mean. This steamvac's hand tool is very easy to use and easy to grab to steam clean the stairs and couch....I spent a lot of time to clean the car mats and I felt fine.
Connecting the hose challenged me at first. I couldn't figure it out but it was actually very simple.
4. Less Noisier. I wouldn't say super quiet (well....it can't be.) but it is definitely better.
5. When I used it for the first time, I forgot to set the brush to "power scrub" and left it on "spill pick up" . So the Steamvac just sprayed hot water+ detergent and immediately picked it up. When I saw the water, I was very impressed.-brown water! (We don't wear shoes in the house and I vacuum the floor pretty often!)
And then later I found out what I had done. So the second time, I used "power brush" and it did impress me.
I cleaned our car mats with hand tool power brush and the water was BLACK like coca cola. It was kind of embarrassing. (I have 4 kids)
So I would recommend this Steamvac for many reasons. I know Hoover has more Steam Vac with all kinds of different functions but I think the more functions they have the higher chances they break down.
This Steam Vac is simple but good enough to clean carpet.
There is one thing I like to tell HOOVER though.
I spent A LOT OF TIME to research and found out that there were millions of model numbers for the pretty much same Steam Vacs. I don't understand why Hoover made it so confusing. Their model numbers were exactly the same except the last digit or last 2 digits. So they look different but they were all the same.
Anyway, Now I don't set a day for steam cleaning but just grab my Steam Vac and clean my carpet. For $130, it is worth it.
Customer Review: FIVE-STAR VETERAN ENDORSEMENT
Summary: 5 Stars
In January 2000, I bought an earlier version of this HooverŽ SteamVac and it has been one of the most reliable appliances I've ever owned. Back then I even purchased an extended warranty for it, but could have saved on that expense, because the carpet cleaner NEVER SKIPPED A BEAT while being routinely used 5-6 TIMES A YEAR FOR TEN YEARS. I started it up a month ago to do some spot cleaning, and while it still works, the suction would automatically shut off when the recovery tank was only half full. I also could not locate the source of a tiny drip that occurred when it was not running. Finally, it seemed as if the suction was not as strong as it once was. Wow, after A DECADE of faultless service, it was time to replace my beloved carpet cleaner that was finally showing its age.
So I wasn't surprised to see the overwhelming consumer praise for this descendent of my old HooverŽ model on Amazon, and its #1 position as their best-selling carpet steamer. I shopped around, but with free shipping couldn't find a better deal than Amazon. I ordered it on Friday and rec'd it the following Wednesday - fast. It comes partially assembled and I assembled the rest in about 15 minutes - very easy. I put it to work right away and was WELL PLEASED with its performance. There are a few design changes and some functional improvements to my old one - most notable is the more powerful suction. Writing this review two hours later, the carpet is nearly dry.
As a veteran HooverŽ SteamVac user I whole-heartedly endorse this carpet cleaner, and can offer these suggestions for best results:
>> As Hoover suggests, be sure to vacuum your carpet very well before you start cleaning them. Loose fibers, pet hair and other debris will visibly hang up in hood. No doubt this will interfere with the overall performance. I didn't bother vacuuming once and had to fish the debris out of the hood with a pipe cleaner - lesson learned
>> Keep up with the carpet cleaning - it's just easier. I don't clean ALL my carpets all the time - I do a lot of spot/traffic cleaning. I've tried to take short cuts and use spray cleaners on small spots and have noticed that the solution residue left behind after it dries is like a dirt magnet. It's just so easy to bring out your carpet cleaner and really pull the spots OUT as opposed to just re-arranging them in the carpet.
>> Use a genuine pre-treatment/spot solution (if needed). I used ResolveŽ spray carpet/spot cleaner once to pre-treat spots and heavy traffic areas, and was shocked to see the foamy suds it created in the recovery tank. No harm done, but another lesson learned. Invest in Hoover's spot and stain spray if you have some set-in stains or heavy traffic soil, but you'll be surprised what the regular cleaning solution will get out.
Customer Review: GREAT CARPET CLEANER!! REVIEW FROM AN ALLERGIC CLEAN-FREAK!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a TOTAL clean freak! I have a housekeeper come clean my place one a week (just a 2 bed apartment) and I still clean ALL the time and am always buying and trying new products. You can eat off all my floors.
I just got this Hoover SteamVac from Amazon, after looking at the others and realizing that the smaller size is better for me than the larger Platinum one because I don't have a large house and a lot of room for storage.
Well I can't speak for the assembly because I'm totally clueless when it comes to that and I paid the maintenance man $20 in my building to put it together but it looked pretty easy.
Like I said, I'm a total clean freak and also highly, highly allergic to most pollen, trees, dust, cat dander, dogs etc. I also own the very best vacuum with a Hepa filter ($900 Miele Calisto). I noticed after I would get my carpets cleaned professionally once a month, after I vacuumed and changed my vacuum bags in my Miele they were full of fine white powder. I had no idea what this was and I realized it could ruin my vacuum's motor. I came to the conclusion, after researching on the web, this fine white dusty powder my vacuum was sucking up and sticking to the nozzle and everything was the carpet shampoo residue when it dried.
So I got this Hoover steam Vac and used only hot water with it, and WOW tons of shampoo, white frothy residue was in the dirty water tank when I was done. I hate, hate using alot of chemicals to clean, especially because I am allergic and I was shocked to see how much powdery crap was lodged in my carpet, especially since I clean my carpets professionally once a month. My carpets are basically spotless to begin with but now I plan on doing it myself with this Hoover Steam Vac using only very hot water. Next time I might add a little of the detergent that came with it but hot water also does the job. Try adding boiling hot water to the clean water tank if you want to kill more germs and dander in the carpets. You will be very happy with this machine and I'm happy I'm finally using no more chemicals to clean my carpets and having no more white residue I vacuum up after, which I'm sure is also bad for your lungs.
Also, I like the long cord length, and I used the machine for 15 min straight without having to refill it. Make sure you dry pass it backwards a few times though, to really get all the water out of the carpets. The carpets dried relatively fast as well. I can't speak for getting out any major stains, I didn't have any, but when I emptied out the hot water tank, lots of grey dirty water came out.
The price is very reasonable, considering it costs me $100 just to have my carpets cleaned once, and it comes with a bottle of carpet shampoo.
Customer Review: Easy to use and good results
Summary: 5 Stars
We decided to buy a carpet cleaneer as an less expensive alternative to frequent "professional" cleanings as we have two dogs and frequent grand children.
After lots of research we decided upon Hoover's upper-middle range cleaners. The many reviews were helpful in things to be aware of when using the machines. The only problem was comparing models and prices was every store seemed to have a similar but slightly different "exclusive" model. We settled on this model and purchsed it from Amazon as it had no shipping or taxes. Shipping was extremely prompt.
By the way, there is no steam. Hot water is only as hot as you can get from the tap. I suggest making it as hot as possible as it will quickly cool. There is some heat drying effect from the heat of the moter, but the drying factor is removing as much of the water as possible by passing over several times to extract the residue.
The set up was easy as some improvements have been made to prevent leakage. My suggestion is to read the instructions. The simplistic instructions seem to assume one knows more than one does.
It seems that you should use the full amount of detergent as well as pre spotting more severe spots. A small bedroom or hallway takes about one gallon of water and 5 ounces of cleaner. A larger room will take more. I forgot about the surge button the first time but it only helps a bit. This is not a miracle worker.
I found that two passes up and back in cleaning cycles followed by at least three up and back drying cycles was minimum. I usually passed at least five drying cycles which meant that the carpet was dry in just a few hours.
For some carpets, the best results may be when you pass a rinse cycle which left my carpet softer. Make sure you follow with the required drying cycles.
We suffered no leakage, spillage, nor splashing. We did not use the hand wand so I can't speak to that.
For a long life of the machine, cleaning up is extremely important as there is lots of residue left in the cleaner from the brushes to the waste tank. The last screws to undo the suction area cover are hidden underneath the machine so it must be turned over to find the two lower screws. The brushes remove and replace easily but take a few minutes to extract all the dirty fibers.
Overall we were very satisfied with the ease of use and the results. We plan to clean the carpets every 90 days. The amount of extracted silt was impressive. We are letting our daughter use it while we babysit as it is so easy and with enought drying cycles, the carpet is soon dry.
You will fully recover your expenses after the second use. We fully recommend it.