Carpet Cleaners Reviews

We have had this machine for three or four years. the past year it has sat in the workshop waiting for its latest repair. Basically I believe the workmanship is terrible. None of the gaskets actually seal so not enough vacuum is created. I have spent hours trying to make the seals tighter. That helps but there are still issues. The ideas the used to design the machine are good, the tolerances are not. It is easy to see where they intended to have a tighter seal but the plastic or rubber pieces don't meet to create the seal. We also had a moter burn ou t o us. It started smelling hotter and hotter one day and we turned it off and waited a bit and resummed after doing this several times. We say smoke and the writing was on the wall. The motor was shot. We called and got a new one and it has maybe 20 minutes of use on it. It too smells a bit hot, however a leak has started that leaves dirty black stains on the carpet. I hope my latest efforts fixed that leak but honestly I can't help but think this thing is a lemon. I'm am looking for a different brand cleaner now, fully expecting this one to continiue messing up to the point where I through it out soon. Any suggestions?

This carpet cleaner has worked well the first couple times but since then does next to nothing except get the floor wet. Even when attempting to clean a fresh stain, I can't get the stain out with this. I have had better luck with my little handheld dirt devil. Its not easy to clean this thing out either so its probably just clogged. Additionally, I have to heat the water up before putting in there because it comes out cold. Even with hot water added, its still NOT steam as the name would imply. Unfortunately this is the only one I have ever owned (aside from the handheld) so can't recommend a better one. This one does seem to do well with just picking up a bit of dirt and probably a few allergens that are lying in the carpet.

I am very frustrated with this steamvac and am about to throw it out the window. We did a lot of research before we purchased it and so many people said it was great. We've had it for three years. The first few times we used it we had success but then the passageway starts getting all clogged with hair/debris and CANNOT be cleaned without extreme effort of taking the screws out, etc., etc. Now it has so little suction that it is virtually useless. It is also NOT a steam vac - We have to heat our water up and put it in and even then, it does not remain hot enough by the time it exits the vac to the floor - the water is cool. I want to warn potential buyers.

- Kris Day

I had this product for a year (the warranty JUST expired) and after a year of light use, it is now fit for the trash. It leaks cleaning fluid either from the top by the resevoir or the bottom by the floor. When I say "leaks" what I mean is ALL the fluid spills out uncontrollably. I had heard a lot of good things about this unit but my experience with its reliability has been the worst.

The good suction:
I have used this cleaner on my entire house. I must say that both the clean and the dirty tanks are easy to clean and fill. The extraction is so good that the carpets usually are dry in about 1/2 hour. I have successfully removed dried cat vomit, gooey unknown substances left by a 4 year old, as well as standard filth with this cleaner.

The bad suction:
I have had problems getting the dirty tank to remain snapped into place to get a proper vacuum for removal of the solution. The cleaner does NOT like going from carpet to linoleum - I have multiple areas where my carpet is set next to the linoleum with no running strip near it. The solution usually gets sprayed unusually heavy in patches on smooth surfaces, and the machine has a hard time switching from carpet to smooth surface for extraction (i.e. it leaves a puddle on the linoleum). The rotating brush attachment for stairs is a total disappointment. No matter how many times I try to use that thing (at least 10) - it will not pull an adequate vacuum for extraction. The manual says to "purge the air from the system" by holding your hand over the inlet - still doesn't work. I end up using the upholstery tool on the carpets with adequate results - it usually takes a couple of days for them to dry due to excess solution being left behind though. Also, it is VERY hard to clean the extraction part of the cleaner, especially if you have short haired cats. I cannot for the life of me remove all the hair, even with the little flexible tool that is intended for this purpose.

For those with homes that do not have carpeted stairs - I think this cleaner would be fine, especially if you do not have unusual levels of filth from pets and kids. If you have stairs, keep looking.

We have saved a lot of money and people can't believe how great our carpet looks. We used to rent the steam cleaners from the grocery store, but now we can clean it well any timw we want and not have to worry about bringing it back to the store. Just watch out because all your relatives and friends will want to borrow it!

Spend a few more bucks and buy a real carpet cleaner. It simply doesnt work. Why? Poor engineering. Thanks hoover. Can I have my three hundred bucks back?

Overall this cleaner works adequately. I've owned it for 2 years and have been satisfied with the exception of the design of the hose assembly. After repeated use, the hose assembly will sever at it's connection with the base (just behind the recovery tank). The only way to avoid this problem is to NEVER lay the unit all the way back when removing the spent water. You have to release the handle every time you remove the recovery tank- so you need to take special care not to lay the handle/head of the unit all the way back. It strains the hose junction and eventually the connection fails. It's a bit of a pain to avoid releasing all the way back- there is no mechanism in the design to stop it. You have to prop the cleaner up against a wall or couch or something when removing the tank...It only took 2 months for my hose to sever and I was unable to use the hand held cleaner part after that. This does not affect the general cleaning-the unit still works. It is frustrating though because I bought it primarily to steam clean stairs. So watch your hose or you'll be disappointed.

This is great machine. It should be called a shampooer because it has oscillating brushes, although the Hoover cleaning solution does not suds up.

I've been cleaning my carpet since the last time the Management had it cleaned over 1 year ago with Carpet cleaner and a sponge mop, my carpet is tan and began to look soiled and some parts matted. I vacuum once per week and have a no shoe policy which helped its appearance.

After cleaning with the Hoover Widepath the return tank had black water, I was shocked at how much dirt came out of my carpet. My carpet has never been so clean, I mean even after carpet cleaners have cleaned it. My carpet is now bright, fresh, and clean smelling. I am completely satisfied with the results.

The manual is well done and tells you how to clean the carpet in a very easy to understand format, it also has an index.

This was the first time I used a machine to clean my carpet and found it easy with the Hoover Widepath. After cleaning I prepared my unit for storage per the manual. All the parts were easily accessible and cleaned.

The manual states some models come with a nozzle cleaner, (Nozzle is the part that sucks up the water and dirt) use it to clean the nozzle or suck up 2 cups of hot tap water. Mine did not have a nozzle cleaner but I was able to use coat hanger and 2 cups of hot water to clear the nozzle of residual debris it was not much.

Going into the carpet cleaning business with this machine has cross my mind.
The Hoover F6030-900 Steamvac Widepath is highly recommended.

P.S.
After reading T. Jensen's "kid wrangler review (above) that warned about the severed hose I decided to adjust the hose length to make it longer, now there is now plenty of slack for the handle head to be laid out completly.

This one needs to be recalled. Yes bought one and the bottom of the tank broke out. Exchanged it. Same day bottom of the tank broke out. DO NOT BUY !!! Time for a Class Action Lawsuit.

I owned a Hoover cleaning machine for 10 years. It was fabulous. This one is a piece of junk. I have had it almost a year and used it for the first time recently. I was removing the dirty water tank when the handle split in two. Okay, I'll take it in next week. However, the repair guy told me if it is a manufacturing defect, they will take care of it and honor the warranty; if not, I will be charged to fix it. I can see trouble abrewing already. It is still able to be used and today I filled the clean water tank, or should say I attempted to fill it, it was leaking like a sieve. One of the plugs had stopped functioning. I put it back in but it wouldn't hold. Perhaps I should have read the reviews before I placed my faith in a long standing company. We should all look out. Just because something bears a name that has had a fabulous reputation for perhaps over 50 years, doesn't mean the people who own the company today will uphold the high standards of the former owners. I guess I'll try Bissel.

Like others, I have a leak problem. I've wasted money and time trying to make this thing functional. Hoover will talk to me only through a toll line....I'm wondering if this company has gone to @#$%. I've owned their vacs and a previous cleaner..they worked fine. I was told by a repair person that Hoover knows that they turned out numerous defective tanks, but refuses to make good on their product. Bye, bye Hoover...never again!

Assembly was reasonably easy, with only three screws to turn (provided) and a Phillips wrench required. This machine pulled up so much dirt from our berber carpet that I was really rattled that babies had been crawling on it. We had just shampooed it a week before, and the water was almost black. The 12-amp motor really gets a lot more dirt than your average rental shampooer. The stains (baby spit up and cat "hairball" stains, and one dark pawprint) did not come out, even with a pretreater. They faded considerably, but professionally carpet cleaning knocks these out immediately, which is what I expected with this Hoover (to never have to call a professional again after making the initial ... investment). I did use the hand-held tool, too, for treating the stains. I initially just used the surge cleaner, then tried the pretreater (letting sit for at least 10 minutes) followed by the hand tool, then used the upright again on the same spots. Still have visible spots. Maybe my baby and cat simply have bionic spit up, or it sat too long. But, unquestionably, it pulled up a LOT of dirt. My carpets are cleaner.

In desperate need of a shampooer, totally tired of borrowing all the time, my boyfriend picked this one up. OH MY GOD! It's amazing! It picks up dirt from the carpet with such ease! We have two boys who read the newspaper on the floor, and it's not doing a very good job of picking up the ink off the carpet, but I think we've at least extended the life of the carpet by ordering them off the floor and onto the couch. It turned our dark grey carpet almost white! (The bedroom hadn't been shampooed on years) It's extremely easy to handle, gliding along the roughest carpet with ease. It's not too loud, but, it's a shampooer, of course it's not to be used when someone's sleeping. It's easy to fill with shampoo, and easy to dump. It lets you know when you're running out by significantly changing the sound it makes. All in all, it's a good buy!

I'd been looking at SteamVacs for a while now and had used other Hoover models so knew I wanted one by them. With a new puppy, I couldn't put it off any longer. Brought it home today and immediately put it to the test. Easy to assemble and does a great job. The only thing is that you have to expect to dump the dirty water about every two times you fill with clean solution. Takes time and does take some work, but if you want clean carpets without the cost of paying someone to take care of it for you, you should pick this up.

We bought our widepath 4 years ago when we purchased our house. Cleaning companies charged more than the cleaner cost to clean the entire house. We were very happy with it, and still are as the hard floor attachment is great on our hardwood. After having a puppy that is now a 3 yr. old dog, it has been a great asset to have. Most of the messes have come up although there have been a few stains that just won't come out.

I'm only giving this four stars, even though it has been a great product. The reason being is that we have noticed that the hose attachment has cracked all the way through on the interior part of the machine. You pretty much have to lay the thing flat to put in the water take-up tank and at the bottom where you see the hose is where it has cracked.

The spin brush attachment was excellent on stairs, as our carpeting is around 12 years old and still in good condition. It brought the nap back up and has helped us put off replacing carpeting.

I will probably invest in a smaller carry around unit, like a Little Green Machine for the stairs as I think this will also be good for the car as well. As long as the hose on it works, I wouldn't buy another cleaner, but since mine failed, I think it might not be worth it to have it repaired as I think it will eventually crack again.

I got one of these for Chistmas 2001 and Have been using it atleast once a month since then. My carpets have never been cleaner to say the least. I am a renter and you never know what the person that lived here before spilt on the floor and all I can say is that whatever it was is gone. You'll never know how truly nasty your carpets and for that matter upholstry are until you use this thing. It sucks everything out so well. I used it in my car too on the upholstery, floor and even the floormats and my 12 yr old car looks brand new. I am now the envy of both sides of my husband and I's families or atleast my carpets are. Every time we call and say we are going to visit they ask me to bring my Steam Vac. This is so much easier to handle then renting a rug doctor and does't hurt your back and much more convienient too so you use it more, OK alot more. Not only that, it works a [heck] of a lot better too and the attachments are great!! It even fluffs up your carpet and once totally flattened old carpet looks so much better. My husband works in the oil field and always gets very dirty with sand and oil ect.. and I only let him sit in his recliner when he gets home because it's gross and his chair , if it was'nt for this Steam vac would be in the [garbage] by now. It gets every filth and grime you can imagine out and makes the upholstery look brand new. I highly highly highly recommend this product !! I honestly could not be happier . Hoover has truly put out a great product in this Baby!

This is a fantastic machine. I couldn't believe how clean it got my well-abused older carpet. It even brought the crushed traffic areas back to life! One tank handled the whole kitchen, landing & stairs - another took care of the dining room and hall. I was concerned that I'd have to keep emptying the tank and adding more solution, but that was not the case. I also found that my carpets dried within a couple of hours - no different that with a professional cleaning service. I suspect the person who had a problem with wet carpets did not use it properly or go back over the cleaned areas as many times as recommended.

Since it normally runs $$$ to clean my carpets (and that doesn't include the upstairs bedroom) I can see where this will be a tremendous money saver.

I also have a dog that sheds a great deal, and even though I thought I vacuumed thoroughly before cleaning, this extracted a ton of hair that I couldn't even see.

I can't wait to do my upholstery!