Hoover SteamVac Clean Surge has one of the best-selling carpet cleaner models on the market for quite some time, and for a good reason. Although the machine has its share of shortcomings and there are better models on the market as listed here, the overall functionality, the Hoover brand and the affordable price tag seem to make up for any of those shortcomings.
SteamVac is one of the most powerful machines on the market with a 12 amp motor which offers serious cleaning and suction power. In addition, the clean surge feature makes it easier to clean tough stains with an extra boost when needed. With the added attachments for upholstery/stair cleaning, SteamVac F5914900 offers a lot in terms of overall value.
Now let us look at the questions you may have about the machine.
Is this really a steam cleaner?
No. It’s a regular carpet cleaner that uses hot tap water. In fact, you are advised against using boiling water as it can easily damage the carpet cleaner.
Although this is not a problem in and of itself, the fact that Hoover choose to call this model SteamVac may seem a bit weird and misleading for some.
Now, please don’t get me wrong; you don’t need steam cleaning to remove dirt or stains on your carpets. In fact, I would prefer a carpet cleaner using hot water to a steam cleaner any day of the week since I consider steam cleaners a bit dangerous and very easy to do more harm than good. I’m just pointing out the obvious fact that the name can be misleading here.
How well does it do against pet urine stains?
It won’t do miracles, especially if you don’t use a suitable cleaner with special enzymes. In addition, tougher stains would most likely require pretreatment with a decent cleaner or at least a homemade solution like hot water and vinegar.
If you have pets and constantly need to deal with such stains, I would actually recommend Hoover Power Scrub (which is also a better cleaner overall). It will cost a little bit more but is definitely worth the price.
Does it work on Berber rugs, Persian rugs, wool rugs, etc.?
Yes, it does. In fact, it does a pretty good job cleaning stains on Berber and wool rugs. One thing you need to make sure though is never to use hot water on wool rugs if you don’t want to damage them. Just use cold water. You should not use bleach either.
Hoover’s 3-speed setting is a definite plus when dealing with different kinds of carpets, making it easy to select the appropriate setting that will not only clean the carpet, but also protect it by adjusting the scrubbing action.
How fast do the carpets dry after cleaning?
The answer to this question is practically the same for every decent carpet cleaning machine: it depends on a few factors which include the amount of water used, the number of drying/suction passes and the overall humidity in the air.
If you do not oversaturate the carpets with too much water and vacuum a few times, it will take a few hours (like 2 to 3 in general) for the carpets to dry. You can also use a fan if you need to dry them faster. SteamVac has a powerful motor, so it does a good job vacuuming the water.
Is there an upholstery attachment? How well does it perform on upholstery?
Hoover SteamVac comes with a hand tool that you can use to clean upholstery, sofas, chairs, cushions, etc. In general the attachment works fine, but it will spurt quite a lot of water which is very annoying, especially considering that almost none of the other decent models on the market do that.
With that said, it would unfair not mentioning the Power Scrub feature in the hand tool. What this does, essentially, is to provide the same level of cleaning as the machine itself since it uses the exact same brushes under the machine. So, the cleaning results are pretty good.
How does it do on stairs?
This is another area where the SteamVac Clean Surge actually shines. The hand tool with the rotating brushes does a very good job on the stairs, provided that you don’t mind the water spurting as I have mentioned before. You can actually get results that are on par with what a professional cleaning service would provide using the hand tool.
What about bare floors?
You can use it on ceramic tiles. It will do a good job picking up spills and removing stains. But know that it will leave a lot of water on the floor and you will most likely need to mop afterwards.
To be perfectly honest though, I don’t know of any carpet cleaning machine that does a much better job on bare floors. They all will leave too much water for my liking, so it’s definitely not a problem specific to SteamVac Clean Surge.
And on a final note, never, ever use a carpet cleaner on hardwood floors!
Can I clean large rooms without emptying the tanks multiple times?
It depends on how many passes you make actually. If you have tough stains that require multiple wet strokes, then you will most likely to empty and refill the tank one or two times for a standard size room (12×12).
The good thing is that the tanks are easy to empty and refill, so you won’t have much of an interruption.
How heavy is it? Is it easy to lift and/or move around?
When filled with water and cleaning solution, it will weigh about 30 lbs. It’s not heavier than most other carpet cleaners (and in fact lighter than say Bissell 86T3).
If this will be your first carpet cleaner, you should know that it weighs about twice as heavy as your regular vacuum cleaner. But unless you have a physical condition like back pains, etc. you won’t have a problem moving it around.
Is there a rinse switch?
No, there isn’t. If you want to rinse the carpets after cleaning, you would have to go over the carpet using only hot water and no detergent. With that said, I don’t think you would really need to rinse the carpet since the normal cleaning cycle which consists of applying solution, scrubbing and vacuuming the water and solution back into the machine takes care of everything.
Do I need to use Hoover’s own solutions?
From a cleaning perspective, no, you don’t. You can get the same results with natural/homemade solutions or any other brand of cleaning solution.
From a warranty standpoint though, using other brands or homemade cleaning solutions can cause problems and actually void the warranty if your machine malfunctions due to the solution used.
Furthermore, brands like Hoover produce solutions suitable for use in their own machines, so using Hoover detergents is not the worst thing you can do, especially considering the fact that you would eliminate the risk of voiding the warranty.
Is it really durable? Will it last?
Unfortunately, this isn’t one of the best built machines on the market, and if you want a truly good machine that you will be able to use for years, I would suggest going for Power Scrub or Big Green (if you can afford it).
Features
- A powerful 12-amp motor offering deep cleaning
- The ability to clean carpets, bare floors and upholstery with five spinning and scrubbing brushes
- Extra power from the Clean Surge technology for cleaning tough stains
- Two separate water tanks
- Faster drying with forced heating
- 3-speed brush control
- Hand tool with SpinScrub technology
- Limited one year warranty
- 8 inch stretch hose
- Tool mode stops brushes to protect the carpets
Rating
- Affordable price; the machine provides good enough value for your money
- 3-speed scrubbing control
- Powerful motor and suction
- Effective hand tool for upholstery and stairs
- Water spurting when using the hand tool
- Not the best in terms of durability
- Despite what the name implies, it’s not a steam cleaner
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