Due to the Celtling’s near-constant near-destruction of the house, I am finding my carpet cleaner not quite up to snuff.
I have a bottom-of-the-line Hoover Steamvac, which basically just sprays hot tap water/detergent mix onto the carpet and then sucks it back up again. Not bad for the 89 bucks, but silly me, I did expect there to be actual Steam involved. . . Also the box said it could do upholstery, but apparently they assumed I would just lift the unit onto the sofa - there’s no attachment.
I still think it’s a good idea for anyone who has a toddler (or a pet) and can’t go for the higher end model. It gets the barf up, and that’s the primary concern.
Now I realize though, that hot water and scrub brushes would really make a difference, and the amount of time required for even the smallest spot is rather annoying. (we’re talking 15-20 passes with 2-3 tank changes for one 10" circle of barf.) There’s no way I’d try to do a whole room with this thing.
I had planned to just go up the to the top-of-the-line Hoover, but find that reviews say the scrub brushes break off fairly regularly and require a fussy clean-up after every use. No.
I’m looking for recommendations, on something that can not only do spot cleaning, but would be powerful enough to do the whole carpet without 17 passes per square inch. Upholstery cleaning is a must, extra points for tile and hard floor capability. I’m willing to invest to get a long-lasting machine, but $400 is about the limit. (Unless my grandchildren will be able to use it . . .)
I am also planning to get a Dyson Animal Ball, so dry vacuum capability is not an issue.
Anybody? (Please let me know how long you’ve had the machine.)
I’ve got one of the nicer Hoovers with the spin brushes. It does a good job, and I haven’t had any problem with the brushes breaking. In heavy traffic areas I do have to go over the same spot several times. It is phenomenally, jaw-droppingly good at cleaning upholstery. Far better than I ever expected. I had a recliner that my 6 and 3 year old kids had been sitting in and eating all kinds of crap- we’re talking like Cocoa Puffs with milk- that looked beyond saving. One pass with the cleaner and it looked brand new. We could not believe it. The model I have is the one below the model that can do hard floors, although I think I could buy different brushes to convert mine to be able to do it. I’ve had it for about a year now.
I have this one . It does the job really well. The only complaint I have is that the water reservoir is fairly small and you have to refill it pretty frequently if you’re cleaning a room, but I think most home models have this issue.
It’s taken up coffee stains, dog barf, and cat pee without much trouble. I’ve had it for about six months.
We had a Hoover Spin Scrub machine for about five years and loved it to death. Used it to death too.
It’s amazing how often you’ll clean the carpets when you have a machine ready and waiting in the garage. Dog barfs? Someone tracks in mud? Something gets spilled? No problem! It’s also amazing how your friends and neighbors will materialize and either ask to borrow it, or offer you a few bucks to clean their carpets.
We recently upgraded to the Hoover “Platinum” machine and love it even more. It does a far better job than the high-priced “professional” carpet cleaners do with their truck-mounted machines - when we moved into this house, our Realtor paid to have the carpets done two days before we actually got the keys and moved in. Oy, the humidity! Oy, the wet! We wound up going over everything with our machine to suck out all the water that the pros left behind.
I love my Bissell 9500. It is the only thing that saved the carpet after blood and cat barf left for a week. It is easy to change between heavy clean/normal clean/light clean. I like being able to do a run with just hot water, no soap, as a rinse sometimes and this machine lets me, where the old Bissell didn’t. The hot air blower is supposed to dry the carpet faster but I have not seen any real difference.
The attachments for chairs and stairs are wonderful. I’ve gotten ground peanut butter and pizza sause off of stairs, and cat barf of grandma’s upholstered chairs.
Thanks all! Anybody else?
I got a $250 steam vac that did absolutely nothing. Hoover, as I recall. Really ticked me off, as My problem is one hallway, not a whole room, so it never seems worth a service call, yet it’s too much to clean on my knees with spray foam and a scrub brush.
I remembered wrong, it was a Bissell PROheat2X . “Pro” sounds good, right? And it has an onboard heater, so you fill it with hot water and in 10 minutes it’s as hot as it’s going to get. But there was very little dirt picked up.
I had justified the cost by thinking I could let my relatives use it, and it would last for years and years, but of course I’ve never mentioned it to anyone and it just takes up space.
I have the Bissell ProHeat Turbo 2X, and I love it. It’s heavy, but it removes blood, poo, vomit, food stains, and sometimes even dried paint. (I have 3 small, messy boys.) It converts easily to clean kitchen floors, and even my hardwood floors.
For little spots, I have that little Bissell Spot-Bot, which does a nice job, if the spot is about 5" in diameter. It’s quick and easy and gets spots out well, but uses a *lot *of cleaning solution.