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9
Great machine, but noisy
Pros
Cleaning solution heater, CleanSurge, does a great job
Cons
Noisy, hand tool attachment, emptying the waste tank
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Good product, does a great job on the carpet, but quite noisy.
We recently replaced a Hoover carpet cleaner that we first purchased in 1997. We have had two small dogs, now on our second generation, since 1994, and with puppies in the house there will always be “those” accidents!
Our old machine, model F5881-900 Series N7.9, was an excellent machine, cleaning many carpets, both at our house and for friends and family. I have no idea how many hours of use were on it, but I’d bet it was upwards of 500. The suction was still good using the main floor head, but a small flexible tube that linked the hand tool hose to the main suction unit inside the head had split, and getting replacement parts was was not practicable for cost and time reasons. So we started watching the units that were available at our local stores, and doing some online research to see what machines were rating well. For comparison, we paid about $275 taxes for the original machine.
Eventually, we decided to replace the old machine with the updated version of our old machine. We found one on sale at the Home Depot for $219 taxes. The new machine is model F5914900 I12.0.
We run a home business, and the office is on the main floor, right by the front door. We have a dark beige commercial quality berber carpet on the floor that was ScotchGarded at the factory. Because this is a high traffic area, and because we don’t always take our shoes off when we’re in this area, the entry area into the room gets very dirty, even with regular vacuuming. We have a Dyson DC23 Animal that does a great job, but even the Dyson can’t keep this area looking really good.
The new machine did an incredible job getting up the dirt in this area. I wish I had taken before an after photos to show the difference in this review! The new cleaner has all the same features as our old one, with two nice additions - Clean Surge and an internal heater for the cleaning solution. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Assembly out of the box is very straightforward if you are even slightly mechanical. I used my SwissTool to tighten the only two bolts in the entire thing. The base with the motor and waste tank is pre-assembled, with the lower half of the handle attached. The upper half of the handle slides onto the cleaner and is locked on with two bolts that also attach the upper tool rack to the back. The lower tool rack clips into place and then there is one screw to permanently attach it. The cleaning solution tank snaps into place on the handle. The hand tool hose gets wrapped around the tool rack and clips into place. There are two hand tools, a powered one with two “SpinScrub” brushes and a smaller unpowered one that is great for picking up spills and cleaning smaller areas. There is a pocket for an optional hard floor tool that is not included. Luckily, I discovered that the old hard-floor tool that came with our first machine fit the new machine tool, so I didn’t have to purchase the extra piece. If you plan to use the machine to clean hard floors like tile or vinyl flooring, you’ll need the tool to keep from damaging the floor, and to get the job done well. The tool simply snaps on the main vacuum head when you need it.
The cleaner is set up to do carpets out of the box. The main head has a full with power brush assembly with three speeds - OFF, LO and HI. There are five rotating brushes on the “SpinScrub” head, and the new machine has two rows of bristles on the brushes where the old one only had one row around the outside. The brush assembly can be removed and replaced for cleaning or replacement.
The cleaning solution tank is very simple, with a measuring cup built into the filler cap to make life simple. The old machine had a vent valve in this cap that could leak at times, so this is a nice improvement.
There are two separate hand tools, both connect to the same flexible hose. The hose is about 6’ (a bit more than 2 m) long. On the old machine, this hose was permanently attached, but a design change to eliminate the hose assembly that failed on our old machine, along with a mechanical valve arrangement that could leak changes that. The hose now has to be manually connected to the waste tank. There is a panel at the front of the waste tank that gives access to the vacuum that is created inside the waste tank. To connect the hose takes a few simple steps: 1) take the lid off the waste tank, 2) flip the movable panel down out of the way, 3) insert the hose adapter into the slot revealed, and 4) put the lid back on the tank. After that, choose the hand tool and get get to work.
The powered hand tool is a major step up from the powered tool on the old machine. The amount of torque created by the air motor on the tool is impressive. It takes some concentration to keep the tool moving the direction that you need it to go. Part of the change in the tool is the change from a pair of smaller, counter-rotating brushes on the old tool to one large diameter brush on the new tool. While I could stall the old tool, I found that I could not stall the new one.
The manual tool remains unchanged as far as I could see, so nothing to say there.
The waste tank has also changed a bit. The old tank had a locking handle that also acted as a handle on the bucket. Lifting the handle automatically released the tank latches and also released the locks on the tank cap. The new tank is significantly simpler, with two cam-locking levers in the base of the tank, one on either side of the tank. The tank cover has a snap-on catch system now that is easy to use once you figure out that the cover has to be installed starting at the front edge of the tank.
I mentioned two new features that have been added: Clean Surge and the Cleaning Solution Heater. On the old machine, you mixed the cleaning solution with the hottest water you could get from the tap. As you worked, the solution cooled, and eventually the solution turned cold. The new heater changes that by continuously heating the cleaning solution as you use it. This really helps with the cleaning power
Clean Surge is a button added to the handle that delivers approximately double the amount of cleaning solution. When cleaning heavy traffic areas like the ones I mentioned, this feature really helps. You just have to be careful not to saturate the carpet.
On the downside, with the reduced price comes some reduced quality. The finish details aren’t as good, with some sharp edges on the plastic mouldings that really could and should have been removed at the factory. The loss of the handle that was part of the waste tank latch mechanism isn’t the best, as it makes it more difficult to remove the tank and carry it for disposal. The new method for connecting the hand-tool hose to the waste tank is a bit inconvenient compared to the old system, but the new method is much more reliable, so the machine should last longer.
When I get a chance to try the hard-floor mode I’ll update this review to let you know how that works!
Noise levels with the new machine are definitely higher. I was able to measure the sound levels emitted by the machines running in the same noise environment. The room was about 12 x 15, with hard walls, windows on one wall and carpet on the floor. With the machine sitting upright and running, the old machine’s emissions had a median emission level of about 91.7 dB(Flat), with peaks hitting 97.8 dB(Flat). As a point of reference, noise levels above 85 dB(A), will require the use of hearing protection in industry. The new machine was considerably louder, with the median noise emissions at 97.3 dB(Flat), with peaks hitting 101.1 dB(Flat). The (A) versus the (Flat) speaks to filtering on the noise meter. The (A) filtering more closely matches the response of the human ear. Nevertheless, the numbers are worth considering. Because the dB scale is logarithmic, an increase in 3 dB as seen here represents a doubling of the noise level. The closer you head is to the base of the unit, the louder the noise gets. This can be the case when you are cleaning stairs. I would recommend wearing some noise protecting ear plugs when you are using this machine. You can pick some up at the Home Depot when you’re buying your new machine!
Overall, we are very pleased with the new machine, and I’m convinced that it does a better job cleaning carpets than before. My only real complaint is the level of noise the machine produces, but since I only use it for a couple of hours a month or less, this is not a big deal. Ear plugs deal with that problem easily.
Our old machine, model F5881-900 Series N7.9, was an excellent machine, cleaning many carpets, both at our house and for friends and family. I have no idea how many hours of use were on it, but I’d bet it was upwards of 500. The suction was still good using the main floor head, but a small flexible tube that linked the hand tool hose to the main suction unit inside the head had split, and getting replacement parts was was not practicable for cost and time reasons. So we started watching the units that were available at our local stores, and doing some online research to see what machines were rating well. For comparison, we paid about $275 taxes for the original machine.
Eventually, we decided to replace the old machine with the updated version of our old machine. We found one on sale at the Home Depot for $219 taxes. The new machine is model F5914900 I12.0.
We run a home business, and the office is on the main floor, right by the front door. We have a dark beige commercial quality berber carpet on the floor that was ScotchGarded at the factory. Because this is a high traffic area, and because we don’t always take our shoes off when we’re in this area, the entry area into the room gets very dirty, even with regular vacuuming. We have a Dyson DC23 Animal that does a great job, but even the Dyson can’t keep this area looking really good.
The new machine did an incredible job getting up the dirt in this area. I wish I had taken before an after photos to show the difference in this review! The new cleaner has all the same features as our old one, with two nice additions - Clean Surge and an internal heater for the cleaning solution. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Assembly out of the box is very straightforward if you are even slightly mechanical. I used my SwissTool to tighten the only two bolts in the entire thing. The base with the motor and waste tank is pre-assembled, with the lower half of the handle attached. The upper half of the handle slides onto the cleaner and is locked on with two bolts that also attach the upper tool rack to the back. The lower tool rack clips into place and then there is one screw to permanently attach it. The cleaning solution tank snaps into place on the handle. The hand tool hose gets wrapped around the tool rack and clips into place. There are two hand tools, a powered one with two “SpinScrub” brushes and a smaller unpowered one that is great for picking up spills and cleaning smaller areas. There is a pocket for an optional hard floor tool that is not included. Luckily, I discovered that the old hard-floor tool that came with our first machine fit the new machine tool, so I didn’t have to purchase the extra piece. If you plan to use the machine to clean hard floors like tile or vinyl flooring, you’ll need the tool to keep from damaging the floor, and to get the job done well. The tool simply snaps on the main vacuum head when you need it.
The cleaner is set up to do carpets out of the box. The main head has a full with power brush assembly with three speeds - OFF, LO and HI. There are five rotating brushes on the “SpinScrub” head, and the new machine has two rows of bristles on the brushes where the old one only had one row around the outside. The brush assembly can be removed and replaced for cleaning or replacement.
The cleaning solution tank is very simple, with a measuring cup built into the filler cap to make life simple. The old machine had a vent valve in this cap that could leak at times, so this is a nice improvement.
There are two separate hand tools, both connect to the same flexible hose. The hose is about 6’ (a bit more than 2 m) long. On the old machine, this hose was permanently attached, but a design change to eliminate the hose assembly that failed on our old machine, along with a mechanical valve arrangement that could leak changes that. The hose now has to be manually connected to the waste tank. There is a panel at the front of the waste tank that gives access to the vacuum that is created inside the waste tank. To connect the hose takes a few simple steps: 1) take the lid off the waste tank, 2) flip the movable panel down out of the way, 3) insert the hose adapter into the slot revealed, and 4) put the lid back on the tank. After that, choose the hand tool and get get to work.
The powered hand tool is a major step up from the powered tool on the old machine. The amount of torque created by the air motor on the tool is impressive. It takes some concentration to keep the tool moving the direction that you need it to go. Part of the change in the tool is the change from a pair of smaller, counter-rotating brushes on the old tool to one large diameter brush on the new tool. While I could stall the old tool, I found that I could not stall the new one.
The manual tool remains unchanged as far as I could see, so nothing to say there.
The waste tank has also changed a bit. The old tank had a locking handle that also acted as a handle on the bucket. Lifting the handle automatically released the tank latches and also released the locks on the tank cap. The new tank is significantly simpler, with two cam-locking levers in the base of the tank, one on either side of the tank. The tank cover has a snap-on catch system now that is easy to use once you figure out that the cover has to be installed starting at the front edge of the tank.
I mentioned two new features that have been added: Clean Surge and the Cleaning Solution Heater. On the old machine, you mixed the cleaning solution with the hottest water you could get from the tap. As you worked, the solution cooled, and eventually the solution turned cold. The new heater changes that by continuously heating the cleaning solution as you use it. This really helps with the cleaning power
Clean Surge is a button added to the handle that delivers approximately double the amount of cleaning solution. When cleaning heavy traffic areas like the ones I mentioned, this feature really helps. You just have to be careful not to saturate the carpet.
On the downside, with the reduced price comes some reduced quality. The finish details aren’t as good, with some sharp edges on the plastic mouldings that really could and should have been removed at the factory. The loss of the handle that was part of the waste tank latch mechanism isn’t the best, as it makes it more difficult to remove the tank and carry it for disposal. The new method for connecting the hand-tool hose to the waste tank is a bit inconvenient compared to the old system, but the new method is much more reliable, so the machine should last longer.
When I get a chance to try the hard-floor mode I’ll update this review to let you know how that works!
Noise levels with the new machine are definitely higher. I was able to measure the sound levels emitted by the machines running in the same noise environment. The room was about 12 x 15, with hard walls, windows on one wall and carpet on the floor. With the machine sitting upright and running, the old machine’s emissions had a median emission level of about 91.7 dB(Flat), with peaks hitting 97.8 dB(Flat). As a point of reference, noise levels above 85 dB(A), will require the use of hearing protection in industry. The new machine was considerably louder, with the median noise emissions at 97.3 dB(Flat), with peaks hitting 101.1 dB(Flat). The (A) versus the (Flat) speaks to filtering on the noise meter. The (A) filtering more closely matches the response of the human ear. Nevertheless, the numbers are worth considering. Because the dB scale is logarithmic, an increase in 3 dB as seen here represents a doubling of the noise level. The closer you head is to the base of the unit, the louder the noise gets. This can be the case when you are cleaning stairs. I would recommend wearing some noise protecting ear plugs when you are using this machine. You can pick some up at the Home Depot when you’re buying your new machine!
Overall, we are very pleased with the new machine, and I’m convinced that it does a better job cleaning carpets than before. My only real complaint is the level of noise the machine produces, but since I only use it for a couple of hours a month or less, this is not a big deal. Ear plugs deal with that problem easily.
