Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum Cleaner, H3044
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum Cleaner, H3044
Customer Review: Worked ok but would not recommend it to anyone.
Summary: 2 Stars
I've owned this product for about two years. I used it on vinyl and hardwood. It works alright, scrubs off the floor but doesn't get all of the muddy dog foot prints off of my white vinyl unless you go over it many, many times.
After about a year something in it broke and it now leaks a small puddle of dirty water after you turn it off, even if you've emptied out the container. I left it sitting on my hardwood one day after emptying it and came back to find it had made a dirty puddle that soaked through and left a black water stain on my floor. Every time after that I made sure to store it on a towel and not on my wood floors, which meant I had to leave it sitting on the vinyl in the kitchen for a day while it puddled.
The machine is hard to clean out. Even though I vacuumed (with a real vacuum cleaner, not the one on the FloorMate) there would still be bits of mud and dirt and a few stray pieces of fur on the floor. These bits get stuck to the piping inside the machine, and after two years of use it smells terrible! I have tried to take it apart several times and spent hours trying to flush out accumulated bits of ick that have mildewed. This is just from average use, my house isn't filthy and I've been careful to take good care of the thing. It's just very poorly designed.
We recently got new flooring and I decided to invest in the Shark steam mop that also vacuums. I love it, it's light years better than the Floormate. My floor and my grout are very, very clean now!
Customer Review: I LOVE THIS FLOORMATE! :0
Summary: 5 Stars
This Hoover H3044 Floormate is absolutely wonderful! My vinyl floor has never been this clean. It was cleaned the day before I used the Floormate using another appliance. I could not believe how dirty and gray the water in the "dirty tank" was. I did vacuum my floor first using my regular Bissell hard floor vacuum. I did not want to use the FloorMate's vacuum feature coz one is supposed to empty the dirty tank and then replace it after vacuuming. It just seemed easier to use my lightweight Bissell for the vacuuming part. I only had to use the Wash feature even thought the FloorMate has three settings: Dry Vac, Wash and Wet Pick Up. The floor was virtually clean and dry using only the Wash feature.
The only objectionable thing is the floor cleaning solution that came with the Floormate. It is cloyingly sweet and very unpleasant smelling. However, the smell dissipates and I cannot smell it now. I called the Hoover helpline and talked with 'Ahmed'. I told him how unpleasant the smell was. I asked if I could use vinegar and water and he assured me that I could use ANY cleaner that is not a solvent (something that becomes sudsy) He even said I could use non-sudsy household
ammonia and water in the clean tank. I had specifically asked about the ammonia in the event I want to strip wax in the future.
I am glad I will be able to use another type cleaning solution. This is a very loud floor cleaner but so much better than the old back-breaking scrub mop and then rinse and rinse and rinse...LOL
Customer Review: Meets My Expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought my first FloorMate 8 years ago. I hoped that I would actually be able to get rid of my broom and dustpan, per the advertisements, but I quickly discovered that that would never happen. Once I got past that expectation, the FloorMate was awesome.
My 2nd FloorMate was identical to my first (the H3000) and I bought it 3 years ago. It recently stopped sucking up the dirty water, which means it's useless to me.
Which brings me to this model. Since I have no expectations of the dry vac function, that does not negatively affect my review. I used my new one for the first time today and I love it. One of my favorite features is the selection dial right by the handle. It was very easy to switch between the wash and wet pick up. The floor release button is also easier to use. The wider path makes cleaning my kitchen and den area much quicker. And the fact that this handle folds down will make storage even better.
I have lots of tile and hardwood flooring in my house and I find that a conventional mops are just a pain. I'd rather take slightly more time to get a more thorough clean. Plus, I was replacing mop heads much quicker than I have ever replaced the filters on my FloorMate.
So, if you're not looking to ditch the broom and dustpan and basically want an easier way to mop your tile, this is it. It's also great for picking up spills (such as the cat's water).
Until there's something unbelievably amazing on the market, I'll be sticking with my FloorMate.
Customer Review: Eh, Not Bad . . .
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros: The machine picks up the dirty water and separates it into a recovery tank for disposal. You don't just push around the dirty stuff as you do with a mop. The cleaning solution is pleasant with a mild scent and seems not to leave a residue.
Cons: Leaves a lot to be desired in its scrubbing action. If you have something sticky (like my young kids often track in) on the floor, it won't scrub it up. I can still see and hand-clean stuff off of the floor after I'm done with this machine. I wish I could adjust the brush pressure so it would "bear down" a little more. It doesn't pick up the water quite as well as I expected, either -- reserve a little drying time after the job.
Bottom Line: I work in a building where the cleaning crew uses a great commercial rotary machine to scrub and rinse the floors and pick up the water as they go. It may seem obvious, but this isn't one of those. I find that I have to mop or clean on hands and knees first to remove the tough stuff, then follow up with this. The real plus to this machine is that after using it, the floor is actually clean, with no dirty water left on the floor. If you use it regularly and have a relatively clean, grown-ups only house, you should be very happy. Likewise if you have a more heavily-trafficked floor and understand that it will still require a little elbow grease before you turn on the unit. Don't expect it to work miracles, but it's a good machine.
Customer Review: AWESOME
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the original model of this and have not replaced it with the newer version, but I have to tell you, one of the best tool investments I've ever made. What convinced me it was worth the price:
My professional cleaning people had just scrubed my floors endlessly with back breaking good ol fashioned mopping when I spilled milk on the floor. I wiped it with a rag but still wanted that ooh so fresh and clean look so I broke out the floormate and figured, why not test the entire kitchen and see: Shokingly gray, filthy, dirty, slimy, grainy, gunky water poured out.
What reinforced my belief it was a great investment: I had my house remodeled. It included some serious, serious grinding, sanding, etc. which left my floors just covered in tiny little dirt particles. I thought I would sacrifice my Hoover just to get the stuff off the floor. It did an amazing job. The Hoover hasn't looked quite as clean since (those little tiny particles got stuck in places I just can't get to) but it still takes care of businss.
It really leaves floors so squeeky clean you could eat off them. No residue, no film. The solution is pricey but I like using it because it evaporates the remaining water so rapidly---particulary like this effect for my wood floors.
Highly, highly recommend it.
Only con: obviously can't reach into those crevices. STILL WORTH IT!