
I was at Goodwill recently and saw several carpet cleaners that had just arrived. I had my choice between a Dirt Devil and a Hoover. Both were the same price and both looked like they had been used and put away without any sort of cleanup. I decided to get the Hoover because it rolled easier and was a little quieter. I took the Hoover home cleaned it up, and then tested the suction by putting a small amount of water on the floor. It didn’t seem to suck very well, so I removed the front clear panel and put a bead of silicon along the gasket. This didn’t make much difference, so I went to YouTube and found that the accessory panel needs to be properly seated to make the suction work. This did the trick and the machine started pulling up liquid. I also found several videos on how to make your own carpet cleaning solution. I experimented with several mixtures before settling on a mix of Oxyclean, Isopropyl Alcohol, and Fabuloso. The Oxy is a cleaning agent, Alcohol acts as a solvent and drying agent, and Fabuloso is a multi-purpose cleaner that adds a clean smell. I added about 1 ounce of each to a gallon of hot water. I put a stronger mix with a little Dawn dish soap in a spray bottle to use as a spot pre-treatment. My carpets had not been cleaned in a while and the water in the recovery tank was proof of that. I can still see some stains, but it looks much better than before. The Hoover model I got only has a small brush in front which does not move on it’s own like the Spin Scrub model. I’m also not sure why they call it a Steam Vac when it doesn’t heat the mixture or produce any steam. It’s a pretty basic machine that depends on how hot the water is that you put in the tank. The retail price for a similar machine is about $189. My cost (with senior discount) was $10.48, plus about 8 or 9 bucks worth of cleaning products.