Steam Cleaning My Home With Hoover

I have always wanted a steam cleaner.  So when Mom Central invited me to be a part of their Hoover campaign I jumped at the chance.  I chose the Hoover Twin Tank Steam Mop to try out and review.  I have no carpeting in my apartment.  It’s all hardwood floors and tile.  Which of course I love with having little kids because spills are much easier to tackle when you don’t have carpeting.

I knew having a steam cleaner would help in containing germs too.  Another fun part of having children, all of the germs they love to share with each other.  I am forever fighting germs it would seem.  Not having to use harsh cleaners which always make my hands break out and of course are not safe around children was a huge bonus.

Features Of The Hoover Twin Tank Steam Mop

• Allows you to use a cleaning solution with the steam to really clean those tough dirt spots.  A cleaner clean with Hoover.
• Disinfecting power.  With steam alone you can remove 99.99% of harmful bacteria.  Including MRSA, Staph, and Salmonella.
• Separates the cleaning solution from the water.  This makes it easier to switch between just steam cleaning and getting a deeper clean with Hoover’s cleaning solution.
• Easy to use control dial.  Right on the front of the machine is a dial which you can adjust to just steam or with cleaning solution and depending on how big of a job you can adjust how much cleaning solution you use.
• 30 foot power cord.
• Removable tanks for easy refilling.
• Swivel mop head shaped perfectly for corners.  The mop head pivots easily around things and right into corners.
• Capability of using steam on carpets to refresh them with steam.  A carpet glider is provided to make it easier to go over carpets.
• 3 microfiber pads for multi-surface floor cleaning.  One pad is for is for hard floor surfaces only and two pads used for multiple surfaces, including carpeting.
• Comfortable handle.  With soft touch grip to provide you with the most comfortable handle for cleaning.
• Lightweight.
• Cord release.
• Light indicator.  Turns green when it’s ready to steam.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  It sure had me intrigued and I was dying to try it.  I actually held off on mopping my floors in anticipation of its arrival.  Hey, there’s no better way to try out a new toy than making it have to work on your toughest job, right?

So How Did It Do

When it finally arrived I immediately read through the instruction manual and got all ready to try it out.  Put water in the clearly marked tank on the front and the cleaning solution that was provided in the clearly marked tank on the back.  I started in my bathroom.  Cleared it out and set the dial to general clean.  There’s also spot clean and tough stains.

I placed a multi surface cleaning pad on, turned the machine on.  Waited 30 seconds for the green light and I was steaming.  I pushed the trigger and moved it all over my bathroom floor.  It pivoted easily around my toilet and reached behind the tank without a problem.  It was easier to maneuver and got into tight spaces better than my Swiffer Sweeper.  And any tough to clean areas I just held over that spot for a few seconds and it came right up.  No more scrubbing with the mop head or having to get on my hands and knees with a scrub brush.  It was so easy.

I loved it so much that I moved onto my kitchen floor.  And it was easy to get around the table legs and reach under the table.  Best part of all is I don’t have to close my kitchen and bathroom after mopping because it dries so much faster.  And believe me with just one bathroom closing it off so the floor could dry with six people was torture.  Everyone of course has to go as soon as you finish mopping too.  But now there’s no more wait.  There’s no more using chairs to block the door into the kitchen to keep the baby out while I’m mopping.

I took my cleaning frenzy right down stairs to my neighbor’s house too.  She was away on a business trip and we have a key so we can take care of her dog.  I had to give this thing a try on carpeting too and she has a few area rugs that I wanted to try it out on.  Don’t worry, I let her know what I was up to and she was not offended at all that I wanted to clean her floors.

As a carpet steamer I was not as impressed with it.  I did not see a difference when I was done in her carpet, but I figured while I was down there I would do the kitchen floor.  Especially since her dog does sometimes do her business there.  I know she’s constantly bleaching her floor.  Her floor is a little different than my kitchen floor.  Actually, I must say I’m so happy that mine has that almond color to it and not the stark white that hers is.  I used the general cleaning on her floor too and it was great.

It was so great that my neighbor now wants a Hoover Steam Mop.  She came home and loved her kitchen floor so much and she knew that with the steam it was getting up all of that bacteria too.  I don’t think she was impressed with the carpet like me, but she loved her kitchen floor.  I’m going to steam it for her again actually.

I think I can throw my mop and bucket out though.  In the past few weeks this has come in so handy.  We had a toilet overflow the other day.  My four year old keeps putting too much toilet paper in the toilet and clogging it.  So there’s not much worse than an overflowing toilet.  While normally I would lug out the bucket and mop and fill it with a mixture of Lysol and water this time I just got the steam mop out.  And I steamed the bathroom and the hardwood floor of the hall because the water went into the hall too.  Just steam.  I have also used it to clean up spills when the baby has spilled drinks on the floor.  It’s so easy to just have to pull that out rather than a mop and bucket.

Wanna see for yourself?  I took some pictures of my floor yesterday before I steamed and then after I steamed.  I am all out of the cleaning solution.  I finished up the 8 ounce bottle it came with after my first cleaning spree.  That was two kitchen floors and one bathroom on general clean.  However, just steam does a good job too.  So here’s my kitchen floor before…

and after…

I know it’s hard to tell there, but there was a spot of I believe jelly on the floor next to the table leg.  So here’s the before and after of that spot on the floor…

Can you see it?  This whole floor was cleaned with steam alone.  That spot came up with little effort on my part.  I simply held the steam mop over the spot for a few seconds and it was gone.  I have removed stickers from the floor this same way too.  I love that I don’t have to scrub spots on the floor like this to get it clean.

What About The Cons

Nothing is perfect.  And I’m a believer in telling you the things I don’t like.  I’ve already mentioned I wasn’t impressed with it on the carpet.  I don’t know if that was because it was an area rug and not an actual carpet or because I didn’t vacuum the rug first or what, but I wasn’t super impressed.  However, I never intended to use it on carpets anyways, it was strictly for all of my floors.  Which hardwood and linoleum it has been great on in my house.

My only other complaint is the access of the cleaning solution.  I asked Hoover if there was anything else I could use and they do not recommend you using any other floor cleaner in their machine.  So my option was to buy it through them online.  That’s fine, a 32 ounce bottle sells for $10 on their site.  Of course then you have to pay for shipping.  But the 8 ounce bottle that came with the machine only cleaned two kitchens and a bathroom or about 700 square feet of space I would say.  I don’t know that I want to wait for a shipment.  Hoover kindly sent me to some local places which might sell the cleaner, but neither one did.

One recommended checking Home Depot.  I have only called them, not actually gone there.  I am told they have a Hoover Hard Floor cleaning solution that they say can be used with all of their machines.  It’s a 64 ounce bottle I am told for $20.  So basically the same price it would be to buy the 32 ounce bottle from Hoover of course minus the shipping and waiting.  I however am not 100% sure I can use it with the Hoover Twin Tank Steam Mop and Hoover has not gotten back to me about that yet.  And since I haven’t seen the bottle for myself I can only go by what I was told by a store associate.

So those were my only issues.  That I don’t like it on carpets and I have been having a heck of a time finding the cleaning solution without having to order it directly from Hoover.

In The End

Those things don’t matter much to me, all of the great things about this mop way outweigh those two minor negatives.  I don’t even need it for carpets.  I probably wouldn’t recommend it if you were planning on using it for carpets.  You can probably get a better Hoover Steam Cleaner for carpets.  But the lightweight and ease of use of the Hoover Twin Tank Steam Mop have made this my favorite cleaning tool.  If only it cleaned toilets too, ha.

I have washed the microfiber towel pads in the washing machine once so far.  No problems.  Just threw them in with my towels and washed and dried right in the dryer.  It still sticks right onto the mop without a problem.

At $99.99 retail price I think this is well worth the cost.  While I know I would have talked myself out of spending the money on something like this I seriously do not know how I have lived without it.  And like I said, my neighbor is sold.  She felt the price was good too for the job it did.

She has other pressing things to buy right now (a new dryer) so she won’t get one right away and I’ll probably keep cleaning her floors for her every now and then or just let her borrow mine, but it’s quiet and efficient and I feel like I can safely say things are clean even though I’m not spending hours scrubbing them to get that way.  I kind of think in the end it’s going to save me money because I’m using less water than I would with filling a bucket and I don’t have to use a cleaning solution to disinfect.

So don’t talk yourself out of this purchase because I really don’t think you’ll regret it.  Seriously, you can truly say so long mop and bucket with the Hoover Twin Tank Steam Mop.

I received a sample of this product to facilitate my review, but my opinions are entirely my own.

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