Just Suck it Up

Disclosure

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about my dogs around here. Unfortunately, it’s no longer plural. Just over a year ago, we lost our American Eskimo to a stroke. We have been fortunate that our dogs lived as long as they did. Nestle, our Chow, is over 14 and for a chow, that’s pretty old.

This is Nestle.  I love her so much.

But like anyone that is old, her health isn’t perfect.

Now, let me introduce you to my ‘pretty’ room.  It’s kind of a sitting room.  It’s where I keep some furniture that was passed down to us.  It’s the room the kids can sit and read in but not play. (Except for right now where DH temporarily set up a train set he got at an auction.)

Notice how there is a baby gate up?  My kids are 9 and 7. That gate isn’t for them. It’s to keep Nestle out. See that rug there?  It’s Nestle’s favorite spot to “go” when she can’t hold it any longer.  Like I said, she’s old so her health isn’t perfect.

Unfortunately, I am embarrassed to say that my steamer hasn’t done the best job of cleaning the rug. No matter how many times I steam it, I cannot get rid of the smell.

So when Mom Central offered for me to try out the new Hoover Max Extract 60, I was like “How did you know?”  Then it arrived and I took it out of the box right away!   I couldn’t wait to try it out!

   So what did I think of it?  Let’s break it down:

Assembly:  It comes in a few pieces in the box so it required a little assembly.  When I say that, I mean VERY LITTLE assembly.  After double checking to see that I had all the pieces (which took longer than it should have because a few of the pieces were already assembled), I went about the process putting the whole thing together.  That involved removing one screw then snapping the handle into place then put the screw back.  Took me longer to walk to the garage to grab a screwdriver than it did to assemble it.

Size:  It has a large footprint.  It’s a bit larger than my old unit. The upside to that is it covers well. The downside is that I needed to rearrange my broom closet to make the steamer, vacuum, mops, step stool and dog food all still fit.  However, the hose for stairs and upholstery is built into it with a place for the attachments to snap in. My old unit had all that stuff in a separate box which was cumbersome to repack into the same small box after each use.  So while it takes up more footprint in the broom closet, it also frees up a ton of space on the shelf.

Features:  The canisters pop in and out so easily. That’s such a huge bonus for me! With my old unit, I had to tilt the whole unit down, unhook the latches and lift out the container of dirty water. It was terribly annoying, not to mention, messy. This unit has an easy release where the steamer stays sitting upright and you just grab the canister and go dump it.  The canister with clean water and the detergent are actually split.  There is a side chamber with a detergent/water mixture and a main chamber with clean water only.  Makes sense to have clean water used for rinsing as opposed to using detergent water!  The amount of water the disposal chamber holds also seems equivalent to the clean water chamber. My prior unit required the dirty water to be dumped a few times before the clean water and detergent were used up. This could also be why it has a slightly larger footprint.

Effectiveness:  To move it across the carpet when it isn’t running, you need to tilt it on the wheels.  It isn’t like a vacuum that you can just push around. It is so low to the ground that it makes it difficult to move unless you (do as the instructions state and) tilt it.  That low profile apparently translates to a really good seal.  When I pulled out the used water, I about got sick.  I had JUST steamed recently with my old one and the room had since been blocked off from Nestle.  When I saw how dirty the water was, I was shocked. No wonder my room smelled… the old steamer just wasn’t doing a good job!

Final thoughts: Despite the larger size, I’m really pleased with how the Hoover Max Extract 60 works. It’s effective, convenient and easy to use!