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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Carpet Cleaning Reviews Steam Vac Review Read My Review of the Hoover MaxExtract Dual V Carpet Cleaner Black Model F7412900

hoover max extract dual v carpet cleanerAt this time of year keeping the inside of our houses clean becomes more important because we're doing most of our living inside. Carpet cleaning becomes even more important because of the snow and wet mud and dirt we all tend to track inside with us from time to time. Keeping our carpet clean and floors clean are essential to good health as well as other cleaning.

Particularly during the winter months when theres so much more chance for colds and flus and other communicable diseases that can happen in a home thats not kept clean. Performing periodical carpet cleaning is a good habit to get into any time of the year let alone in the winter. The only question is then, do I hire a professional carpet cleaning company or do I do it myself?

That may be one of the questions you had in mind when you   found this website. Fortunately, your about to find out you can have both. Yes you can have your cake and eat it to. All with the same or better quality, and for a far better price than each professional carpet cleaning.

In fact for the price you'd pay for just one professional carpet cleaning you can have many years of carpet cleanings. And have it done just the way you'd like it.

Enter the Hoover Steam Vac Review!

As most who have read my product reviews know, I go to extreme trouble to bring you quality first and affordability second in each review. So that you know you can count on getting more than what you pay for in a product. In fact, I spent several hours, looking at several types of and different models of carpet cleaning machine.

All from companies all over the world. Prices ranging from less than $100 dollars to over $1000 dollar models. Comparing as well, everything from the details to the specifications of these carpet cleaners. After breaking down all the nuts and bolts, I came to a decision on the one that deserved to be reviewed on this website for you.

That one, is the Hoover MaxExtract Dual V Carpet Cleaner, Black, Model # F7412900. This one equaled and/or excelled all the same qualities of comparable models in all the price ranges. Now let's delve in and take a look at why. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and happy with it.

The Name Alone Deserves Attention

hoover max extract fingertip controls
First of all, let's have a look at the company called Hoover. And see if we can find out a little something about them. Here are some of their distinguishing history....
  • In 1907 Murray Spangler an inventor, comes up with a contraption called the "suction sweeper"
  • In 1908 Spangler partners with W.H. "Boss" Hoover to create the Hoover Floor Care Company
  • In 1926 Hoover engineers create an innovation called the "beater bar" which created one of the most memorable advertising slogans in history, "It beats, as it sweeps, as it cleans". Aided by a strong suction, the metal bar gently tapped the carpet to loosen deeply embedded dirt, as a bristle brush rapidly swept dirt up out of the carpet.
  • Many other firsts have been developed by the Hoover engineers over the years. These include the disposable paper bag, the vacuum cleaner headlight, the self propelled feature and the side-mounted hose feature.
  • The Hoover Company is headquartered in Glenwillow, Ohio as a leader in the floor care industry. For both home and professional uses.
As you can see the Hoover company has been around for over 100 years and is a highly respected company. And a well known household name.

The Quality Details

Let's highlight and see the features of this Quality Hoover Steam Vac.
  • A Powerful 12-Amp Motor with Heated Cleaning
hoover max extract hot air return
A 12 amp motor gives you about 1.85 horsepower of suction. How do we know that 12 amps works out to 1.85 horsepower? Well the determination is found like this - Power = volts x amps. A 115 volt outlet x 12 amps = 1380 watts. We know that 1 horsepower = 746 watts. So therefore 1380 watts = 1.85 horsepower.

Which is more than sufficient to draw up the dirt out of the carpet. This is a good quality point, but most good steam vac's have the 12 amp. motor. There are some I found with less. This steam vac also has heated cleaning engineered into it by returning the heat from the motor back down to the carpet. Allowing for not only cleaner, but dryer carpet after the cleaning is done. Nice feature for you there. Less drying time.
  • Wide Path Nozzle
The Hoover Max Extract has 6 brushes that provide 20 percent more cleaning action than others that have only 5 brushes. The width of the path is 13 inches. And the nozzle is easily removed for easy cleaning. Another nice feature is that it's a strong clear plastic nozzle that makes it easy to see when its time to clean it if need be.
  • DualV® Nozzle
This is one of the patented features of this Hoover model. What it does is focus the air velocity so that you have edge to edge suction power. Even suction all across the nozzle. Resulting in more efficient removing of the dirty water from the carpeting.
  • SpinScrub® Technology 



Another patented feature, that uses counter rotating brushes to gently wash and groom all sides of the individual carpet fibers giving you a 360 degree carpet clean. This is a fascinating feature compared to the brushes that roll or turn just one direction, which alot of the other comparable models have. Good stuff!
  • SpinScrub® Setting Options
Like most standard sweepers including Hoover, this steam vac has adjustable cleaning by the type of surface your cleaning. There are 3 settings you can have with this. They are:

1. Spill Pickup Mode - Which is suction only, without the brush agitation action.

2. Gentle Scrub Mode - Which gives you gentle scrubbing power for use on delicate surfaces.

3. Power Scrub Mode - This setting maximizes scrubbing action for cleaning various thicknesses of carpet and as well as high traffic areas.
  • Edge Cleaning Bristles 
This of course allows you to get up and close to the baseboards of your walls. Allowing for better cleaning in those harder to get to places. We like this feature..
  • Intuitive Controls
These controls are conveniently positioned where they should be, right at your fingertips. Some of the other models had the controls where you had to use both of your hands and some you had to use your foot.
  • 20' Power Cord 
This I found to be pretty much standard on most models. Nevertheless a nice feature. Lets you cover a wide area if you have very large rooms etc..
  • Automatic Detergent Mixing System
hoover max extract automatic detergent mixer
Now this was an attractive feature to me. Many of the more expensive models didn't have this. You don't have to worry about getting the right mixture of detergent and water. You'll never have to worry about "am I wasting to much detergent"? This Hoover will automatically take care of that for you! Just add the detergent and the water and forget it.

This amounts to money saved on detergent and water and peace of mind. And we like this feature.

The On-Board Tools

This awesome carpet cleaning machine also comes with handy onboard tools for cleaning more than just your carpets. Check out the extras...
  • SpinScrub® Powered Hand Tool - This hand tool has a scrub brush in it to allow you to easily clean your stairs and your furniture upholstery. Good feature.
  • 8 Foot Hose - For above floor cleaning with simple attachments. This makes it good for getting those edges up high on your stairs without having to carry the steam vac up the stairs. Although it's only 27lbs. Nice feature.
  • Upholstery Tool - to help get your furniture clean.
  • Removable Tool Caddy - Helps keep tools handy when you need them, and out of the way when you don't. Nice thing here.
hoover max extract easy clean brushes
So what do you think so far? Pretty awesome tool this Hoover home carpet cleaning machine isn't it. One other nice thing about this steam vacuum is that it is mostly a clear unit meaning you can see everything thats going on on the inside while your cleaning. You can see the dirt coming out of the carpets the whole time.

You can monitor the detergent and water mixture while its cleaning and so on. Alot of the other models I observed didn't have this ability. I thought this is something that would be of value to you as well.

Check The Specs
  • Cord Length - 20 Feet
  • Brush Speed - Three Speed
  • Brushed Edge Cleaning - Yes
  • Heated Cleaning - Yes
  • Height Adjustment - 3 Level
  • Handle - Standard Grip Handle
  • Hose Type - Blow Molded Stretch
  • Available in US - Yes
  • Motor Amps - 12 Amps
  • Motor Volts - 120 Volts
  • Nozzle Type - Wide Path
  • Nozzle Width - 13 Inches
  • Dual V - Yes
  • Assembly Required - Screw Driver
  • Brush Type - Turbo Driven Brushroll Rotating Brushes
  • Clean Water Capacity GAL - 1 Gallon(s)
  • Color - Black
  • Dirty Water Capacity GAL - 1 Gallon(s)
  • Product (Hand) Weight LB - 27 Pounds ( lighter than some other models looked at )
  • Cleaning Solution Included - Yes
  • On Board Tools - Yes



  • Powered Hand Tool - Yes
  • Rotating Pet Power Brush - Yes
  • SpinScrub Hand Tool On-Board - Yes
  • Upholstery Brush - Yes
At this point I'll mention again that this steam vac only weighs a paltry 27lbs dry. Light enough that even a young child can use it. Hey, yeah, there ya go, now you can get the kids involved in carpet cleaning. I hear ya, "fat chance that'll happen"!

Ok Kev, You've Showed Me All the Cool Qualities of this Steam Vac. So What Comes in the Box?

Well, let me mention at this time that there is a downloadable manual that you can get online at the Hoover site. Just in case you lose or misplace the hard copy. Cool thing there by the way.

In the Box Comes:
  • Hoover MaxExtract Dual V Carpet Cleaner, Black, Model # F7412900 and all accessories and manual.
What Kind of Warranty Does It Have?
  • 1 Year Limited warranty including parts and labor
Let Me See Some Pro's and Con's from Other Users? Comin Right Up!

The Pro's
  • So my Mom's Day gift to myself was the Hoover F7412-900 SteamVac Dual V Widepath Carpet Cleaner with the Hoover Pet Formula Detergent. O.M.G. My carpet looks and smells absolutely brand new. Stains and odors that I thought might be in the carpet permanently all came out. I'm really shocked. I didn't expect such a great result.
  • I saw the product at a retailer, then saw it priced less on Amazon (plus no tax or shipping), so I said what the heck, try it. I have a medium-tan carpet and two dogs and two cats. The cleaner was easy to assemble. All you need is a phillips screw driver. I'm not to swift at using carpet cleaners, but once I got the hang of it, it was easy to use and it REALLY WORKED!
  • I've owned this Steamer for a month now, before this the only other steamer I have used was a 15 year old Bissel. I have used it 3 times, and I have to say, I love this thing! It did a great job on my 5 year old high traffic carpet. I did not have any stains or anything, but it really made the carpet stand up again, and it made a noticable difference. This steamer is super easy to use, both tanks can be removed easily and quickly, with no mess. The rotating brushes pop off easily for cleaning. Removing hair or whatever doesn't go into the tank is also very easily removed. I would highly recommend this to anyone, especially for the price.
The Con's
  • The Hoover worked well during the first three uses. Shortly afterwards we had a problem with the collection bin. Expecting an easy call to customer service, I waited on hold multiple times for over twenty minutes. I was finally told to bring it to an authorized repair facility. (Hoover couldn't send me a replacement bin on my own?) I spent the next TWO months waiting for Hoover to send the part to the repair facility.
  • While it picks up dirt very, very well, we wish we hadn't bought it. Both of us are large, very strong people and could barely manage the weight of this thing when it's filled with water. The suction was too strong to use on our more lightweight area rugs, bunching them up at edges.
  • We purchased this product and used it. We are a family of 3 people with a beige shade of carpet. It did extract a large amount of dirt as indicated by the color of the water in the collection tank. As a spot and stain remover, however, it failed miserably. The smallest of the dirt and oil spots that appears on carpet were not removed. After use of the machine the brushes also showed considerable signs of wear.
hoover max extract in action
These are just a few of the total reviews from people who have purchased this Hoover Steam Vac. These Pro's and Con's come from Amazon. At the time of this writing there were 279 reviews. Of that there are 176 five star ratings. The rest mixing on down from there. This product has an overall rating of 4.5 stars. You can read more of them here.

Ok Kev, How Much Should I Expect to Pay for this Hoover Steam Vac Cleaner?

This is the sweetest part of it here. Normally on the Hoover website you'll pay $200.00 dollars. But why do that when you can get it at Amazon for $164.54. (at the time of this writing) And check this out, this Hoover Steam Vac also comes with Free Shipping.

So Where Should I buy it at Kev?

Well, considering it'll take you some searching to find it any cheaper, if you can, I'd say if you consider Amazon you really have a no-brainer deal here. I mean with the benefit to you of lowest price, and free shipping, you can't go wrong getting it from Amazon! So yeah by all means, I'd say Amazon, wouldn't you? You can get one right here from this link.

The Conclusion

Being that its the end of November at the time of this writing, if you're thinking about a good Christmas Gift to get Mom or Dad or any other family member this would be a good one. Heres to your cleanliness and health...

And yes you can, yes, you can have your cake and eat it to!

Thanks for coming by...


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