Hoover H3030 FloorMate SpinScrub 500

With over 2000 square feet of tile to keep clean in the Arizona desert, keeping up with the dirt was a problem until I bought the Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub floor cleaning machine. Traditional mopping just moves dirty water around on the floor. The FloorMate SpinScrub scrubs the floors with clean soap solution and then sucks the dirty water into a separate collection tank. I dump the tank and dump the dirt too.

Features:

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• vacuums, washes, and dries hard flooring such as tile, vinyl, and well-sealed hardwood
  
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• 2 brushes: one for hardwood and one for tile and grout
  
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• 2 motors: one motor to spin the brushes and one motor to suck the dirty water off the floor
  
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• 2 tanks: one for the cleaning solution and one for the dirty water
  
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• trigger to release cleaning solution when you need it
  
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• fold-down handle for storage
  
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• filters, tanks and brushes can be removed for cleaning
  
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• 2 models: the 500 and the larger 800, appear to differ only in the size of the scrubbing head
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What works as advertised:

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• The combination of the spinning brushes and separate tanks for cleaning solution and dirty water pickup means that the dirt is really removed from the floor, not spread into new places.
  
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• It cleans close enough to the baseboards that I seldom need to do supplemental scrubbing by hand, except in the kitchen.
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What doesn't work as advertised:

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• Some over-enthusiastic marketing materials claim that the FloorMate SpinScrub can replace your broom, dust pan, vacuum, mop, and bucket. This is exaggeration. It's a very good floor scrubber, but it's not a miracle machine.
  
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• The FloorMate SpinScrub is not a good vacuum cleaner. I found that I get better results if I use my 20-year old canister vacuum to remove the dust-bunnies, dog hair and other loose dirt, then use the FloorMate SpinScrub just for scrubbing.
  
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• The ads claim you can use the FloorMate SpinScrub for cleaning up small spills if the amount spilled was less than a quart. This is true, but it takes too much time to get it out, fill the tank, clean up the spill, dump the tanks, rinse the tanks, dry the tanks, and put the machine away. I'd rather use a sponge or a kitchen towel. For big spills, such as when a 3-gallon jug of iced tea hit the tile last week, I use a wet-dry shop vacuum that holds 10 gallons and can suck up glass without clogging.
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Suggestions for easier floor cleaning:

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• Don't expect to remove months of kitchen grime with one swipe of the machine. It took me three tanks of cleaning solution and five separate washing episodes to clean the kitchen floor the first time. Dogs, teenagers, and a hectic schedule were to blame. Now, regular cleaning is easy enough that I can stay ahead of the mess.
  
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• In a heavily soiled area, such as a kitchen, fill a small spray bottle with the cleaning solution and spray the worst of the dirt. Wait a few minutes and then scrub with the FloorMate SpinScrub cleaner as usual.
  
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• After scrubbing an area, turn the dial to WET PICKUP and suck the remaining water from the floor. It will dry faster and minimize the risk of slipping.
  
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• The cleaner comes with concentrated cleaning solution. After I ran out of concentrate, I experimented with several household cleaners. Although the instructions say you should only use the Hoover brand cleaning solution concentrate, I have been using a generic low-sudsing concentrated household cleaner and have not had any problems. The key is that it must be low-sudsing ... read the labels. Don't use solvent-based cleaners.
  
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• For scrubbing large areas, I use a 2-gallon garden sprayer to apply the cleaning solution, and then the FloorMate SpinScrub for the scrubbing and dirty water collection.
  
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