I stopped by the Goodwill near my house today and found a like-new Hoover Floormate for $14.99. Such a deal. I remembered Marty Rocha had one that he really raved about so at that price, I decided to get it.

It did not come with instructions so I have no idea how to use it. I would use it only for wet-scrubbing the kitchen floor. Do you have to use some certain kind of solution in it, or will PineSol (my favorite) do?

Also, in the link below the machine came with what appears to be attachments in a caddy. What are they? What are they used for?

NO Pine-Sol!!!! specifically mentioned in the instructions no solvent type cleaners.. Embossed on themeasuring cap, mine at least, I think it mentions Hoover floor cleaner, Lysol something or other floor cleaner.. just none with solvent properties.

Aww shucks and tarnation. I luv the smell of Pine-Sol. Good thing I flushed the Floor Washer out with clean plain water when I was done. Although, having disassembled it I can say that back in 1959 (?)Hoover was still using genuine rubber gaskets, hose and seals and a tough vinyl/acryllic plastic to form the tank components which should be fine with diluted Pine-Sol. Today's plastics and neoprene, I'd heed Hoover's advice for sure. And I think I'll have to find something else pine scented for future Floor Washer jobs.

Thanks, Pete.

Aeolian, the FloorMate that I found is not the same as the vintage Floor Washer you have. Check the link I included above.

Hey Charles Richard--

Here's a link to download an instruction manual off of Hoover's website! Enter H3060 as the model number, and you should be all set!

Yes, they do make a special kind of detergent for the FloorMate, called "Floor to Floor" which can be used on any type of bare floor surface. You can also use a capfull of vinegar and a tank of hot water to clean. Stay away from PineSol, Lysol, Ammonia, Bleach, etc...

Happy Hoovering!

~Fred

Hi, thx for link to manual. I will note, there is a decal on the machine that states "use with Old English for wood floors and Lysol Concentrated Floor Cleaner for tile and linoleum" or something to that effect.

Will vinegar alone really do the job of scrubbing a kitchen cloor? We have offwhite vinyl tile that just shows every speck of dirt. I really, really hate it. It is absolutely impossible to keep clean. What I do is give it more or less weekly mopping with a squeeze-out string mop, then once a month or so give it a good scrubbing with my Electrolux air-powered polisher. The Electrolux does a great job but you have to mop up the dirty water which takes several attempts - it's really a pain in the butt.

P.S. I went to the Hoover link and there are 5 different models listed. So I looked at mine and it is a model H3000. Wouldn't you know ... it's not on the list. The closest is H3030. As far as I know, it's the same model. Or close enough anyway. I checked with my local vac shop and they do not carry Floor to Floor cleaner but said they would order it for me.

You can always suck up the post Electrolux scrub water with the Floor Mate. I did that only a few days ago trying out my Elux 3 brush polisher to see if it worked better on the tile grout than the Floor Mate, didn't seem to.

Forgot to add..using the Electrolux to scrub the floors was a lot quieter than using the Floor Mate

Oh ... is the Floor Mate noisy? I haven't even turned it on yet.

Have you turned it on yet? I find it noisier than I care for but not unbearable. Doing a large area or multiple rooms can get annoying. Whereas doing the scrub with the much quieter Electrolux then sucking it up with the Hoover isn't such a bad idea but somewhat defeats the purpose of buying it in the first place.

I was able to order the proper "Floor to Floor" solution from my favorite local vac shop -- as soon as the stuff arrives (mid week probably), I'll fire the Floor Mate up. Not much point in doing so until I have the solution for it.

I do like the design -- the low profile of the front will allow it to get right up to the baseboards under the kitchen cabinets, something none of my Electrolux machines, neither air-powered nor electric, can do.

Wow... that was a great price for such a late model. "Hoover" teamed up with Lysol an Old english and sold stuff made specifically for the Floormate when it first came out... we sold it as Sears when I worked there.

The hose is for doing grout or the bathroom shower tiles.

They are loud... sound a lot like a Hoover carpet extractor.