Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner review: A simple, effective spot cleaner for carpets

If your house has carpet, there are probably sections that would benefit from the attention of a spot cleaner like the Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner. This simple device has one job: to clean stubborn dirt from carpet – or upholstery – whether it’s only just been spilled, or it’s been there for a while. This isn’t designed to shampoo every inch of your floor, but instead it’s laser-focused on stains or small patches of your hardest-working rugs and mats.

The device uses two tanks: one for the water and cleaning solution, and the other to collect the dirty stuff. You spray the mix onto the area requiring attention, then, using one of its two attachments, you brush the carpet clean and suck the dirty water back through the hose into the dirty water tank.

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Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner review: What do you get for the money?

There’s not a lot to this device. In the box, you get the unit itself, with the hose and power cable attached, and two detachable nozzles, one large and one small. The two nozzles can be changed, depending on the size of the job. The smaller 90mm nozzle is ideal for spot washing or for relatively small areas – I found it ideal for spot-washing upholstery and small doormat-sized rugs – then, for anything larger, it’s worth switching to the 165mm nozzle, which will cover more surface area with each stroke. It’s designed for stairs and larger rugs, but isn’t really suitable to clean a whole room.

The spot cleaner also comes with 285ml of concentrated carpet cleaning solution. Diluted at 25ml per litre of water, this is enough to fill the 2.5l clean tank a little over four-and-a-half times. Once that’s been used up, the device will take any “premium” carpet cleaning solution – the parent company, Cleva, doesn’t sell refill bottles.

Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner review: What’s it like to use?

The Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner is simple to use. The clean water tank lifts out of the unit to take warm water straight from the tap. There are three measurement lines on the side, so you can see how much you need for small, medium and large cleaning jobs, and it’s also useful for adding the required amount of cleaning solution.

Then replace the tank and all you need to do is choose which attachment size to use, clip it to the end of the hose and plug the device in. The vacuum starts as soon as you switch the machine on, but the trigger underneath the hose lets you spray the area with water and cleaning solution first.

Once the area is doused, you can go in with the combined brush and vacuum nozzle, which scrubs the carpet and then sucks out the water as you pull it towards you. It’s simple and effective.

The ends of both nozzle attachments are made from translucent plastic, so you can see the dirty water being collected, and know when the carpet is about as dry as it’s going to get. The vacuum doesn’t leave it bone dry – you’ll still get a damp sock if you walk over it – but it sucks out most of the excess water, and drying time varies depending on the type of carpet. The mats I tested it on were dry within a few hours.

When you’ve finished and have emptied out the waste water, the hose can be clipped on the side and the whole unit stored away. It’s a compact 340 x 240 x 360mm (WDH), so can be easily hidden in a cupboard.

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Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner review: How well does it clean?

I tested the Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner on a hard-working mat that sits by my back door. This mat regularly gets dirty shoes wiped on it and is one of my dog’s favoured hangouts. I also used it on the mat that we use as a secondary, internal, front door mat, as well as on a sofa cushion that had suffered some staining from a coloured edible dog chew, illicitly consumed on the sofa while no-one was watching.

The cleaning process doesn’t require much effort and the light pre-wash spray, followed by the gentle rub of the brush and the collection of the dirty water, left both mats looking vastly improved, as you can see in the photos below. In both cases, I cleaned the bottom halves of the mats for the photos, to give a “before-and-after” comparison.

The result on the upholstery was also impressive. The combination of the brush and the cleaning solution lifted off the dried-on sticky chew, though it took a little more scrubbing than with the muddy mats. However, the moisture lifted out well and I was very pleased with the final result.

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Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner review: Should I buy it?

The Vacmaster EasyClean Carpet Spot Cleaner is simple and effective. Its relatively small size means it isn’t much more awkward to store than a large mop bucket, but its ability to make short work of dirty rugs, mats and carpet spillages is remarkable.

However, it’s worth shopping around if you’re looking for additional features. For example, the Vax SpotWash Home Pet-Design Spot Cleaner has a rotating brush for additional carpet agitation, while the Bissell SpotClean maintains the water temperature for optimum cleaning.

On the other hand, if you have a lot of carpet that needs regular cleaning you may find it’s worth investing in an upright carpet cleaner, such as the Bissell HydroWave. This has a much larger tank and can be operated standing up, with rotating brush bars in the floor head to agitate your carpet as it’s being washed.

Or, for a versatile all-in-one cleaner – one that can vacuum and wash both carpet and hard floor – we recommend the Numatic George. While it’s not the best vacuum cleaner in the world, it’s brilliant at washing hard floors and carpet.