If you’re asking yourself “Do I really need another vacuum?” Eureka makes a good case for its inexpensive floor scrubber
If the New400 isn’t available in your region, have a look at our review of the similar Tineco Floor One S3.
How did using the Eureka New400 series Wet/Dry Vacuum and Floor Washer first make me feel?
Disgusted.
I’ve often been a practitioner of the “10-second rule,” which glibly claims that food dropped on the floor is safe to eat if it’s picked up within 10 seconds.
But after a first swipe across my “pretty clean” kitchen floor with Eureka’s new wet/dry vac, and an inspection of what it scrubbed up and extracted to its holding tank, I swore I’d be floor-dining no more.
Poured into a tumbler, the recovered liquid looked like a foamy chocolate shake, with random bits of this and that floating around. Yuck. And even with periodic repeat washes, spaced out every four or five days, I found myself dumping out lighter-muddied recovery water from the holding tank. Maybe those fastidious folks who lose their shoes at the front door are on to something.
The New400 is one of a growing breed of what I’d call “specialty” or “limited use” vacuum cleaners. It looks like a typical upright vac, but this machine is useless on carpets and can’t even dry-clean bare floors. It could be more accurately described as a solution-spraying, brush-scrubbing floor washer enhanced with vacuum extraction of the moisture; well, the solution is optional – you could also use plain water.
An upward-opening, suction-powered slit behind the brush takes in 90 percent of the dirty water and, at the same time, collects whatever other grit and goop was sitting in its path. The remaining 10 percent of wetness left on the floor dries in just a minute or two, and without leaving a haze behind. So, that’s what’s meant here by a “wet/dry vac.”Design & Build
The quick-release 600ml (20.3-ounce) capacity clean tank at the top of the body gets filled with warm water and, if you desire, a capful or two of special detergent created specifically for wet/dry vacs. The Eureka-branded Clean+Refresh “sterilizing liquid” supplied with the vac adds a nice smell (it’s billed as ”suitable for pet families”) and provides a tad more cleaning power than water alone.
I also dared to run through a tank of water infused with a couple capfuls of OMO Roborock Multisurface Floor Cleaning solution, developed for wet-vac use by Unilever. It lacked a coverup smell but seemed slightly more adept at loosening ground-in dirt. I say “dared” because the machine’s operating instructions warn: “Always use Eureka cleaning solution in your machine, other cleaning solutions may damage the machine and void the warranty.” In a follow-up inquiry, Eureka raised the possibility of incompatible cleaning chemicals “corroding” parts.
For certain you should never use a soap product not specifically formulated for use in wet/dry vacs. Nor should you use more than a capsule or two of the specialty stuff, as that would surely create excess suds and clog the machine’s works. To lessen concerns, I now run the vac with a smidgeon of additive every other time I use it, alternating with plain tap water to flush the system of any agent residue.
Positioned below the clean-water tank is a second quick-release tank, slightly smaller at 400ml (13.5 ounces), that captures the dirty water the vac sucks back up. I initially scratched my head over the relative tank sizes, fearing “couldn’t a mess-up happen here?”
But the New400’s 2500mAh lithium-ion battery seems to shut down when the dispensing top tank is almost tapped out and the recycling bottom compartment is almost full.
