H2O Vac
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Overall Rating 
Manufacturer
Thane International, Inc.
Product Description
H2O Vac as seen on TV. Vacuum that uses a water filtration technology.
Average Retail Value
$199.95 (prices may vary)
Comparisons
Oreck XL Classic Vacuum | Oreck XL Deluxe Vacuum | Oreck XL ULTRA Vacuum
Consumer Ratings
it last 3 months
5/15/2008 - Josbeth of valencia, venezuela writes:
I bought the H2O vac because I have pets, and a newborn baby the vac is very noisy and I couldnt use when the baby was sleeping, than the water disposal is terrible to clean really a mess. then after 3 months using it a main plastic part broke up and here in my country they dont sell the replacement for it so I coldnt use it anymore
H2O cleans the air!
5/7/2008 - Miriam Lavis of BC, Canada writes:
DO NOT USE ALL CAPS. Do not buy, do not buy, do not buy. This item is disgusting. It makes the air smell musty, my daughters got mold in it, you have to empty out sludge to where? This vac makes more of a mess than the dirt! Gross, gross, gross.
never ever think of buying it!
4/30/2008 - iryna of manitoba, canada writes:
only the first time you use it-your air will smell fresh. Try it second time - it will stink like a terrible sewage! I regret greatly for buying it. The water tanker design is terrible - it traps all the dirt in, so you have to reach with your hand and pull out all the stuff. And remember you can't dump everything (pieces of plastic,little stones, little "lego" pieces, buttons etc.) into your toilet. So, after every vacuming I would "sort out the garbage". Awful! Another thing is the material the vacum is made of. It is a cheap plastic. The water tank cracked after few months. Once I used the vac to suck the water from washed carpet. It did a good job but I didn't realise that the hose inside got wet and when I vacumed dry stuff afterwords, - it all sticked to the hose! The next time I turned it on the awfull faul smell came out! I thought I got a dead mouse inside my vac... Bottom line - H2O is a junk that you pay for.
Product sucks!
4/26/2008 - Lou of IL, USA writes:
Why, oh why, didn't I search the web for honest product reviews, BEFORE I bought this piece of junk?! Please read all the comments and don't waste your money! The few people who like it must have been paid by the company to LIE! My machine is going into the landfill. It's loud, attachments do not stay hooked together, trying to empty and clean the water tank is horrible, s/h charges are outrageous, can't get a total refund, customer service is a joke and finally WHY IS THIS COMPANY STILL BEING ALLOWED TO SELL THESE PIECES OF CRAP?! Where is the better business bureau when you need them? Wish I could give this product a MINUS -100! Save your money and go buy a wet/dry vac. You'll be happier!
H2O VAC waste of money
4/16/2008 - VJ of ON, CAN writes:
Terrible product, waste of money. Left my floor sopping wet.. unlike the commercial detailed. I don't know how it could possibly clean a rug! I tried it and it was just like pouring hot water on the rug.. I don't know how these companies can get away with making false claims and then not standing behind their product!! Very disappointed. DON'T waste your money.. buy a []instead!
Don't buy
4/11/2008 - Ben of Ontario, Canada writes:
I had to return this item because it has no suction power. I got my money back but I wasted the shipping charges. I am not going to try any product sold at [] ever ever again.
H20 Vacuum Cleaner - A Wet Nightmare
3/11/2008 - Frank of New York, USA writes:
Well, I wrote this to put on the company website, so I didn't realized all these fellow sufferers have already described the major faults of this product, so some of this is redundant, but just for the record..... I watched an infomercial one night which, as they always do, showed the glowing merits of this unique product; I was intrigued, then suckered into buying the H2O Vacuum Cleaner. It certainly is an interesting concept; almost all regular vacuums rely on some sort of air filtration system to capture dirt that is not stopped and collected in the dirt bag, from being blown out with the vacuum's exhaust; the dust and dirt are always airborne in this type of a vacuum system and therefore need a very good filtering system to stop it from being belched back into the space you are trying to clean. Depending on how good (or not) the air filters are, some dust/dirt will wind up back in the room. The H2O vacuum is unique in that the all the dirt is trapped by passing it thru a water reservoir. There it is wetted and captured in the water itself, thus it cannot be returned back into the room with the vacuum's exhaust. So far so good, and I must say that it does sound like a very plausible and ingenious concept. Now for the reality-check, which, of course, they NEVER show in the infomercial and which makes them, as far as I am concerned, mis-informercials! You start by filling a canister that sits on the vacuum's base with regular tap water. There are some good features: the unit comes with a goodly long hose and long power cord, and it does produce a very strong suction....all very positive. (BTW, some of the complaints about lack of suction which I've read here may come from another negative fact of this design -- if the water is not exactly between the Maximum and Minimum marks, the suction is greatly deminished). It does have very big wheels that allows it to maneuver well over carpets and floors. But then comes the caveats -- in the commercial, it shows a woman gingerly emptying out the water that captured all that dirt which was vacuumed up. The water is now nasty, filthy water being flushed down the drain. Seems so easy and you are happy to see that the water captured all that dirt and none of it was exhausted back into the room like regular vacuum cleaners. But at home, I quickly found that the process of emptying that canister is not nearly as easy as seen on TV. In fact, it is practically impossible to clean the canister thoroughly of the dirty water and debris. The water reservoir is designed with plastic nooks and crannies which capture and hold the dirty water. You can turn it completely upside down and some of that black water and debris, clumps of hair and who know what will always remain in the canister as you can't get at the dirt that gets lodged in the plastic nooks and crannies. Gobs and gobs of black clumps of wet stuff will remain in the canister. And THAT is a very unhealthy situation.....stagnant water keeping dirt wet, sitting in this canister after you put it away....very bad, as you will find out the next time you turn on this appliance. So this water filter thing is creating a much bigger problem than some airborne dust which might be carried out of a regular vacuum cleaner's exhaust -- that wet junk left sitting for more than a day or two in the H2O vacuum cleaner's canister starts to stink to high heaven. Someone said it smelled like a sewer...that poster was being kind. It is a stench that will make you nausious. I tried rinsing the canister with clean water after I used it (a MUST) and then again the next time I needed to vacuum, but no matter what you do, you will get a terrible moldy smell blowing into the room from whatever is growing in the damp debris, which is a mixture of hair, dust mites, all manner of organic stuff. Of COURSE it's going to stink. Anything that smells that bad, in my mind, means something nasty is festering -- mold, bacteria....whatever, in between uses. It has to be extremely unhealthy. As if that isn't enough, there is another downside -- the TV ad rants about how much easier it is to empty the water canister instead of dealing with the dirt bags of regular vacuum cleaners. Fact is, you might have to empty a vacuum cleaner dirt bag maybe once a month?....with this H2O vacuum, you had better empty that gallon canister EVERY single time you use it, and emptying it is a big, BIG inconvenience -- a lot more inconvenient than emptying a standard vacuum cleaner dust bag once a month....water splashing all over the place. And lord help you if you get lazy or just forget to dump the dirty water....you wind up with an awful sludge that, as I said, probably contains all kinds of things growing in it. After each cleaning, I try to spray Lysol in it to keep it from smelling, but to no avail. Every time I turn it on, I can smell something rotten. And dumping that sludge is a project all its own....plan on then having to wash the toilet bowl or the sink after you empty the canister. It's messy and disgusting, and it's MUCH more time-consuming than any regular vacuum cleaner I ever used, either canister or upright, bag or bagless. Also, the water canister on the H2O vc has a mark on the side that you must fill the water up to; as you vacuum, the water evaporates because of the vigorous churning of the air rushing thru it. If enough water evaporates and it falls below the minimum line, the suction will stop altogether and you'll need to fill the thing up again at the tap in the middle of your vacuuming job, but there will still be water in it, making it heavier than when it's empty, so here you are, lugging this heavy canister around back to the sink and then back to where you are vacuuming -- another unacceptable, big inconvenience which they never mention on TV. Dealing with the filthy water, no matter when you have to do it is quite disgusting, and that's me saying it. I am a single guy who works in a mechanics shop -- I am not too finicky about that kind of thing; I can't imagine how a woman like my mom would deal with this filthiness, not to mention having to lug this heavy canister of water to and from the sink to the base unit. She'd look at that filty water and out in the garbage this thing would go. The ONE good thing that is does have over standard vacuums -- it will suck up water off the floor. So if you wash your floors, you can use it to suck up the dirty water. But then again, if that is a priority, just get a shop wet/dry vac. In short, this H2O Vacuum is good as a concept but a disaster in the application. Avoid it like the plague that it probably is harboring in its damp, festering innards.
DO NOT BUY THIS IT DOESNT WORK AS ADVERTISED
2/20/2008 - Bright of Ontario, Canada writes:
Unfortunately, I bought this thing and battling with Thane to give me a full refund. I bought it in September called them at the end September to ask for a refund and we are now in mid-February and still NO REFUND. The most they want to do for me is give me a store credit but that still leaves me $200 in the hole for this crap and no working vacuum. The hose itself is so short it falls apart every second. It doesn't clean properly because the way its made. Hepa filter clogs very quickly. You cant clean the stairs with this thing and carry it in the other hand at the same time because it is big and heavy. This thing is only good for floors and thats it if you have carpet at home good luck to you using this thing....Horrible. I have never felt so ripped off in my life of all the products I have ever bought in my life.
H20 Vac is AMAZING
2/19/2008 - Krsta of Ontario, Canada writes:
Im not sure whats wrong with all these people saying the H20 vac sucks. I own a cleaning service that has been up and running for years now. I bought this vac because it looked amazing. When I got the vacuum home I vacuumed my bedroom floor with my old vacuum which I thought was doing an amazing job.. THEN i used the H2O vac and OMG the water was black and sludgy. It picked up the stuff that I didnt even see. I have 4 dogs that shed alot.. and this is the only vacuum that I have ever had that picked it all up in just one swipe. All the attachments fit perfectly... the suctions rocks!!!! I dont know what planet these people are from.. But I would swear my life on this vacuum.. its that amazing.... Krista
It sucks... but not like it should!
2/8/2008 - Adam of Ontario, Canada writes:
Ok I won't. Wow. I went halves with a friend so he could have the other one. So I only spent half of the money on the piece of garbage. Stinks to high hell since you can;t clean it out properly. (mental note.. do not use Pine Sol in it. bubbly) and the plastic is so cheap. Hoses broke and we have rebuilt them with black duct tape. Hepa filter clogs quickly and they're expensive to order from the company. Heavy and awkward. Sounds like a jet engine when it runs and sucks like a straw in a McDonalds milkshake. Attachments fall off constantly! Try doing your stairs with this thing. It's like a trapeze act. BAD BAD BAD BAD product. Did you see the comments from people who liked it? IT'S PROBABLY THE COMPANY THAT SELLS THEM! Thane can eat me. They're product blows and for a vac that's bad. save yourself the hassle. If you want a big bulky loud and awkward wet/dry vac then buy a shop vac. This thing is fit for he pit. Why can't I give it no stars? That blows too. Nuff said.
Rip off!
1/29/2008 - Christopher of Georgia, USA writes:
My grandmother purchased this thing and I knew right off she was in trouble when she explained about getting a free one. I mean come on - everyone knows these infomercials are rip offs... nothing is free. Like everyone else has said this thing worked nothing like what they show on tv. I mean I have had handheld vacs that worked better. She called me a week later saying they had charged some outrageous shipping fee for the free one. Luckily I got on the phone with her credit card company and disputed the charge. We also reported the company to the BBB and the Consumer Affairs Office. I hope that everyone used a credit card so they could dispute this and get their money back! This company should HAVE to give everyone their money back no matter what but of course they are not going to do what's right. I think my grandmother has learned her lesson that these infomercials are a rip off. If these products worked as well as they claim they would be selling them in retail stores. The reason they don't is because they know people will return useless products to the store and the company would go bankrupt. Instead they prey on people just taking the loss and getting tired of fighting them! Don't let these places rip you off - FIGHT BACK!
Piece of JUNK!!!
1/25/2008 - Jessica of Missouri, USA writes:
I agree! This product is the biggest waste of money ever! I paid about $258 for this piece of junk becasue I got their special offer "buy one get one free". I sent the other one to my mother. The attatchments do not fit in the storage bag. The tube attatchment doesnt even fit the hose as a matter of fact you have to put them back on what seems like ever 2 seconds because they just fall right off. It is extrememly heavy. It is IMPOSSIBLE to clean. Worst of all, it doesnt pick up ANYTHING! When I ordered this vac I was unaware of the fact that I would have to purchase extra attatchments and filters. As a matter of fact the infomercial claimed that there was no filter. Then when I called to let them know I was dissatisfied they tried to bribe me to keep it by offering me a $50 credit back on my debit card. It would have cost me too much to ship the thing so I just took the money and sold my H2O vac on the internet. To anyone who is even considering purchasing this thing I strongly advise you not to. It is a huge waist of money and really just a pain in the you know what.
H20 Vac is JUNK!!!
1/20/2008 - Judi of Illinois, USA writes:
I was excited when I saw the H20 vac on television. They made it look like the best thing since sliced bread. I called to place the order and was told that I could get a second H20 vac FREE - I just had to pay s/h fees. Sounded great, so I ordered the two machines. (One for me, the other for my sister.) Imagine my surprise when I received the paid invoice and the NON-REFUNDABLE s/h fees for the second vac came to almost $200! Still, it would have been worth it, IF the vac worked liked the ads claimed. It did NOT preform as promised. IT DIDN'T EVEN COME CLOSE! Here's the scoop: (1) I'm 5'9" tall. The "attachment" tube, fully extended, was too short for me. I was forced to bend over just to vacuum, which after a few minutes, made my lower back hurt. Because the vac did NOT suck up the dirt and pet hair, as advertised, I had to repeatedly go over the same area, multiple times. By the time I got just my living room area cleaned, I was miserable. (2) The round canister, with water, is extremely heavy and not easily carried from room to room, as stated in the commercial. (3) There isn't a handle that will allow you to lift the machine, even to vacuum up the stairs and the water sloshes around when the machine is moved. (4) The inside of the canister has little plastic dividers that are impossible to clean or dry. The dirt, pet hair, etc., is trapped in these areas and will not come out, upon dumping. (5) Dumping the water out, after you are done, is another nightmare! Not all of the water/dirt will come out, as I already stated. (The instructions say to always dry the canister, before putting it away -- good luck with that one! The hole is too small for my hand, so there's no way to get a paper towel inside it, to dry it completely.) And then there is the problem of where to dump the dirty water. It would easily clog up a sink or toliet, so I have to carry the heavy canister outside and dump it in the yard. Thank goodness I live in the country. I can't imagine what a city dweller would do with the dirty water. (6) To move the machine around my living room area, I am forced to walk over to the canister and push it to another spot. The hose attachment is plastic and if you try to pull it with the hose, to move it around, it appears to be a disaster waiting to happen. If that plastic hose attachment breaks off, you will have no way to re-attach it, so the vac would be rendered useless. (7) The machine, with all the attachments, is bulky and needs a fairly large storage area. (Unlike an upright vacuum.) A cloth "storage" bag, for the attachments, came with the vac, but there's no way they will all fit inside it. And it wasn't intended for machine storage, just the attachments. I ended up leaving everything inside the ugly large cardboard shipping box that it originally came in. Being as my closet is very small, this unsightly box stands in the corner of my living room. At least it is a conversation piece and allows me to warn friends and visitors against buying one. (8) The electrical cord wraps around two PLASTIC pegs on the rounded back of the machine. They are small pegs and unless the cord is carefully wrapped, it slips off the pegs and gets tangled. (9) There ARE several, separate filters that need to be cleaned and/or replaced on occasion. The infomercial bragged about the machine having no filters. (10) The only good thing about this machine is that it will suck up water spills, but it's not easy to convert the vac from dry to wet vacuuming and it won't hold much sucked up liquid. (As claimed.) A cap has to be removed, the hose has to inserted in a different outlet, etc. It's a pain in the butt. (11) After paying all that money for those two machines, my husband informed me that a local store had a sale on a large wet/dry vac for $30.00! (NOW he tells me!) And that's really all this vacuum cleaner is -- a wet/dry vac, that can be purchased in any hardware store for a LOT LESS MONEY. And hopefully with better suction than this one. The max fill line on the canister is 1 gallon of water, which is only about 1 inch in the bottom of the large, empty tank. It's the motor that makes the vacuum so heavy. It doesn't take long for that 1 inch of water to become filthy - I don't care how often a person cleans their carpets or hardwood floors. That means that within a short period of time, you have to empty the dirty water and start over again. I did mail one of the vacuum cleaners back and did receive a SMALL credit on my charge card. I was told to keep the second, free one, because the s/h fees were non-refundable. Basically, I was stuck with it! I went on the H20 Vac web site and TRIED to post an honest feedback. Of course, they never published my feedback because, as they said, their space is limited and they have the right to post only the ones they want. When I lasted looked, they only had 5 posted reviews, all positive, of course. (I think they must have paid those 5 people for those good reviews!) This machine is JUNK! Save your money and the headache. Go buy a cheap wet/dry vac that will actually work!!! Wish I'd searched the web for honest reviews, BEFORE I ordered the thing.
H2O Vac is not really a good investment
1/11/2008 - Deanna of California, USA writes:
I agree; this product sucks! I paid over $256.00 for this piece of junk. Honestly, I was really excited about buying this product. Sadly, the pieces does not fit properly, every two minutes it would drop off on my brand new wooden floors, it even left a big dent on my floors. When I called and complained about it, I requested that they send me another vaccum, the woman bluntly said " we are not going to send you another one,it must be the manufacturer's fault, and hung the phone up.
Avoid at all costs
1/5/2008 - John of British Columbia, Canada writes:
What a complete waste of money. The infomercial seemed pretty convincing and it looked like this vacuum was a keeper. Boy, was I wrong. This is the worst vacuum cleaner I have ever purchased. It's very noisy, the suction power is average at best, it has no power head attachment, it's heavy, and it's a nightmare to clean. It literally takes me 20+ minutes to clean the filter and the water tank completely after every use. It has to be cleaned thoroughly because failing to do so causes the water tank to smell like a sewer. Not only that, setting it up for use is also a chore. All in all, this vacuum has ONE MAJOR FLAW. Clean up. The infomercial doesn't show you how tedious it is to setup and to cleanup. I rather use my old vac which I could pick up and use instantly without having to worry about setup, cleanup, and filters. Hell, even if the H2O vac was technically the best vacuum cleaner in the market, I still would not use it just because of the horrible and tedious clean up involved after every use. Ironic that you have to spend so much time cleaning up a cleaning product. Even funnier that they show in the infomercial how you can easily use the H2O Vac to cleanup after a party. You can see the H2O Vac picking up all kinds of stuff like pieces of paper, burst balloons, pieces of cake, confetti, etc. HOLD ON! What about the cleanup after use?!? They don't show that. How convenient. Think you can just simply pour the water and all those contents down your kitchen sink? Think again. Hell, even after regular use, the dirty water will be filled with hair, dander, dust, and dirt. Unless you want your sink to smell like a sewer and be clogged up, go ahead and empty the water container there. How about emptying the contents in the toilet then? Forget it, it will also clog it up. So where can you pour down the dirty water and its contents? Well, I had use the drain in my garage. Even then, I had to use a sift in order to make sure that only water went down the drain. The rest of the wet dirt, hair and pet dander trapped in the sift, went to the trash. It's really gross, but it was the best way for me to cleanup without clogging up any of my drains or plumbing. After that, I had to use a hose in order to clean up the water tank. 20 minutes later, I could finally begin cleaning the tank's filter. Half an hour later after I finished vacuuming, I could finally put the H2O vac away and leave the other parts in the garage to dry. Oh wait, my wife wants to use the H2O Vac to clean our RV! Well, Here we go again -_- *sigh* On paper, the thought of having a vacuum cleaner with water filtration technology sounds good but when you actually put it to use it is a chore to clean up and maintain. The cleanup alone makes this vacuum and epic failure. Save your money folks. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Awful vacuum
1/3/2008 - Marv of Indiana, USA writes:
This vacuum has absolutely no suction at all with the carpet wand in place. We even purchased the upgraded head, but it was no better. They talked us into buying the 2nd one - now we are stuck with 2 of them. They will probably go into the garbage. It was a waste of money.
Just ok
12/18/2007 - Kris of Wisconsin, USA writes:
I thought it would be easier. Once you fill the tank, which is difficult unless you use the bathtub or have oversized sinks like I have, it is ackward to carry. The attachments come off while using it, so your constantly stopping to reattach the attachements. I thought the suction was good, I have an older home and haven't had a chance (or money) to replace the carpeting, yet. One room has shag, one has normal and one has berber. It cleaned all the carpets with amazing results. However, I have FM and found it hard to lug around the house and very difficult to clean the tank when I'm done. I found it cleans better then my regular vacuum, and I use it when I want to do a good cleaning (like spring cleaning), otherwise I use my regular vacuum, not as much as a hassle. Oh, and I have stairs, and it gets very heavy going up and down the stairs. Not a good product if your not a strong person.
Not even worth $60
12/16/2007 - Kevin of Ontario, Canada writes:
I bought this brand new for only $60 and I still feel like I got ripped off. I live in a condo with all hardwood and it still does a poor job. I can't even imagine how bad it would perform on carpet. Don't believe the hype on the commercial.
Very Dissappointed
12/2/2007 - Patricia of Ontario, Canada writes:
The few times I used the H2O Vac, I thought it was ok..but after time it lost suction power..the 2 vacuum hoses it comes with broke...I tried fixing them with crazy glue but it did not work, it made the suction worse...so I just chucked it in the garbage. Money well wasted.
Should have just purchased the rainbow
12/1/2007 - Lisa of Pennsylvania, USA writes:
I am very dissapointed in this product. It is impossible to get all of the water out when you are done. The suction power is horrible and the nozzle broke when i was trying to use the attachments. Buy one get one free, HA now I am stuck with 2 pieces of CRAP! Don't waste your money.
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