You may have seen promotions for the Shark StainForce on social media recently, it’s a new compact stain-removing vacuum and it looks like it does a pretty impressive at removing new liquid stains on carpets. However what I really wanted to know was whether the stainforce was any good at removing set-in stains, so I spent a week testing it out and in the process I learned
- The correct six step treatment process
- Whether you can substitute your own cleaner for the Shark product
- How it performs on stains that are months, years or decades old
You can see all of this and more in the video below
Shark Stainforce on Amazon https://geni.us/Lg2o (affiliate link)
Video transcript
This is the new Shark StainForce Cleaner. I’ve seen some pretty impressive demonstrations on social media where it’s been used on fresh spills, but I was left with a lot of questions.
Can it remove old stains effectively? Do you need to fill it with water? And do I need to buy Shark’s own cleaner in order to use it?
In this video, I’m going to answer those questions and do three realworld tests on setin stains to see how effective it is. First, if you’re new here, my name is Clara and I make weekly videos that help you choose and use your home appliances. If you want to see more of those, make sure you subscribe to this channel.
Let’s start by having a quick look at what this appliance actually is because I think it’s caused a little bit of confusion. It’s not a carpet washer that you fill with water. It’s actually a cordless wet dry spot vacuum and it’s available in two colors. It comes with a custom Jewel spray head and depending on which deal you get when you buy it, you’ll also get one or two bottles of Sharks Jewel cleaner which mix inside the spray head. And there are two tools, the main stain tool and the crevice tool. To assemble it, you need to add the stain tool to the dirty water tank and then attach both to the handle. Be warned, you have to ensure that the handle and dirty water tank click together properly, otherwise they’ll just come straight apart.
Now, there are several steps involved in using this stain force cleaner correctly, and I’ve seen a lot of people doing it wrong in videos, despite the fact that Shark print the instructions very clearly in the instruction book, on the caddy itself, and on the appliance. If you’re using it with an old stain, you begin by using the appliance without power to scrub the area that is stained. Next, you turn it on, tilt it up, and extract the dirt. Step three is to apply one layer of spray, spraying close to the carpet, and leave it for a few minutes. Step four, repeat the process with the spray and leave it for a few minutes again. Step five, use the appliance without power to scrub the stained area. And the last step, use it with power, tilt and extract the dirt. In the final step, you’ll be able to see the dirty liquid from the cleaning spray entering the cylinder of the stain force where the liquid is separated into a small dirty water tank.
You’ll find that if you’re using it on an old stain, there isn’t a huge amount of liquid in the dirty water tank at the end as it’s only extracting as much liquid as you sprayed onto the carpet to begin with. So, that’s where it’s very different from a carpet washer. If you’re using the stain force on a fresh stain, you do the same process as you do for dry stains, but you just skip step one, the dry scrubbing, and go straight to step two using the vacuum powered up to extract the wet liquid. So, one of the reasons I really like this appliance immediately is because it comes with its own caddy. I strongly dislike appliances which come with loads of extra accessories which you need to find a place to store. Having everything in the caddy makes it easy to put away and easy to transport. And the caddy also serves another purpose. It enables you to run a selfwash cycle with the appliance. To do that, remove the inner caddy cup, fill it to the level marked on the inside, put the cup back in the caddy, and place the vacuum inside it and turn it on. Once the fresh water has filled the dirty water tank, which happens in a matter of seconds, you can turn the appliance off and empty out the waste water.
As well as having a selfwash cycle, Ninja have tried hard to create a unit that is easy to take apart and clean. The window on the top of the stain tool can be removed. The bristle plate can be removed and reversed so you can clean it and use the different bristles on different surfaces. The motor can be separated from the waste water tank and the hair filter can be removed and opened to get rid of debris. After every use, you need to empty the tank and let it dry completely, which I found was easier to do if you broke it down into its components. One thing which does bother me slightly about this product is that I did see a bit of dampness coming through from the tank onto the electrical connection points. So, I think you need to be really sure that you make sure it’s dry every time before you put it away and store it. And I say all the time, but if you buy this, make sure that you register it to get the full 2-year warranty.
The Stainforce is battery powered. You can’t use it while it’s plugged in. It takes between 3 and 1/2 and 4 hours to charge, and it will run for 15 minutes on a full charge. Now, if that doesn’t seem like a lot of time, bear in mind that I managed to do all of the stain removals that you’ll see in a moment, as well as the selfcle on one charge because actually you only need to run it for a minute or so at a time. So, on to the stain removal. I tried it on three different stains of varying age and on different surfaces.
First was a small patch of carpet by our back door, which gets muddy when the dog comes in and out that way. The carpet was new when we moved into this house 18 months ago, so the dirt has only built up over that time. I found even with the first two steps of scrubbing and extracting on its own, it was pretty effective at removing the dirt. And when I completed the whole stain removal method, I was left with a spotless carpet. For stain number two, I tested the stain force on some very old carpets with literally decades old stains. These carpets are not staying, by the way, but it was interesting to see that once again, the Stainforce managed to get most of the marks out.
Stain number three was my daughter’s white rug. I was not optimistic about getting good results with this. She claimed not to know what the mark was, but I suspected it was paint or pens. And once again, the cleaner managed to lift it and left the rug spotless.
And just when I thought I was done, I also had an unplanned dog related spillage, which gave me a chance to test cleaning up a wet stain on a wool rug. Now, Ninja actually say that the Stainforce isn’t suitable for using on wool carpets, but my hunch was that it was the cleaner rather than the appliance that wasn’t suitable. So, I decided to give it a go. I added some water to the spillage, used the stain force to extract the liquid, and then added bicarbonate of soda to soak up any remaining liquid and smells and finish with my regular vacuum. And that worked really well. So overall, the Stainforce does a brilliant job at cleaning. But I want to tackle some of the questions that I’ve seen about it online.
Firstly, if it’s not clear already, you do not fill it up with liquid. The only liquid that goes into it is the stain removing spray andor whatever you’ve spilt on the carpet. I’ve seen lots of comments from people who’ve bought this appliance and had trouble getting the spray bottle to work. Mine was fine, but if you do encounter problems, make sure that the nozzle is correctly aligned so the liquid can come out. It has two positions, one for mist and one for stream. And if you haven’t aligned it to either of those, effectively it’s turned off and that’s why you might not get liquid through it. Now, obviously, the Stain Force is designed to work with Shark’s own stain removing spray. At the time of filming this in the UK, it’s £24.99 for a two pack of replacement formula. And if you’re wondering whether you can substitute a different cleaner, the official line from Shark is no. They say use only Shark branded solutions and sprayers. Your Stainforce unit is not compatible with other chemical solutions or cleaners. However, the Shark Solution is pricey and I personally don’t see any reason why you couldn’t try an alternative at your own risk and obviously with the knowledge that it might void your warranty.