Shark Floor & Handheld Steam Cleaner S6005UK review

If it’s a versatile steam cleaner you’re after then the Shark Floor & Handheld Steam Cleaner could come in mighty useful. How do we know this? We’ve tried it out at home and have had some sparkling results.

I’ve been testing a selection of floor care products - including the best steam cleaners - for sometime now so I know exactly what to challenge a steam cleaner with, although, this is not difficult in our household where we’re frequently walking muddy shoes and building debris through the house. Factors such as ease of use, control and versatility have all been considered in this review so you can make a confident decision that this is the best solution for you (and your floors).

For more expert product reviews, check out our buying guides

Shark Floor & Handheld Steam Cleaner S6005UK

Product specs:

• Capacity: 0.5L
• Power: mains
• Cord length: 8 metres
• Wattage: 1050W
• Dimensions: H:118cm W:34cm D: 22cm
• Weight: 2.8kg
• Accessories included: 2x dirt grip pads, filling flask, accessory hose, concentration nozzle, pocket tool, steam blast scrubbing tool, copper brush, steam crevice tool

Who will the Shark Floor & Handheld Steam Cleaner suit?

Any homes with sealed hard floors, including tile, stone and hardwood. Plus, any hard surface which could do with a sparkle.

Unboxing

Arriving boxed, the steam mop was well packed with a combination of plastic bags and cardboard which housed the various tools and attachments. I would have liked to have seen less plastic used, if I’m honest, because this can’t always be easily recycled and we’ve all got to do our bit for the planet.

Being lightweight, the steam mop was easy enough to lift through the door when it was dropped off on my doorstep – although a little bulky.

Setting up

First up we’ll take a look at setting up the Shark steam cleaner for use on the floor. The steam mop handle and steam mop body slot together easily, but you will need to use a screwdriver to ensure they are secure. And the Intelli-Mop Head connector will simply slide into the Steam Mop body – wait until you hear the reassuring sound of a click so you know that’s securely in place, too.

The dirt grip floor pads can then be clipped into place by slotting it on at all of the four corners.

Need to use it as a handheld steam cleaner? You’re in luck because it can be easily converted. It’s the Lift Away technology - a signature feature of Shark’s popular upright vacuum cleaners - which makes this possible. The handheld unit can be easily detached with the press of a button and the accessory hose or concentration nozzle equally as easily clipped on.

What’s it like to use?

Once you’re all set up, you’re ready to start cleaning with steam. It’s a corded steam cleaner which means that you’ll need to be plugged in, preferably in the same room as where you’ll be cleaning.

Steam cleaning the floor

I couldn’t wait to see the results this steam cleaner would have on our newly tiled kitchen and utility room floor. The tiles are limestone so a very light colour – looks lovely when clean, but a bit of a mission to keep clean. After sweeping the floor with a broom and dustpan and brush (something I would really recommend for a clean steam) I plugged the cleaner in at a socket in our utility room first, and then unplugged it to clean the kitchen floor. Although the cord length is 8 metres, this wasn’t quite long enough for me to steam the floor from the utility room to kitchen. It wasn’t so much of a problem, just something to be aware of, especially if you’re used to running a cordless vacuum cleaner around the home.

It heated up the water (only water) in the 500ml tank within 30 seconds and started to make a similar sound to the kettle boiling, so I knew it was ready. When using it as a floor steam cleaner there are two automatic steam settings to switch between – LO is good for lighter dirt removal whereas HI will tackle high-traffic areas – and a standby mode so you can pause the clean until you’re ready, or for when it’s break time. The setting I had for our floor? HIGH. If there was a very high, I would opt for this because our floor looked pretty mucky. Then we’re off…

The steam cleaner was easy to manoeuvre and lightweight, too. I worked it back and forth in one direction, heading out of the room as I did so. For tough messes, I flipped the mop head over so it was behind the mop body for a blast of steam. Although this did lift the mess a little, it wasn’t as much as I was expecting or hoping for so I ended up on my hands and knees to remove these and any other spots which the steam cleaner didn’t lift enough. It did a really good job of removing the majority of the mud and spillages, which is great for a quick clean, but for more sparkling results a wet paper towel came in handy. The floor also takes some time to dry so be prepared to walk over it in socks to unplug it from the mains socket when you’re finished, or get what you need to from the room if you can’t wait the five to 10 minutes.

Steam cleaning by hand

Just as you would clean the floor with this steam cleaner, you’ll need to plug it in to the mains power to clean other areas of the home. I wanted to see what this piece of kit would do to our induction hob, inside of the oven, front of the dishwasher and front fridge freezer so used the small above the floor pocket tool and pad which has one soft side and the other a gentle scrub. There are other tools in the box to choose from - concentration nozzle, steam blast scrubbing tool, copper brush and steam crevice tool - but this was I felt was the best option for the job I had lined up for it.

It took barely any time at all for the steamer to heat up and be ready for use. Both the TOOLS and LO lights on the handheld unit were lit up in blue, so it was clear which settings I was using. What took a bit of figuring out, however, was how to get the steam coming out of the tool because, unlike when used as a floor cleaner, this was not automatic - a button on the handheld unit needed to be held down when in use.

The accessory I was using soon removed the tea stains and other greases from the dishwasher and fridge freezer doors. It also did well to tackle the tougher grease stains on the hob and inside of the oven, although this would be helped along with the copper scrubbing brush which (at the time of testing) couldn’t find nor did I want to risk any kind of damage to our new range cooker. The head soon became evidently dirty so decided not to use it on any other shiny surface until it had a wash in the washing machine. What I did try it out on, however, was our tiled floor (whilst I was sat on the floor) to lift any other spots I may have missed with the large floor mop head - this worked a treat.

When you’ve finished using either the floorhead or any of the accessories, be sure to wait two to three minutes for them to cool down to avoid any possible injury.

Cleaning and maintenance

To ensure you get the best out of your steam cleaner, it’ll need a little maintenance. This is just to rinse out the water tank every now and then, and to wash the accessories easy with water from the tap or in the washing machine.

The floor mop pads and cover for the pocket tool can be popped into the washing machine for a good wash. What I did notice, however, is that once used they’ll not come out of the machine looking like new - my dirt grip pads are stained from all the cleaning they have done - but they smell nice at least. If you do feel like you want a fresh set of pads then they can be bought direct from Shark for £19.99.

Storing your Shark steam cleaner

The 8 metre-long cable will neatly tie away on the steam mop handle so you’re not constantly tripping over it, and it’s a pretty slimline model so it doesn’t take up much space in the corner of the room or cleaning cupboard. But. There’s a total of seven accessories and two dirt grip pads which come with this steam cleaner which can’t be stored on board so I suggest keeping it altogether in a bag, somewhere you can remember where it all is too.

Ideal Home's verdict: is the Shark floor and handheld and steam cleaner worth it?

If you have tiled floors anywhere in the home then absolutely yes. It’ll do a pretty good job of quickly removing any dirt and stains, as well as sanitising up to 99.9% of household bacteria which is only going to be a good thing

I’m not so convinced (yet) with the handheld aspect of the steam cleaner because there’s a lot of accessories to store and also switch between if I want to clean quickly. Being plugged in to the mains electricity is a bit of a faff when using it in this mode, too, because it’s fairly limited to where I can go in the home and keep lifting up to get to where I want to go. That said, if you’re after a steam cleaner for occasional use and / or a small flat then this mode could work well for you.

About this review and our reviewer

Jennifer Oksien is our Appliances Editor across the homes titles at Future. This means that she spends her days working with appliance (and mattress) brands to ensure that you get the best products for your home. She lives in a Victorian terrace which is undergoing an unintentional renovation so whilst stripping back walls, ceiling and floors (etc!) she visualises how the space can be best used with a suite of gadgets, gizmos and home comforts to make home life that little bit more streamlined.

As with all our reviews the Shark floor and handheld steam cleaner has been tested first-hand in our home, using it just as you would so you know exactly what you are buying. The products are given to us free of charge and we test them for as long as possible before sending them back to the brand, unless we are able to keep it as we are with this steam cleaner. This means that we can continue to use the product which gives us the opportunity to return to our reviews for updating, so you can keep up-to-date with how it's fared over a period of time.