Hoover Sponge Filter - Steam Vacuum F5800 Series

Hoover's SteamVac carpet cleaners route recovered water through a sponge tank filter, part 440007364, before that path reaches the vacuum motor. It fits models across the F5800 and FH50000 series, including the F5835900, F5859, F5900900, FH50015, FH50134, and FH50250, along with the Royal-branded FR50152.

This filter sits in the dirty-water path rather than the airflow path, so its failure mode looks different from a vacuum filter. A torn or collapsed sponge lets debris carry straight through with the recovered water instead of being held in the tank, and grit reaching the motor side of a wet machine does the kind of damage that ends a machine rather than costing it a service part. A tank that fills more slowly than the mess on the carpet would suggest, or water that looks unusually clear given how dirty the floor was, both point to a filter that has stopped doing its job.

• Part: 440007364, recovery tank sponge filter
• Fits: Hoover F5800-series and FH50000-series SteamVac carpet cleaners, and the Royal FR50152
• Watch for: a torn or collapsed sponge, or a recovery tank that fills unusually slowly

Check your model number against Hoover's F5800 and FH50000 lineup before ordering, since carpet cleaner filters in this family are not interchangeable with the exhaust filters used on Hoover's upright vacuums, even when both are labeled simply as a Hoover filter. The compatible list runs long because Hoover carried this series a long time, so work from the number on the machine's data plate rather than from the name printed on the front of the housing.