Sometimes a vacuum cleaner isn’t just a vacuum cleaner. The noisy Dalek-like machines we use to get pet hair out of the curtains and suck Wotsits from under the couch are great for cleaning up dry spills, while separate carpet cleaners take care of things like spilt glasses of red wine or the remains of a plateful of curry knocked over by the cat.
But what if - and stick with us here - you could combine the best bits of a vacuum cleaner and a carpet cleaner into one device? That’s the wet and dry vacuum cleaner, a tool that’s equally at home sucking up the wet mess from a washing machine that’s flooded your kitchen or cleaning up sawdust in the garage. They’re also useful for car owners, cleaning up food and drink mishaps, as well as the mess left behind by wet dogs and queasy passengers. People with plastic turf lawns even use them for clearing up fallen leaves, though hoovering the garden may earn you some odd looks from neighbours.
These cleaners have some surprising extra uses too. Their blower function - as seen on the Bosch UniversalVac 15 - is as useful for getting dust out of tight areas as it is for clearing up autumn leaves, and the ability to use their suction - which can be high-powered compared to standard dry vacuum cleaners - to clear things like sink blockages can be a lifesaver in an emergency. If your sink’s overflowing, you can suck the worst of it up with your wet and dry cleaner before it’s had the chance to do any real damage, and that can make it an essential purchase.
While they don’t always have the ability to shampoo the carpet as carpet cleaners do, the wet and dry vacuum cleaner remains a powerful combination. As well as being useful all around the home, they’re essential in trades that involve making a mess, such as plastering or other decorating tasks. You can also use them to help clear gutters and even drains, and they have a multitude of uses if you’re part of a cleaning crew.
What should you look for in a wet and dry vacuum cleaner?
Things to look out for include a long power cord, so you’re not tied to the nearest socket or cart an extension lead around - especially if you want to use it out in the garden - while a large capacity is useful so you spend less time emptying the tank and more time actually cleaning.
Some models can reverse their motor to blow air out, handy for clearing dust out of crevices, and having multiple attachments is always a bonus, as it broadens the scope of tasks the cleaner can tackle.
Best wet and dry vacuum cleaners at a glance:
- Best for around the home: Stihl SE33 - £99, Stihl
- Best for cleaning on a budget: Wessex 18L Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner - £48.98, ToolStation
- Best for carpet cleaning: Numatic George - £299.99, Amazon
- Best for versatile use: Kärcher Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner WD 2 Plus - £67.99, Amazon
- Best for filling and emptying: Vacmaster Power 30 PTO - £99.65, Amazon
- Best for the workshop: Evolution R15VAC - £99.99, Amazon
- Best for cordless cleaning: Makita DVC750LZ - £237, Amazon
- Best for convenience: Bosch UniversalVac 15 - £109, Currys
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Stihl SE33
Best for: around the home
This compact wet and dry cleaner is designed for use at home and in the car, and excels at dirty jobs. You’ll need to convert it between wet and dry modes, depending on the sort of mess you’re facing, but the powerful motor, 2m hose, 4m power cord and 12L container combine to make something that’s seriously useful to have around the place.
It can blow air out as well as suck it in, and comes with a crevice tool to complement the standard floor head, which can be altered between carpet and hard floor modes. The dry mode uses self-sealing bags to capture the dust, and it has separate filters for the wet and dry modes that you’ll need to change over before use.
Buy now £99.00, Stihl
Wessex 18L Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: cleaning on a budget
This no-frills wet and dry cleaner has it where it counts, with an 18L tank, 5m power cord and 1.5m hose. It’s easy to transport, with four casters underneath, and at just over 5.5kg in weight, it isn’t going to be too difficult to empty down a bath or sink.
Accessories include a dual-action floor brush and crevice tool, plus a tool adapter so the hose can be attached to something like a sander and suck away the debris. It can also be configured to blow air out, to aid in cleaning up.
Buy now £48.98, Tool Station
Numatic George
Best for: carpet cleaning
George is one of the siblings of the famous red Henry vacuum cleaner, and has a similar friendly expression despite his vibrant green colouring. He’s good to have around the house if you’ve got pets, with the ability to shampoo carpets and clean hard floors as well as unblock sinks and generally clean up spills and mess.
You’ll still need to convert the anthropomorphic cleaner between its wet and dry modes, and there’s a separate hose for wet cleaning too, which has an extra tube for the shampoo, plus accessories including an upholstery head, crevice tool and dusting brush. He’s plenty powerful, and with a 15L capacity you’ll have plenty of space to store the mess.
Buy now £299.99, Amazon
Kärcher Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner WD 2 Plus
Best for: versatile use
This cleaner from Kärcher is a great all-rounder that can put its 1,000W motor to work picking up coarse or fine dirt, and sucking up pools of water too. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for a tool to clean your car interior, as it can pull dirt and pet hair out of the floor mats and seats. Its 12L capacity gives you plenty of time between emptyings.
The cleaner comes with the usual floor and crevice tools, and a pack of extra brush heads is available as an optional accessory.
Buy now £67.99, Amazon
Vacmaster Power 30 PTO
Best for: filling and emptying
This is a big cleaner, capable of packing away 30L of liquid before it needs emptying, so you’d expect it to be a pain to tip over. Happily, this isn’t the case, as instead of removing the lid and having to lift it up to pour it out, the Vacmaster has a low-down plug you can pull out to just let it all run away.
There’s another clever feature in the form of a power take-off socket, that’s designed for use with power tools. Plug the cleaner into the wall, and attach its hose to the tool, ready to suck away sawdust or other debris. Then plug the tool into the socket on the Vacmaster, and the cleaner will suck whenever you activate the tool.
Buy now £99.65, Amazon
Evolution R15VAC
Best for: the workshop
This large cleaner doesn’t have wheels, but has an integrated carrying handle so it can be lifted into position easily. It’s a bagless cleaner with a power-take-off socket that integrates its use with your power tools, and has a 3m power cord and 1.8m hose to get it closer to where you want to use it.
The R15VAC comes with extension wands, a wide nozzle, and a narrow crevice tool, all of which can be stored on the cleaner’s body. It also has a blower function, handy for getting dust out from underneath things.
Buy now £99.99, Amazon
Makita DVC750LZ
Best for: cordless cleaning
This cleaner from Makita uses the company’s ubiquitous rechargeable batteries and ties in with its system of professional tools, so you can clean up after making a mess in the service of building something. Note that the batteries and charger aren’t included in the package - you’ll have to get them separately.
This is another wheel-less cleaner, but its cordless nature means it’s even easier to get into the right position as you don’t have to worry about the position of the nearest plug socket.
It’s smaller than many other cleaners, with a wet capacity of just 4.5L, but makes up for this with convenience. Running time is stated at an hour’s use on the low setting, and half that on the high setting.
Buy now £237.00, Amazon
Bosch UniversalVac 15
Best for: convenience
Bosch’s wet and dry cleaner can hook into its range of power tools via a universal adapter, so you’ll never clutter up the floor with dust from your jigsaw again. It also has a leaf-blowing function for clearing the patio in autumn, and cleans up wet and dry spills effectively too.
There’s a 15L container inside to keep all the dirt in, a 4m power cord, and a wet and dry filter you never need to replace.
Buy now £109.00, Currys
Verdict
Wet and dry vacuum cleaners make clearing up the worst spills easy, but they’re even more useful than that. They’re a great choice for dust extraction if you’re using a saw or sander, and if you’ve got a large muddy dog then something like the Stihl SE33 is a must, as it allows you to clean your floor, furniture and car no matter what gets splattered all over them.
