My carpet is old and due for replacement. While this Bissell carpet cleaner couldn''t remove years of wear, it did remove a surprising volume of dirt. At first, I didn''t think it was really doing all that much. But once I emptied out the tank, my God, what a filthy carpet I was walking on! The used water was a very dark gray bordering on black. Yuck!There''s a handy little spinning wheel icon on the base of the unit (aka the flow gauge) that tells you if everything''s going according to plan, or if you need to change the water, add cleaning fluid or some other issue. If it''s spinning, you''re in good shape. When it stops, you need to fill or empty the tank(s).
The cleaner has 4 different "custom clean" settings. I mostly used the "normal clean" setting and then switched to "heavy traffic" for the dirtiest regions. The "Dry Aire" feature sends hot air to your carpet to aid in drying. As I write this, my living room is somewhat humid and the floor is damp. I don''t think it will take long to dry though.
A small bottle of Bissell cleaning solution is included. Do yourself a favor and buy a larger bottle before this item arrives. You''ll go through it pretty quickly, so probably best to buy a decent sized refill in advance of delivery. Otherwise, you are flat-out going to run out of cleaning fluid before the job is done.
So what''s not to like? Well, it''s somewhat heavy and bulky. For someone small and weaker, it might be a bit hard to move around. Obviously, it rolls on the carpet fine, so that''s not an issue. But it''s a big unit and you probably need at least a little bit of muscle (but not too much) to use it properly. The tank filled with water might be a bit heavy for some as well. You carry it like a bucket, but toting around a bucket full of water and bending down to insert and remove the tank isn''t a simple thing for someone without a moderate amount of strength.
Assembly was quite easy. You put the top half into the bottom half and secure it with 3 Phillips screws. Nothing too tricky there. The tool rack requires a touch more attention. The illustration was not as clear as I would have liked and it took a bit of head scratching to figure out where a couple of tools sit on the rack. You''ll figure it out, but again the illustration could be clearer.
While the top of the hose rack secures with a screw, the bottom does not. I noticed that one other reviewer said that the bottom of the rack (no screw to secure it) would not stay in place. I initially had the same problem. However, I looked at that bottom rack a bit closer and there''s a tab that needs to snap in place and if you don''t do it just right, it will keep falling off. Play with it and you''ll see what I mean. If that bottom hose rack is popping off, you probably haven''t installed it correctly. It''s not hard, but you need to slide the lower hose rack piece in just right so that it clicks and locks into place. It''s not just gravity that''s holding it in place, but that''s what you''ll think if you don''t do it right.
The only other problems I had was that my knee and/or the cord kept knocking the hose off of the hose rack and onto the floor. I''m no engineer, but I think it could somehow be secured a bit better. Once, I knocked the hose off and then put it back on the rack. However, the head''s trigger was pushed on the stain brush, which I didn''t notice. By the time I discovered that the button was pushed, my leg was very wet and the brush had soaked my wallet and remote control. Fortunately, they are fine, but keep an eye on that so you don''t spray cleaning fluid where you don''t want it. Also, the coiled power cord rests right next to the coiled hose and they interfere with each other. I can''t help but think that they could have designed this a bit better.
I went back and forth as to whether to give this unit 4 or 5 stars. If you solely look at whether it does what you expect it to, it''s a 5 star item. It cleans your carpet well and gets out a lot of visible dirt. There are a few minor issues, but overall this is a nice carpet cleaner and it cleans very well. However, I knocked that hose off so many times either with my knee or the cord that I have to give it 4 stars.
I think that this Bissell will go a long way towards keeping your carpets looking nice and potentially extending the life of your flooring. I recommend it, despite a few minor issues.
I want everyone to know that I recommend this cleaner, it far surpasses my lower end Bissell and the high end Hoover I borrowed from the neighbor.
Reading some of these other reviews I understand the problems with some of the negative reviews.
One person writes that the cleaner left all the water on the floor. There is a red filter/flapper on the dirty water resivour. If you get too much foam in the container there is a flap that closes the intake so that the foam does not get sucked in the cleaner. Go dump the dirty water. Then check that red flapper and make sure it is not stuck to the intake. If it is just tap the container and it will flip back down. If it is sticking then you may be using too much cleaner.
When you finish up make sure you fill the soap container with water and run rinse water over the last part of your carpet. You are asking for trouble if you do not do this. Regardless of what Bissell says, get the soap out of the lines before storing the cleaner.
If the carpet is so dirty that the water is sucking up black. Between cleanings make sure all the moving mechanisms do not have stuff caught up in them. Your asking for a belt to break otherwise.
Do not be a fool and use some home brewed serum for carpet cleaner. Use Bissell carpet cleaner products. This cleaner has a heater on-board so the home brew stuff might cook and create chaos! Never use oxyclean or comporable products, they are desintegrators of plastic. You can use Bissells oxy proucts and I recommend them. This is how I lost my old cleaner. When I was speaking with the salesperson I heard a gasp when I told them of my cleaning serum.
Some people are just not mechanically inclined so they do not think about these simple things. I hope my review allows people to understand some of the bad reviews. There is nothing wrong with this cleaner...and if I ever need to contact their customer service and I get lousy service they will not hear the end of it.
I am a director of customer service for another company.
Buy BISSELL ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Upright Deep Cleaner Now
I had previously owned a Bissell ProHeat back in 2002 and felt that there was a lot of money invested in a cleaner that didn''t really show a lot of promise. When I moved across the country, I didn''t feel much of a loss when the moving company accidentally "misplaced" the ProHeat. When I saw the newer 66Q4, I wanted to test it out in order to see if Bissell had made any marked improvements over their previous lines, and alas, there''s not a whole lot of change.For around $300, you''re paying for a couple of things. First off, you''re paying so that you can clean your carpet on your own time; no need to schedule a professional steam cleaning company to do it for you. You''re also paying for the clean that comes with "washing" the carpet instead of just vacuuming up the dust and dirt that''s accumulated between the fibers. Most professional steam cleaning companies charge around $100-200 for their services (obviously depending on the size of the house/apartment), so there is a lot to be said for just purchasing your own machine and cleaning when you need to. Unfortunately there has yet to be a single-unit device made that can match the power of the multi-thousand dollar units that the pro''s use. The ProHeat is no exception to that rule. So the question comes down to: Will the ProHeat work well enough that your calls to the professionals is lessened? The answer is: Yes, however you will still call them on occasion when you want your carpets "really" clean.
If you are new to carpet cleaners, there are some generic things you should know that apply to all carpet cleaners:
They are heavy and cumbersome, even without the liquid
They are messy, both to use and to clean up
They will probably end up smelling (think vacuum funk)
They take a long time to use (3-4x''s as long as a normal vacuum, not including dry time)
The cleaners are expensive and get used up quickly, and arguably, unneeded
The unit itself worked as well as expected. The dual brushes do a good job of agitating the carpet fibers so that a significant portion of the dirt embedded gets dislodged. After cleaning the area was visually "brighter" than non-cleaned areas. However, unlike professional cleaners which have a huge suction pull behind their steaming process, the ProHeat does not do a good job of reaching into the carpet pad underneath. Therefore the ProHeat will do a good job of cleaning the surface stain, however it will not remove all traces of things like pet urine (after a good cleaning with the ProHeat, the black light will still glow). Using the spot cleaner along with a little bit of enzyme-based pet urine remover formula will help. Also, it should be noted that the brushes themselves are quite stiff, so if you are seeing a lot of carpet fiber ending up in the cleaning liquid, you may want to reconsider using a agitation-based cleaner (hypothetically you should already be seeing the same behavior with your vacuum).
All-in-all, the ProHeat isn''t a bad unit, however if you''re considering "upgrading" from a previous model, there''s not much new here; nor has the core functionality been improved. If you''ve never owned a carpet cleaner and just need something to do a good carpet shampooing twice a year, this is a good buy (I would consider this a bit too bulky for a day-to-day spot cleaner) and the unit itself works great as long as you understand that it is not on par with a professional steam cleaning service.
Read Best Reviews of BISSELL ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Upright Deep Cleaner Here
We got this carpet cleaner because we have an autistic child and she can get a little bit messy. I wish we had done more research before buying because now I realize just how bad the design of this cleaner is. Instead of having two separate tanks for the clean and dirty water the Bissell has a bladder system in which the clean water is poured inside the bladder and the dirty water is stored in the tank around the bladder.If germs bother you then your not going to pleased with the disposal process of this unit. It''s a pretty disgusting process of pouring out the nasty smelly water that sits around the bladder that the clean water goes in. The bladder design also makes it difficult to clean the tank out when finished. We used the hand tool a lot and it worked pretty well but now the water isn''t spraying out and I have to turn the unit off for a few minutes to get it working again.
Finally I just recently noticed that the bristles on the floor cleaner are no longer spinning. We paid over $200 for our machine and for that much money I would have thought it would hold up better than it has. After reading many of these reviews I think I will be looking at another brand in the future.
Want BISSELL ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Upright Deep Cleaner Discount?
This cleaner replaced a Hoover Steam Vac (my 3rd) that had lost suction. First impressions:It was easy to put together. I didn''t need the instructions, but I did need a long Phillips screwdriver. My short-bit rechargeable was too short for some of the 4 screws.
There was good, secure storage for the various attachments, plus a bag for holding them. I don''t know what I am supposed to put in the bag, but I suppose it is useful for those that don''t want to push around the machine with all of the attachments. Although I never use them, I like to have them on the machine. The bag has an easily removable Bissell tag and once removed it is a nice, but not terribly high quality, mesh bag that will work well for the beach.
I like that there is a heater to increase the water temperature as hot water is supposed to help in cleaning the average carpet, but I also like that it can be shut off for fragile items. The heater will increase your water temperature by 25F degrees, with a max temperature of 190F.
I was surprised that there is a separate container for the cleaning solution. You add the water to one area, soap to another, then set the mix to the dirt level you are dealing with. I like that you don''t waste mixed solution or need to keep going over an area until you have used up what you have mixed. This machine came with a 16 oz. bottle of Bissell Multi Allergen cleaner (no pet cleaner, but I did get the lovely mesh beach bag!) The directions specify 5 oz. per gallon of hot water, which is the same as my bottle of Resolve cleaner.
I liked the separate shot of cleaning fluid that comes out the side on request. Great for hitting the spots of unknown origin.
There is also a setting for rinse, which does not add the soap from the separate section. Obviously this would not work if you pre-mixed the soap and water, but it is a feature I really like as I don''t like soap residue on my carpets.
The tanks for clean and dirty water are one unit. They don''t seem to hold as much as my old Hoover, but I also don''t have to worry about the dirty water slopping around when emptying it. I noticed the clean water tank had a few suds in it when I was done, so I think there is a little cross-contamination. The water tank is actually a bladder and it was impossible to empty completely when I was done cleaning.
This did not come with a hard floor attachment, but says one is available from Bissell. My Hoover one never picked up much of the water, so I doubt if I will bother with this Bissell (my Hoover attachment does not fit).
It is easier to move around than the Hoover, partially because it is a little smaller in size and part because there is a habdle on the front that can be used when you want to lift the machine over something (like a rug you don''t want to clean).
I appreciated the little spinninbg wheel that told me when I ran out of water or soap. It also clued me in when I put the water unit on incorrectly and so had no suction.
As far as cleaning, which is the big thing, it works about as well as my Hoover did before it started to lose suction. They may not be quite as good as a professional cleaning, but with multiple pets and lots of dirty feet, I don''t go without having a carpet cleaner on hand. I think this is a great home machine and I recommend it.
Save 17% Off
0 comments:
Post a Comment