Cons: Very slow in retreiving the cleaning solution.
The Bottom Line: Convenient, but not a substitute for professional whole house rug cleaning. OK for small area cleaning. Wet/dry vac may work just as well for spot cleaning.
seekmocha's Full Review: Bissell 9400 ProHeat Upright Wet/Dry Vacuum
I've owned the Bissell for 3 years. Every time I use it I mentally compose an Epinion review. Finally, here goes:
When I first got it I was enthusiastic about cleaning large rug areas, especially in the den and the office. However, it became immediately obvious (on a dirty rug) that the Bissell does not lay down nor suck up an even swath of cleaner. If your rug is quite dirty, as was the rug in my den, you'll end up cleaning the rug in 4 directions: lengthwise, widthwise and then on the two diagonals, in order to get it truly clean. Otherwise you will see streaks of dirt left in the rug. And it's very time consuming. Vacuuming up the water that's sprayed into the carpet must be done at a snail's pace, continually observing the clear pickup nozzle and moving onward only when no more water is being picked up.
I weighed the water tank before and after a cleaning session. I found that you will typically retrieve only 2/3rds of the water that you apply, no matter how slow you move. It's very important to get all the soap out of the carpet, or it will get dirty again far faster than before. Because of the importance of thoroughly rinsing the detergent out of the carpet, you should plan on spending 2 or 3 times longer rinsing the carpet with clear water than you do in applying the detergent solution. Turning a dial lets you easily change from detergent injection to clear water. Still, a 10x10 rug can easily take 2 or 3 hours to clean thoroughly, if it starts out pretty dirty.
Because of the difficulty in removing all of the detergent, I always try cleaning the dirty spots with pure water before I apply any detergent. I've also tried putting vinegar in the detergent supply - that does work, but not as well as the detergent.
You'll find that the first few times you use the Bissell on a rug, it will create a bunch of dirty looking "dust bunnies" all over the carpet that need to be vacuumed up separately after the carpet cleaning is complete, because they are too large to be sucked up through the Bissell vacuum port. Those dust bunnies are loose carpet fibers that the Bissell pulls out of the carpet and wads them up together. That problem does decrease after several cleaning sessions.
I do use hot faucet water in the supply tank. However DO NOT put boiling water in the tank - I can tell you from personal experience that boiling water will melt the tank bladder.
So, after 3 years I've retreated from using the Bissell as a wide area rug cleaner. Now I only use it as a spot cleaner, using the hand tools. It works quite well for that. I also use it on the stairs about once a month, using a spotting detergent like Folex or the Bissell spotter on the worst spots but mostly using just hot water and vinegar.
By the way, don't spend the extra money for the "Hard Surface Cleaner" attachment. All it does is raise the bottom of the Bissell off the floor so the brushes don't hit the tile. All it's doing is spraying cleaner and sucking it up with no scrubbing action - absolutely worthless.
I still call in a professional rug cleaner about every 30 months. If I didn't have the Bissell to do spot cleaning, I might be calling the professionals every 15 months. The professionals charge me about $270 for the whole house, so overall I am saving money.
I've often thought that if I can find a cheap water spraying vacuum carpet wand for my powerful wet/dry shopvac, I might be able clean rugs with that as well or better than the Bissell. The "economy" professional carpet wands start at $150, so I haven't tried that experiment yet...
My advice is to get your rugs professionally cleaned and use the Bissel or something like it for maintenance between cleanings.
Upright vacuum/carpet cleaner; 12 amps 12 rows of brushes rotating for deep cleaning/grooming Heats water and cleaning formula to remove tough stains ...More at Amazon
12 cleaning rows of DirtLifter PowerBrushes are tough enough to get the deepest dirt, yet gentle enough to leave your carpets beautifully groomed. 2X ...More at eBay
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