Not steam cleaning, but still a nice way to care for your carpet
Written: Feb 04 '05 (Updated Feb 04 '05)
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Pros: Removes more traffic dirt than a dry vacuum.
Cons: Not professional deep-cleaning and the bucket requires frequent refilling.
The Bottom Line: Good if you want to clean high traffic areas or remove pet smells from carpets. The reservoir is small, but very easy to empty and refill.
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| knitsnbytes's Full Review: Bissell Powersteamer 1694 Upright Vacuum |
We have pets, to be specific, cats. Why, oh, why do we have these beasts that barf on the carpet, leave hair and do other atrocities that I am too delicate to mention here? Well, we love them despite it all. Our adopted kitties are rescue animals and not always so well-behaved when it comes to wall-to-wall carpet. So I bought the Bissel 1693 PowerSteamer Upright Vacuum to see if I could get my deranged beige carpets looking a bit cleaner.
Features
Upright vacuum
Long hose and hand tool
On board reservoir for diluted Bissel carpet solution
Removable reservoir for dirty water
Long (approx. 26 foot) power cord.
The hand tool is a small brush, like an upholstery brush, and it can be used on upholstery (check your manufacturer's instructions if you have a microfiber or special fabric on your chair or sofa.) The tool fits onto the long hose, a five-foot or so flexible hose that winds onto some clamps on the back of the upright. It is flexible and long enough to use in corners and places where the wide base cannot go, and on stairs as well.
The unit weighs about the same as an upright vacuum, maybe a bit heavier. The floor brush is wider and bulkier than most uprights. A middle-aged woman of average strength will have no trouble manipulating the unit but might have a bit of trouble to drag it up and down stairs, more due to the width and bulk of the base rather than the weight. An elderly person would most likely need help to move this unit up and down stairs but could operate it well, in my opinion.
How to get started
To put the Bissel PowerSteamer Upright together, you pull a handle out of the box, insert it into the vacuum body and secure it with a long Philips head screw that is taped to the instruction manual. Now the unit is ready to be filled with cleaning solution.
The cleaning solution and dirty water all go into a removable bucket that is cleverly designed with a bladder inside. The bladder insert is connected to the water inlet (a small hole on top.) To remove the bucket, push down on the foot lever which is the handle release, move the handle all the way down to the floor. Take out the bucket by the handle. Take this to the sink. Then fill the bucket first with about a half-cup of Bissel cleaner. A measuring cup is included for this. Then fill the bucket to the neck of the spout hole with hot tap water. Close the lid, bring the bucket back to the vacuum and insert. Press down the bucket handle to latch, bring up the vacuum handle and you are ready to clean.
Cleaning
You have a choice of pre-treating or deep-cleaning. Supposedly, the unit is to come with both a bottle of pre-treat and cleaner, but my unit only had the cleaner included. So I will cover cleaning only here.
First, you remove chairs, furniture, objects that can leave the room easily. Then you vacuum the carpet with your regular vacuum. This vital step removes pet hair, dirt, dust, and lint. Then it's time to use the Bissel. Plug it in, depress the spray button on the back of the handle, and the unit will spray warm cleaner into the carpet. A few passes is enough; you don't want to soak your carpet. Then you release the spray button and pass the unit over the treated area and watch the suction remove the cleaning water. When you see very little liquid sucked up into the unit, you have removed the dirty water and can go on to the next section. I did about a 3 foot swath at a time. Repeat this action, starting in back of the room and exiting the room at a convenient point--in other words, don't clean yourself into a corner or you will be walking over the wet, cleaned carpet. Let the carpet dry.
Results
The unit does clean better than a vacuum; I got a bucket of dirty water from the carpet, a mid-gray color. However this is NOT steam clean; it's lukewarm water cleaning, and the brush is a standard spiral vacuum brush. Professional carpet cleaners use a rotary flat brush that hits all the sides of a carpet fiber--the best professional cleaning units have brushes that have 8 directional brushes as a carpet fiber is octagonal (8-sided) in cross-section. The spiral brush is by its very geometry, not going to hit all the sides of a carpet fiber unless you were to go over the same area in the 8 directions yourself. What does all this mean to you? It means that the Bissel PowerSteamer won't get your carpets as clean as the professional you might have hired in past. But it will wash down the fibers in a way that dry vacuuming cannot do. And the room does smell lovely and fresh when you are finished.
I had to refill the unit twice in a small living room (about 9X12.) The bucket was easy to empty; there is a pour spout-slit that allows you to dump the water away down the sink. For downstairs, the kitchen sink was easy to fill and empty ; upstairs, I had to refill it from the tub.
The Bissel folks claim that you can reduce allergens by using this cleaner. I suppose that can be true, because dry vacuuming, even with a HEPA filter, will leave some dust behind.
Summary
If you have light colored carpets and pets and want to freshen and clean your carpets oftener than you can afford a professional, you will most likely be very pleased with the Bissel PowerSteamer Upright Vacuum. But don't expect professional results or steam cleaning. For high traffic areas like hallways, home offices (which do seem to get dirtier) and stairs, this will keep your carpets clean and free of traffic streaks.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 90
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knitsnbytes
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