Bissell Vacuum Cleaners: Easy to use, Cleans Carpets Well, Not Too Wet
Assembly
The assembly is fairly simple. The main base is already put together and the only thing that needs to be attached is the hose brackets for storage and the main handle. It only takes a couple of screws to attach the main handle to the base, but I wasn’t very happy to how this is done. First, the screw holes that are used to put in the screws through the handle are a bit small. If you have an interchangeable screwdriver like me that changes multiple bits, it will be a bit tight and you won’t be able to tighten the screws. I had to get a small screwdriver to make its way down the deep and narrow shaft. Bissell Vacuum Cleaner really needs to open the holes’ diameter by at least a 10th of an inch. Once I got that down, I noticed that the fully assembled cleaner isn’t secured tightly enough. When you rock back the handle to move the entire cleaner on its back wheels you will see that the handle separating from the main base. The 4 screws don’t hold tight enough and you can see the plastic flexing under the weight of the empty cleaner. The 3 positions the cleaner will be in will be upright in storage, full released for cleaning, and upright but rocked back on the wheels for transportation. I don’t like that when I’m wheeling it from one location to another I can see the gap between the handle and the base. There needs to be a more ridged mounting are for the handle as the cleaner is so bottom heavy. I believe the mounting holes are probably plastic and even when tightened down with 4 screws the cleaner will bend the plastic mounts pretty easy. I fear over time this will not last and the plastic will eventually give out and break the plastic screw mounts. Broken handle means a broken cleaner.
Features
I like the custom cleaner function in that it has heavy traffic, normal clean, light clean and rinse. I’m not sure who is using light clean as that to me pretty much defeats the purpose of cleaning your carpet. Each setting is supposed to determine how much water and cleaning solution is used. I stuck with using the heavy and normal. I didn’t need to use the rinse function as the normal and heavy didn’t make the carpet so wet or soapy that I need to rinse it.
The solution tank is separate from the main dirty/clean tanks and this allows for constant storage. You don’t have to mix the solution so you can leave the solution in its compartment for storage. The clean water and dirty water compartments share the same tank area. The separation is that the clean water is in a bladder. The bladder sits in this tank and when the clean water is used up it will eventually end up in the tank area which has a max line indicator. I did notice that when I was done with the first pass I didn’t have any water in my bladder but for some reason I could continue cleaning. I wonder if it just used only cleaning solution. The carpet still seemed pretty damp but the only indicator that I have run out of clean water is if the dirty water is full, but when the clean water was empty the dirty water wasn’t at the max line.
The Bissell Vacuum Cleaner has a patented built in heater that heats the water and solution. Many other cleaners do not heat the water yet still label themselves as “steam cleaners”. If the water is hot coming out, how is that a steam cleaner? Some other cleaners use the heat from the motor which isn’t very efficient and a built on heater is the way to go.
