My First Time - A Dirty Filthy Review

Carpets! They make our homes look beautiful.... as long as we can keep them clean. If you are single with no pets and travel by sterilized bubble to work every day, and don't eat at home, your carpets are easy to clean.

However, if you, like me have children or pets or occasionally eat in the carpeted room, you KNOW that keeping carpets clean is no easy task. A year ago, I had my living room re carpeted, and for quite a while, the moss green carpet made my living room / movie theater look great. However, I have a cat, and a teenage son and I occasionally eat in my living room while watching movies. This equals carpet stains. Despite repeated vacuuming and using the small canned carpet stain cleaners, my carpet looks mossier than the original moss green it use to be. Instead of renting a carpet steam cleaner, I decided to purchase my own carpet steam cleaner. I chose the Bissell Quick Steamer II - Upright Vacuum.

Value

I purchased this at a local Target store for $79.00. I purchased a bottle of pet strength carpet cleaning liquid for an additional $11.00. I discovered when I got home, you do get an initial bottle of carpet cleaning solution. When I lived in an apartment, I would occasionally rent a carpet cleaner, and it would typically cost $40.00 to rent for the day. (which also did NOT include the cleaning agents). I figure if I use this twice, it will have paid for itself.

Assembly / Appearance

This is a light weight light green steam cleaner. In fact it matches my carpet and curtains. It comes in an easy to carry out of the store box, and it was easy to open and assemble. You drop in a lower part, screw it in with two included screws, drop in the handle, screw it in with the included screw, and drop on the cleaning solution tank. The vacuum comes with the basic steam cleaning vacuum, and one bottle of Bissell carpet cleaning solution. A hard floor cleaner attachment is not included, but is available separately. The vacuum has a long plug, so you don't have to give up working in the middle of your room to find a closer electrical outlet. I have to admit, this vacuum was far easier to get up and running than my home theater system, albeit not quite so much fun to use.

My First Time

Before using this, follow the usual protocol for steam cleaning your carpets. Vacuum regularly and then move any furniture, pets or items from the area that you wish to clean.

You load up the solution into the reservoir tank, which easily lifts off for filling, and reattaches without spilling. The tank is one half gallon capacity, and it has two indicator lines in it, the first indicates how much cleaning solution to add, the second line (near the top) how much hot water to add. The ratio is high, so you won't have to be paying a fortune for the cleaning solution bottles. I did have one problem filling the reservoir tank to the water line. The water bubbles up when you add it to the solution, so you have to let the bubbles fade a bit before you can actually fill the water to the indicated line.


Turn it on, and you're good to go! You use two foot pedals for power and tilt. (just like most vacuums). A lever on the handle operates the water jet. First go over the carpet, using the water jet, especially over trouble areas, then go over it again without depressing the water jet button to suck up the water again. The built in brushes scrub the solution into your carpets as you add cleaner or suck up the dirt and cleaner.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but my first time was very dirty and filthy.

Yes, I'm a dirty dirty boy, I was rather embarrassed at how dark and yuccky looking the water was when it emptied into the dirty water tank. It is clear plastic, so you can see just how dirty your carpets were before using this! This steam cleaner pulled out dirt, stains and pet hair that my regular vacuum didn't touch. I used the full tank of stuff on my living room, but they haven't been steam cleaned for quite some time.

The Results

I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself. I was really becoming self conscious about my carpets, and regular vacuuming and on the spot stain removers,just weren't doing the job. I liked the carpet that I saw when I was done! Although I can't say the carpets look like they did when they were brand new, this is the closest they've come! I'm going to take a second pass over the whole living room this weekend, and maybe then, the carpet will even look new again. This was easier than renting a steam cleaner too!

Clean Up

Alright, it is not all good news, clean up was a whole other task. The dirty water tank is NOT as easy to take out and empty as the cleaning solution tank was to fill. As I unlocked and separated the dirty water tank, some leaked. Fortunately, I was in the kitchen headed towards the sink when this happened. I was unaware that this would happen, and next time I empty the unit, I will place my steam cleaner right next to my sink before emptying it. I also had to catch the pet hair as I rinsed out the unit, so that it did not clog my drains. There didn't seem to be a simple way to rinse the unit, although it clearly needed to be rinsed.

Summary

I am glad I bought the Bissell QuickSteam carpet cleaner. It was quicker and easier than renting a steam cleaner, and I am no longer embarrassed by my dirty carpets. I gave it four stars!



*This has been an entry in Sleeper54(aka Yosemite Sam, TOM ...mism....) and his Let's Help Kimmy write a movie Review - Write off The challenge was for those who accepted it to write a review in an area of kminer's expertise. I chose Home and Garden, and submit humbly my first vacuum cleaner review EVER!