lisandrea's Full Review: Bissell 1400-5 Canister Steam Cleaner
With Baby #1 on the way we were delighted to have WON this vac, thinking it would be great to have for baby messes in the dining room, etc. Boy, what a surprise to find out that it takes more to maintain this vac than the time it takes to use it!
Let's start at the top. This two canister vacuum has one simple power rocker button and one simple heat rocker button. It is very easy to learn how to use. Turn on the power, turn on the heat, and wait for the red light.
Now, for the hose--wraps around the vac & slips into a pre-formed slot at the front, but in the back, where it is supposed to snap into place, the cleaner attachment slips out far too easily. When I store the vac I always have to make sure this piece is staying in place. Not well-designed. Too simply created.
The power cord wraps very nicely around a handle in the back, and slips off easily, by sliding two catches to the inside, loosening the cord. It's long enough for any in-room job, but doesn't retract, so there's the manual process of winding around & around the cord handle. Still--not a major hassle.
This vac comes with two attachments, and neither is that brilliant. We've owned this machine for about 6 months, and I'm ready to toss it. The first, smaller, attachment, is just a suction with a red brush on it for small jobs, with manual brushing. The suction area is VERY thin, and cannot suck up much more than grime, dust, sand & water. It is NOT meant for any big job like salsa or spaghetti sauce, for sure. We're talking THIN, like the thickness of a drafting ruler. Period. The same is troublesome with the second, larger, attachment. Both have a thin suction area.
Each attachment clicks in place fairly easily, but the *un*clicking is not as easy. The little pressure button you're supposed to use to release the piece is meant for very little and strong fingers...not mine! I have struggled each time I've switched attachments.
Here's my #1 complaint about the attachments: it is not at all easy to hold the attachment & hose simultaneously. My hands hurt after every use, as I try to press into the rug to get a good scrubbing in, while the hose is resisting me. The larger attachment with rotating brush, is exceptionally difficult to maneuver. I'm on all-fours on the carpet, trying to pull pet-pee out of the carpet, and it is not at all a comfortable situation! The handle of the attachment is too thick, without much to hold onto, the rotating brush is shallow, so pressure is necessary to really feel you're doing anything constructive, and in the meantime, you're ON ALL FOURS trying to clean your floor. Please!
The hose, itself, ends with a little underneath button, for squeezing out amounts of cleaning fluid on the stain...only there is no way to really see where the cleaning fluid is exiting the hose/attachment, without putting your hand under it to feel the HOT liquid coming out. It's difficult to direct it purposely on the stained area. I find myself soaking much more than just the affected area, which means more wet-vacuuming to get all the liquid out of my berber.
So, one canister of the vac is full of soapy liquid (treatment liquid comes with the vac). The other canister is for collection of the dirty liquid, and presumably, your stains!
So, imagine, you're pulling it out of wherever you store it, and the collection canister is empty, but the distribution canister is full...this equals an uncomfortable carrying situation, as one side of the vac is obviously much heavier than the other side.
It LOOKS symmetrical (how cute) but it is not, in any practical way.
Now, you plug in, turn on the power, turn on the heat, wait for the red light, attach your rotating brush, and then spray randomly, trying to focus in on your "oops" stain. Touch the stained area and make sure you soaked the right spot...! Now, you leave the air suction in the OFF position (on attachment "handle") while the beater brush does its job, scrubbing your carpet. You're pulling up hairs, too, like you would with any beater brush, as you scrub scrub scrub away the mess.
Now, turn on the suction, and pull the vac over the areas that are wet. Pull slowly, and watch your grime magically travel through the clear handle, and end up in the repository. Ew! Was it really that much of a mess? Awesome, you can SEE the stain disappearing from your gorgeous ivory carpet. You feel satisfied, even though your knees are getting carpet marks.
Now, here's the ultimate tragedy! You pick up the vac & go to your utility sink to dump the grime.
Get ready to use the vac to clean up after itself, because it's about to pee all over your floor.
Here's the way it went for me. I removed the dirty section, and dumped the grime successfully down the drain. Then I let the hose fall to the floor, from the counter, and water poured out on my floor! Nice! So, I plugged the vac back in, reassembling, and sucked up the new mess. This time, remembering to keep the hose LEVEL with the sink, I placed it in the second part of the sink, while dumping the other canister in the first part of the sink. Now, this is slightly awkward to maneuver...and in doing so I found that water was leaking out of other places, as well, on my counter & down the cabinet.
I ran fresh water into the canister, swished & rinsed. Only, I could still see a LOT of junk in the canister. The hole for filling is quite small, and I cannot get my little hands in there to grab the gunk, so I use the spritzer part of my sink hose to try to really spray in there, but still, cannot quite get the gunk out.
SO? Who cares? Leave the gunk in! No: the problem is that this is WET gunk, so after not being able to get it out in three or four uses of the vac, I now have MOLD in there. Remember, I've only had this machine for SIX months, and have used it MAYBE four times.
So, now, I fill it with water & bleach & let it sit overnight.
Do you expect your vac to be so high-maintenance? I am using Windex to wipe down the edges (many hard-to-reach areas) where leak-out crud is collecting, and bleach to soak the insides, and I STILL feel it is a breeding ground for mold.
It matters to me. I do NOT recommend this machine whatsoever. Thank GOD we didn't pay for it, but it I had, I would at least be able to return it & get my money back!
Cute. Small. Compact. Easy to store. Simple. Effective stain remover...BUT: A mess! Mold-breeder. Very difficult to clean the small spaces. Hard to use on hands & knees. Not worth all the effort!
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