I grabbed this picture off the web, to show you the old carpet steamer that I'm still using. It's now so old, the Bissell people don't even keep a record of it on their website. If you do a search on it for this model 1631C, it comes back as "no results". They apparently don't want to know that it is still alive and well after more than 20 years, and still doing its thing.
I wasn't taking pictures or adding to the blog yesterday, because I had this rig roaring - and I do mean 'roaring' around the place, cleaning the wall-to-wall. There's now a new cleaning fluid for these home steamers, called "7 in 1 Carpet Care", manufactured by Kent Chemical Corp., Ash Flat, Arkansas 72513, USA - and this stuff isn't nearly as foamy as the old products for these machines. That was always a problem with the original Bissell 4-in-1 fluid - it created a lot of foam, and the float ball inside the recovery tank would shut you down before you'd done a whole lot. Progress is wonderful, and now that doesn't happen as often. The new stuff really works, too. The used water came back absolutely black, so it's removing something.
The big problem, or I should say the big annoyance with these machines like mine is that they connect onto a hot water tap with 50 feet of hose, so while in use you're always wrestling with the hose and the electrical supply cord, and trying to clean a floor that has those on it. But if you can live with that, then it does do a decent job. Mine has lasted for years and years and still works just like it did when new. Would I buy another one? No - they don't make this kind now, and besides, Hoover has an upright model with five little rotating scrubbing brushes in the cleaning head, and it not only 'steams' but scrubs the rug as it goes. I want one of those!
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So how about a before and after shot. Let's see your bissell and how spotlessly clean it must be today (20 years later) :-)
ReplyDelete@ Tommy -
ReplyDeleteActually, mine's not in bad shape.
The only sign of damage is around the groove where the electric cord is wrapped around it. I loaned it once to a neighbor, and he didn't unwind all the cord before running it, and the still-coiled cord formed an induction loop which overheated and began to melt the plastic. Luckily it wasn't on long enough to do more damage, and it didn't seem to effect it otherwise.
I'll put a picture on a more recent posting here of it.