As an innately clumsy person (my name's Millie, but my partner affectionately calls me Spillie), I had no business buying a white carpet for my bedroom. And sure enough, within a few months of buying it, a dropped candle resulted in an ugly charcoal streak that absolutely nothing I've tried could remove.
So when Bissell offered me the chance to try one of its products, I immediately opted for the SpotClean HydroSteam cleaner. Its steam setting claims to tackle even the toughest stains. Well, Bissell, I have just the stain to put that claim to the test.
Black stain aside, I was also interested to try this cleaner on a few other spots around my house. I've got a rug in my living room that's permanently discolored, a few marks on my grey sofa fabric, and most scarily, some very old carpet on my stairs that I'm saving up to replace.
So I took the Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam for a spin, and now I'm considering ripping out my flooring or spot-cleaning my entire apartment. Be warned, the results will gross you out.
Setting up
The machine is really easy to set up. It arrives fully assembled aside from four wheels which you simply press into place on the base of the machine.
Its power cable is nice and long, as is its handheld attachment, meaning you can shimmy it along your floors or even take it out to a closely parked car for some spot-cleaning.
Conveniently for Bissell, you need to use Bissell's own cleaning solution (any other brand simply won't do) and dilute it with water.
There's a mark on the side of the machine to show you where to fill to, and the brand thankfully includes a bottle of its cleaner with the machine, which allowed me to get straight to work.
Cleaning a discolored rug
I set this new toy up in my living room, so I first decided to try it on my rug. I've got a Ruggable, meaning it can go in the washing machine (a godsend) for deep cleaning, but because it's so huge, I only tend to wash it every 6 months.
Between cleans, the area that gets the most footfall becomes discolored quite quickly, so I was curious to see if I could lift those stains using the Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam.
It's pretty intuitive to use. You turn the dial on top of the machine to your chosen setting (Wash Mode, Steam Mode, or SteamWash Max Clean Mode) and, if you've chosen a steam setting, give it a little time to heat up.
When in use, you need to press the trigger on the handle of the cleaning head to release hot water or steam. It takes a few seconds for the water to turn to steam, which is something to be aware of if you're cleaning something that you don't want to get too wet. I kept a bowl handy to capture the water that came out before the steam kicked in.
I held the trigger down and pressed the steam ejector close to my rug for a few seconds. Then, finger off the trigger, you can press the suction head to the rug and watch it extract the (now slightly dirty) water from your rug.
I saw a slight difference to my rug once it had dried, and if I had any doubt that the steam cleaner worked, I could just look at the dirty water tank to see the slightly brown color of the water.
Cleaning the crusty old carpet
The woman I bought my apartment from had lived there for over 40 years. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd never replaced the carpet on the stairs and landing. It's brown now, but who's to say what color it was back in the 80's?
I was nervous and excited to take my HydroSteam for a spin on the landing. I emptied the dirty water tank (which had turned an alarming sludgy shade after tackling one minor stain in the bedroom) and refilled the clean water tank with the cleaning solution and some cold water.
I decided to tackle only one step to start. Even with the wider 12cm tool, I'd need to set aside a lot of time if I wanted to tackle the entire staircase.
I opted for the steam setting, spraying evenly across the entire surface of the step (which was matted from literally decades of wear) and pulling the suction head across the fibers 3 times before re-spraying.
I repeated this process of spraying and suctioning out the hot water 3 times, and by the end the nozzle of my HydroSteam was caked in grime and dust. It was disgusting, but in a way that made me want to spot-clean my entire house to banish the grime and dust forever.
Tackling the stain
Now I'd got used to the Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam, it was time to try it out on The Stain. I created the charcoal smudge when I dropped a candle on my bedroom floor, and some charcoal from the wick fell directly onto the carpet.
When trying to pick the charcoal up, I smeared it across the carpet leaning a very obvious black line on my shiny new white carpet.
This was an obvious job for the SteamWash Max Clean Mode. I used the narrower 7cm tool, which includes bristles to remove any stuck-on messes, and got to work.
I spent a lot of time spraying steam, scrubbing the stain and then pressing into the carpet to extract the water using dry passes. Sadly, dear reader, the black mark was too much for the HydroSteam. To say I'm gutted would be an understatement.
Although my visions of sucking the black stain off the carpet in one clean swipe were dashed, the stain is definitely less black than it was before I used the steam cleaner. Unfortunately, the carpet cleaner was no match for Spillie Fender.
My verdict
The really nice thing about testing things like carpet cleaners is that there's no mistaking the results. You can see the hidden dust and dirt they've pulled out of your floors in the dirty water tank!
So while the Bissell SpotClean HydroSteam didn't quite manage to get rid of the black stain on my quite carpet, it did a pretty good job.
What was even more shocking was how dirty the water came out after spot-cleaning just one area of relatively new carpet. Turn your attention to some crustier flooring and I fear there's no limit to how much gunk you'll be able to extract!
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
