Bissell TurboClean PowerBrush Pet Carpet Cleaner, 2987

This carpet cleaner was easier to use than I thought. It got the carpet really clean.CLEANING FLUIDBissell makes several types of cleaning fluid. I used “Pet Pro Oxy Urine Eliminator”. Make sure you get the kind for upright carpet cleaners. (There is a similar fluid for spot cleaners.) It was about $22 at Walmart and seems like enough for about 4 rooms. It has a pleasant smell.There was a small sample size cleaning fluid included in the package with the carpet cleaner, but it will not be enough for what you need.INSTRUCTIONSThe carpet cleaner comes with a small booklet of instructions. This is good, but it’s even better to go to the website they specify in the booklet and watch the videos. The videos gave me confidence that I knew what to do.THE PROCESS1. As they tell you, you need to vacuum the carpet before you start cleaning.2. You fill the clean water tank with hot tap water and then put in some cleaning fluid. There are lines on the tank for the water and for the fluid.3. The cleaning is a lot like vacuuming. You make one pass holding the spray lever so it sprays the carpet. Then you make a pass without holding the lever, so the machine just sucks up the water into the dirty water tank. In the video it shows the person doing this 2 step process with every pass of the machine. But I found it a lot easier to do a whole row of “wet” swipes with the lever pressed, and then go over the whole row again with “dry” passes. That saves a lot of switching back and forth. I did the whole wet/dry thing twice with each section of carpet.Afterwards, I took the clean water tank off and just passed over everything dry to suck up more water. But I didn’t get a lot more water sucked up, so I don’t think this step is really necessary.4. As others mentioned, the machine does spit out some clumps of pet hair onto the carpet. But it was just a few big clumps that were easy to pick up with my hand. I didn’t really mind. It’s worth it for how easy the process was.5. The carpet was damp when done but not sopping wet. It was drier than I thought, and it probably will dry completely in a day or two.AREA RUGSI had 2 big area rugs on top of the carpet, and I was wondering how that would work. It went fine. They were washable rugs anyway. The rugs got clean. I don’t think the carpet underneath the area rugs got cleaned. I think you would have to remove the area rugs to clean the carpet underneath.The carpet under the area rugs did get a little damp, so I am not sure how well it will dry. I may have to pick up the area rugs a little to let the carpet dry underneath.TIPS1. If you are taking a break between rooms, put the carpet cleaner on a floor, not a rug. After taking a break, there was quite a wet spot under the cleaner. I guess I could have taken the water tanks off instead.2. Be sure to follow the instructions for cleaning the machine when you are done. It’s not hard, but you have to rinse the tanks and stuff and wipe off the pet hair. They don’t tell you this, but be sure to turn the machine over and wipe the pet hair off the bottom. Also wipe out the pet hair from the area where the brushes are.RESULTSI got a new dog that was not house-trained, so she peed on the carpet a lot at first. I did treat the stains with Nature’s Miracle, but there were still some stains and smell. I could see the stains with my black light flashlight. After cleaning, there was no more smell, and I could see hardly any stains with the black light. I did still see a couple, but I got close and smelled them and there was no smell. I’m sure future cleanings will get rid of the rest of the residue. Or maybe I should have done more than 2 passes. But I didn’t have the patience for more, and everything seems very clean. I am very happy with the results.This is a really good cleaner. It is lightweight and easy to use. The price is very reasonable. To me, it’s a lot better to have my own cleaner than to have to rent one or to get a professional carpet cleaning. This way, I can do it as often as I want. They really do make the whole process pretty easy.

I have the hover one at a similar price range. It was a disaster. I only want a lightweight one to clean up after pets. I had an extra-wide one for years, too heavy to lift upstairs. I also still have a canister wet vac, but it's inconvenient to carry a ball and chain upstairs. It's for the car only.The hover seems fine at first. But it seems to be designed by people who don't use it, or by messy people. You cannot pour out the dirty water without dripping around, nor keep your fingers clean. The first thing to go is the switch. You step on it. What do you expect? It's hell to remove everything to get to the switch. You can't replace it unless it's exactly the same and soldered the same way, because there is a mechanism to fit it for the foot activation. The switch still works about 90%, so I put it back together. It works 60%. Then the motor failed.The Bissel corrects all the mistakes the Hoover does. It looks bigger, but it weighs about the same. It looks and feels better with the clear study plastic. You can pour the dirty water down the toilet without missing a beat. Your fingers won't be contaminated. All the dirty water will go where it belongs.You may find it inconvenient when you have to turn on the switch by hand. But it was the first thing to go on the Hoover. Both tanks are easy to go in and out of with the handles. You can lock the dirt tank easily and securely. You can lift the whole thing with the tank handle, much more balanced instead of the cleaner handle. There are two turning knobs for the winding the cord, icing on the cake compared to others who has one. If you wind the cord with an X pattern, it can come off instantly without tangling.

The short story is that I am very pleased with this carpet cleaner. It is lightweight, powerful, cleans well, and is inexpensive. It has some limitations, which I will cover later. Will it hold up over time? I will update my review if it fails. new, if you like to read long, rambling reviews, strap in.Prior to this I had a Hoover Power Scrub Deluxe carpet cleaner for cleaning large areas. It worked well but the bearings that ran the cleaning brushes rusted solid after a year or two of use. That machine had a kind of turbine, mounted between two metal ball bearings, which ran the brushes by utilizing the suction of the main vacuum unit. These bearings were completely unprotected from water and failed, as anyone with a functioning brain would expect. This was either a sloppy design choice or an example of planned obsolescence. Regardless, I won’t be getting another Hoover product again. This machine uses a belt powered beater brush like a normal vacuum cleaner. I purchased it specifically because of this and hope that it will stand the test of time. We will see.Now on to carpet. Carpets in general are nasty but they are the cheapest ‘nice’ floor covering out there so many places have them. Until I have the time and energy to upgrade I am stuck with them. They WILL get disgusting if you let them, and by ‘let them’ I mean not shampoo them religiously every few months. I made do with an existing spot carpet cleaner I had, a Bissell Spot Clean Professional (which I highly recommend), after the Hoover failed me, and it did well enough until I got a new puppy. While it was great for little accidents, getting down on your hands and knees to do a large area regularly was very unpleasant. Its also great for vehicles and stairs, which this machine is not, so they pair well. The Spot Clean Pro has lasted me several years of intermittent use so here’s hoping the TurboClean will as well.I used this machine according to the instructions and I have several notes. The instructions say to make one slow pass forward and one slow pass backward while spraying solution and to repeat the process while not spraying solution. End of cleaning, let dry. For my medium pile carpet this left it very wet and with quite a lot of shampoo in it (as evidenced by little bubbles in the pile). I made one slow pass forward and one slow pass backward while spraying cleaning solution and then two to three slow forward and back passes without spraying until the unit stopped picking up much water. This dried out the carpets much better and left them cleaner. Once I had finished the area I then made another full round of passes but only filled the machine with hot water. No cleaning solution. This helped get even more dirt out and left the carpets free of shampoo. If your carpets are very nasty you will have to repeat this process several times until the water comes out clean. This level of effort is required when using any carpet cleaner though, even powerful ones like Rug Doctors. While my puppy has left the carpets quite filthy multiple times ('accidents', garbage can raids, the murder of a few house plants, etc.) the has machine cleaned them perfectly and without having to pre-treat the stains. Carpets get truly awful if you don’t religiously clean them so be prepared to work at it, but this machine will get the job done.So, how were the results? Great. After extracting several tanks of what appeared to be chocolate milk from my carpets they look fantastic and, maybe more importantly, smell clean. This was very difficult to accomplish with a new puppy using only carpet cleaning sprays or the spot cleaner. It is also easy to clean and empty. Does it have limitations? Yes. This is the largest Bissell consumer level unit you can get without a stair or spot cleaning attachment, which I didn’t need because of the Spot Clean Pro. That said, its tanks are small, and its cleaning head is not very wide. You will be filling and emptying these tanks a lot and it takes a long time to clean a large area. As expected, without the stair cleaning attachment you won't be able to use this on stairs. I also found the handle uncomfortable. The unit gets rather heavy when full of water and the hard plastic handle tends to mush your little finger after a while. None of these are deal breakers and it is a great value.Some additional tips: The small bottle of cleaning solution (8 oz) that comes with the unit is enough to fill the cleaning solution tank 4 times when following the instructions to the letter. That is enough to thoroughly clean about 50 square feet of carpet; basically, an area that is 5x10 feet. You may have similar results using less solution, depending on how nasty your carpets are. My unit came with a coupon for 50% off and free shipping on a ‘Pet Stain Removal Pack’ No. B0092 from the Bissell website. It includes a full-size bottle of cleaning solution (48 oz), a spot treating spray bottle (22 oz), and a bottle of ‘booster’ for the cleaning solution (16 oz). That kit is normally $37 dollars before taxes and shipping from their website without the coupon as of this writing. The same items separately cost $33 from Amazon, so it’s a good deal. I have no idea how long they will keep doing that though.Keep a paper towel or little baggy handy if you have someone in the house that makes a lot of hair. Pets, kids, significant other, Bigfoot, whatever. Even if you vacuum thoroughly beforehand this machine will clean deep and kick up lots of filthy wet hairballs. You’ll want to pick them up as you go or they will clog the machine. Do not let the tank get too full. Empty it every time you fill the cleaning solution tank even though it appears to be hold much more water, as the machine seems to have reduced suction the fuller the dirty water tank gets. If the machine makes a kind of popping sound and loses suction that means the dirty water tank is full. You must stop and empty it (it is a safety feature, as the dirty water tank would overflow otherwise). Rinse the machine out according to the manual after you finish cleaning, or it will begin to smell. Do NOT tilt or shake a full dirty water tank after removing it. If you do the water will puke out the suction tube and get everywhere. Learn from my mistake.