Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: February 2, 2023 by Crystal Uys
My entire house is carpeted (with the exception of the kitchen and bathrooms.) The carpet in my living room, hallway, and upstairs bedrooms is off white. And it’s the original carpet, so it’s about 35 years old. It has been through as many years of homeowners with cats. Between the original owners and me, my carpets have dealt with a total of seven cats so far. Nobody who walks into my house believes me that the carpet is that old.
I vacuum weekly, and for the first 20+ years that I’ve lived in this house, I’ve had my carpets professionally cleaned. But for the last few years, I discontinued the professional cleanings. Between Buckley’s heart disease, and Amber getting older, I didn’t want to stress them out by having to lock them into a bathroom for the time it would take to get the whole house cleaned. When Allegra and Ruby joined me, I thought that the time was right to have the carpet cleaned professionally again, but Allegra hates being locked up so much that she actually starts trying to dig her way out from under the door. And Ruby is terrified of the sound of the vacuum cleaner.
My solution: get a steam carpet cleaner, and do it myself. That way, I wouldn’t have to lock the girls up. They could deal with “the monster” in a way that feels good to them. For Ruby, that means the very top of the highest cat tree in the house; for Allegra, it means following “the monster” at a safe distance, and occasionally attacking the cord. Owning my own machine would also allow me to clean one room at a time, minimizing stress on the girls for prolonged periods of time.
I was thrilled when Bissell agreed to send me their DeepClean Lift-Off Deluxe Pet Upright Deep Cleaner for review.
The DeepClean Lift-Off Deluxe Pet Upright Deep Cleaner is a full size steam cleaner with a removable portable spot cleaner that easily detaches from the main machine and can be carried away for cleaning hard-to-reach areas, stairs and furniture. I already own Bissel’s Little Green portable deep cleaner, which works fabulously well, so I was excited about trying the full size machine.
The cleaner comes in two pieces. According to the directions, all you need to do is attach the handle to the bottom part of the machine with four screws. Sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, the angle of the screws and corresponding holes is so awkward that it takes quite a bit of effort to put it together. I’m pretty challenged when it comes to anything that requires assembly, so at first I chalked my difficulties up to my ineptitude, and brought in a more talented friend to help, but even she found it hard to put together.
But once the machine was assembled, it was fantastic, and very easy to use. Simply fill the water tank with hot water and cleaning solution, and you’re ready to go. Since I don’t use any chemical cleaners around my house, I did not use any of the Bissell cleaning solutions that came with the machine, but used a mixture of water and white vinegar instead (I use a ratio of about 2 cups per gallon, but you don’t have to be exact with this.)
The machine has great suction, and took up some older stains even without pre-treating. If I had chosen to pre-treat, I would have used a solution like Fizzion. I cleaned my Reiki room, my office, and one set of stairs to test the cleaner, and the results were quite nice. I wish I could give you dramatic before and after photos, but I guess my carpets just weren’t that dirty to begin with. You can see Ruby inspecting the newly cleaned carpet in my office in the photo above. The girls weren’t too thrilled with the wet carpets, but they didn’t seem traumatized by the noise from the machine (and I did give Stress Stopper to both of them before I started). Drying time was impressive: after about five hours, everything was dry. The machine’s suction does a great job taking up the moisture without a lot of effort: simply run the machine over the cleaned area in reverse.
I like everything (except the assembly) about this machine. The water tank lasts long enough to clean an entire bedroom without refilling. The dirty water tank is much larger than the water tank, and I didn’t have to empty it until I was done cleaning. I love that the machine is really two cleaners in one. I used the portable cleaner on my stairs, and it was easy to maneuver and did a great job. I like the extra long cord, so you don’t have to constantly interrupt cleaning to find different plugs. The machine is easy to clean. I was certainly pleased with the results – my carpet looks the same way it used to look when I had it professionally cleaned.
On a scale from 1 to 5 stars, I give this machine a solid 4. If if wasn’t for the awkward assembly, I’d give it the full 5 stars.
You can purchase the DeepClean Lift-Off Deluxe Pet Upright Deep Cleaner from Amazon, or directly from Bissell. For more information about the cleaner, and Bissell’s other products, please visit Bissell.com.
*I received this cleaner from Bissell for the purpose of writing a review. Receiving the complimentary product did not influence my review.
About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
