Bissell Vac And Steam

Having pets in the house, the floors are suffering generally on a daily basis anyway, but with the weather taking a turn for the worse now Autumn has set in, I am always seeing paw prints on the lounge floor which is next to the back door. How would the Bissell Vac and Steam stand up to the job?

Inside the box

In the box, you receive the unit, two floor pads, water jug and  fragrance discs. The unit itself doesn’t require any difficult construction, but has plenty of features that you can adjust to suit you when using the Van And Steam.

The Unit

Whilst the unit is fairly heavy in itself, it does glide well over hard floors. There are many features that make this unit stand out from your standard steam mop.

• Adjustable height on the handle
• Long power cord
• Low and high steam controls
• Can vacuum at the same time as steaming
• Removable compartment to empty vacuum waste
• Washable filters
• Easy removable floor plate
• Non spill water tank

To use

Before you use the unit, water has to be added to the tank. The water jug supplied will need to be filled twice to fill the tank, which then gives you approximately 15 minutes of steam. The water is added via a wide drop down plastic opening, which prevents the water from spilling down the sides of the unit. This is a very handy design as when you close the water opening, any remaining water is forced into the water tank.

The two floor mops provided (one is softer, and one with a slightly raised edge for scrubbing the floor). Each mop cloth has a label instructing which way around it needs to be put onto the floor plate. Once in place, the unit clicks back on quite easily to the floor plate. I did find that the raised mop head is a little thicker and therefore the unit doesn’t click back in quite as easily as when you use the plain mop head.

You can also choose to add in a fragrance disc to the pocket inside the mop head. I found that you can’t really fit a whole disc in as it doesn’t fit properly, however you don’t need a whole one, so just cut or tear in half as the fragrance is powerful enough with just a little bit. It does make the floors smell lovely though.

The power cord is long enough to do a whole room without having to unplug the unit and start again. I have used floor mops before with shorter power cords and it has become a pain to stop half way through a room to change power supply. This is a great feature on the Vac And Steam.

You can choose whether to steam the floors, vacuum the floors, or use a combined vacuum and steam method at the same time. I was very intrigued by how this would work, but from a time saving point of view it was going to really help get things done quickly.

The steamer takes approximately 30 seconds to be ready once you have turned the unit on, and when the light has stopped flashing then you are ready to choose a high or low steam option. Higher steam just means more steam, and the preferred option I use as we have pets so the floors are always a little dirtier.

If you want to sanitise an area, then as you are using steam, just hold in one place for 10 seconds and the area will be sanitised as well as clean.

I really did find the unit very easy to use, and despite having a lot of features, it’s a simple unit to understand. I was a little shocked at how dirty the mop heads came out after using it each time, but at least I can be sure the floors are clean (if only for a little while when it needs to come out again).

If you have light dust / hair / dirt etc on the floor then I would suggest using the vacuum at the same time as steaming. The cyclonic motor is great at sucking up the dust. The unit weighs 4.6kg which doesn’t sound a lot, but can feel a little heavy when you are pushing it around. Whilst it can be used on carpets as well as hard floors, I did find this too heavy to use as purely a vacuum cleaner, so it was back to hard floors for me and the Van And Steam.

The vacuum is quite noisy compared to my standard vacuum cleaner, but as it is used in short bursts, it doesn’t affect me too much. It’s not a unit you can still hear the TV whilst it’s on.

As you can use just the vacuum if you like, the steam is activated upon a plate on the underside of the handle. It’s placed in a really good position that doesn’t feel awkward when using it.

The Bissell Vac And Steam retails for £129.99. It’s a little more than I would have anticipated paying for a steam mop, but as it does so much more than a steam mop does, then I think it’s worth every penny.

Here’s a short video showing how to use the Vac And Steam and the results it gives you.

Disclosure – I received the Vac and Steam free of charge but all opinions are my own

Disclosure – contains an affiliate link