How to use my Bissell Crosswave

I am excited to share with you how to use my Bissell Crosswave today!  You will be amazed what we found.  

Just when you think your house is clean, you find out it isn't as clean as you think it is...so what to do next?

I like to think I have a pretty clean house.  I clean a lot, always cleaning, running the sweeper, sweeping up someone's hair, won't mention any names... washing blankets... the list goes on, you get the idea.

We decided recently to purchase a Bissell Crosswave All In One Wet Dry Vacuum.  It is supposed to be especially good for pet owners... let's see what we think about that after the first use. 

 

We all know I am not one to read directions... Mr. Vintage had peanut outside playing on Saturday and I decided it was time to give this Bissell wet/dry vac a try. 

First, I will tell you it has a 3 prong plug and I had no more 3 prong adapters so I had to purchase one, or three... it came in a 3 pack and I decided you never know when when you may need another.

Once the adapters were here, I was able to see what magic this baby could do on Saturday afternoon.

I did purchase extra Bissell cleaner when I picked up the wet vac so I did not run out so quickly.  The vac does come with 2 small bottles of cleaner which I thought was a nice touch.  

I filled the bottle to the small area line of water, then added in the cleaner required to clean a small area.  Easy enough, right?

Then I put the bottle down into the holder.  Obviously, I did not get it in the holder correctly... I had a large wet spot on the floor in the kitchen that I did not see until later.  

I went down the hallway and turned on the vac and started hitting the button to wet the floor.  Of course, Mr. Vintage comes in about that time and scared me half to death when he snuck up behind me.  I let out a little yelp!  

He said did you read the directions and I smiled and said why would I do that?  He says did you know you have a large wet spot on the floor in the kitchen?  I said no, looked, and was like crap!  

That would explain why I did not see much cleaner/water formula in the bottle.  I could not figure out why I was not getting much cleaner on the floor.  Well, I did not get the bottle down in the holder part of the vac into it correctly.  Of course, he laughed and shook he his head and said you never read the directions.

My reply?  Yeah, yeah... so we had to start over, back to square one.  He decided to take over and started with the water, cleaning solution, and put the bottle back into the vac, you know, the right way...

He took it out to the foyer and hallway and began sweeping the area.  I was like hmmm... the vinyl floor does not look much different.  I am not sure exactly what I was expecting, maybe those cartoon sparkles all over the floor?  Why did those not appear?  ✨  

So, I took the vacuum to the hallway and used the vac on our runner.  It does not saturate the rug, but it is damp when you walk on it.  After I ran the vacuum over it several times, it was pretty dry.  I do think the runner looks brighter after being cleaned.  

The difference was when Mr. Vintage pulled out the compartment where your dirty water goes and I saw it.  I was like yuck!  Are you kidding me?  That dirt is in my house?  Seriously?  I clean, I promise I do!  

I thought our floors were pretty clean.  Well, apparently they are not!  Look at how dark the water is?  And do you see peanut hairs in it?  I literally vacuumed the floor before I started cleaning.  I was in awe... call me a weirdo, but I totally get this from my Grandmother... I like to see how clean I get things.

In her day, Grandma was a cleaner, cook, and baker around the home of course, but she was wicked good at all three.  She should have been a commercial baker, she was that good.  

I recall being a kiddo and watching her clean and asking why she did the things she did when everything looked okay to me.  She was the person who vacuumed her carpets and then cleaned the vacuum canister out with soap and water once she emptied it.  

Of course, you see my helper running the hall.  

Do you know someone like this?  The canister had to be sparkling clean before she could run the vacuum next.  To me, you use the vacuum to clean up dirt, do you clean your canister out after each time you vacuum like this?  

Of course I clean my canister out after every time I vacuum, but do you use soap and water to clean yours?  I do not take that extra bit on.  I thought she was coo coo for cocoa puffs...  then she showed me all of the dirt and I said okay, I get it... you know how us kids can be.  

  

When I went to empty the dirty water into our toilet, I will say that you need to remove the plastic piece that stands upright in the canister.  Learn from my mistake, it fell out in the toilet and I had to fish it out.  GRR... so I can honestly say I learned quite a bit about this machine/wet vacuum, but the most important lesson learned was probably read the directions.  I feel pretty good in that I know my floors are now clean too!  YEAH!  What a wonderful feeling that is!  

P.S. Grandma would be proud... I even cleaned out the canister with soap and water, lol!  So it is ready for our next floor cleaning, sparkles and all.  ✨😉