THE POWERFORCE BE WITH YOU ! (Bissell 6594 Powerforce)

Member Name: womblebatman

Product:	Bissell 6594 Powerforce
Date:	16/11/08 (543 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable and easy to use

Disadvantages: Bit of a lump to carry around and noisey

Around 7 months ago I brought a Bissell 6594E vacuum. Thought about getting a dyson but after seeing the price I brought one of these instead. I was a bit unsure when I first saw the Bissell because it's not a manfacturer that I was acquainted with. So here's a bit about the founders of the company, Ana and Melville Bissell.

The story of Bissell

In 1872 and Ana and Melville were running a crockery shop in michigan, USA. The crockery came packed in crates of sawdust and it was Ana's frustration with the sweeping up of that sawdust that caused Melville to invent a carpet cleaner device. The first 'Bissell' factory was opened in 1883. On Melville's death, Anna Bissell took control of the expanding bissell business, becoming one of America's first female corporate CEOs. It is still run by the bissell family, the present CEO being Mark.J.Bissell.

THE SPECS: The Bissell Powerforce is a 1,400 w , 12 amp bagless vacuum and has the following features:

*Easy to grab carrying handle
* Lightweight design for easy carrying
* Ergonomically Designed Handle for Easier Handling
*3.75 litre dust cup capacity
* Can clean on : Carpet, Upholstery, stairs, auto, Hard surfaces
*Scuff Resistant Bumper with Edge to Edge Cleaning
*12" WideTrack Cleaning Path for quicker cleaning
*7 height adjustments on the handle
*Easy to empty clear dirt container
*Flexible reinforced stretch hose
*25 foot Power Cord with easy release mechanism
*Foot Pedal On/Off Switch
*Crevice tool,extension wand
*On the back - combination dusting brush and upholstroy tool.
*4 Stages of Filtration including HEPA and Charcoal Filter ~ captures dust & micro particles and eliminates smells


The Bissell comes with a two year warranty. It has a very 'user' freindly instruction booklet which is well laid out easy to understand and includes everything you need to know including information about replacement parts. NOTE : When unpacking the hoover you will need to attach the handle which is packed separately, it's just a case of inserting a screw either side of the handle.

USING THE BISSELL

The Bissell 'powerforce' has great suction, however this suction will deminish if you don't clean the in-built filters on a regular basis. Bissell recomend you clean the filters once a month, if like us you have pets you may need to clean them a bit sooner. The filters are cleaned by running them under warm water and they need to be dry before they are re-inserted. Bissell's vacuum filration system is made up of 'Pre-Motor and 'Post-Motor filters. The pre-Motor protects the motor from debris and is located underneath the dirt container. The post-Motor filter returns clean air to the room and is positioned below the dust container lever.

THE FILTERS

Contary to belief 'HEPA' is not something you pick up at a NHS hospital. To be honest I hadn't a clue what HEPA was until I started using the Bissell. At home we have two cats which leave fur everywhere. I found myself sneezing alot when they were around, however not only has the Bissell been very effective at picking up all the cat hairs but it's also helped reduce my sneezing, which I'm very grateful for. What is a HEPA filter? (Hold on, just get my anorak)

HEPA (High-efficiency particulate air) filters are often advertised as being beneficial for asthma and allergy sufferers. The HEPA filter apparently traps the fine particles (such as pollen and dust mite poo) which trigger allergy and asthma symptoms. It's reckoned that they remove 99.97% of airborne particles down to 0.3 micrometers in diameter (dust mites are 04 micrometers, apparently!). I'm quite prone to dust borne allergies so I'm all for the HEPA. The original HEPA filter was designed in 1940's and was used to prevent radioactive contaminants. (I suppose if you were threatened by radiation fall out- you could always get the hoover out, ha ha!)

CHARCOAL Filter : (Activated charcoal filter) This filter removes odours, that simple ! As mentioned above it returns clean air to the room. You can wash the filters but, if you do need to replace any of the filters you can buy them on line through Bissell or you can buy them through Curry's spare parts section on their sister website 'Partmaster'. I've included the address below. I have to say that up to now I haven't needed to change any of the filters. I did need to buy a drive belt a few weeks back which cost £7.99 but thats the only expense I've encountered so far.

Cost of replacement filters with Part No :

Inner and Outer Circular filters £6.99 (32064)
Pre-Motor filter £6.99 (203-1215)
Post-Motor filter £6.75 (32066)
Drive Belt £7.99 pack of two (32074)

You will find a more comprehensive list of spare parts in the Bissell users guide.

IN-USE

The Bissell works great over large carpet areas it has great suction. With a simple adjustment of the height adjustment knob It will also work equally well over bare floors. It picks up alot of stuff and you get to see it all in the clear plastic tank, there's something oddly satifying about that. In smaller areas the Bissell isn't so much fun mostly because the foot of the cleaner is quite large. When the cleaner is full you empty the hoover by simply sliding the lever which is positioned just below the dirt container from one side of the vacuum to the other. The furniture protection guard on the front of the cleaner is a handy addition, the way I hoover it's essential addition (you will notice that my hover looks a tad battered). The handle adjustment is also quite handy, it means that you can hoover under tables and chairs. Bissell claim that on the lowest setting you can clean under beds, but unless you've got large rooms to manoeuvre the 'hummer' sized cleaner around in it does make for hard work.

THE BUILT-IN TOOLS

With Bissells 'built-in' tools (dusting brush and upholstery cleaner) you can clean the sofa, shelves and other areas. You simply detach the hose from the base of the cleaner and then connect whichever adaptor you need. I have used it to hoover the sofa, unfortunately the last time I tried hooving the curtains they got sucked into the hose and I inadvertively pulled the curtains down. Despite Bissell claiming that this is a light weigth cleaner (12lbs) it does become quite a chore carrying it around if you've got lots of stairs to climb. We've solved that problem by having a little Goblin (called sid) who lives at the top of the stairs :-)

CONCLUSION

The Bissell is a great hover for cleaning wide carpet areas especially if you have an open planned type of house. It is reliable and has very good suction. It can also be used for cleaning soft furnishings and is very easy to maintain. However, the Bissell is quite a lump to carry up stairs especially if you have narrow stairs. All the weight is in the bottom (foot) of the hoover and it's easy to lose balance when carrying it, I've hit a few things trying to carry it upstairs (as the photo's of my 'battered' Bissell will show).

CONTACT DETAILS

For UK Inquiries

Bissell Homecare
The Boat Yard
105 Striaght Road
Old Winsor
Berkshire SL4 2SE

tel 0870-225-0109
mon - thurs 9am - 5
thurs 9am-4

www.bissell.com

http://www.partmaster.co.uk/cgi-bin/home.pl?cam p_ id=currys
(for spare parts)

Summary: Bulit to last, easy to maintain and powerful

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