How do I get my roomba to suck less…or more?
February 13, 2022 6:35 PM Subscribe
I’ve got a 4-ish year old roomba, but I hardly ever use it because it 1. Gets stuck around chair/table legs and 2. Decides it’s done and returns to its charger before it’s done the whole house. I have 900 square foot house , all hardwood floors one one level, which should be a piece of cake for it. Has anyone solved similar roomba issues?
Only the pricey new ones do the modeling. We got a basic model, and we’ve positioned the base so it is most likely to hit the most important rooms first. We also close doors if we want to make sure it does a particular room.
And no ideas about the chair legs or coffee table, both of which are very clean underneath.
posted by nat at 8:06 PM on February 13, 2022
And no ideas about the chair legs or coffee table, both of which are very clean underneath.
posted by nat at 8:06 PM on February 13, 2022
My biggest trick is to just pick it up, place it in the area I most want to see cleaned, and THEN turn it on.
…also, moving a dining room chair off to one side so there’s an exit from beneath the table.
(Would never give up my robo-vac!)
posted by aramaic at 9:09 PM on February 13, 2022
…also, moving a dining room chair off to one side so there’s an exit from beneath the table.
(Would never give up my robo-vac!)
posted by aramaic at 9:09 PM on February 13, 2022
I have a quite old roomba, I have it set to go off each weekday morning. It is inconsistent and sometimes finishes in a few minutes and sulks on its charger and sometimes goes on for ages mostly in the same spot. Recently it has become obsessed with wedging itself under a particular armchair so I have a strategically placed thick book placed to thwart it.
To improve the overall coverage, I leave it to recharge itself during the day then place it a different spot when I go to bed. I close the door so it is obliged to clean there and can’t slink off back to charge. It usually hides at the farthest point under a bed or table so it’s a pain to retrieve but generally this works pretty well.
I also use rubber door wedges to leave room for it to move between rooms otherwise it’s pretty good at closing doors on itself. I changed the battery on mine a year or so ago and that seemed to help too.
posted by ElasticParrot at 1:28 AM on February 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
To improve the overall coverage, I leave it to recharge itself during the day then place it a different spot when I go to bed. I close the door so it is obliged to clean there and can’t slink off back to charge. It usually hides at the farthest point under a bed or table so it’s a pain to retrieve but generally this works pretty well.
I also use rubber door wedges to leave room for it to move between rooms otherwise it’s pretty good at closing doors on itself. I changed the battery on mine a year or so ago and that seemed to help too.
posted by ElasticParrot at 1:28 AM on February 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have a cheap alternative brand, and I only ever set it to do one room at a time - put it in the bedroom and shut the door kind of thing. I live in a small flat so that's fairly straightforward, but I realise it might slightly defeat the "switch it on and leave it" appeal for some. When I tried leaving it to roam the entire flat, I wasn't convinced it was ever going to find its way into some rooms. It's still heaven compared with having to do it myself!
posted by penguin pie at 2:48 AM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by penguin pie at 2:48 AM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
We have a five and a half year old Roomba 980, which was the high end model at the time of purchase. It has mapping capability and wifi, and will report what it has done with little maps on the app. It lacks some of the newer features such as being able to name and target a specific room.
I invented my own variation on the modern "self emptying" base. Complaints about the relatively small dust bin and having to clean them had been a staple of the Roomba user community for years, so I arranged a small ShopVac with HEPA bag and HEPA filter located behind a bit of furniture, added a foot pedal activator, and made a stand out of some black-painted PVC pipe for the wand, located right next to the charging base, so I could just pick up the dust bin and vac it into a larger vac without all the mess of emptying the dust bin that people normally loathe.
Homes need to be made Roomba-safe in a manner similar to pet- or kid-safe, and we haven't exactly been great about that. There are far too many legs in the dining room, Roomba-hostile chairs in the kitchen, and several bits of furniture/appliances where the Roomba's lighthouse/dock detector (the little nub that sticks up on the front) is the perfect height to get stuck. Roombas are notorious for chewing on cords or small objects left on the ground.
Since it is a mapping-capable model, the Roomba will run for 7 to 9 hours cleaning the whole first floor (more than 1500sqft), going back for several charging cycles, and will pick up where it left off -- unless it experiences a problem. Resuming from a problem is very hit-or-miss and rather disappointing because it should be able to carry on once someone "fixes" its issue, but often doesn't.
As with other contributors, I'd note that robovacs can be guided to clean or avoid certain areas through strategic door closing or blocking of thruways with convenient blocker objects like backpacks. This can make it less of a magical experience.
Nevertheless, it is less work than hauling out the regular old vacuum cleaner.
posted by jgreco at 3:56 AM on February 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I invented my own variation on the modern "self emptying" base. Complaints about the relatively small dust bin and having to clean them had been a staple of the Roomba user community for years, so I arranged a small ShopVac with HEPA bag and HEPA filter located behind a bit of furniture, added a foot pedal activator, and made a stand out of some black-painted PVC pipe for the wand, located right next to the charging base, so I could just pick up the dust bin and vac it into a larger vac without all the mess of emptying the dust bin that people normally loathe.
Homes need to be made Roomba-safe in a manner similar to pet- or kid-safe, and we haven't exactly been great about that. There are far too many legs in the dining room, Roomba-hostile chairs in the kitchen, and several bits of furniture/appliances where the Roomba's lighthouse/dock detector (the little nub that sticks up on the front) is the perfect height to get stuck. Roombas are notorious for chewing on cords or small objects left on the ground.
Since it is a mapping-capable model, the Roomba will run for 7 to 9 hours cleaning the whole first floor (more than 1500sqft), going back for several charging cycles, and will pick up where it left off -- unless it experiences a problem. Resuming from a problem is very hit-or-miss and rather disappointing because it should be able to carry on once someone "fixes" its issue, but often doesn't.
As with other contributors, I'd note that robovacs can be guided to clean or avoid certain areas through strategic door closing or blocking of thruways with convenient blocker objects like backpacks. This can make it less of a magical experience.
Nevertheless, it is less work than hauling out the regular old vacuum cleaner.
posted by jgreco at 3:56 AM on February 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
if it helps, I got a replacement battery pack for my ooooold Roomba from Batteries + Bulbs (or whatever the local battery place is). If it would help I could dig up details, but my recollection was that it was ~$60 for good-as-new battery performance.
posted by adekllny at 7:08 AM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by adekllny at 7:08 AM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have a 980 too, got for free. Mine also is basically worthless. It doesn't get stuck that often but it does suck up things and then the dreaded 'error' sound plays and it gives up. It blows my mind that people recommend these things to simplify their lives. For their cost, they are terrible.
I do use mine to vacuum under beds - it's good for that, and I turn it on occasionally to just keep from throwing it away, but I'm not impressed and in my opinion, they are worse in every way than just spending (what? 10 minutes for 900 sq ft) vacuuming. They are also LOUD for their size which means I can't run it at night or while I'm home working.
I'd say if you floors are already insanely clean and just get a bit of dust, they are probably fine. But for anyone else, they are a waste of money..
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:23 AM on February 14, 2022
I do use mine to vacuum under beds - it's good for that, and I turn it on occasionally to just keep from throwing it away, but I'm not impressed and in my opinion, they are worse in every way than just spending (what? 10 minutes for 900 sq ft) vacuuming. They are also LOUD for their size which means I can't run it at night or while I'm home working.
I'd say if you floors are already insanely clean and just get a bit of dust, they are probably fine. But for anyone else, they are a waste of money..
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:23 AM on February 14, 2022
Honestly, my advice is to upgrade.
For over a decade I bought mid-range offbrand robot vacuums (eufy, ecovacs, etc) or cheaper roombas. They all worked fine and were helpful. I had the same experiences as people above - I had to be strategic about blocking places they got stuck, I had to pick them up and carry them to where I wanted them, I had to empty them daily, and every so often replace the batteries. Customer service was always helpful. Every few years I would have to replace them when they died.
The most recent time I splurged and got the roomba i8+ from Costco.
It's night and day!!
I thought things were good before, but this is mindblowing. It maps the rooms and I can designate areas to skip or go over extra. I can send it out to do whatever I want - whole house? Just 2 rooms? Just the area in front of the kitchen counter? It zooms straight there, does it's thing, and zooms straight back to the base. It empties itself automatically. I control it all from my phone from anywhere (even across the country). It sends me reports whenever it finishes so I can see what it did and how much dirt picked up. I can set a schedule for it so it does everything automatically without any input from me. It's as close to "set it and forget it" as you can get.
The ONLY thing I need to do is make sure the floor is clear of any small fiddly bits or dangling wires. But that has the added benefit of making my apartment look less cluttered so I can't even complain about that too much. This one purchase has made my life immeasurably better and I've been extolling it's virtues to everyone.
I bought from Costco so I feel secure knowing they have great customer service if there are any problems with it. It's normally $699 on the site but there are $100 or $120 off sales pretty frequently (two in the last three months, and they'll price match if you notice that the price droped within 30 days of you buying it so keep checking). Highly recommend. I even bought a second one as a gift for my mother.
I also recommend checking out r/RobotVacuums. They know their stuff.
posted by Nickel at 7:27 AM on February 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
For over a decade I bought mid-range offbrand robot vacuums (eufy, ecovacs, etc) or cheaper roombas. They all worked fine and were helpful. I had the same experiences as people above - I had to be strategic about blocking places they got stuck, I had to pick them up and carry them to where I wanted them, I had to empty them daily, and every so often replace the batteries. Customer service was always helpful. Every few years I would have to replace them when they died.
The most recent time I splurged and got the roomba i8+ from Costco.
It's night and day!!
I thought things were good before, but this is mindblowing. It maps the rooms and I can designate areas to skip or go over extra. I can send it out to do whatever I want - whole house? Just 2 rooms? Just the area in front of the kitchen counter? It zooms straight there, does it's thing, and zooms straight back to the base. It empties itself automatically. I control it all from my phone from anywhere (even across the country). It sends me reports whenever it finishes so I can see what it did and how much dirt picked up. I can set a schedule for it so it does everything automatically without any input from me. It's as close to "set it and forget it" as you can get.
The ONLY thing I need to do is make sure the floor is clear of any small fiddly bits or dangling wires. But that has the added benefit of making my apartment look less cluttered so I can't even complain about that too much. This one purchase has made my life immeasurably better and I've been extolling it's virtues to everyone.
I bought from Costco so I feel secure knowing they have great customer service if there are any problems with it. It's normally $699 on the site but there are $100 or $120 off sales pretty frequently (two in the last three months, and they'll price match if you notice that the price droped within 30 days of you buying it so keep checking). Highly recommend. I even bought a second one as a gift for my mother.
I also recommend checking out r/RobotVacuums. They know their stuff.
posted by Nickel at 7:27 AM on February 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I think mine has wifi, because it used to send me alerts on my phone that it was stuck - which annoyed me while I was at work so I deleted the app. would it work better if I set it up again?
posted by genmonster at 7:46 AM on February 14, 2022
posted by genmonster at 7:46 AM on February 14, 2022
I'm a pretty new Roomba owner. I don't have a fancy new model but purchased one from the 600 series. It has wifi and doesn't empty itself. I also haven't programmed it.
What seems to be working: once a week or every two weeks, I have it do a bigger, more thorough clean on the main floor of my house. I pick up dining room chairs, lamps, small pieces of furniture (the basket of blankets under the side table, for example), and things against the wall (plant stands etc). I have a dog and two cats so the hair can really gather in corners. I try to make sure there aren't cords or anything else that will get in its way. Then I run the roomba for entry way, living room, dining room, and a back room I use as an office.
And then, usually once or twice a week, I have it run in just the living room and entry way, which is where my cats hang out and where I see the most cat hair (though this may be because of the color of the rug versus my cats' hair). I close one door and put obstructions in another open doorway. I might pick up a few small things or shift some furniture to the middle of the room to expose corners and walls, but not always (I don't move the couch, for example).
The setting up and putting back can take a bit of time! Maybe not as long as vacuuming all the spaces. But, the more frequent, focused cleaning probably means there's less stuff to pick up overall when I set the roomba in a bigger area.
So the problem is you are running the roomba so infrequently that there's more for it to pick up, so it won't be able to do as much space without getting full. I'd have it do each room individually and then get into a habit of having it do the whole house a few times a week. I bet it will be able to do more then.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:37 PM on February 14, 2022
What seems to be working: once a week or every two weeks, I have it do a bigger, more thorough clean on the main floor of my house. I pick up dining room chairs, lamps, small pieces of furniture (the basket of blankets under the side table, for example), and things against the wall (plant stands etc). I have a dog and two cats so the hair can really gather in corners. I try to make sure there aren't cords or anything else that will get in its way. Then I run the roomba for entry way, living room, dining room, and a back room I use as an office.
And then, usually once or twice a week, I have it run in just the living room and entry way, which is where my cats hang out and where I see the most cat hair (though this may be because of the color of the rug versus my cats' hair). I close one door and put obstructions in another open doorway. I might pick up a few small things or shift some furniture to the middle of the room to expose corners and walls, but not always (I don't move the couch, for example).
The setting up and putting back can take a bit of time! Maybe not as long as vacuuming all the spaces. But, the more frequent, focused cleaning probably means there's less stuff to pick up overall when I set the roomba in a bigger area.
So the problem is you are running the roomba so infrequently that there's more for it to pick up, so it won't be able to do as much space without getting full. I'd have it do each room individually and then get into a habit of having it do the whole house a few times a week. I bet it will be able to do more then.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:37 PM on February 14, 2022
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The newer ones make a 3d model of your home, restart where they left off, and do lines in carpet. You can also exclude problematic areas like stairs or art. But the best part is it empties itself! Pay extra for that!
posted by bbqturtle at 7:41 PM on February 13, 2022