Roomba vacuum cleaner: 6 tips to get the most out of it

Roomba vacuum cleaners are becoming more and more popular. But you might be a little surprised at how silly it seems. Some tips and best practices will help you get the most out of your robot.

1. Avoid tight spaces. Every part of your room should be twice the size of your robot vacuum, or slimmer than it. If the space is slightly larger than your robot, it can get stuck there for several minutes or forever. The solutions: put something to block the path, make it narrower than the robot, or make it big enough. It can be good to spend a little time with your robot the first time you run it. You will see all the traps that cross your path.
2. Clean hair brushes and other debris regularly (1 per week or 1 per month). This way there will be less resistance, making your Roomba vacuum cleaner more efficient both for the battery and for cleaning.
3. Make sure your Roomba can get into every room. If you have steps between rooms or very fluffy carpets, your robot vacuum cleaner will not be as efficient. I guess that is something to see before you buy your robot. Otherwise you will have to manually carry it from one room to another. If your robot tries to climb on the step between the rooms, it can get hurt, so don’t forget to close the doors before letting it run.
4. Keep your room tidy. Roomba will not damage your vases or furniture. However, a room that is not tidy will greatly decrease the performance of your robot (remember when you had to pick up all the things one by one from the floor when vacuuming?). So tidy up regularly, you’ll see, it’ll be better when you’re in the room too (unless you just put everything on the table or sofa).
5. Make space in the middle. When starting to work, the Roomba vacuum spirals from the center of the room until it hits a wall or other obstacle. This part of the cleaning is very efficient and can cover a large area. So if you make a lot of clearance in the middle, your Roomba will cover a lot of ground right from the start. Also, if you are like me, you can enjoy walking freely around the room and have the feeling of having a bigger room.
6. Don’t hide the charging station. When your Roomba searches for its charging station, it has to find it quickly. Otherwise, she will keep randomly cleaning until she finds it. So put it somewhere where your robot can see it. In particular, the corner behind the furniture is a pretty bad idea. A corner with nothing else or under a table is more reasonable. If you follow this advice, you will find that your Roomba vacuum cleaner is quite efficient after all.