And the wheels on the vac go round and round . . .

ByAngela Hunt
13 Comments

I love those little robot vacuums. I have never purchased one of the fancy expensive brands (for reasons you’ll understand in a moment), but considering that we have three big dogs, I love my little robovac and have programmed it to run three times at day–morning, noon, and night. I’d say it’s more of a sweeper than a vacuum, but it picks up a lot of dog hair and dust, and that helps considerably with my sneezing and my cleaning compulsion.

But the other day I had to leave the house for a bit, and when I came back, I discovered that Ivy, my geriatric mastiff, had had an accident of the solid, stinky kind. That would have been bad enough, but she had tried to go to the front door, then to the. back, dropping deposits all along the way. To make things still worse, it was noon, which meant that the little robovac was out doing its mid-day job. So it did its best, grinding and spinning and depositing . . . let’s just say I came back to a mess.

Cleaning the house was relatively easy, as we have tile floors and I have jugs of Odoban, which disinfects even as it de-stinkifies. But cleaning the Robovac was a different matter.

I have had this happen before. The first time, years ago, I just pitched the thing into the trash, because I had no idea that the things could be taken apart and cleaned. The second time, I took the vacuum apart, cleaned the parts, and put it back together. Good as new.

But this time . . . I started by taking it apart, realizing that I was going to have to sterilize everything and every surface I touched. I got out the dirt tray, dumped and cleaned it. I got out the roller brush and cleaned it. I took off the spinning brush and cleaned it. I took out the battery so I could keep an eye on it and not get it wet. But when it came to the wheels . . . there was no way I could get the tread clean–not without dunking the entire apparatus, which would have soaked the electronics, and there she blows . . . so I gathered up all the pieces and put them in the trash. Then I ordered a new one.

This is why I don’t buy the expensive versions. And why I don’t get the fancy ones that shampoo and self-clean. I can’t even imagine the sort of mess that would leave behind.

So right now I’m sitting here typing this while my little robovac is on its noon patrol, Ivy is sleeping by my side, and we’re good to go . . . until next time. I keep a spray bottle of Odoban at the ready

~~Angie

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Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who expect the unexpected in novels. With over five million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 165 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to non-fiction books, to novels.

13 Comments

  2. Wow. I admit I probably would have thrown it away too. I have thrown away a pair of shoes before, after accidentally stepping in my dogs poo! But I am also jealous that you can use this vacuum with your dogs. Unfortunately, one of my dogs hates all vacuums. He will bark and nip at it. Vacuuming in my house is always a challenge. But I’m really glad you are back in business and I hope there isn’t a next time. 😁

    1. Me, too. My dogs tolerate the little vacuum. One of them will get up and move away–she clearly doesn’t like it–but the others pretty much ignore it. Thank goodness!

  3. I could tell the same story, many times over. I think I am on my 6th or 7th (cheapo) robotic. Even though I now only start the vac when I am in the house, it still occasionally finds a mess to plow through. A toothbrush works wonders for cleaning out the tire treads. And for the amount of dog and cat hair and dust that fills the dustbin multiple times a day, it’s worth the occasional hassle.

    2. I agree! And a toothbrush! I have to remember to save my old one the next time I get a new one. That would have worked perfectly!

  4. Oh, my! My daughter-in-law and sister love their robovacs for dog hair, but I don’t think either have experienced this yet! I had no idea!

  5. Oh, my goodness! I love my robotic vacuums, too. I also have had vacuum mishaps. Luckily, not of the poo kind, LOL, but once ours climbed onto a plate with wet cat food on it and took it everywhere, and I don’t have tile. Nope, my house has carpet, the bane of my existence. Another time, it found paint. My boys were repainting my ceilings for me and left a wet lid, a stirring spoon, and the splatter-catching cardboard in its path. It still wears a couple of strips of paint from that fiasco.

  6. LOL, Angie, but also ack! 😉 I’m not sure if I ever told you this… But you recommended a robot vacuum to me years ago, and I got that very vacuum. And I named it Angie. Still have her and she’s a faithful little workhorse!

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