The very latest news and updates for the iRobot Roomba robotic vacuum, the Scooba Robotic Washer and the Dirt Dog workshop sweeper. All discussion and troubleshooting questions go here.
I just got my Woot! Scooba yesterday (this is my first Scooba). Previously, I had replaced all my air vents in my house due to information found in this thread. Before I did this, my Roombas would get pinned between my old air vents and the wall because the old vents tripped the stair sensors, as they weren't reflective enough. The new vents work great with Roombas: they roll right over them with no problem.
I did a dry run in a small bathroom last night, and found that the Scooba gets hung up on the above mentioned air vents. Figures.
So now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do. I'm thinking of trying my old vents in the areas where the Scooba will run. Of course, then my vents won't match and I'll have to do some negotiating with my wife.
Barring that, what have others done to get past this? I've been on this forum since I got my first Roomba and don't remember seeing anything about it. For the bathroom, I jut put the scale over the vent.
As an aside, the Scooba juice smells really nice. I don't see any reason why I'd want to try something else.
I've got light brown vents throughout the home. The Roombas all run completely over them without any issues. The Scooba, since it sits lower, detects these vents and avoids them. The vents are 4 1/2 wide and 8 1/2 long and sit about 1/4 inch high.
I've got light brown vents throughout the home. The Roombas all run completely over them without any issues.
Those are the ones I used to have (still sitting in the garage in boxes). My original Discovery with the older hardware--black innards with two sensors--had no problem at all with these. It was when I started adding newer Roombas (yellow innards, one sensor) to my fleet that I started having problems. For whatever reason, the brown vents weren't "reflective" enough, and the Roombas thought they were seeing a drop off.
I ran the Scooba last night in my Kitchen / Hallway / Foyer area. I took the vents out first. This area is shaped like a capital I, with the kitchen (the larger area) at the top of the I and the foyer (smaller area) at the bottom of the I. There's an air vent in the hallway near the bottom right of this area. Since I took it out, there was a hole there which the Scooba avoided; however this seemed to prevent it from following the wall of the hallway back up into the kitchen. As a result, I got a very clean foyer, and the kitchen barely got cleaned at all, even though that's where I started the Scooba. I'm wondering if putting the old vents in will change this or not.
Since this is my first experience with the Scooba, I'm still in the experimenting stage. It looks like I'm going to have to divide this area in half and run the Scooba twice in order to get it all clean. There's a small bathroom (powder room) in the middle of the hallway of this area too; maybe I can use that as the divider and leave the door open so the Scooba can enter. Previously, I was thinking instead of one run for all the bathrooms, since they're smaller.
The manual says the Scooba has to complete its drying cycle before it can be picked up and moved to another area. Is that how everyone is using theirs? Can I run it for a while in a bathroom, pick it up, put it in another bathroom, etc., or do I have to let it go through the whole cycle?
I always pick it up and move it between bathrooms mid-cycle...I think it's ok as long as it runs a drying cycle before it's done for the day and put away to recharge.
Howdy sez, Congrats on your new Scooba. I like the smell of juice too. First, one of the most important protections for the Scooba is the battery. There have been several discussions of this and recently I discussed this with a very knowledgable tech at iRobot. The design of the Scooba battery only requires that it not be discharged all the way, so "they" say. An occasional full discharge may not be bad (I'm no expert, although one of my degrees is Physics, but I'm sticking by the rules on this one untill further notice.) You can put the Scooba into dry mode by hitting the power button again while it is running at any time. Or as Geniusjustin says, just pick it up and move it.
Due to my unusual circumstances (dust, mud, sand, doggie hair and slobber, doggie crumbs from frequent "biskie bone" treats mixed with slobber, GIANT "free-range" house-dogs and lots of fruniture and things to get around) and shape of my living area Scooba requires many, many, runs to get the floor really clean. The shape of downstairs, all tile, is an F shape with top line being kitchen, middle being main entrance to dusty courtyard, long vertical about 60' living and dining open area. Then, not included in the F shape there's the office (our real main entrance coming from extremely dusty garage) and full bath between living and office; everything tile. Doggies live and "den" everywhere.
Scooba usually makes 3-4 runs per sectioned off areas; about 7 total areas including office as 1 separate area and bathroom as 1 separate area, kitchen 1, dining area 2 separate areas, and living room/ entrance 2 separate areas (which makes about 21 total runs per floor cleaning day). BTW I have a bunch of VWs from so many Roombas over the years.
Here we go again; more expense. First Scooba came with external charging base and power brick. I added another charging base, power brick and 2nd battery. (Good thing as first battery was one of the "bad batch" ones and had to get a replacement after about two months use). Then I was given another Scooba as a gift with external charging base and power brick, and its battery of course. Purchased another charging base, used 2nd Scooba's power brick. (It's battery was also one of the "bad batch" so had to wait for yet another replacement battery). I still needed more batteries and ability to charge them to get all the cleaning done in one day. So what I've ended up with is 5 batteries, 3 charging bases, with power bricks, 2 more power bricks to use Scoobas as chargers for two of the batteries when job finally done, three tanks (one came from a non working Scooba purchased as "for parts"), three sets of "tube and screen", and 4 brush assemblies (have an extra as one's squeegies became deformed; irobot sent a new assembly; I eventually fixed the squeegies with the dish soap trick). The worst wear, so far, on both of my Scoobas has been the rubber "tube". The bottom wears and then splits. I've replaced a couple and iRobot sent me one too. All of my tile is smooth with no grout except for the bathroom which is small tiles with small grout lines.
It really takes this many to get job done in one day and use the batteries for only one run as advised by the "experts". I think a lot of people have gotten at least one extra battery and extra charging unit so that one battery can be charging while other one at work. If run for only one run the "used" battery recharges in about an hour.
I always run Roombas prior to Scoobaing AND don't have to kick the doggies out while cleaning in process. Keep a microfibre mop handy, that can be easily rinsed out fully in sink and squeezed out to catch people and doggie footprints, hit few areas that Scoobas can't get to, or to clean up excess when Scooba pulls some kind of prank and leaves goobs of water down untill cause corrected. Usually change or clean brush assembly when moving to new sectioned area; always rinse dirty tank well, including flushing bottom suction openings, to prevent clogging from "muck and hair" but don't always have to change "tube and screen" untill moving to new separate area. Lots of times will flush clean tank with cold water to keep down foam. Sometimes start with white vinegar in some areas. I'm not totally sure but it seems to cut down on some of the foaming especially in screen. Seems that more than usual dirt and Scooba juice seem to make for more foaming caught in the screen requiring more changes and rinse outs of that part between runs. First and/or second run with vinegar seems to eliminate that issue.
Okay.... may seem like lots of work or time but really not considering to get the job done as well as Scoobas requires about 8 hours hard labor or paying someone to do it which I can't afford any more. They have more than paid for themselves and their extra "parts" in just a few short months and it gets done as often as I need it to be done. Bathroom and kitchen at least 3 times a week (Doing that often one or two runs only needed) geekgranny
Um, wow. You have the most robust and detailed system for cleaning that I've ever heard of.
I got into the Roomba (and now Scooba) in June of this year because my wife developed a condition in her wrists following a sprain known as RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy). Basically, she has a lot of nerve pain and weakness in her hands, and so she can't do many of the things she used to do (like vacuum and mop floors among other things). Additionally, we have an 18 month old daughter who keeps us busy.
Since I work full time, I simply was not getting to the cleaning tasks like I should, hence the robots (I'm up to three Roombas, a DirtDog, and a Scooba--and a Cleanmate, which is next to useless and now relegated to the basement). I thought I had a good schedule going for keeping the floors clean, but it pales in comparison to yours. I obviously have a lot to learn as I integrate the Scooba, and I will consider your suggestions--especially as I have a bunch of 15% off orders coming to me due to all the robot purchases (well, the DirtDog was a birthday gift from my wife).
I haven't needed to run my robots nearly as often as you (as far as animals go, we only have two cats, after all--I try to get every room at least once a week, while our family room gets Roombaed nightly), and I suspect my experience with the Scooba will be the same. So maybe my schedule will be something like "geekgranny--lite".
As far as my battery goes, so far, so good, but I've only run the thing twice, and one of those times was in a small-ish bathroom where I manually put the thing in dry mode when I thought it was done. I haven't seen the Clean light change color like it does on the Roomba while it's running (does it even do that?) so I think the battery has plenty of power for my living area.
