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    How well do self cleaning robot vacuums actually work?

    How well do self maintaining robot vacuums actually work? Anyone tried one? By self maintaining, I mean 1. it self docks to recharge, and 2. it empties out the detritus it collected into a larger container so that it's ready to vacuum anew. For instance, anyone try the DeePoo D76 or D77? It returns to base and also self empties via the larger vacuum overhead on its home base that you can see in this photo:



    AFAIK, there are only 3 different lines of robot vacuums that self-empty, and this one is the least expensive (BestBuy has it on sale for $548: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ecovacs-...&skuId=2750418). The other two are the Karcher RC3000 and the Samsung Navibot SSR 8980.

    Here's a table which compares specs on the self-emptying vacuum robots: http://robotbg.com/reviews/ecovacs_d..._review?page=4
    I'm interested in an automated unit that self-empties for keeping the garage floor clean. Not sure how loud it is, but potentially it could vacuum the garage after midnight every night while my family sleeps. Because it self empties, I doubt I would have to empty it's homebase vacuum more often than once a month (maybe even once in two months during much of the year). My garage floor is nothing fancy: just a typical concrete slab.
    Last edited by NeverDie; December 30, 2013, 01:37 PM.

    #2
    Hmm.... 498 views, and zero replies.

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      #3
      I'm guessing the reason no one has answered is no one has one of these units that self empty. I'm on my second Roomba and love it. The first one is still working it just got loud. These Roomba's work really well on hardwood floor and do OK on carpet they just do not do the deep cleaning.
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        #4
        Looks like there may be a way to mod a Roomba to render it self-cleaning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Q5TtgDCAY

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          #5
          If you keep them running on regulair basis then you only have to empty the basket after 3 or more runs and not after each run.

          Btw, mMy wife have found the solution for this. She just informs me that the roomba has done its run today. (with the hidden hint between the lines that i must empty the basket )
          - Bram

          Send from my Commodore VIC-20

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            #6
            Yea, I do not see a need to have a self emptying unit because as AshaiRey stated after cleaning the entire bottom of our house there's very little in the dust bin now. The first few times are a different story.
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              #7
              You both raise a good point. I had assumed a garage would frequently overload it, but maybe if it cleaned every night it would be manageable. Has anyone here (or among the hundreds of lurkers) already tried this experiment on a garage? If so, how did it go?

              I do have doubts about whether it can handle large leaves that occasionally blow in. Roomba used to make a unit designed to sweep garages rather than vacuum them, but no longer. Wish I knew why they discontinued it: too hard a problem or just insufficient demand or was it that regular roomba's are "good enough" for the task? There must have been a reason to justify building a sweeper in the first place, and so I have doubts about the "good enough" theory.
              Last edited by NeverDie; March 19, 2014, 08:55 AM.

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                #8
                Originally posted by NeverDie View Post
                Looks like there may be a way to mod a Roomba to render it self-cleaning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Q5TtgDCAY
                I took a closer look at the youtube video, and I'm starting to suspect the demo'd functionality of the "prototype" in the video may have been faked. Unless there's a hole in the docking station (can't quite tell due to shadowing), I don't see how the robot's bin could have been emptied. When Roomba drives onto the platform, there's no opening evident in the white surface top through which to extract debris from the Roomba's collection bin.

                That said, I wouldn't be surprised if applying enough vacuum suction to the bottom of just about any robot vacuum cleaner would empty its bin and maybe even partially clean its air filter also.

                I was going to get the Neato, but looking at some performance videos on youtube lead me to think it may not do as well as a Roomba at handling heavier debris like pebbles on an otherwise flat, uncarpeted floor. On the other hand, some of the youtube videos make maintaining a Roomba seem like handvacuuming would take less time overall. So, unsure at the moment as to which robot to get. At least there is an obvious path toward converting it to self-cleaning....

                Neato announced a new offering last week called BotVac, so am waiting on reviews that test its performance. Neato claims it performs better that it's existing line-up of Neato's.
                Last edited by NeverDie; March 21, 2014, 03:51 PM.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by NeverDie View Post
                  ... So, unsure at the moment as to which robot to get. At least there is an obvious path toward converting it to self-cleaning.... ...
                  I have been in that holding patern for a few years now. The only question you have to ask yourself is, who is going to clean the self cleaning bin?
                  -Skybolt

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                    #10
                    I promise you will not mind emptying the bin of a Roomba unless your area is really dirty. I just got back in from running errands and empties our bin and it was a third full. It takes less than a minute to pull the bin and empty it.
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                      #11
                      Originally posted by skybolt View Post
                      I have been in that holding patern for a few years now. The only question you have to ask yourself is, who is going to clean the self cleaning bin?
                      I would agree that's a drawback of the one pictured in post #1 of this thread: the vacuum which unloads the bot's bin has more storage capacity, but not a huge amount more. However, if the capacity were shopvac size, then it wouldn't really matter, as I would have to empty that anyway if I were to do all the vacuuming manually (i.e. without a bot).

                      As it turns out, I have a 1 horsepower Hepa vacuum (with two cyclonic separators in serial) already in my garage that I previously fabricated/built for capturing sawdust from saws, planers, jointers, routers, etc. It's a big enough and powerful enough beast that I'm sure it would consume the contents of any robot vacuum's bin without even burping.
                      Last edited by NeverDie; March 22, 2014, 11:37 PM.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Rupp View Post
                        I promise you will not mind emptying the bin of a Roomba unless your area is really dirty. I just got back in from running errands and empties our bin and it was a third full. It takes less than a minute to pull the bin and empty it.
                        What about the air filter? How long does that take to clean, and how often should that maintenance be done?

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                          #13
                          I am reading your posts this far and i must say that you are comparing apples with lemons. A roomba or any such household system won't hold up in a garage cleaning lots of sawdust. For the latter you are better of with a normal industrial vacucleaner with a lot of suction and storage. It will last longer anyway. Just my 2 cents on this matter.
                          - Bram

                          Send from my Commodore VIC-20

                          Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
                          HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
                          PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by AshaiRey View Post
                            I am reading your posts this far and i must say that you are comparing apples with lemons. A roomba or any such household system won't hold up in a garage cleaning lots of sawdust. For the latter you are better of with a normal industrial vacucleaner with a lot of suction and storage. It will last longer anyway. Just my 2 cents on this matter.

                            What about the iRobot Dirt Dog? It was seemingly designed for a garage/shop environment. I gather it was more a "sweeper" than a vacuum, per se. A sweeper has the advantage of no air filter to keep clean. Some, if not all, of the Dirt Dog's could be configured to self-dock for recharging.






                            Anyhow, bots like the Dirt Dog aren't self-cleaning out-of-the-box, which is why I'm also looking into how to convert a regular bot into a self-cleaning bot, possibly leveraging home automation (e.g. to turn-on or off a shop or industrial vac). Luckily, that conversion is likely to work better for a garage bot than for a house bot, because some brute force methods (like the industrial vac) can be brought to bear more easily, if required.
                            Last edited by NeverDie; March 23, 2014, 12:04 PM.

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                              #15
                              Also, I didn't mean to imply it would replace an industrial vac for woodchip or sawdust collection. That would be like bailing out the Titanic with a thimble. The objective here would just be to handle regular amounts of load (primarily dust, small pebbles, leaves, or whatever) that tend to accumulate in a garage.

                              What's likely to make this tricky is that bare concrete is more abrasive to beaters than, say, a waxed hardwood floor, so beaters will likely wear faster and need replacement more often. This is my biggest concern at the moment, and I have no data on it. It may turn out to be a fatal flaw in the whole concept. Other than manual vacuuming with a shopvac, I don't see much alternative. Some types of beaters might wear longer than others. At the moment I have no data on what to expect regarding maintenance or lifespan of components. For indoor use, though, one involved user on youtube reports that bots typically last only about 2 to 3 years before needing replacement, and that the batteries on Neatos may last only 8 months before the batteries should be replaced. I don't know whether that's true or not, but it definitely isn't in the marketing brochure. Hence the need for users to share and pool information and experiences.

                              I thought that with more than 10 million Roomba's sold, there would be more interest and discussion on this topic, and that many others might have already tried this and had experiences (positive or negative) to report about what works and what doesn't and what might work better and what to watch out for. For instance, the objective may turn out to be much more viable if one first grinds and polishes the concrete than to leave it as bare concrete. Some people epoxy their garage floor. Still others tile them. Any of that might make a huge difference, if in fact abrasive wear is a serious problem.
                              Last edited by NeverDie; March 23, 2014, 12:01 PM.

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