Your Roomba is filthier than you think

Your Roomba is filthier than you think. Here's how to get it completely clean

There’s a lot more to keeping your Roomba clean than simply emptying its bin now and then. Take a closer look at your Roomba’s brushes, for example, and you’ll probably see they’re tangled in hair.

A Roomba’s cliff sensors, which help to keep it from tumbling down the stairs, can likewise become blocked by a layer of grime, while its dust filter will gradually become clogged with debris.

If you give your Roomba the occasional deep clean, you’ll not only extend its life, you’ll also boost the quality of its cleanings.

Our Roomba cleaning guide will take you through four primary areas when it comes to keeping a Roomba spic-and-span: cleaning its brushes, cleaning its wheels, scrubbing its sensors and charging contacts, and cleaning its dust filter.

If that sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. The process won’t be that time consuming provided you give your Roomba a once-over on a regular basis, and if you tackle different cleaning chores on different days.

You probably had no idea how much hair was on your floors until you got a Roomba. I’m constantly amazed by how much hair I pull out of my Roomba’s bin after each cleaning, and we don’t even have pets.

Given the amount of hair a Roomba can sweep off the floor, it’s no wonder that its brushes can get tangled so quickly. Luckily, you can detach a Roomba’s brushes quickly and easily, allowing you to get busy pulling all that hair off. Click here to get started.

Cleaning your Roomba’s wheels

Brushes aren’t the only things that get hairy on a Roomba. Your robovac’s wheels can get tangled with hair, as well, while the wheel wells are havens for dust and dirt.

iRobot recommends cleaning your Roomba’s wheels once every couple of weeks, but luckily the job isn’t that difficult. The front caster wheel pops right out, and (depending on the Roomba model) the spring-loaded side wheels can be pushed aside, revealing trapped hair, dust, and dirt.

Cleaning your Roomba’s dust filter

If you only ever dump the dust out of your Roomba before sliding its bin back in, you’re doing it wrong.

Depending on the model Roomba you own, there’s either a filter sitting in the bin compartment or a filter cartridge that fits in the bin itself. Over time, these filters can get caked with thick layers of dust and dirt, and if you don’t clean them regularly, your Roomba will become less and less efficient at vacuuming up debris.