Roomba Not Cleaning All Rooms – Common Problems & Solutions

Martin
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When the first fully automated vacuum cleaner robots came onto the market a little more than a decade ago, many people were fascinated, but also skeptical. Finally, you can do without the annoying vacuuming, because the small robot does the work every day. 

But does it also manage to meet the requirements and actually keep the apartment in a perfect, clean condition? It quickly became clear that the first models of the automated vacuum cleaners would still need some reworking in order to be able to fulfill all wishes. 

Now – a few years later – a lot has happened in this area. Numerous manufacturers advertise the fact that their robots can do the trick of finding their way around even in the most winding apartments and clean all the rooms without any problems. One of these robots is the Roomba from iRobot. 

However, you often hear that Roomba does not clean in all rooms. We have listed the most important reasons why your Roomba may not clean all rooms.

Related article: Best Robot Vacuum Cleaner For Multiple Rooms 👉 List & Reviews

The Different Functions of the Roomba Vacuum Cleaner Robot

The world of vacuum cleaner robots is big and extensive. This applies in particular to the Roomba family from iRobot, one of the leading brands in this field. After all, more than 15 million copies of the most varied models of the robot have already been sold. 

So it’s not surprising if you’re not completely sure what features your Roomba actually has: The numerous models are designed for a wide range of applications and therefore have different capabilities.

Among the things that (almost) all Roomba models can do are, for example:

  • Automatic cleaning, which is carried out daily or weekly by means of a specially created cleaning plan.
  • Cleaning in different modes (chaos principle, edge cleaning, spot cleaning, etc.)
  • Recognition of the rooms obstacles and different floor types

On the other hand, there are things that only have certain models. Some of these points apply to very many models, while others are only included in certain model series. 

We recommend that you check your Roombas manual to see which of these features your model supports. Because it is very likely that in one of these points the mistake is to be found why Roomba does not clean in all rooms.

If you look at these lists, it quickly becomes clear that there are several reasons why Roomba doesn’t clean in all rooms. 

If you now have an idea of what options your device supports, you can read the following points to see what things are to be considered and optimized here.

WIFI Connection

Most iRobot models now have the ability to connect to wifi. At first sight, this may seem quite unusual and unnecessary for a vacuum cleaner. 

But Roombas, which are connected to the wifi, can use many additional functions. However, these are again dependent on the model and may differ slightly depending on the series.

Among the functions that are only possible by linking to the wifi:

  • Link to the iRobot HOME app.
  • Integration into the Smart Home. This can be done by voice commands via Alexa (in English, French, Japanese and German), via Google Assistant (in addition to the languages supported by Alexa also in Italian) or via IFITT service actions (only in English).
  • Targeted cleaning of rooms through Imprint room planning
  • Detailed reports after cleaning. This also includes in which rooms, where how long was cleaned.

The connection of the vacuum cleaner robot with the wifi usually works very easily and without problems. For this, it is only necessary that the robot with its home base is located in an area that is well covered by the local wifi. 

The Roomba has its own wifi display. If this flashes green, the connection to the wifi can be started. All you have to do is follow the instructions on the screen of the device. 

If it is not possible to establish such a connection to the wifi, it is recommended by the manufacturers to restart both the robot and the wifi router in a first step and to carry out the procedure again. If it is still not possible to connect the robot to the network, check the settings in the wifi router. 

Note that some models have some difficulties with mixed networks in 2.4/5 GHz mode. Proxy servers or certain firewall settings can also prevent the robot from connecting to the network.

Link to the iRobot Home App

If the vacuum cleaner robot is already connected to the wifi, it is very easy to connect to the iRobot Home App. This is compatible with the following operating systems:

  • iOS: Operating system 11 or higher
  • Android: Operating system 5.0 or higher

If both the robot and the mobile device on which the iRobot Home App was installed are connected to the same wifi, both devices should connect automatically. 

If this does not happen, the appropriate network can also be selected with the robot. Make sure that Roomba is in its home base and switched on for this purpose.

Another way to link the two devices is via Bluetooth. However, this is only supported by the iRobot i-series devices*.

Link to Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.

Linking to one of the services to control the vacuum cleaner robot via voice control is only possible if your Roomba is connected to your home wifi and the iRobot Home App. 

Then you can simply use the menu in the app to select which service the robot should be connected to. To do this, start the setup under “Menu / Smart Home / Alexa (or Google Assistant, etc.) / Link account”.

Also via the menu in the Smart Home App, the robot can now be assigned a name with which it can be addressed and controlled in the future. 

Particularly if the apartment has already been transformed into a real smart home, with fixed rooms and corresponding names, it can be cleaned quite specifically in certain rooms.

iRobot’s Virtual Wall and Lighthouse functions

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One of the most important functions to achieve targeted cleaning in several rooms with a Roomba controlled is the Virtual Wall Lighthouse* registered by iRobot. Two different functions can be separated here:

  • Virtual Wall Mode: Here areas are blocked by “virtual walls” so that the robot cannot reach them. This can be useful to separate zones that are too sensitive to cleaning by the robot on the one hand, but also to define specific areas for cleaning on the other. This can be especially useful if an apartment is too big to be cleaned sensibly by a robot, which is why several devices are active.
  • Lighthouse mode: In this mode additional devices, the so-called “Lighthouse”, i.e. lighthouses, are set up. These serve as signposts so that the robot can specifically find its way to the next room.

Virtual Wall Mode

The small towers included in different models of the iRobot can also be used as virtual walls. The following points have to be considered:

  • You have to set the switch on the tower to Virtual Wall.
  • Align the front of the tower in the direction you want to block. That is, for example: If you want to block a door, the device has to be placed on one side of the door by the door frame and aligned to the other side.
  • Blocking of up to 2.4 meters is possible. For this purpose, the length of the barrier has to be set on the device.
  • The tower should not be placed in the immediate vicinity of Home Base or other towers.

If such a virtual wall has been set up, it is automatically activated when a robot approaches the towers. Only then do they switch on and create an invisible barrier through which the robot cannot move. The iRobot Home App can be used to define which barriers apply to which robots and which are excluded from them.

Lighthouse Mode

If the towers are used as lighthouses, they show the robot the path it has to take to get to another room. You have to consider the following things:

  • The lighthouse has to be placed at the entrance to the room which is also to be cleaned by the robot (next to the room where the Home Base is placed).
  • The iRobot logo has to point to the front.
  • The selector switch on the tower has to be set to “Lighthouse Mode”.
  • The towers cannot be placed in the immediate vicinity of other towers or the Home Base.
  • It is recommended not to use more than two lighthouses.
  • Each room marked by a Lighthouse is cleaned for a maximum of 25 minutes. You have to also make sure that the maximum cleaning time, which is determined by the battery power of your Roombas, is not exceeded, otherwise, it can happen that not all rooms are cleaned.

The exact positioning of the towers, but also the home base, can prove to be tricky. Because it is necessary to place the base of your robot in such a way that it can be easily accessed, that the wifi cover is good, that the power supply works without unnecessarily long cables and that the doors to other rooms, which are marked by the lighthouses, are far enough away. 

It may be necessary to experiment a bit around here to find out the perfect positions of the towers and the base. Often it has also been shown that it can make a big difference when the base is rotated 90 degrees.

Imprint Room Planning

The latest Roomba models also support smart room planning, which is called imprint. This function is very simple. 

When your Roomba is activated for the first time, you will be asked if you want to use intelligent mapping. If the answer is YES, the robot gets to know the floor plan of the apartment during the first cleaning operations. 

You have to make sure that the robot actually gets in to all the areas it is supposed to learn. It may also be necessary to carry the Roomba through a door. If the floor plan is 100% recognized and saved (this can take several cleanings) you will receive a notification via the iRobot Home App. The room plan can then be edited and adapted there.

With each further cleaning, which your robot carries out, you are asked now whether the entire home or only purposefully individual rooms are to be cleaned. If despite this intelligent room plan, the Roomba does not succeed in getting into other rooms, it may be necessary to move the Home Base a little or to rotate it more openly into the room for better accessibility.

Other Problems when Cleaning Several Rooms

One of the points that is very often not considered is the size of the apartment. The different models of iRobot are also designed for different apartment sizes. 

Smaller models can easily clean areas of up to 40m², larger models up to 80m² or more. If the apartment is simply too large, the robot can never clean the entire surface even with the best planning and navigation in the lifetime of its battery. 

Here it is necessary to divide the apartment into several areas (either using Lighthouse / Virtual Wall or Imprint space planning). Now either a cleaning plan with daily changing areas or with several robots can be created.

The last point, which is why Roomba does not clean all rooms correctly may be that the robot’s sensors do not work perfectly. There may be different reasons for this:

  • The rooms to be cleaned are inadequately lit. With dark lighting, the walls, doors and obstacles can often not be perfectly recognized by the special localization cameras. Generally speaking, daylight is absolutely sufficient, but rooms without windows and lighting usually do not provide enough light.
  • The robot itself is dirty. But you can clean it very easily. All you have to do is wipe the viewing window on top of the robot with a soft cotton cloth. Please do not use cleaning agents here, with the exception of cleaning solutions for screens. You should also wipe off the sensors on the underside of the robot. A damp, soft cloth is also best suited for this purpose.

Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
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