The Bissell Little Green ProHeat takes the little spot cleaner formula and adds heat, and after running it through real stains it earned the Just A Dad sticker. The short version: the HeatWave heater keeps your water hot while you work, that heat genuinely helps stains let go faster, and it pulled chocolate, jelly, and ketchup out quickly — all for an affordable price. There's one thing about the 'heat' you need to understand before you buy, and I'll be straight about it.
What's in the Box and First Setup
In the box you get the machine, the 3-inch Tough Stain Tool (the nozzle), the HydroRinse self-cleaning hose tool, a 3-in-1 Stair Tool, and a trial-size bottle of Professional Spot & Stain + OXY formula. There's a little assembly but nothing that needs a manual. It's corded, and the cord and nozzle store right on the machine's brackets, which makes it nice and portable to carry around.
Setting Up the Tanks
There's a combined 37-ounce tank that holds both the water and the solution — no separate solution reservoir. You fill it in two steps: hot tap water to the water line, then solution to the formula line. It's simple, but it's a manual, two-step fill with no auto-mixing — if you want the machine to meter the solution for you and add a water-only rinse mode, that's the SmartMix ProHeat (model 3935), not this one. One habit to build: keep the dirty-tank cap closed while you clean, or you'll lose suction.
The HeatWave Heater — What It Actually Does
Let's clear this up first, because the name can be misleading. The HeatWave heater does NOT heat cold water. What it does is maintain the temperature of the hot tap water you pour in, so it stays hot the whole time you're cleaning instead of cooling off in the tank. And that matters — hot water genuinely helps break stains loose faster, and you can feel the difference on a set-in mess. Just go in knowing you're supplying the hot water yourself from the tap; the machine keeps it hot, it doesn't make it hot.
Cleaning Performance: What It Actually Picks Up
Suction and the Cleaning Demo
I pre-treated chocolate syrup, grape jelly, and ketchup, and the solution sprayed out under real pressure, so I could soak each stain well before scrubbing. I scrubbed while spraying, then finished with suction-only to dry the spot. All three came out super quick, and the hot water really seemed to help lift them. The suction is a good, strong pull that leaves the spot dried down well, not soaked. For real family messes, it cleans great.
Pet Hair
There's no dedicated pet-hair tool on this one — it's built for spots and stains. It cleans pet messes well and works great on couches, chairs, and car upholstery, but loose hair is a separate job: vacuum it up first, then spray, scrub, and suck up the stain. If a pet-hair tool is a must-have, other models add one, but for stain cleaning this does the job.
Storage and Portability
It's corded, so you stay near an outlet, but you get unlimited runtime with no battery to die mid-job. The nice touch is storage: the cord and the nozzle both clip onto brackets right on the machine, so everything travels together and there's nothing loose to lose. It's easy to grab and carry to a spill, up the stairs, or out to the car.
Maintenance & HydroRinse
Keeping it clean is a real strong point. After each use the HydroRinse tool flushes the hose so nothing dries gunky inside, and it stores on the machine so you won't lose it. Better yet, the dirty-water tank has a nice big opening and comes fully apart — you loosen a nut and open it up to deep-clean it in the sink, so gunk doesn't build up over time. Two honest notes: that nut can be a little stiff to loosen, and there's a float valve to rinse now and then.
What I'd Change About the Bissell Little Green Proheat 2513E
- Make the dirty-tank nut easier to loosen
- Add auto-mixing so it's not a two-step manual fill
- Clarify that the heater maintains hot water rather than heating cold water — a common buyer misconception
ProHeat 2513E vs the SmartMix ProHeat 3935
If you're cross-shopping the heated Little Greens, here's the difference. This 2513E is the simpler, cheaper one: a combined water + solution tank you fill in two steps, plus the HeatWave heater. The SmartMix ProHeat (3935) steps up with auto-mixing — it meters the solution for you — and adds a water-only rinse mode, so you can rinse a spot with plain water at the end. Both use HeatWave to keep your hot tap water hot. If the two-step fill doesn't bother you and you want to save money, the 2513E is a great value; if you want the auto-mix and rinse, pay up for the 3935.
Is It Worth It?
For a home with kids, pets, and regular spills, yes — I was very impressed for around $123. You get real stain-fighting help from the heat, strong pressurized spray and suction, easy on-machine storage, and a dirty tank you can fully take apart to keep clean. Just go in clear-eyed about the trade-offs: you supply the hot water (the heater only maintains it), it's a two-step manual fill, and the dirty-tank nut can be stiff. Get past those and it's a strong, affordable pick that earned the Just A Dad Approved sticker.