Robot vacuum wheels have permanently stained my hardwood floors

Can you give me the MAC address of your robot vacuum? You can find it in the app > Device info or underneath the cleaning knife on the unit. Thank you!

if/when Wyze cannot come up with a solution for me, I’ll be asking them to pay for the repairs. this is ridiculous

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Just checking in here since I haven’t heard anything from Wyze.

My vacuum is leaving marks on glazed ceramic tile where it is docked. It appears to be a removable build-up that becomes visible after a few months of use. Vacuum is run over hardwood and ceramic tile flooring only. Vacuum is run approximately 4-5 days per week. My vacuum has never been through anything wet or greasy. I clean my hardwood and tile floors with a mop and hot water only. Wheels/tires appear dry and clean, no outgassing…

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Here’s what I tried for removal:

  • Dry, white paper towel: :-1:
  • Water-damp paper towel: :-1:
  • Water-damp paper towel with Dawn detergent: :-1:
  • Windex (original w/ammonium hydroxide) and a paper towel: :-1:
  • 91% isopropyl alcohol and paper towel: :-1:
  • WD-40 on a paper towel: :+1:
    Easily wiped off, but left oily residue that I had to subsequently remove with Dawn.
  • Zippo lighter fluid (naphtha) on paper towel: :+1:
    Easily wiped off and residual fluid evaporated.

I thought about using hydrogen peroxide mixed with baking soda, but too abrasive on glazed ceramic tile.
Was also going to try Goo Gone, acetone and mineral oil, but lighter fluid wiped it off with just a few light swipes and evaporated.
Not sure if lighter fluid on hardwood flooring is a good idea. Perhaps if it’s sealed with water-based polyurethane vs oil-based poly.
WD-40 may stain hardwood flooring sealed with a thin layer of water-based polyurethane.

Model: 200S
MAC ID: 7C78B20A877E
In use since: January 14, 2021

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Thank you. I will be doing a formal ticket as this is not productive. Although I will report back if they get me further into a solution. Or fix their stuff. I observed what mine was doing so this may be other people’s issue as well?

I put the mat down (bandaid solution) and heard an odd noice in the room where it docks. I saw the vacuum trying to pull in to dock. It docked and said charging. Then I go into another room and not 2-3 minutes maybe I hear it again. It undocked about 3 inches and was literally pulling forward and burning out which displaced my mat. No vid as I was tripping on this behavior. So tomorrow will submit a ticket and see if they can see anything on my logs for that time. Why did it undock. Why did it look like it was trying to burn out and push my mat out.

Sherene

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I have exactly the same issue, with badly marked hardwood floors. Sponge with detergent didn’t work. Floors are clean, washed with water, polyurethane coated.

Will try wd40…

FYI WD40 had no effect at all. I don’t have any lighter fluid.

I threw the entire robot in the trash last week. I don’t have time for this [Mod Edit] and no rectifying, no nothing from Wyze. My iRobot, although expensive doesn’t have these issues. I’ll stick with that brand. Tried and true. Maybe another time on this product when they get it together.

MOD NOTE: Post edited to conform to the Community Guidelines.

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I did a search about rubber staining wood. Here is a post which provides options of removing stains from hardwood floors. Might help. We have hardwood floors and throw carpets. Wife went crazy trying to find a carpet pad which would not stain would flooring. Apparently, there is something is some rubbers or man-made compounds that react to the wood as well as the woods finishings. This may be what is happening.

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Polyurethane finishes cure and become an inert, plastic coating over the surface. They are non-reactive to anything except certain very unusual solvents. So, these marks are very likely to be on the surface of the finish, not burned through to the wood underneath. Dorkville: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which_solvent_can_be_used_to_dissolve_the_cured_polyester_epoxy_resin

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Thanks for the info, good to know. Not sure of the type of floor or sealant others have.

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Hey if you actually threw it in the trash, could you take it back out and send it to me? I would seriously take it if you don’t want it.

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I guess I’ve just been totally lucky. I’ve been using my WYZE robot vacuum since January 22 on hardwood and tile floors. She’s docked on hardwood. No marks I can see, have not observed any of the behaviors described in this thread. I would be totally peeved if this happened to me. I will be interested to see what WYZE does about it.

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Add me to the list of folks with issues :frowning: . Gonna try the lighter fluid method and then I bought a rubber mat to place down to prevent this in the future. Would be nice if Wyze would cover the cost of the mat because this shouldn’t be happening.

Class Action Lawsuit will follow. In the mean time please submit this to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission https://www.cpsc.gov/

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Lighter fluid and WD-40 both didn’t work for me. I’ll try the rubbing alcohol when I get some from the store but I don’t have high hopes for that based on the rest of the responses in this thread.

Yes I tried rubbing alcohol -70%. I also tried many different household cleaners. If I scrub and scrub with the alcohol – it removes some of each individual mark but not all of the mark and so I still have all the stains – only a tiny bit lighter now. The vacuum is plugged in and ‘charging’ on a towel and I have not used it in a month. I noticed that there is a slight oil stain on the towel on the left side. So something is going on with the vacuum. I do hope WYZE is disclosing this to people purchasing the vacuum. It should NOT be ‘parked/housed/charged’ on wood floors.

Hi @don.kossman, can you tell me the MAC address of your vacuum? Please also try using the rubbing alcohol with towel to clean the marks

What does this have to do with safety?

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Then explain what is doing this? Has someone Open a Support Case with Wyze and maybe Post what they have said? So this is why a CPSC Case should be Open to put this in the Public Domain. Companies will not Share as to Sales and Bad Press. Plus if the Rubber Tires are doing this…What chemicals are in the China Tires? Pet lovers would like to know as Pets do lick the floor? Have you ever worked in Safety Product Control?

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