Roomba Keep Cleaning When Full? – Complete Fix Guide

In case you’re wondering why Roomba keep cleaning when full, the answer is here!

Your Roomba robot can be adjusted and the “Full Bin Behavior” settings are available in the Home app of your machine.

However, there are many possibilities that could prevent the options from applying so let’s keep reading and learn more about what could be wrong.

The Roomba robot will keep cleaning when the “Keep Cleaning When Full” option is selected in the Home app settings. When this is not the case, the host device could be disconnected from the internet or your Roomba robot and base station are offline.

Does Roomba Stop When Full?

The Roomba robot will behave accordingly to the Home App settings.

You can either configure the cleaning robot to return to base and pause the cleaning session when the bin is full or continue cleaning.

When the bin is truly full, but the robot continues to clean, it is a prime example of how the rollers get entailed with hair.

In most cases, that’s not lethal for the robot but often causes cleaning session failures and sometimes the robot won’t even return to the base.

Let’s now fix the problem where Roomba keeps cleaning with a full bin:

How To Fix When Roomba Keep Cleaning When Full?

To localize and solve the problem where Roomba won’t pause when the bin is full, we’re about to get familiar with the robot’s application setting and behavior.

We’ll begin by inspecting the bin sensors which are the usual suspects that Roomba keeps cleaning when the bin is full.

Solution #1 Clean The Bin Sensors

Your Roomba robot will continue to clean when the bin is “supposedly” full. The problem is with the bin sensors on your cleaner robot.

When the sensors get obstructed, the application would think that the bin is full while the reality is different.

The bin sensors on your Roomba are located on the bottom at the end of the pointer.

To clean the sensors you’ll need a dry cloth and reach in to remove any hair, dust, or other particles that the Robot has gathered from the floor. Then check whether the bin is full.

Note: Clean your bin sensors at least once a week to prevent the robot from pausing the session.

Solution #2 Enable “Stop Clean When Full”

When you enter Rooba’s application settings you will discover a setting labeled “Bin Behaviour” from which you adjust what the robot should do.

You’ve got two options:

• Keep Cleaning When Full
• Pause Cleaning When Full

As the labels suggest, you can choose whether you want your Roomba robot to keep cleaning or pause the session when the bin gets full.

By default, your Robot would continue cleaning when the bin is full but you can always change the option manually.

The “Keep Cleaning When Full” is set by default since the bin sensors commonly get obstructed even when the bin is not full, and users don’t like their robots to stop the session.

Note: When a cleaning session is paused, the robot will return to the base.

Solution #3 Hard-Reset Roomba & Home Base

In case you’ve selected the “Pause Cleaning When Full” in the Roomba Home app but the machine continues to clean when the bin is full, the problem might be OS related.

When there is a bug with the system the option might not be addressed so you need to restart the setup.

To restart your Roomba robot:

1. Press and hold the Spot (Clean) + Home buttons.
2. Hold both buttons for at least 10 seconds.
3. Wait until the robot plays the Roomba tone.

To restart your Roomba home base:

1. Disconnect the home station from the power.
2. Wait for at least 2 minutes for the device to discharge.
3. Reconnect the home base to the power.

When you’re done with hard-resetting the entire setup, your Roomba robot should finally recognize the Bin Behavior settings changed in the previous solution.

In other words, after the restart, your Roomba robot should not be cleaning when the bin is full.

Solution #4 Reconnect To The WiFi

When Roomba keeps cleaning when the bin is full even when the “Pause When Full” option is selected, the reason might be your host device’s internet connection.

In case you’ve made the application changes while your device was disconnected, practically no change has been made. 

You need to check whether your host device is connected to the internet!

When you’re confident that the Roomba Home app device is securely connected to the internet, you should check whether the “Pause Cleaning When Full” option is selected in the settings.

Tip: You should disconnect > reconnect your host device to the WiFi and test.

Solution #5 Reinstall The Roomba Home App

In some cases the “Pause When Full” option would not be utilized because of a corrupted cache within the Roomba Home app.

Sometimes the app could be bugged or have lost connection to your robot, therefore not utilizing the recently made “Bin Behavior” changes.

To reinstall the Roomba home app follow the steps below:

1. On your host device, open Settings.
2. Go to Storage > Apps/Applications.
3. Select the Roomba Home App > Clear Data.
4. Choose Clear Cached Data.
5. Select Uninstall Application.
6. In the dedicated device App Store, look for the Roomba Home app.
7. Download the application.
8. Log in to your account and set up your Roomba robot.

Now when the application has been cleanly installed on the device you should carry out the initial setup and test whether your robot would continue cleaning when the bin is full.

Tip: Don’t forget to set the “Bin Behavior” to “Pause When Full” after the clean installation.

Solution #6 Upkeep Roomba

Your Roomba robot could be sending “Bin Full” signals to the application but would continue cleaning when the device has not been cleaned for a long time.

There are many detection tools and sensors that could be producing software glitches with the robot so let’s learn more…

To maintain your Roomba robot follow the steps below:

1. Unplug and empty the bin of your Roomba robot.
2. Clean the filter by opening the orange cover.
3. Inspect and clean the extractors, side brush, and front caster.
4. Remove ALL hair from the wheels.
5. Clean the sensors of the Roomba.

When everything is clean, install the bin back into the robot and perform a cleaning session to determine whether the robot will keep cleaning when the “Pause When Full” option is selected.

Tip: Repeat the maintenance process every week to keep your Roomba robot operational.

Solution #7 Contact iRobot Support

In case nothing helps and the Robot continues to clean when the application settings are set differently, there could be a software problem with your unit.

The best last step is to contact the iRobot customer service from the official home support page.

From there, you should describe your problem, and what you’ve already attempted and ask for assistance.

Maybe this is your chance to receive a replacement robot by putting your warranty into use, which will definitely solve the entire problem.

Quick Recap:

Hence, the Roomba robot would continue to clean even when the bin is full when the “Keep Cleaning When Full” option is selected in the Home App. In contrast, you can reverse this behavior by selecting “Pause Cleaning When Full”.

Last Thoughts: 

Now that we know why Roomba keep cleaning when full, you can decide whether you want to keep this setting or adjust Roomba to return to base.

These configurations and settings can be found in the Roomba Home app, under the “Bin Behaviour” tab.

Keep in mind that it’s better for the users when their Robots continue cleaning when the bin is full. This way the cleaning session wouldn’t be paused when the bin sensors are simply obstructed and the bin is not actually full.