Don’t Go In There!!! (A Vacuum Lesson)
May 25th, 2007 by mom
A couple of years ago we bought a bagless vacuum. I have to say, once you go bagless, you never go back! It is very rewarding to actually see how much lint, etc. you have cleaned up after vacuuming just one room. (Yes, I get a weird high from having a clean house.)
Even though we have a bagless, we still use our regular upright vac on our second floor. Today I thought I would take an extra minute to attach the hose and the litle accessories to clean out under my bureau (a little late for spring cleaning?). “Clink, Urk, Kck” That is the sound of miscellaneous jewlery parts and pieces getting churned through the vac and heading to No Man’s Land.
I’ve never gone searching through a vacuum bag before, so I thought, why not? The bag wasn’t that full, right? So I grabbed a pair of scissors and stood over the garbage. YUCK! The vacuum bag should really be for one-way traffic only. My mistake! Not only did I find only the remains of once wearable jewelry, the dust that was expelled was pretty thick.
Moral of the story, leave the dirt alone and never, never go exploring in a vacuum bag!
I have a bagless vacuum and I’m really going off it now. It’s good to see all the dust etc but I hate emptying it out, trying hard to not spill it or inhale it. But worse of all is at the base of the container is a filter which every few vacuums gets blocked and I have to spend a least a half hour or so cleaning it which is sooo fiddly!
I should’ve just sprung for a Dyson. I got a bagless Kenmore at K-Mart. I normally never shop there, and now I know why… they don’t sell the freaking filters! And you have to special-order them from Sears, AND, they’re 20 bucks! Despite all this torture, I love the bagless as well.
Oh cleaning and vacuumms - I answered a job ad in the sales section of the paper once and it turned out to be a place that sold Filter Queen vacuums. I didn’t go to work there but I stuck around long enough to learn how their vacuums operate and what makes them different from other bag and bagless vacuums. The Filter Queen uses centrifugal force so that they don’t loose suction and they don’t even need a filter. Instead they use a “barrier” and it’s only to keep the dust away from the motor once the vacuum is turned off. The “barriers” are only about $1 each and need to be changed about once a month or if you knowingly vacuumed a sharp object that may tear it. This is the only vacuum I’ve had that didn’t make the house smell like wet dog after vacuuming (I have two very hairy dogs). I bought mine used on eBay for a whole lot less than the door to door sales ask for. I’m thinking about going to a Dyson though – Do they require filters? How much are the filters? I’m the only one on the planet that leaves long replies about vacuums aren’t I? I know I’m a freak.