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The 6 Most Common Mistakes
Vacuum Myths Exposed
The Venturi Principle
- Buying a vacuum at a store that does not repair or service vacuums.
Can you get your new vacuum serviced where you purchased it? When you
purchase a vacuum that fits your needs and problems arise, most of the time
it is an easy fix. However, if you have to send it to Atlanta, it’s a major
problem. When you buy a vacuum, you should ask the sales people, “How long
will it take to get my vacuum serviced? Is 24 hour service available? How
long will it take to get my vacuum back? Can I get a loaner vacuum if I need
one?” A good vacuum should be designed to last many years with proper
maintenance. Your vacuum purchase should be the beginning of a long
relationship with your retailer, not the end of one.
- Buying a vacuum without trying it out first.
Would you buy a car without a test drive? When buying a vacuum, test it on
your type of carpet right in the store. Too many times we go to a big store
thinking they have good selection and prices. Have you ever found anyone at
one of these stores that has any knowledge about vacuum cleaners? Most of
the time a store that specializes in vacuums will have a better selection
and staff that can actually help you! Bring the person who is doing the
vacuuming with you when choosing your new vacuum. Selection of a canister or
an upright has a lot to do with circumstances and personal preference.
- Buying a vacuum that doesn’t pick-up pet and human hair.
Pet and human hair is one of the most common reasons why vacuums fail. Hair
can get into bearings causing it to overheat and melt plastic parts of your
vacuum. If you don’t get the right vacuum, you could be replacing it year
after year. There are many vacuums to choose from that are designed to help
with this problem. Some vacuums even have a metal brush roll which works
great for people with long hair.
- Buying a Bagless vacuum.
Do you really want to breathe the dirt you just cleaned up? Like HEPA filtration, many people don’t understand bagless vacuums. Thirty years ago,
we had bagless vacuums. They were so messy that they invented the paper bag
so you could efficiently throw out your dirt. Most people don’t know that in
order to work efficiently, you must replace the filters every three months
to a year, and they cost as much as $150.00. High filtration vacuum bags
cost about $2 to $4 each and you replace them every 1 to 2 months. That
could save you $120 a year! Any good vacuum store will be able to get you
any vacuum bag for a fraction of the price of a bagless vacuum’s HEPA
filters. Bagless vacuums are dirty, heavy and expensive!
- Buying a “disposable” vacuum:
How long do you want your new machine to last? Ask your store about the
repair record of the vacuum you are considering. If they don’t know, that
should register as a red flag. If you haven’t purchased a vacuum in ten
years, you probably want your new vacuum to last 10 years or more.
Unfortunately, the top manufacturers aren’t making the same vacuums they
made 10 years ago. Look at the warranty. If it is one year, you might not
expect it to last ten. To ensure long life, vacuum manufacturers recommend
that you service your vacuum once a year.
- Buying a vacuum that doesn’t fit your needs.
Buying the highest amperage won’t give you better cleaning. There are only 3
things that assist in cleaning: suction, air flow and brush roll action (not
amps or watts). Make sure you are buying the right vacuum for your home.
Different types of carpet and hard floors are cleaned differently. Some
vacuums can scratch your hard floors or damage your carpets. Just because
your friend has a certain vacuum, or a vacuum looks nice and shiny, doesn’t
mean it is the right one for you. Most bells and whistles don’t clean—they
break. Make sure that the vacuum you are looking at will perform as you
expect it to before you take it home.
Some common mistakes:
- Too Heavy: If you have to
carry a vacuum upstairs, weight may become a consideration. It can also
become precarious to balance a vacuum while cleaning the carpet on the
stairs. There are vacuums specifically designed to be used on stairs.
Sometimes it makes sense to have one vacuum upstairs and one downstairs.
There are full size vacuums on the market that weigh as little as 8
pounds. Keep in mind that it should be a major concern not a minor one.
Generally, lighter weight vacuums make compromises for being
lightweight. We offer some terrific lightweight vacuums but ask your
vacuum professional if these tradeoffs affect your situation
- Too Dusty: This is the area where most people make a major mistake in
purchasing a vacuum. HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) is a standard
that hospitals use for air quality. Don’t be fooled thinking that just
because a vacuum has a HEPA filter in it that the vacuum has been tested for
HEPA filtration. Very few of them are. Just because the packaging says HEPA,
does not ensure that HEPA standards have been met. But beyond dust, did you
ever wonder how many dust mites are in your house? A high filtration vacuum
will help lower the dust mites and other contaminates that your family
breathes every day.
- Have Area Rugs: You need professional advice if you have area rugs.
Getting the highest suction isn’t necessarily the best choice. The type of
rug will determine how aggressive your brush roll has to be. Too high
suction or brush roll action can ruin your rugs. Too low will not clean.
Either way, the wrong vacuum will shorten the life of your carpet. If you
have fringe, ask us how to correctly vacuum it.
- Above Floor Cleaning (Attachments): Do you want to be able to pick up that
little dust bunny while you are vacuuming? Purchasing a machine that has
tools that easily detach will make your cleaning job easier. Keep in mind
that tools onboard will add weight to your vacuum. To properly clean a home
you should start from the top down. First, turn on your air purifier. Next,
do all of your above floor cleaning and dusting with your attachments.
Finally, do the floors. Do you want your new vacuum to do your dusting?
- Too Noisy: Do you want your vacuum to be as noisy as a jack hammer or a
rock concert? If you have a pet or person in the house that is highly
sensitive to noise, make sure you try out your new vacuum before you buy it
so that you can hear how loud it is. Some vacuums are extremely quiet. Your
next vacuum doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Small children are
sensitive to noise and crawl on the ground. It must be clean! They also have
a tendency to leave small objects around. Some vacuums are designed to
handle those problems without damaging your vacuum.
Vacuums have a dirty job to do! They are also the most replaced
appliance in your home. Again, because vacuums are used so often to pick up
dirt, all manufacturers recommend service once a year. Before you buy, ask
your store what you have to do if you need service or if there is a problem
with your new vacuum. If they say you have to take it somewhere else to be
repaired or serviced, you might want to buy it from the original source in
the first place.
Myth #1: Amps Mean Performance
Amps are a measure of electrical current, not vacuuming performance.
Measuring a vacuum cleaner’s performance based on amps is like buying a car
based on how much gas it guzzles. The design of the entire machine, how it
handles and controls airflow, and how it incorporates filtration determines
its quality, not the electrical energy it consumes.
Myth #2: Everyone Needs HEPA
HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance) is a technical definition that
refers to a filter that will remove not less than 99.97% of 0.3 micron
diameter particles or larger from the air that passes through it. We want to
have the fewest particles released or driven into the air—regardless of
whether that vacuum is HEPA or not. Some microfiltered systems accomplish
this just as well as some systems called HEPA. Find out what the "particles
out" are, and you’ll have the all-important information you need.
Keep in mind that even high-end HEPA-filtered vacuums may still be driving
dust airborne by the impact of a beater brush against the carpet. With
uprights or canisters equipped with power heads, the critical information to
have is how much airflow and lift are occurring at the beater brush/floor
interface to help determine whether or not particles are being pulled into
the vacuum or driven airborne.
The extra-wide orifice on some upright vacuums and power nozzles result in
greatly diminished suction at the tool head and poor soil capture. More on
this later under "The Venturi Principle".
Myth #3: Picking Up a "Bowling Ball" Shows Cleaning Power, NOT!
The bowling ball trick is just that—a trick. This sales technique is based
on the power of a suction cup. Have you ever stuck a suction cup on a mirror
and tried to remove it by pulling directly away from the mirror? It’s hard
to do. Why? Once a seal is created on a smooth surface, the seal is
difficult to break. Does a vacuum tool’s ability to form a seal around a
bowling ball and pick it up like a suction cup have anything to do with how
well the vacuum can remove soil from a surface? Not even close!
Myth #4: All Vacuum Belts are the Same
Not all vacuum belts are created equal. Most vacuum belts will stretch,
slip and wear out quickly, whereas a high-quality belt is geared or sprocketed like an automobile timing belt, and can literally last for years.
In addition, geared/ sprocketed belts do not slip, ensuring better and more
consistent soil pickup and removal. Sprocketed belts help ensure better
overall performance, and they enable you to spend more time cleaning and
less time changing belts.
Myth #5: Cyclonic Systems Do Not Use Filters & Require Less Maintenance
Virtually all cyclonic or bagless vacuuming systems use a final filter to
catch the dust that cyclonic filtration cannot remove from the airflow. This
is often a HEPA media filter. This final filter will require regular
cleaning or replacement to ensure optimal performance. If you fail to
perform the needed filter maintenance, the vacuum will not perform as
intended. Worse still, if the filters are not properly maintained, the
filter will clog and cause the resulting pressure build-up to force dirty,
unfiltered air around the many seals of a bagless vacuum. The cost of
replacing the final filter may equal or exceed the cost of using
conventional bag filter media. The quality of cyclonic systems varies
widely. Do your homework and request the all-important particles in,
particles out information in the form of test data from the manufacturer to
determine overall performance.
Some vacuum cleaners are actually designed to produce cyclonic airflow even
with conventional microfilters. Ribbed panels in the filter containment area
create a rotating column of air inside the filter bag, so soil is deposited
evenly on the sidewalls of the filter where it has the greatest surface
area, ensuring sustained airflow longer.
Myth #6: All Vacuum Cleaners Have Similar Design Features and are Equally
Easy to Use
Ergonomic design, weight and other factors affecting ease of use vary widely
among vacuum cleaners. Handle weight is a critical factor with uprights, as
is ease of rolling and maneuverability.
Canister vacuums vary widely in shape and design, affecting usability. One
model balances the weight primarily over the large rear wheels to facilitate
nimble handling and ease of pulling. Some canisters trip over power cords,
while others roll over such obstacles easily. Design and weight distribution
make the difference.
Backpack vacuums now weigh in at less than 10 pounds, with precision
suspension systems that distribute the weight across the hips and not the
shoulders for ideal balance and maneuverability.
Myth #7: Suction Alone Makes a Vacuum Work Well
Actually, it’s the entire vacuum system that makes it effective or
ineffective. There are four key benchmarks to use in evaluating a vacuuming
system:
A) Airflow
Airflow is the amount or volume of air moving through the vacuum, usually
measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM). The amount of air moving through a
vacuum affects the amount of soil that can be carried along by the airflow
and contained in the vacuum’s filtration.
B) Lift
Lift, also known as static lift or water lift, is the ability of the
vacuum’s airflow to lift dirt. It is typically measured in "inches of lift"
determined by how many inches the vacuum cleaner’s airflow can pull water up
a tube in a lab test.
The higher the two numbers (airflow and lift) are, the better, since this
combination largely determines the vacuum’s ability to pull particles in.
C) Filtration
Filtration captures the soils and is mainly responsible for reducing
particles out. Filtration must be designed and proportioned to work with the
vacuum’s airflow and lift so that the particles are stopped but not the
airflow.
D) Design
In some cases, good vacuuming potential and/or filtration are defeated by
poor design. Examples of poor design include a tool orifice that lowers air
velocity by being too wide (many beater brushes require an excessively wide
tool orifice that reduces suction significantly) and body tolerances that
allow dust to leak from non-filter areas.
The Venturi Principle is an important bit of science to understand.
Basically, the Venturi Principle causes air velocity to increase as the
corridor it passes through narrows. That explains the effectiveness of
suction-only backpacks or canisters that use a narrow tool opening or
orifice enabling greater suction, versus some upright machines that have a
very wide tool orifice to accommodate the rotating brush, thus reducing air
velocity and cleaning effectiveness.
The best vacuums reach an effective compromise, enabling effective cleaning
of plush carpet by proportioning the orifice opening and beater brush to
allow the rotating brush to perform well while maintaining proper airflow
and lift to remove soil and prevent airborne contaminants.
What to Ask Vacuum Vendors
In reality, for excellent filtration to occur, the filter system must be
sized and sealed properly and contain the right media.
This gets confusing because manufacturers test their equipment and explain
their results differently. For example, some companies test only the air
going through the filter, but not the air coming out of the motor exhaust or
through gaps in the body or around the motor housing and wheels. Other manufacturers use
different methods to test their vacuums and filters. It’s even possible that
some simply make marketing claims with virtually no testing at all.
Since not everyone follows the same rules, there are, in effect, many
similar-sounding but different claims made by manufacturers to market their
vacuum cleaners and filtration, with very little standardization and no
regulatory policing.
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