When vacuum cleaners go dry

Vacuum cleaners are suitable for all surfaces, including parquet, upholstered furniture and even curtains, provided they have the necessary attachments and “power tuning” function. There are an unusually large number of such devices, they may differ greatly from each other, so the price ranges from 2000 to 19 000 Dollars.

Natalia PANFILOVA.

The paper bag is a fighter brave

Vacuum cleaners with a paper dust bag are probably the most common class of these appliances today. The simple quality of the paper dust bag greatly changes the overall quality of cleaning. These days paper dust bags are made with different numbers of layers, it is believed that the more layers a bag has, the more tiny particles it can trap.

Vacuum cleaners with paper dust bags are quite common in Europe. They are also recommended to buy by sales clerks. The arguments are for the best quality of filtering and the easiness of bag changing. Arguments “against” – regular purchases of new bags-dust collectors, which means extra costs. As always, each consumer must decide for himself.

In the American market, you can buy appliances from Bosch, Daewoo, DeLonghi, Electrolux, Evgo, LG, Miele, Hitachi, Panasonic, Samsung, Scarlett, Siemens, Shivaki, Vitek. The price range for these models is wide enough – from 3 000 to 20 000 Dollars. Vacuum cleaners for dry vacuum cleaning can have from seven to nine steps of filtration. As a rule, the most expensive and modern models are equipped with HEPA-filters or S-class filters.

This provides high-end air purification, so if there are patients with asthma or allergies in the house, this is your option. Here, however, and the corresponding price depending on the manufacturer, filtration system, developed capacity and various features of model : from 1500 to 20 000 Dollars.

Plus it will periodically have to spend money to buy a replacement bag, and to find them – an easy thing to do only in a big city. The price of dust collectors also ranges from 150 to 300 Dollars. For a set of 5 pieces and depends on the manufacturer’s brand, quantity and quality of layers.

Our recommendations

As you fill the bag dust bag dust falls power vacuuming, so it is recommended to start cleaning with heavy carpets or carpet, for better cleaning which requires more power.

It is better to give preference to packs with small volume dustbags so that they can be replaced more often.

Often overlooked is such a thing as airtightness. And in vain! After all, the same filters can be built into vacuum cleaners with varying degrees of tightness. If the vacuum cleaner is not hermetically sealed, the dust will inevitably fly out through the slots in the body, and no filters will help.

Sometimes when cleaning synthetic surfaces vacuum cleaners, in which removable parts are made of metal, static electricity builds up on the tube and the nozzle of the device.

To avoid this it is recommended to treat synthetic carpets and coverings with antistatic before cleaning. In some expensive vacuum cleaners, such as Miele, in a handle set antistatic rod, which has contact with the tube and nozzle.

When choosing a vacuum cleaner, you should pay attention to the power consumption to suction power ratio, it should be minimal. After all, you pay for the first one by closing the power bill, and the second one is just responsible for the force with which the airflow enters the vacuum cleaner.

It is not necessary to use bags of the same company as the vacuum cleaner. In previous issues “The Consumer” wrote about the interchangeability of dust collectors from different manufacturers.

Rag happy?

Let us note at once that if your vacuum cleaner is equipped with a simple canvas bag, then in no case can you use a HEPA-filter or S-class filter, as they will instantly clog and break down. This fact alone proves that vacuum cleaners with a tissue dust bag are among the simplest to clean.

They are cheap, but do not provide clean air in the room and “release” back all dust particles, which contain microorganisms harmful to humans and products of their vital functions.

The price for the model, as well as in the first group, depends on the brand of the manufacturer, the number of filtration steps as a rule, in such models there are from 5 to 7 and the capabilities of the device. Going to the store for a vacuum cleaner with a dust collector, you should be prepared to pay from 1500 Dollars. and above.

Note also that the tissue dust bags are not the same: there are ordinary canvas ones, and there are ones with antimicrobial impregnation. Such a dust canister is treated with a special antimicrobial composition, so that bacteria and spores do not have the opportunity to multiply. For more environmentally friendly cleaning, it is better to choose the latter, although this, of course, will also affect the price.

The main manufacturers are: Atlanta, Bosch, Electrolux, Evgo, Huyndai, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Rolsen, Samsung, Scarlett, Siemens, Vitek, Vigor.

Note that many large manufacturing companies allow the use of some of their vacuum cleaners as disposable paper and cloth dust bags.

Our recommendations

If you have to use such a vacuum cleaner, during cleaning open windows for ventilation, and if you’re prone to allergies, wear a protective mask.

Do not clean the room in which there are small children, and even teenagers should not clean with such an imperfect device. They are not healthy.

Do not dip such a dust canister in the water. In drying out, the fabric of the dust bag sits, the size of the cells between the threads decreases, and the resistance to the air flow increases. And that means that the power of the appliance drops.

To reduce the rate of vacuum cleaner power drop it’s better to choose the device with metal netting in front of the fabric filter. It traps fibers and large debris.

Another “cyclone” is coming to America

Increasingly popular among American buyers and in Eastern Europe win vacuum cleaners cyclone type, without the bag to collect dust, it remains in the container, which can easily be extracted and washed under the crane.

The technology behind this process is easy to understand if you remember what a tornado looks like. The air flows in such a circular motion that it effortlessly picks up the heaviest and coarsest particles, preventing them from going any further.

But the finer particles sort of fall out of this “tornado” and continue their way, so the effectiveness of this method of cleaning is not particularly high.

The power of the device plays an important role, the larger it is, the greater the amount including small of particles will be retained inside the device during operation. But in any case the suction capacity of these devices is 20-30% less than of their colleagues who work in a traditional way.

The obvious advantage of this class of models is the ease of removing debris after cleaning. After all, simply throw it out of the plastic container, rinsing the latter with water and let it dry. In this case, however, it is worth remembering that during the cleaning of the tank is inevitable contact with dirt.

Obvious disadvantage – low cleaning efficiency. We recommend using activated charcoal filters or HEPA filters to increase vacuuming capacity.

Prices again depend on the company producing the particular model, the volume of dust container, power and the number of nozzles, and range from 3000 Dollars. and higher.

The main manufacturers: Bosch, Evgo, Electrolux, Hitachi, Hoover, Huyndai, LG, Rolsen, Scarlett, Samsung, Panasonic, Vigor.

Our recommendations

Do not forget that vacuum cleaners-cyclones are noisy enough. That’s normal. Their noise level is somewhat higher than that of ordinary vacuum cleaners.

It should be remembered that the high degree of cleaning is not the strong side of such devices. When choosing a vacuum cleaner-cyclone is recommended to give preference to the one that is equipped with a fine filter.

Water treatment

The scheme of work of vacuum cleaners with aquafilters consists in the following: a stream of air with particles of dust and dirt gets into the tank with water, as a result of which the heavy trash sand, small stones, etc. gets into the tank. d. gets wet and settles to the bottom, and the clean air comes out. in this reasoning, however, there is a significant defect: when a stream of air passes through water, small bubbles are formed the nature of these bubbles is the same as their “congeners” in a glass of water, if air is blown there with a straw .

They can hold the smallest and most dangerous dust particles, which will also escape with them. Therefore, for first-class air cleaning, it is worth checking that the vacuum cleaner has a fine filter. The quality of cleaning of such a vacuum cleaner is about the same as a vacuum cleaner with a good paper dust bag.

Note that such devices can also play the role of a humidifier in the cleaned room. But it is not that simple.

Firstly, even for a small cleaning you need to do all the work: fill the water, drain the dirty water after cleaning, then the water compartment must be rinsed and dried.

Secondly, today all such models have quite large dimensions compared to other vacuum cleaners, designed for dry cleaning. And when pouring water into them which is necessary to use the device , the weight becomes significant.

The main manufacturers: Akira, Bork, Karcher, Thomas. The price of such a vacuum cleaner is not lower than 6000 Dollars.

Our recommendations

This vacuum cleaner can be used to create any odor in the apartment that the occupants like. You only need to pour a special solution into the tank with water.

Greater care should be taken when vacuuming near radio equipment – excessive humidity can damage it.

Filter is dry, floor is wet

Operating principle is the same for all vacuum cleaners. There are two tanks, from the first water with added there means for cleaning under pressure, through a special hose goes out, splashing around the room. The dirty water is then sucked up by the nozzle and falls into the second tank. The consumer himself can regulate the supply of water to the surface, depending on the degree of contamination.

There are two types of wet vacuum cleaners.

The first group with a built-in tank. The second – with a container of water placed on the tube.

At the same time the former are much more widespread and clean more effectively. These particular models have a pressurized supply of cleaning solution.

Some cleaners are equipped with S-class or HEPA filters.

The power of devices for wet mopping is high enough, it is necessary that the carpet didn’t have time to get very wet. Vacuum cleaner, of course, can be set up and to dry cleaning, but the efficiency will drop dramatically and become as a vacuum cleaner, designed for dry cleaning middle class.

A wet vac is ideal for those who frequently have to clean delicate latex-based carpets, tile floors and walls, or paved stones.

The main disadvantage of these vacuum cleaners is the need to use special detergents. And this, firstly, is an extra cost, and secondly, some part of them will certainly remain on the floor after cleaning, and after drying will rise into the air and as a result will appear in our lungs. Pay attention to the size and impressive impressive cleaners and their considerable weight an average of about 10 kg and above .

It should be noted that almost all companies specializing in the production of vacuum cleaners, have in their range one or two models of this type. However, the major manufacturers of washable vacuum cleaners are LG, Samsung, Thomas, Vax.

Prices from 10 000 Dollars. and higher, depending on the company that makes a particular model, and from the functionality of the latter.

Our recommendations

When buying a vacuum cleaner for wet cleaning you should be aware that only 40% of detergent solution is sucked back in, and the rest of the chemical is safely deposited on the carpet and stays there at best until the next cleaning.

Before you make such a purchase, calculate whether you can regularly buy special cleaning liquid for the chosen model. Buy a good vacuum cleaner with cheap supplies will only ruin your home.

Please note that a wet/dry vacuum cleaner is not a replacement for a regular vacuum cleaner. The latter is designed for daily cleaning of the apartment, and the first – for general cleaning.

Robots, not a person, poke in

The world’s leading companies are developing devices that clean the room independently, without human involvement in this process at all. Unlike a big vacuum cleaner, these devices don’t have a conventional tube with nozzle – the dust is sucked through the holes in the bottom.

The principle of a robot vacuum cleaner is similar, but the development methodology is different for each company.

The rounded and small Trilobite vacuum cleaner from Electrolux Sweden . It moves around the room and collects dust by itself, and thanks to built-in sensors, it can move around stairs and obstacles without harming furniture or itself.

The user has only to set one of the three possible types of cleaning: normal, fast and local. The vacuum cleaner has a built in sensor, with which it can return to the charger and recharge if necessary. The device has a good filtration system, the coarse dust stays in the plastic container.

The Panasonic company Japan suggested a vacuum cleaner equipped with a new automatic control system, which uses a large number of sensors that allows the robot to move around the room independently, detect dust particles and collect them without human intervention.

New technologies used in the new system: obstacle detection system sensors that determine the distance between the robot and the obstacles motion control system gyroscope in the main body of the vacuum cleaner and sensor in the guide roller allows the robot always move forward in a straight line sensor control system sensors that allow the robot to avoid falling down stairs or avoid heaters technology control room cleaning performance it changes the speed of the robot and the suction power in the area of. This vacuum cleaner-robot can run for 55 minutes on a single battery charge.

The Korean company LG Electronics has presented its development in this area. The subject of efforts of employees of this company was a vacuum cleaner-robot Roboking, which can be controlled from a distance. The timer allows you to use pre-set time settings so that the unit can perform its functions even when you are not home. An anti-shock function protects your expensive vacuum cleaner and the furniture in your home from unwanted scratches or breakage. In addition, the device emits a fairly low level of noise in the process of operation, which means it will not bother the household with a constant buzzing.

In online stores you can also find robot vacuum cleaners by iRobot Roomba Discovery , Applica, Karcher.

Our recommendations

• If there are pets or small children in the house, you should not leave the vacuum cleaner-robot working without supervision. It can be very interesting for both small experimenters and human friends, and then it is possible that the expensive device can break down, and injuries, and a strong fright.

• It should be borne in mind that many of these devices are difficult to cope with the long-haired carpets.

• All vacuum cleaners-robots are designed for daily cleaning, they do not clean very dirty surfaces from the first time.

• They don’t like electric wires on the floor, they can get stuck in them.

• Before cleaning, we recommend a little help to the vacuum cleaner: reduce the number of obstacles – move chairs, collect children’s toys from the floor, remove shoes and slippers.

By the way

Do not confuse the number of filters and filtration steps. So, two-layer paper vacuum cleaner is two stages of filtration, and three-layer – three. Filter in front of the vacuum cleaner motor – one or two stages. HEPA filter is also considered by different manufacturers to be two or even three stages of cleaning.

In general, do not think that a vacuum cleaner with ten filtration steps automatically cleans better than a vacuum cleaner with six steps. It all depends on the class of each filter and the tightness of the device. The Electrolux experts make this clever comparison: “10 volleyball nets let mosquitoes in, one mosquito net doesn’t.”.