Vacuum Cleaners Essentials: Why Should You Vacuum?
For the modern homemaker, vacuum cleaners are an essential tool. Unless you live in a home without any carpets at all, you probably have a vacuum cleaner.
But do you know everything there is to know about this time saving tool?
Vacuum cleaners use an air pump and a brush to dislodge dirt and suck it up into a canister or bag.
Types Of Vacuum Cleaners
There are different types of vacuum cleaners. Which one is best for you?
Bagless Vacuums
These vacuums don’t collect dirt in bags, but in canisters.
Once the dirt has been collected, it can be emptied into a garbage bag for easy disposal.
One downside of these vacuums is that they can be messy if you open the canister at the wrong time!
But, in my opinion, bagless vacuums are the best kind.
Upright Vacuums
These vacuum cleaners have the pump mounted directly above where the suction pushes the dirt. The bag is mounted on the handle.
These vacuums will usually have mechanical beaters or rotating brushes.
These brushes help to dislodge dirt from the carpet so that it can be vacuumed up.
A belt attached to the vacuum motor is what powers these rotating brushes.
Canister Vacuums
Canister vacuums have the motor and bag in a separate unit that is connected to the vacuum head by a long, flexible hose.
Upright vacuums are more effective, but these vacuums are lighter. That makes them more maneuverable, and so they are still popular.
Some of these vacuums come with power heads that have the same beaters as in upright vacuums.
Backpack Vacuums
These vacuums are a great tool for commercial cleaning.
That’s because they are easier to carry and move around with, saving some of the backache that comes with vacuuming.
These are similar to canister vacuums, except that the canister is on your back instead of on the floor.
Central Vacuums
These are a kind of build in vacuum cleaner. They are most often used in commercial buildings.
For these vacuums, the suction motor and bag are based in one central location of a building.
With these vacuums, you only need to carry the hose and pickup head from room to room.
The hoses for these vacuums are usually pretty long. Generally they are around 25 feet long, so that you can reach even the far corners of most rooms.
Plastic pipes connect vacuum outlets to the central unite.
These vacuums may be simple suction models, or they may have rotating beaters in their heads.
For these vacuums, the bags are so large that they usually only need to be emptied or changed once or twice a year.
Robotic Vacuums
These vacuums do the cleaning for you!
They generally run on a timer and move about your home, detecting walls and chairs so they don’t bump into them.
They are pretty compact, and are usually rechargeable.
Hand Held Vacuums
These vacuum cleaners are typically small and easy to carry.
Powered by batteries or electricity, they are popular for cleaning up office spaces or small spills.
I have one of these for my car! It is powered by a wire that plugs into the lighter port in the car.
With a toddler, that vacuum gets a LOT of use!
Wet / Dry Vacuums
Ahh, this kind of vacuum is on my Christmas list this year!
These vacuums can be used to clean up both wet and dry spells.
If you’re a mom, or even if you have pets that are messy eaters… I’m sure you can see how useful that would be.
Bagged Vacuums Versus Bagless Vacuum Cleaners
I will always prefer bagless vacuum cleaners. Why?
Because, frankly, those bags aren’t environmentally friendly. And they’re expensive!
A vacuum without a bag and with a washable filter has only the cost of purchasing the vacuum itself.
Bagged vacuum cleaners also have worse performance.
When a bag is brand new, the airflow is great, but as that bag fills it becomes worse and worse.
So if you want peak performance for your bagged vacuum, you’ll be spending even more money!
Vacuums with bags are old technology, and I can only hope that they will become obsolete soon.
Why Should You Vacuum?
Look, I know vacuuming isn’t always everyone’s favorite chore. (Wait, does everyone have a favorite chore? Am I weird?)
But you need to understand why you should vacuum.
Even though you don’t see all that dirt in your carpet, it’s definitely there. And in that dirt is bacteria and the stuff that feeds bacteria.
You have no way of knowing if that bacteria is something benign, or a new strain of a flesh eating virus!
Okay, let’s not go crazy. But you get what I’m saying, right?
If you exercise on the floor, you’re covering yourself in those germs.
If you have an infant or toddler on the floor, they are getting covered in those germs.
Those germs come from our shoes, from dropped food, from your pet’s butt!
So we need to take care of our carpet.
Plus, a dirty carpet just looks bad. And a dirty home is not a hygge home!
8 Vacuuming Tips
So you want to be the best vacuumer in the world?!
Oh… is that just me? Okay, well these tips will help you become more efficient with your vacuum.
Efficiency means it’s easier! And you probably at least want it to be easier to vacuum, right?
ONE: Pick Up First
You don’t want your carpet to be covered in legos or food that will clog your vacuum.
Take a few minutes to pick up anything you don’t want to suck up, and your vacuum will last longer and clean better.
TWO: Make Sure Your Vacuum Isn’t Full
Whether you have a bag or a canister, make sure it’s empty before you start to vacuum.
Empty your canister or change your vacuum bag if it’s getting full.
As your vacuum gets full, it doesn’t suck up dirt as easily.
THREE: Vacuum Going Forward
Going forward with your vacuum cleans more quickly and can put less wear and tear on your cord.
FOUR: Overlap Your Strokes!
I tend to vacuum in shorter strokes, and I always make sure to overlap by about half of the width of my vacuum.
Why? Because the very edges of the vacuum have no suction or brush action going on. So you want to cover those edges!
FIVE: Vacuum In Different Directions
Every time you vacuum, you should try to do it in a different direction. If you usually vacuum your hallway up and down, try to do it sideways.
In larger rooms, you can vacuum diagonally as well.
This will pick up dirt that has been hiding under carpet fibers.
This also helps to slow down the wear and tear on your carpet.
SIX: Do The Edges
On corners and edges, use a smaller head or hose attachment.
If you have a really tough space, you can attach a toiler paper roll or paper towel roll to your vacuum.
This roll can be pinched to fit in tight, tiny spaces.
SEVEN: Vacuum The Air
If you have a lot of dust in the air, you can wave the wand in the air to get rid of it.
This is also useful under beds, or for getting rid of cobwebs!
EIGHT: Watch Out For String!
Straw, string, and thread can wrap around the rotating brushes of your vacuum.
Once they get thoroughly wrapped up, you’ll have to get some scissors and cut them away from the brush.
This slows you down, and can put your vacuum at risk of breaking!
