Bags for Kenmore Canisters

[fan-of-fans]

I was wondering what bags you all use in your Kenmore canisters (such as Progressives). I have a red Progressive, and my manual states to use a number KC16KDRGZ0U0 bag to maintain AAFA certification (asthma & allergy) or use type Q HEPA bag. When I bought it used at Sears, there was a type C yellow double filtration bag inside which I do not believe was what it came with originally.

The bag is full so I need to get some new bags and was wondering what is best for price. The type Q HEPA bags are expensive, and I haven't seen the AAFA certified bags at Sears.

My mother uses generic Rug Doctor bags (5055/type C) from the grocery store in her Whispertone canister, which seem about the same as the cheap Type C single filtration bags from Sears. However, I don't want dust leakage in my new Progressive, and the double filtration bag seems to not filter any better than the generic Rug Doctor bags do in her machine (both have fine dust coating in the bag compartment).

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[fantomlightning]

Out of all...

The bags I've tried for the Kenmore canister I have I've never been able to find one that didn't leak dust into the bag compartment. I think its just a fact of life and ownership with these machines. The one bag that I haven't tried that might do the trick would be 3M Filtrete bags, but you'll probably have to buy them online.

 

[durango159]

The manual tells you Q because it is only manufactured by Sears and is quite expensive.

The main difference hear is the cloth Type Q HEPA bag and paper Type C paper bag. The Q bag is made to fit the canisters. It is quite large, and is a cloth style material. They claim to hold more dirt than the others but that's because of their size. However you'll pretty much never fill that entire bag with dirt because of a few factors:
1) The bag compartment won't allow it
2) The machine will smell terribly by that point
3) Despite the cloth bag, you'll still have suction loss.

The C bag otherwise known as 5055/ 50557 fits all Kenmore Power nozzle equipped canisters whether its Intuition, Progressive, Whispertone and some others. The 50557 number is what Kenmore refers to it as. The "C" part is actually more Panasonic because many Panasonic canisters also use the same bag.

With paper bags, most of the manufacturers actually state what percentage of particles they capture, some are 94%, some are 97%, some claim 99%. You need to read the fine print on the bags and/or feel the composition of the bags themselves.

I for one have never been a fan of the RugDoctor bags/ vacuum parts, I consider those of the similar line to Honeywell bags which Wal-Mart carried years ago. Even though I like many Honeywell products, their vacuum bags I felt were terrible!!! I noticed significant problems in my Hoover canisters with Honeywell-- reduced suction and worse filtration.

You can try the 3M Filtrete but also check your local vacuum shop as Envirocare, Microliner and other good generic companies make them. It's also very possible another manufacturer may have a less expensive, more effective cloth style disposable bag for the machine similar to what is available for Riccar. I've never looked into that though. I would definitely recommend searching Amazon, eBay and talking with your local vacuum shop for recommended brands of bags.

Good luck and let us know how you do!!

 

[durango159]

AAAAHHHHHH!! I mispelled/ used the wrong "Here" It's time for bed, goodnight Vacuumland!!

 

[durango159]

Evacuumstore.com

Ok, last post for the night. I got too curious. Just went to evacuumstore.com real quick. Here is a good deal. A 3 pack of the large Q style bags in generic for $6. There is a picture, and if you enlarge you can read the package. It states cloth, anti-allergen material, stronger than paper, 99.9% filtration.
Email them a question if you want to see if what their thoughts are?

Compare this to Sears price of $10 for a 2 pack and you have a great deal here!!

http://evacuumstore.com/p-12590-kenmore-anti-allergy-bags-type-c-q-3-pack.aspx

 

[kirbylux77]

Rob:

One little correction there to something you said in your post:
"They claim to hold more dirt than the others but that's because of their size."
This is untrue. The reason they claim to hold more dirt is because the HEPA cloth bags supposedly don't clog as easily & allow the vacuum to better maintain it's suction while filling up with dirt....which is also untrue. I have found HEPA cloth bags to be no better than their paper equivalents at maintaining power, regardless of who makes them or in what vacuum.

You will also find if you put the HEPA Cloth bag in an older Kenmore back from the 80's or 90's that the bag is no bigger than the paper bag. I believe the reason they make them larger than the bag compartment is that they have to accomodate people who have older models & want to use the bags. Otherwise, they would get complaints that the bag is too small.

Cole: Are you really concerned about having dust in your bag compartment, or are you concerned about filtration because you are sensitive to dust, have allergies, or someone in your family does? If you are concerned about allergies, there's another way to improve the filtration. The reason Kenmore recommends to use the Type Q HEPA Cloth bags is because they KNOW the HEPA filter system is not a sealed system. The HEPA cloth bag & HEPA combined is what is needed to bring the vacuum to HEPA levels. However, the newest Progressives, with the HEPA filter in the back & the filter door in the back, are capable of being made a Sealed HEPA filter vacuum, as the motor sits in a air handler that directs all the air to the filter. All you have to do is take your filter, go to the hardware store, & buy some foam weatherstripping that you use on outside doors. Take the weatherstripping, wrap it around the outside edge of the HEPA filter, & then afterwards you will have to trim a bit, as it will be wider than the depth of the HEPA filter. Go ahead & install your HEPA filter. If you compare BEFORE you put the weatherstripping & re-install the filter, you will notice some air leakage coming out from the PowerMate Jr compartment. That will be gone & ALL the air will go thru the side vent in the filter compartment, & exhausted out the cord rewinder's hole, like it's supposed to. So, you will have a Sealed HEPA vacuum & you can use the normal yellow micro-filtration bags.

Let us know how that works for you, if you choose to try it.

Rob

 

[durango159]

Hi Rob-Kirbylux77.
In this instance I am speaking specifically about the Kenmore- Sears made Q bag and the 50557 paper bag.
I do not have an 80's/ 90's Kenmore to test it on. However when I had my Kenmore Progressive 25513 we tried paper and HEPA bags. The HEPA Q bags were about twice the size of the paper 5055 bags. The Q bags completely overflowed the bag compartment. There was no good way to install it neatly shaped and shut the door. You just had to fold it different ways in-order to keep it inside the machine when shutting the door. It was a P.I.T.A!!

On the other hand, the C bag 50557 Sears Kenmore manufactured was actually slightly smaller than the bag compartment and fit in too easily.

Now to compare some other HEPA cloth bags. The Hoover S cloth bag seems to be the exact same size and shapes just as well as the Hoover S paper bag. The cloth has dramatically better filtration and I love that it keeps the vacuum compartment looking clean. Both shape into nice "boxes" and I have no problem getting them inside the bag compartment.

A Riccar H cloth bag fits its inside its bag compartment easily and shapes into a nice "box" shape for running the machine. It does a fantastic machine of keeping the bag compartment clean.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I'm not so concerned about exhaust filtration as I would be dust leaking into the motor and motor compartment. I've taken apart older Kenmore canisters and found it coated in fine dust.

What would be nice is if a bag manufacturer would come up with a reuseable cloth HEPA bag. Perhaps sell them in a pack of two and when one fills up, empty it and wash it while the other is being used. Sears used to sell reuseable bags for their canisters, even as late as 1992 and for 5055 style even, as there are some listed in catalogs I have. I would be nice to do this again but with a HEPA material. I don't think it would take off though, as it doesn't make sense to have to empty a bagged cleaner when bagless ones abound.

It seems to me the bag compartments are a little smaller now, as my Progressive seems to have a smaller compartment than I remember on 80s and 90s machines taking a 5055 bag. The bag in mine just fits in the compartment with little room to spare.

Sears refers to their bags by letter now, unlike the older maroon packages that had numbers. If I recall, there is no mention of the number on the Homecare package, only on the bag itself. Type E fits older 5023/5033 front hose (I only saw single filtration type), type H is the rounded front hose canisters from the late 80s/early 90s (my store doesn't have these), and of course C is 5055.

 

[gmerkt]

I'm of the opinion that no matter how good the bag is on a Kenmore canister machine, you're going to get some leakage around the hose hub where it attaches to the canister. Yes, there is a foam rubber seal there but with only about one eighth of an inch of separation between where the hose seats and the dust compartment lid closes. The hose hub and the dust compartment lid share the same seal. The vacuum in the lid area is always going to be slightly greater than that within the bag, so the vacuum on the edge of this seal quite close to the hose can cause some dust to by-pass the bag entirely.

Add into this weaker fit by virtue of age and usage, and it becomes looser. Yes, fine particulate of dust will certainly penetrade the bag fabric as a matter of course. However, the by-pass situation at the hose connection I feel is a big contributor. When I work on these vacs, I often find debris in the pre-motor filter that just couldn't possibly penetrate bag fabric. If you look on the underneath surface of the dust compartment cover, you will usually see a concentration of dust coating in the latch end of it, near the hose connection.

Also, remember that the bag collar on which the seal is mounted is hinged and not a rigid fit. Movement of the hose hub can rock the whole arrangement around, causing loose fit. Of course, this isn't unique to Kenmore.

Until the rear exhaust vent HEPA Kenmore canisters came out, the idea of HEPA filtration was fairly tongue-in-cheek. Even with the rear-blow feature, they were not sealed systems and lots of leakage occurs but not as much as the previous design.

 

[mark40511]

Yes

Where the main hose connects to the canister, you notice that it merely *kisses* the foam rubber piece.......

That being said, I had that EXACT Kenmore canister you have and when I used the cloth hepa bags, the bag compartment was MUCH MUCH cleaner than with the yellow microlined paper bags. I also noticed that they DID maintain airflow LONGER than the paper bags *in my opinion* I do not think there is any comparison with the paper bags vs the Cloth bags, especially since the Kenmore's are not sealed and air pours out the cord area.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Thanks for the info. I agree on the hose connection to the bag probably being a point of dust leakage. I received a coupon for 10% off Kenmore vacuums and accessories so I went ahead and bought the yellow microlined bags like what was in it already. I looked at the cloth ones but I can't justify almost $5 each for something I'm going to throw away. LOL It would be good if they would come out with washable HEPA bags but they would be messy.