Yesterday, I changed the original bag that was in my Oreck ONEPWR cordless upright vacuum, which was super full after nearly 10 months of off-and-on usage. It was a purple CC "SUPERIOR" HEPA bag with 5 layers of filtration, along with the SaniSeal System which seals the bag shut for mess-free disposal.
Since this is my first real experience with a bagged vacuum, I decided to dissect the bag later that night and see what was inside, as Oreck claims it holds 4 times more debris than a typical bagless vacuum.
I started by carefully cutting the bag open with a box cutter; it was hard to do because of the many layers. Once I opened it up sufficiently, the first thing I saw was how neatly compacted the dirt was.
Wearing a face mask, I dug into the pile with my bare hands, pulling apart chunks of dust, fluff, grit and pet hair. It was more than meets the eye! It took me quite a while to get the debris out and move it into a separate trash bag.
A month ago, I vacuumed up nearly an entire box of Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh carpet powder that I sprinkled onto my upstairs carpet. Most of it had settled to one side of the bag. I wonder why that happened?
Now for a good look at the bag itself. Of its 5 layers, one of them is a charcoal layer, designed for odor control. Interestingly, there is a layer of plastic right by the bag collar opening, presumably for deflecting debris down to the bottom, where it belongs. Despite filling the bag past the maximum fill line, I did NOT see any loss of suction whatsoever!
The downside is that these bags are expensive, at $40 for a pack of 6. But since they have such a huge capacity, cost shouldn't be an issue for the average consumer.
So that's how I spent my evening. It was a pretty fascinating look at what's inside a full bag!
Since this is my first real experience with a bagged vacuum, I decided to dissect the bag later that night and see what was inside, as Oreck claims it holds 4 times more debris than a typical bagless vacuum.
I started by carefully cutting the bag open with a box cutter; it was hard to do because of the many layers. Once I opened it up sufficiently, the first thing I saw was how neatly compacted the dirt was.
Wearing a face mask, I dug into the pile with my bare hands, pulling apart chunks of dust, fluff, grit and pet hair. It was more than meets the eye! It took me quite a while to get the debris out and move it into a separate trash bag.
A month ago, I vacuumed up nearly an entire box of Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh carpet powder that I sprinkled onto my upstairs carpet. Most of it had settled to one side of the bag. I wonder why that happened?
Now for a good look at the bag itself. Of its 5 layers, one of them is a charcoal layer, designed for odor control. Interestingly, there is a layer of plastic right by the bag collar opening, presumably for deflecting debris down to the bottom, where it belongs. Despite filling the bag past the maximum fill line, I did NOT see any loss of suction whatsoever!
The downside is that these bags are expensive, at $40 for a pack of 6. But since they have such a huge capacity, cost shouldn't be an issue for the average consumer.
So that's how I spent my evening. It was a pretty fascinating look at what's inside a full bag!
