Are Bag Check Indicators To Be Trusted?

[bagintheback]

Normally I forget about bag check lights when I get a vacuum that has one, but I'm not sure about the one on my Riccar Brilliance. On any other vacuum, the light will normally come on if I place my hand over the hose, blocking off all the airflow. But on the Riccar, this does not happen.

So should I leave the bag in until the vacuum tells me to change it, or should I decide myself? Do any of you know of a vacuum that has an efficient bag check light that really does work?

 

[kirby]

I would say no. I cheak my vacuum bags by fealing the dirt in the bag. plus I throw away the bag before it gets half way to the full line on the bag. Hope this helps.
david

 

[jmurray01]

I've never had a Vacuum Cleaner that has had a Bag Full indicator that actually tells you to change the bag when it should be changed.

All the ones I've used do just what the name suggests - Indicate when the bag is FULL. I mean that literally.

I check my bags regularly and replace them when they get to 2/3 full.

Just to prove my point, I did once let the 1994 HOOVER Turbopower go on and on with the same bag deliberately just to see when the light would illuminate, and by the time it did, the bag was so full there was literally NO suction getting to the hose.

Same with my 2008 JMB SC1056 which has a piston indicator.

I can't remember who said it but somebody said on here that the reason manufacturers design the indicators to activate when the bag is packed full is because to the general consumer a bag doesn't need changed until it is as filled as it can be, and if the indicator suggested otherwise, they would think the manufacturer was trying to get more money from them by getting them to replace the bags more often.

Of course another incentive is that repeatedly running a Vacuum Cleaner until the bag is so full the suction is cut will wear the motor over time and eventually prove fatal, resulting in another sale for the manufacturer.

Luckily us Vacuum Cleaner collectors know to use our own discretion and change the bag before a wrongly programmed light/piston tells us to! At least I HOPE we all know that - I certainly do. Perhaps I'm too over-kill, but I'd rather be over-kill than actually kill my motor!

Sorry about the rather long winded response, but you did ask for it when you posted something I have a view about, ha ha!

 

[fan-of-fans]

I have only had two machines with bag check/performance indicators - my Kenmore Whispertone canister and the Kenmore/Sanyo Let's Clean canister. The Whispertone canister never seems to show red on its mechanical indicator unless I put my hand over the hose. I change the bag when the suction drops noticably. The Let's Clean has a scale type indicator that seems to go toward red often as I need to wash the filter most likely.

 

[kirbylux77]

Aerus-Electrolux Canisters....

Are the only vacuums I find with reliable bag check lights or indicators. Others I have found will warn you only when there is so little suction, there is hardly any cleaning going on, & putting the motor under more stress than it should.

What I like about the bag check on the Aerus-Electrolux vacuums is that they are "Automatic Control" & can be custom suited to any home's cleaning needs. For my situation, where I pick up lots of sand & fine dust, it is ideal, because a normal bag check light would warn after the vacuum has lost all of it's power; this way, I keep it running at peak efficiency at all times.

Rob

 

[raycarter]

While I am with the rest of you, checking the bag for myself regularly and replacing it when it is no more than two-thirds full, the full bag indicator does have one virtue-it can warn the user in a timely manner when a sudden blockage forms in the hose, wands or nozzle, which.can also.curtail airflow and lead to overheating. So, while.they generally aren't trustworthy when it comes to timely bag changes, they are not totally devoid of merit.

 

[sebo_fan]

I seldom wholly trust piston valve bag fill indicators - the only exception is with the new synthetic dust bags in the Sebo Felix. The LED control on the K and X models are however far more reliable - but as jmurray says, physically just checking the bag gives benefit of the doubt.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Piston bag-check indicators are useless; they either clog/jam or never seem tailored to the type or amount of dirt being picked up.

Electronic types seem to be better, but there is much variation. Hoover's clean fan upright versions never seemed to indicate properly even with a full bag. I think the "Turbopower 1" might have worked a little better, but I can't remember now.

Hoover's "Sensotronic System 2" and "Alpina Tria-3" had electronic. I think the Alpina had an extra mini-bag-check/"no suction" on the remote handle panel.

The Electrolux 551 upright seemed to detect the fine powdery dust that coats the walls of the bag, reducing suction power, so it was pretty accurate.

 

[jmurray01]

While I was reading the latest posts on this thread I remembered that my 1982 Electrolux 502S has a whistle indicator, which actually is accurate, but only if you set it to the correct number so that it whistles when the bag is at the level you want it to get to before changing.

I however forgot to check what number it whistled at when I last changed the bag so I can't use it this time, but when the bag reaches 2/3 full again I'll see when it whistles by turning it on with the full bag and rotating the knob, and keep it at that for future reference.

One piston indicator that is very unreliable is the one in my 2000 Electrolux Tango, which displays red whenever the cleaner is running even with an empty bag and clean filters with no blockages.

God knows why it does that but there you go.

 

[jmurray01]

As much as I see your point Ray, it is pretty obvious when a Vacuum Cleaner has a blockage as the tone increases so much you'd have to be deaf not to hear it.

I've noticed that quite a few Vacuum Cleaners on sale these days don't have Bag Full indicators, probably because of the reasons we're discussing now!

 

[luxlover]

I agree they cant be trusted, My fully gray electrolux ambassador III is suppose to turn off or not turn on when the bag is full, but like others ive done a test i let it go untill it wouldnt turn on and for that to happen the bag is so full it about to come out the hose connect inlet...

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I know they're vintage, but

the old Dial-A-matics worked. The Convertible bags have that dotted line with a note. Also. if they had the springs instead of the "diving board" the vinyl bag tended to "bounce" when full. We all know to check our bags frequently.
To jump back to Contemporary, I've seen HOOVER Elites, etc, thrown to the curb because the bags were packed! Several times, after a good cleaning and a new bag, they were good to go.Can you imagine what these people's kids' diapers were like?

 

[raycarter]

Jeff Foxworthy said it best;

"If you think the six to ten pounds rating.on the side of the diaper.box indicates how much the diaper will hold, you might be a redneck."

 

[jmurray01]

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a phrase that comes to mind!

I don't understand people who throw Vacuum Cleaners out because the bag is full.

When I picked up my 1994 HOOVER Turbopower from the dump it worked great but the only problem was the "Twice Use" bag had been used twice and needed replaced, but instead of buying another bag, they threw a good condition perfectly working (the belt wasn't even slipping!) Vacuum Cleaner away and are probably sitting now with a crappy bagless cleaner that is clogging up all the time wondering why they ever got rid of their reliable Turbopower.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well JM one reason alone to why people chuck out vacuums with a full bag isn't because it has a full bag - not in the thrift finds I've found over the years - it's because the machine is so fully clogged up through the dust channels and system that the previous owner couldn't be ars*d to clean the machine out. This is a common problem I found with a lot of Turbopower uprights, more notably the channel from the roller brush to the bottom of the hose at the back of the vacuum as opposed to through the hose leading to the bag.

I also bought a 2nd hand Sebo X4 about 5 years ago now from a private seller off Gumtree in Glasgow. I wondered why the Sebo X4 was going for £40 on the basis that even second hand the prices are above £100 usually. When I got to the home, the home was really well designed, nice and clean and.. they had 4 dogs. When I looked at the machine it had suffered a few scratches - but when I tested it there and then the Odour of the dogs came right through and the seller was good enough to admit that he had tried to put a new hose on it but still the smell of dog was still very much apparent. So we haggled the price down to £20. By the time I got it home and took apart the main floor head, all was apparent to where the odour was coming from - years of pet hair had gunked up the main dust channel pivot and couldn't be accessed unless you took the machine apart. I also washed out the "new hose", tools main filter channel, good as new and all it took was a good inspection and some time to clean it out properly. I sold it on after restoring it to good form for 4 times the price I paid for it - £120!

Clearly owners don't always know how to clean out their machines fully - it's the same with refurbished appliances from several stores like Cash Converter or Cash Generater - they are PAT tested, but that's about all. At least online, several sellers who do sell refurbished vacuums have models that are internally cleaned to the point that almost everything is sparkling/neutral to the nose!

 

[Jakesvacs]

I have a sebo cylinder with an electric bag full indicator and it works pretty well. If the bag is about half full, the light flickers and when its packed its fully on.
Manual ones never have worked,the super suction on todays cleaners just means they are always indicating a full bag.

 

[jmurray01]

Yeah, I think that is the problem with the Tango, it is so powerful the piston indicator comes on by accident.

 

[gsheen]

The problem with manual bag full indicators is how they work, they rely on the suction genirated by the motor to move.


The problems with this is that they need almost full lock suction to move thus only moving when the motor is ready to self destruct.


 


Electronic indicators are more reliable but still rely on suction to create a pressure that pulls on a rubber valve attached to a sensor or switch to get the light or sound to generate. However most are set to such a high setting they only come on when the bag is so full there is no suction. 


The good news is that most of these can be set via a tiny screw on the back of the valve. 


 


We used to use the old brown sebo 360 machines and these had a great easy electronic system, you can set it with ease to come on when the bag is two thirds full to ovoid the staff over filling them 

 

[pr-21]

Didn't Miele's used to have.....

An adjustment screw next to the bag/airflow indicator on the 500 Series? Looked at my S5's and they don't have it.

I like this indicator better that electronic. I let it get about half way across and change the bag.....If the bag seems too full, I then only go about a quarter of the way across and then change the bag....Of course this does depend on what you are vacuuming. Mine is usually just regular household dirt.


Bud Mattingly
PR-21