I recently moved into a new house that is about 50% hardwood floors. Unfortunately, none of the vacuums in my collection are safe or practical for this type of flooring. Does anybody have a suggestion for a vacuum that won't scratch the floors?
Canister for Hardwood Floors
- Thread starter mieles7
- Start date
Help Support VacuumLand:
DesertTortoise
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,189
Hmm, you can often adapt more modern power brushes that are amenable to hardwood floors to older canister vacuums. I have a townhouse with hardwood floors and I use a Hayden Superpack on them with no ill effects. Haydens are hard to beat. Haydens can be attached to wands that fit all kinds of hoses. Wessel Werk brushes have press to release wire clamps inside the brush, making it very simple to replace the original power wire with one that is compatible with your hose. No crimping or splicing, just press the connector to release the original wire and press again to insert the new wire.
What kind of canister vacuum do you have? If worse comes to worse you can often have a central vacuum supplier make a custom hose for you that permits the use of the powered brush you want with the vacuum you have. This is the most expensive option however. I'm betting you can either buy a Hayden that fits the hose on your existing vacuum or swap the wire leaving the power brush you desire and attach a wand for your vacuum to that brush. I am doing this to adapt an older Wessel Werk brush to an even older Kenmore canister vacuum using the Kenmore wand.
What kind of canister vacuum do you have? If worse comes to worse you can often have a central vacuum supplier make a custom hose for you that permits the use of the powered brush you want with the vacuum you have. This is the most expensive option however. I'm betting you can either buy a Hayden that fits the hose on your existing vacuum or swap the wire leaving the power brush you desire and attach a wand for your vacuum to that brush. I am doing this to adapt an older Wessel Werk brush to an even older Kenmore canister vacuum using the Kenmore wand.
eurekaprince
Well-known member
Best suction-only canister for the money these days is a Miele S2 Olympus....excellent bare floor cleaning and very strong airflow thru the hose. Just invest in a bare floor brush that has no wheels and has extremely soft horsehair bristles. If you find one that is not sold by Miele itself, you can get an adapter that will allow it to attach to the Miele's European size wand.
sebo_fan
Well-known member
Actually all of Miele's hard floor brushes bar the Twister one have wheels - but they can all be removed if the rubberised coating still provides no protection. Same with SEBO and similar canister floor heads that use the similar Wessel Werk design,
eurekaprince
Well-known member
There are two reasons I prefer bare floor brushes with no wheels: first reason is that I often need to slide the brush sideways to sneak it into narrower territory and I don't want to scratch the floor by dragging the wheels sideways in a way in which they were not designed (these wheels are obviously meant to go forward and backward - not sideways). The second reason is that you need to keep them free of hair and dirt so that they can keep rolling. If one jams up, it can scratch the floor.
My favorite bare floor brush is one that I actually rescued from the trash behind my last apartment building! I have no idea who made it, but it has the softest light brown horse hair bristles I have ever felt on a vacuum attachment! Very similar to the ultra soft horse hair bristles you get on one of Kenmore's more deluxe dusting brushes. And no wheels!
My favorite bare floor brush is one that I actually rescued from the trash behind my last apartment building! I have no idea who made it, but it has the softest light brown horse hair bristles I have ever felt on a vacuum attachment! Very similar to the ultra soft horse hair bristles you get on one of Kenmore's more deluxe dusting brushes. And no wheels!
I'd love to use the canisters that I already have, but my Eureka 3336A has extremely rough wheels, and my Hoover Constellation tends to scrape the floor once the bag is full. Does anyone have experience with this Panasonic? My main reason for considering it is the soft wheels, which seems to be relatively uncommon for vacuums in this price range.
http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/MC-CG301
http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/MC-CG301
DesertTortoise
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,189
I think old Kenmore Whispertone (Whimpertone) canisters have soft enough wheels not to damage wood floors. I use an early '80's Kenmore on wood floors with no apparent ill effects. Rolls fine, no scratches. Same with the Hayden Superpack.
Kenmore floor brushes (unpowered) are very nice too, cheap and plentiful. Most vacuum shops have a little pile of used tools from deceased vacuums you can poke through. I find all kinds of gems that way. Pretty sad that most tools now outlast the vacuums they came on, isn't it.
Kenmore floor brushes (unpowered) are very nice too, cheap and plentiful. Most vacuum shops have a little pile of used tools from deceased vacuums you can poke through. I find all kinds of gems that way. Pretty sad that most tools now outlast the vacuums they came on, isn't it.
eurekaprince
Well-known member
I would not recommend that Panasonic. Its design suffers from the same problem most canisters have - the exhaust comes right out the back where it can blow dust and dirt around on a bare floor. The Miele S2 exhausts its filtered air out the top of the machine so dirt on the floor stays where it is until you get the chance to vacuum it up.
s31463221
Well-known member
Ian
I'm not sure what your budget constraints are but you posted a link to a $65 vac so I'm going to go with that. Have you ever considered an older metal body Electrolux such as a Super J, Olympia One, Silverado, etc.? I have a 3000 square foot home that is all wood except the stairs and area rugs and my daily driver is an 80's Silverado. It has all the power I could want, plus it sends the exhaust out the top so dust doesn't get blown everywhere! Some time ago there was a member on here selling a brown Olympia One which has the same motor as a Silverado for $65. If I remember correctly, it had both a power nozzle and a horsehair flip over bare floor tool which wouldn't scratch anything on your wood floors! The wheels on the canister itself are soft plastic and roll great, it just follows you around like a puppy. Just an alternative suggestion to consider!
Here's the VL link to the O1 that I saw the other day!
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREADM.cgi?25253
I'm not sure what your budget constraints are but you posted a link to a $65 vac so I'm going to go with that. Have you ever considered an older metal body Electrolux such as a Super J, Olympia One, Silverado, etc.? I have a 3000 square foot home that is all wood except the stairs and area rugs and my daily driver is an 80's Silverado. It has all the power I could want, plus it sends the exhaust out the top so dust doesn't get blown everywhere! Some time ago there was a member on here selling a brown Olympia One which has the same motor as a Silverado for $65. If I remember correctly, it had both a power nozzle and a horsehair flip over bare floor tool which wouldn't scratch anything on your wood floors! The wheels on the canister itself are soft plastic and roll great, it just follows you around like a puppy. Just an alternative suggestion to consider!
Here's the VL link to the O1 that I saw the other day!
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREADM.cgi?25253
DesertTortoise
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,189
Eurekaprince, this is a canister vacuum. The vacuum is six or seven feet away from where you are vacuuming with the Powermate, and the back of the vacuum is nearly always pointed away from the place you are vacuuming (no 360 degree swivel hoses on my vacuums). What might be coming out of the back of that vacuum isn't blowing anywhere near where I am vacuuming, and I've adapted modern filter materials to both the secondary and exhaust filters to ensure the exhaust is clean. It might be a valid argument for someone using an upright vacuum, but it makes no difference if you are using a canister vacuum.
sebo_fan
Well-known member
Eurekaprince...
"...The second reason is that you need to keep them free of hair and dirt so that they can keep rolling..."
I know what you mean regarding the wheels, but even with Miele floor brushes, dust gets wrapped around the bristles, particularly the new Twister Parquet floor tool, which doesn't have wheels.
I find that eventually the dust works itself off, but I actually don't find hard floor brushes all that good for the majority of the time - unless you have a rug nearby that can scrub the brush clean and thus suck up the dust left behind.
"...The second reason is that you need to keep them free of hair and dirt so that they can keep rolling..."
I know what you mean regarding the wheels, but even with Miele floor brushes, dust gets wrapped around the bristles, particularly the new Twister Parquet floor tool, which doesn't have wheels.
I find that eventually the dust works itself off, but I actually don't find hard floor brushes all that good for the majority of the time - unless you have a rug nearby that can scrub the brush clean and thus suck up the dust left behind.
ultralux88
Well-known member
Our best selling suction only canister here at work is the Miele S6 Quartz. It has a longer hose and wand and a nicer floor tool than the Olympus, definitely consider both and see which you'd prefer, they're both great vacuums though.
floor-a-matic
Well-known member
<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Aerus/Electrolux is the best for vacing bare floors</span>
DesertTortoise
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,189
I have to agree with MikePdx. I recently acquired a Wessel Werk powered brush and have been comparing it with a three decade old Kenmore Powermate on different surfaces using the same Kenmore 4.1 vacuum. Before anyone protests, I replaced the power cord exiting the back of the Wessel Werk head with a Kenmore compatible cord (the owner of the vacuum shop I frequent found something from another brand of vacuum in blue of all colors that fit the lower socket in the Kenmore wand and we innovated from there) and use this on a Kenmore wand. It works like it was designed that way other than not being gray like the rest of the assembly.
The Kenmore/Hayden head cools the motor with suction air. That motor runs in all the dirt your vacuum is sucking up and any exhaust joins the airflow up the hose. It is not vented to the outside or cooled by outside air. The W-W head has vents on top and at the rear to cool the motor and a little cooling fan on the end. It looks like it pulls air in from the rear and vents it to the top. In any event if you turn the motor off and just use it as a suction brush the arguments about exhaust air blowing dust around are moot.
I also genuinely dislike the swivel on the W-W head. In terms of overall quality, the W-W head is cheaply made in my opinion. Yes it is lighter than the Kenmore/Hayden head, but when you take them apart it is obvious the W-W head is nowhere near as stoutly made as the Kenmore head. It won't last.
Regarding the light weight, in carpet that works against you. Just today the doggie chewed up a stuffed toy, but instead of soft stuffing it was filled with plastic pellets. Thanks for the test opportunity Gunnar! I fired up the recently refurbished Kenmore 4.1 with the W-W head and vacuumed vigorously for ten minutes or so until I could no longer hear the tell tale ticks of plastic pellets in the hose. Then I disconnected the W-W head and tried the Kenmore head. We found lots of pellets the W-W head missed. Same vacuum, just different heads. Glad I'm only into the W-W head for $40.
The Kenmore/Hayden head cools the motor with suction air. That motor runs in all the dirt your vacuum is sucking up and any exhaust joins the airflow up the hose. It is not vented to the outside or cooled by outside air. The W-W head has vents on top and at the rear to cool the motor and a little cooling fan on the end. It looks like it pulls air in from the rear and vents it to the top. In any event if you turn the motor off and just use it as a suction brush the arguments about exhaust air blowing dust around are moot.
I also genuinely dislike the swivel on the W-W head. In terms of overall quality, the W-W head is cheaply made in my opinion. Yes it is lighter than the Kenmore/Hayden head, but when you take them apart it is obvious the W-W head is nowhere near as stoutly made as the Kenmore head. It won't last.
Regarding the light weight, in carpet that works against you. Just today the doggie chewed up a stuffed toy, but instead of soft stuffing it was filled with plastic pellets. Thanks for the test opportunity Gunnar! I fired up the recently refurbished Kenmore 4.1 with the W-W head and vacuumed vigorously for ten minutes or so until I could no longer hear the tell tale ticks of plastic pellets in the hose. Then I disconnected the W-W head and tried the Kenmore head. We found lots of pellets the W-W head missed. Same vacuum, just different heads. Glad I'm only into the W-W head for $40.
