Cleaning bare floors with uprights

[eurekaprince]

I have always wondered how vac-makers can suggest we use their uprights to clean bare floors when most of the uprights do not offer a way to turn off their revolving brushes. To me, these uprights with their spinning brushes will not only blow dirt away from the suction path, the stiff revolving brushes will also ruin any flooring due to the scratches they can produce.

In truth, Consumer Reports consistently rates many of the newer 12 amp clean air uprights as "excellent" for removing dirt from bare floors (and they don't mean by using the on-board hose with a floor brush). I suppose that the high powered suction overides the "blowing" action of the spinning brushes. But that still does not address the issue of scratching floors due to those revolving brush rolls.

I can understand setting the nozzle height to its highest position to prevent the brushes from touching the bare floor, but most uprights (including my wonderful new Hoover Tempo) offer a "bare floor" height position that places the nozzle as close as possible to the floor. Would it not be safer for bare floors if the manufacturer recommended the highest setting for bare floor cleaning? Why is it that most uprights feature a bare floor setting that is so close to the floor that it could easily cause scratching?

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated, friends!

 

[DysonAnimal]

As you raise the soleplate away from the floor, you dramatically increase the volume of airflow rushing into the nozzle. This raises the pressure within the brush cavity (ie, reduces suction), and severely compromises the cleaner's ability to pick anything up.

The ideal is to provide a cleaner in which the brush-bar can be turned off, but with the soleplate maintaining a close seal with the flooring, allowing just enough airflow to move debris, without unduly raising pressure. Bear in mind, too, that a revolving brush-bar will tend to scatter dirt on hard floors.

Try an experiment with your Hoover Tempo: raise it to the highest height setting and try to vacuum a handful of rice off the floor.

 

[pr-21]

Consumer Reports Canisters Too

That has always bugged me about Consumer Reports. They do the same thing with canisters. They use the power nozzle on bare floors. That is why the Rainbow doesn't excell at bare floor cleaning. I stopped my subscription with Consumer Reports several years ago. I did not like the fact that consumers could not correct them on some of their flaws in testing. I recently purchased their online version and they actually have a discussion section. You may also review a product if you own one. Interesting reading...

 

[eurekaprince]

Jack - thanks for your response. I still think we have a problem with bringing the soleplate as close as possible to the floor, even with the revolving brush turned off. My concern is about scratching floors - especially polished hardwood. Most floors are not evenly put down - and you always have hills and valleys in the bare floor surface. Some ceramic tiles even stick up higher than neighbouring tiles, and some wood strips get warped too. Hoover's Powermatic canister nozzle in the early 1970's had a "bare floor" setting which pushed down a long stretch of bristles behind the suction chamber, thus preventing the steel soleplate from getting near the floor surface. There may even be some uprights that offer this as well. But you are correct - I will try my Tempo on a cup of rice and some sugar while setting it on the very highest nozzle height setting and see if the suction actually overrides the spinning brush and picks everything up.

Bud - that is why I ignore the bare floor ratings for canisters for the most part. The most important test result for a canister when reading CR results is the "airflow through the hose". On the other hand, I think Consumer Reports is correct in using the power nozzle for rating bare floor cleaning - they are always trying to simulate the easiest and most convenient option for the user of a product, and most users would rather not switch tools when changing from carpet cleaning to bare floor cleaning. But you are absolutely correct - CR should be advising the public never to use an upright or canister on a bare floor if you can not turn off the revolving brush. This to me is a glaring gap in protecting the expensive ceramic or hard wood floors of consumers. I may decide to write them a letter about this because I actually think that CU offers a very valuable public service and I would want to help them out.

 

[DysonAnimal]

Brian - I'd be interested to hear about your findings; maybe mix a small quantity of something fine, like flour, to the mixture, to simulate fine dust. I'd predict that the lower you set the soleplate, the better the pick-up will be, but you'll probably find a certain amount of rice gets scattered behind the cleaner by the brush-bar.

About a year ago, I made this quick video for someone who requested it - they wanted to know how well the Vax Mach Air did on hard flooring. To me, this set-up is about the best I can think of for an upright cleaning hard floors without the aid of a hard-floor suction tool. The brush-bar is off, the soleplate is close to the floor, rollers at the front of the soleplate keep it slightly off the ground, and side-suction channels allow the correct amount of airflow into the machine:

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[DysonAnimal]

Oh - in the clip above, I was vacuuming up a mixture of rice and tea-leaves. If people are interested, I might be able to find a little time this week to make some more hard-floor pick-up videos using a selection of my cleaners... no promises because I don't know when I'll be around whilst the house is free!

 

[eurekaprince]

Thanks for that wonderful video, Jack. Yes, any upright that allows you to turn off the brush roll will at least reduce any scratching that could result from a revolving brush. In fact, the Hoover Self Propelled WindTunnel that I bought my parents for their anniversary many years ago indeed did do a great job in picking up hairs and dustballs and some large litter from a bare floor without scratching the surface (it's brush roll can be stopped using the provided switch). It still left behind any grit that might be adhering to the floor due to drying of fluid like a granule of street salt commonly brought into Canadian homes during winter. This kind of granule would be released from the floor surface if one used a bare floor brush like that provided with Miele canisters.

So here's a recommendation for your friends at Dyson Inc.: When a you turn off the revolving brush of a Dyson upright, the vac should also release a strip of bare floor bristles (or some other creative material that does not mar floors) behind the agitator window so that the floor is protected from scratching, and so that the bare floor brush strip can release any grit that is sticking to the bare floor to allow it to be sucked up into the suction flow.

I definitely plan to write Consumer Reports about the danger to bare floors caused by an unstoppable revolving brush. Those uprights with unstoppable brushes may indeed clean bare floors with excellence, but the testers are not considering the fact that the agitators may indeed be damaging the floors. So Consumer Reports should also be testing to see if the upright vacs are scratching the floors they clean.

 

[jayelux]

That last thin layer of dust

That last bit of microscopic dust that adheres to the surface needs to be mechanically wiped off the surface. That is why I don't just turn off the brushroll and try to rely on suction to clean the bare floor; I switch to a bare floor tool which brushes the dust loose so the suction can do its thing. I've brainstormed a few designs that could automate this on a powernozzle's "bare-floor" setting, but none of the designs are as elegantly simple and effective as converting to a bare-floor tool. In other words, I gave up. This is where I really appreciate Dyson--they still do engineering on cleaning machines and don't give up so easily. I wish some of the other manufacturers were investing as much in the design of their products.

 

[eurekaprince]

You are absolutely right, Jay:

You need to wipe the bare floor with some kind of cloth in order to remove the fine dust that adheres to it - suction alone and even a brush won't do it.

Actually, my little secret weapon for bare floors is the rechargeable Swiffer Vac. It's inexpensive, really easy to use and works great! The front edge suction nozzle removes all the large pieces of dirt while the disposable Swiffer Cloth Pad takes care of the rest. The vac removes any pebbles, sesame seeds, salt granules and other dirt which prevents this dirt from being dragged by the Swiffer Pad and scratching polished hardwood or ceramic floors.

I have always wondered why Swiffer did not work with Eureka or Hoover to create vacuum dusting tools or corded stick vacs. I know the original Swiffer Vac was a Dirt Devil product, before they were recalled for some electrical problem. The new Swiffer Vacs are approved and have no problems. My recommendation to the vac dealers here at Vacuumland: Offer to add a $40 Swiffer Vac to any vac sale you make - your customers will love you for it!

Many years back, Sanyo sold a corded stick vac that took Swiffer Pads. It's no longer available. But Filter Queen sells a really neat floor tool that takes electrostatic cloths! See link below...I gotta get me one!

http://www.filterqueen.com/filterqueen-acc-display.php?threadid=2&messageid=170

 

[15brandon]

I wonder how dirt devils and bissells also with eureka work on floors then cause on some bissell , dirt devil and eureka models there is no switch provided just a dial but the brushroll still spinning.

 

[eurekaprince]

Hi Brandon,

Well, according to Consumer Reports, out of almost 60 upright vacuums tested, only 2 seem to have poor performance as bare floor cleaners: the Royal Eminence MRY9750 and the Koblenz U610. All the other uprights are rated "good" or "very good" or "excellent" at bare floor cleaning, including many that do not allow you to turn off the revolving brush. But the tests do not tell us if any of these vacs are damaging or scratching or marring the bare floors as they clean.

EP Brian