Did vintage cloth bags filter better than disposable paper?

[fan-of-fans]

I was wondering on this. On the older uprights and canisters which used the reuseable cloth bags, did these filter better than disposable paper bags? I know nearly all vacuums made prior to the 1950s seemed to use this setup. When I think cloth bags in today's terms it makes me think of the HEPA cloth bags, which tend to filter better. Of course these old bags weren't HEPA, but was the filtration ok, or better?

What about canisters that used both a cloth filter bag and a disposable bag? (I think some of the cylinder shaped canisters had this setup, as well as GE/Premier Swiveltop). And of course many uprights with the outer cloth jacket with inner paper bag.

Only real experience I've had with this is my Eureka F&G having the outer cloth jacket bag, used with inner paper bags. I've always used the Eureka Arm & Hammer F&G bags (paper so obviously not super filtration like HEPA cloth or microlined paper) but I've always felt that this setup filters very well - I haven't noticed much dust leakage on the vacuum. Eureka called this Triple Filter System, although I don't know what constitutes the third layer of this triple filter idea.

 

[thevacomaticiec]

I wonder about thsi for Electrolux, Compact ,Tristar vacuums keep me posted sine i havea ll 3 i run envirocare bags whit the cloth on tristar cxl and C9 ty .

 

[jo]

I have viewed...

I held my Electrolux genuine cloth bag up to the sunlight and I can see light coming through it. It is material similar to khaki Work pants to me. My sense is that these particular bags aren’t that great compared to the 4 ply paper filter bags. The cloth bag always clogs much more quickly too.

Now of course not all paper bags are created equal. Some are just the one paper layer, some are 2 ply some 3 and others 4. Then there’s the quality of the paper to be considered. Some more dense than others.

Apparently Aerus Home solutions latest 2 ply bags are better than the old 4 ply ones. People on her have questioned that though. It all comes down to the quality of the actual filter paper.

The latest disposable cloth bags many manufacturers use is sort of a pressed fiber similar to the reusable shopping bags interestingly enough I’ve observed. I guess this material, since it is not woven
like traditional fabric but instead is pressed fiber is somewhat more effective at capturing dust while being cheap enough to be disposable and it seems to disintegrate when it gets wet like paper so maybe it’s some sort of more dense paper fiber that makes it almost cloth like?

Jon

 

[dysonman1]

Cloth bags on the old vacuums were designed to be emptied and shaken outside after EACH USE. They were made to allow the air to flow through them and hold a reasonable amount of dirt back. But they were not made to be a 'trash bag' for the dirt from several cleanings. That's what the paper bags had over the cloth ones - they could hold a large quantity of dirt. Air-Way invented the disposable 7 layer cellulose bag and used it from 1920 on.

 

[human]

Even if it is more effective, you still have to contend with the mess and aggravation of emptying one. As far as I'm concerned, disposable bags win every time.

 

[jo]

As I’ve gotten older...

I agree...the hassle of emptying a cloth bag is something I don’t want to do for several reasons...my health for one...while I’m a generally healthy person I’ve seen family relatives end up with lung cancer and they never smoked and lived the last 30 years in a new home that was clean and dint have toxic things like asbestos in it...though they did teach a long time in a school that has asbestos in it. Anyway, I’ve realized that the nastiness of emptying a cloth bag, even if it’s outside, is just not something I want to expose myself to...even if I wear a mask, the dust still ends up on my arms and clothes. And with the cloth bags they have to be emptied frequently compared to a paper bag which can be used until 2/3 full effectively.

I’d rather pay the price of the paper bags especially on the cleaners that have self sealing bags.

My thoughts on this carry over to bagless machines. Whether it’s a cloth bag, or a bagless machine, it’s still a dirty and hazardous job to deal with dumping the dirt and cleaning the filter and people don’t see the amount of dirt that actually gets spewed into the air even when carefully dumping into a trash can or bag even outside.

Before Electrolux had the paper bag, the user was directed to place the cloth bag opening side down onto a large piece of paper, like newspaper and hold the gasket down to it with one hand and shake the handle on the bottom of the bag then wait a minute or so for the dust to settle and then carefully lift the bag off and wrap up the paper with the settled dirt and throw it away. This does work well to avoid the dust spewing everywhere but people don’t always do this and not all cleaners with cloth bags were designed to be able to do this. Before I knew this I used to shake the cloth bag out outside after dumping it in a trash can and sometimes the wind would change and blow the huge cloud of dust back at me...not fun.

If I’ve had to clean out a vacuum with a cloth bag in recent years, I’ve usually used my Electrolux canister with a paper bag to suck up the dirt out of and off of the cloth bag and avoid a huge mess. Definitely safer.

Jon

 

[human]

I couldn't agree more...

I have only had two machines with dump bag setups, both of which have been retrofitted to use disposable bags. My Sanitaire SC686 now has an F&G setup, which literally took me about two or three minutes and no tools to accomplish. The most time consuming part was putting the paper bag in. My Kirby Heritage 1HD now has a Heritage II setup but with the correct orange outer bag. This was just a matter of swapping out parts and the best part of all is the machine now uses the same bag as my other six Kirbys. The original Heritage dump bag and sani-emptor have been passed along to another member.

 

[suckolux]

Grew up with a Compact, open cloth bag of course, dumped it every time, shaking it out over the garbage can, and then shaking it well in the air as I walked away. Figured that one out pretty fast! I never could stand to use it with too much in the bag it always sounded to me like the airflow was lessened as though it had a cold! And I was seven

 

[blackheart]

I don't think so.

So while these are not vintage I think they filter better than vintage bags. While working at that vacuum shop we had a rental company who insisted on using these cloth bags in their carpet pros so they didn't need to purchase paper ones. The problem is their property managers did not care for them and this would result in a huge amount of dust in the bag and motor chamber. That and them being clogged with dust would result in shortened motor lives. We told them they need to be shaken out and washed but that just went in one ear and out the other.

Anyways I think these modern ones (with care) could exceed a standard filtration paper bag but I don't think vintage ones are capable of it. Of course with different materials and different bags may come different results.

 

[real1shep]

I think....

the old reusable cloth type bags are a far cry from modern HEPA bags. If you can, always use HEPA bags and throw them away when they are full.

The idea that you're standing there shaking out dirt/dust into some kid of receptacle makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up....lol.

There are some things that are better today than 'back in the day'....HEPA bags are some of those things.

Kevin