Eureka Commercial Vacuum

[sudsmaster]

Just an update on my recently acquired Eureka commercial.

Finally "filled" the bag up, with normal household vacuuming. It was so nice not to have to empty a dust cup after every room. I got about two months out of one bag. The best thing is, I never noticed any loss of suction. Maybe it's the large LS size Filteraire bags, but this thing just kept on doing its thing, cleaning quietly and easily.

The main reason why I changed the bag is that I lost some screws in the living room working on a vintage stereo console. Well, the Eureka found them all right... I retrieved two of four from the nearly filled bag, just by squeezing it gently and finding the srew sized objects. Event though I had to stick my fingers into the bag to get the screws out, it was still not as much of a hazzle as emptying one of those bagless dust bins (even the Dirt Devil with the flip open bottom drawer is a relative hassle to empty). The fourth screw is probably under some furniture somewhere.

I *suppose* that the ability to see what the vacuum sucks up is a plus for a bagless brand, but I just can't see them beating the convenience and hygiene of a good sealed HEPA paper bagged model.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my collection of three bagless uprights... lol...

 

[swingette]

just what i suspected, suds. those filteraire/micro-lined bags DO maintain excellent suction.

 

[sudsmaster]

Yep. I think bagless vacs are a false economy.

Many people, myself included, think or thought that bagless would be great because there would be no need to spend $$$ on bags every year. But the hazzle of emptying the dust bin after every room more or less negates the slight savings in bags. And if one buys the bags in bulk, the price can be quite a bit lower than buying them one to three at a time.

I'm able to get two to three months per bag. Even if one changes the bag once a month, that amounts to perhaps $50/year for bags.

Another issue - when the dust cup on most bagless brands fills up with pet hair or carpet fiber, the cyclone stops functioning and then the dust starts getting sucked into the motor pre-filter, resulting in loss of suction. Then one must either replace or clean the prefilter after every vacuuming. A good bag will present far more surface area and thus will be harder to clog, and the presence of pet hair/carpet fiber in the bag doesn't affect performance much at all.

 

[vinvac]

Bags verses Bagless

I can not agree more. Bags are cheap and the machines that uses bags will generally outlast those that don't.

Seeing the dirt can be a selling factor for the bagless machines, but most don't realize that once the dirt stops swirling the motor is working very hard as the filter is now clogged. Those that use filters are costly. Most filters run on the $40 range and if not washable should be changed probably quarterly depending on the usage and type of dirt.

Most companies now offer a high filtration bag with their machines. These bags tend to hold more dirt and yet allow for great air movement. Airway offers a great bag for their machine and now Hoover is using a Filtrete bag that is awesome on some of their models. I personally still like the genuine Electrolux bags. Very little leakage, not great at maintaining airflow, but yet overall a good bag. Plus it seals itself when you take it out and for those that have allergies you see no dirt and touch no dirt.

Morgan