Bare floor brushes and suction regulation
Hi Jamie,
I've never used the Electrolux machine like you have here shown. Without reading the manual I can't tell exactly what each of those pictures is supposed to be. I can make out curtains, and upholstery, the other 3 I'd prefer to reference your manual. Which I enjoy reading product manuals beginning to end of the English section for all products that I own. I can tell you from my personal experience of cleaning houses for years that actually I would prefer stronger suction for hardwood/ bare floors as supposed to carpets.
Yes, carpets need strong suction, however carpets also need proper airflow and agitation. If the suction is too strong, the vacuum pulls the power nozzle too close to the carpet and the agitator slows dramatically, you will find this more the case on stretch belt machines such as my Eureka above, Eureka Boss 1933 models, Hoover Convertibles, Hoover Windtunnel canisters, etc.
On a bare floor, the only proper way to clean them is with a bare floor attachment. On a well designed bare floor brush with good airflow, the powerful suction pulls in dirt along baseboards and elsewhere before the brush has even reached that point. A decent bristle layout allows the bristles to thoroughly sweep/ dust the floor while supporting the tool so that the plastic never touches the floor to scratch it. A Panasonic/ Kenmore barefloor brush is a terrible excuse for a barefloor brush because the bristles are very short, none along the sides, strong suction glues it to the floor, scratching delicate tile. Hoover Dimension 1000/ PowerMax canister style bare floor brushes are an excellent example of a bare floor brush: highly maneuverable, bristles along the sides for support, bristles in middle allow for great airflow and sucking in, not pushing large debris. The bristles were horsehair and not nylon, the tool would be even better because hair would not lodge and stuck on the bristles as much. See Hoover bare floor brush is picture above.
Now, the Eureka 1784B which is my machine above has a suction control on the canister itself and another on the hose. On this particular model they are simply suction valves that open up a little window as you turn the dial thereby decreasing suction, it is not electronic on this machine. There are Eurekas of similar style that are electronic suction regulators. If you notice on the bottom of the RotoMatic power nozzle. There are only 2 wheels on the power head. They are both on the rear center. This model power nozzle is not good at all for bare floors, as their is no squeegee, front glide wheels or even an agitator shut off.
On carpets with the machine turned off, this power nozzle would glide across a rug with little to no effort. When the machine is turned on, the suction is extremely powerful and really seals the power head to the carpet making it one of the hardest to push power nozzles I have ever used. However, in the short time I have owned this machine, I have gotten used to that and still REALLY LOVE THIS VACUUM. It grooms nicely, cleans edge to edge, and I don't mind a little exercise while I vacuum, especially with the nice separation of fibers that it leaves on the reverse stroke. That tells me, its cleaning deep down.
