How to wash Royal Hand Vac bags?

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

royalfan103

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 5, 2019
Messages
299
Location
Bremerton, Washington
In the past, I would always wash these bags whenever I got them used. I’m wondering on how to properly wash them or not because the dye washes out and I’m wondering on how I could wash them without it fading or if I just can’t wash them at all.
 
Well, I would say if you are going to wash a vacuum bag, and you don't want colors to bleed, hand wash in cold water with Woolite. I would imagine the detergent you use would cause some of the colors to leech from the fabric, so Woolite would prevent that since it's for washing delicate fabrics.

If you don't want to try handwashing it, the next thing you could do would be to blow the bag out with a vacuum with a blower port. Put your hose with a crevice tool on the blower port, and go to town on the bag outside. You could also try using a upholstery brush or a vacuum with a powered upholstery tool, or another hand vacuum.
 
Well, I would say if you are going to wash a vacuum bag, and you don't want colors to bleed, hand wash in cold water with Woolite. I would imagine the detergent you use would cause some of the colors to leech from the fabric, so Woolite would prevent that since it's for washing delicate fabrics.

If you don't want to try handwashing it, the next thing you could do would be to blow the bag out with a vacuum with a blower port. Put your hose with a crevice tool on the blower port, and go to town on the bag outside. You could also try using a upholstery brush or a vacuum with a powered upholstery tool, or another hand vacuum.
I don’t even use detergent. It was just plain water.
 
Well, I would say if you are going to wash a vacuum bag, and you don't want colors to bleed, hand wash in cold water with Woolite. I would imagine the detergent you use would cause some of the colors to leech from the fabric, so Woolite would prevent that since it's for washing delicate fabrics.

If you don't want to try handwashing it, the next thing you could do would be to blow the bag out with a vacuum with a blower port. Put your hose with a crevice tool on the blower port, and go to town on the bag outside. You could also try using a upholstery brush or a vacuum with a powered upholstery tool, or another hand vacuum.
I'm asking because I'm getitng a Royal 501 in a few days and I don't want the bag fading.
 
Which 501 are you getting? I have three. Two are later models with the light blue color scheme and rubberized bags, while one is an early model with gray plastics and a red and gray twill bag. I've never laundered any of them. I've always just used my shop vac to vacuum them out. Seems kind of redundant to be vacuuming a vacuum, but it's the best way I've found. That said, all three of them are now fitted with paper disposable bags. They're getting harder to find, and thus increasingly expensive, but I see it as a worthwhile investment.

I've also got a plastic Dirt Devil model 08100 hand vac that obviously shares some DNA with the Royal prince 501, but besides being a little bit lighter weight, it'is not nearly as good a machine. It uses paper bags as well, which are quite readily available, but those won't fit the metal 501s and I don't see a good way to modify one.
 
Which 501 are you getting? I have three. Two are later models with the light blue color scheme and rubberized bags, while one is an early model with gray plastics and a red and gray twill bag. I've never laundered any of them. I've always just used my shop vac to vacuum them out. Seems kind of redundant to be vacuuming a vacuum, but it's the best way I've found. That said, all three of them are now fitted with paper disposable bags. They're getting harder to find, and thus increasingly expensive, but I see it as a worthwhile investment.

I've also got a plastic Dirt Devil model 08100 hand vac that obviously shares some DNA with the Royal prince 501, but besides being a little bit lighter weight, it'is not nearly as good a machine. It uses paper bags as well, which are quite readily available, but those won't fit the metal 501s and I don't see a good way to modify one.
This One!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6252.png
    IMG_6252.png
    5.2 MB
With the switch guard, that's one of the last ones, from about 1988 or so. However you wash that bag, I don't think you have to worry much about it fading, compared to the earlier gray and red ones.
 
With the switch guard, that's one of the last ones, from about 1988 or so. However you wash that bag, I don't think you have to worry much about it fading, compared to the earlier gray and red ones.
Alright. I was mainly asking this question because I had the red wash out of a Dirt Devil 103 bag.

This one seems to be made in October 1989.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top