Is the Kirby's airflow and performance over exaggerated?

[vacfan1982]

Bill placed his Kirby on a flow through carpet on top of his airflow box and the CFM dropped by 65%.

Now place the Kirby on a sealed carpet where the resistance is much higher what will the result be then? Obviously when the resistance is much higher the flow will be much lower (simple physics right)
It wouldn't surprise me if the Kirby's airflow dropped by 90%. So for the Avalir from 150cfm to a whopping 15cfm. Doesn't sound as impressive on a sealed carpet.

 

[huskyvacs]

A lot of vacuums struggle on rubber backed ultra thick carpet, not just Kirby. The more suction a vacuum has the stronger the effect will be felt.

I'd rather have carpet that can be cleaned and not suffocate the subfloor than to have ultra thick pile carpet that will trap fleas and mites and all kinds of other nasties. If they start making rubber backed plush carpet that has a breathable membrane that lets airflow through it - this will help a great deal.

 

[vacfan1982]

Personally I prefer low pile carpet or hardwood floors as they are more hygienic.

The Kirby will suffer more on sealed carpets because of the low suction.

In my opinion a Kirby will have a very similar performance on a sealed carpet to the best clean air motor Vacs.
[this post was last edited: 3/13/2020-04:15]

 

[mike811]

Well here we go again
Like you know I have rubber backed medium pile rug and Kirby did amazing job removing sand from
it in my sand in the carpet test. So even with the low suction it cleans very well.
Note that Kirby needs that airflow because the cleaning head opening is huge.
My G6 has stiff oblique brushroll.
My Dyson DC40 MKII did pretty poor job in the same test.
And yes rubber backed rug/carpet is challenging for most of my vacs.

 

[vacfan1982]

Haha here we go again

I'd still like to see how the Kirby does with fine powder compared to your Felix, Vorwerk and Cylinder cleaners. If the Kirby does much better I will never mention it again

 

[mike811]

Fine powder is fine for the Kirby unless there is unrealistic amount of it. Then the belt starts to slip.
In the normal situations Kirby is very good at fine stuff.
Now where this whole Kirby thing even came along?
I don't even use Kirby so often. Actually very rarely just to enjoy it like classic american car (my friend has 1966 Chevy Impala )
But most US homes have wall to wall carpeting and soft high pile carpets are now trend.
On those Kirby is hard to beat.
What I use for daily vacuuming: Canisters with the Sebo ET1 powerhead.

 

[vacfan1982]

I know that Mike you prefer to use a canister cleaner. I just need some convincing of the Kirby's performance on a sealed carpet. I'm not convinced it will perform any better than clean air machines on this surface.

On porous carpet then yes it will probably pick up more dirt than most other vacs as there is much less resistance through the carpet.
This is just a discussion not looking to start a war

 

[mike811]

Here is something

 

[vacfan1982]

That shows off it's agitation very well but what about the very fine dust from deep down in the pile? I need to see the evidence

 

[vacfan1982]

No please don't give me a sealed carpet!

 

[crazykirbydude]

Stop trying to instigate arguments. It's starting to become really obnoxious. The fact that Kirby has a Gold CRI rating and the Dyson didn't even make the Bronze rating is proof enough.

 

[dysonman1]

In the US, most of our carpeting for the past ten years (or even longer) have had a plastic-like coating on the underside to prevent water from our "steam cleaners" (hoover and bissell, etc.) from wetting the pad and creating mold.

I wondered about how that would affect airflow on a vacuum, so I made a little test (not scientific but enough for me). I took the bag out of a Hoover Concept, a Kirby G5, a Hoover Convertible, and a Eureka ESP. I adjusted the machines to where they "pick up the carpet" meaning they had formed a seal. I felt the air flowing out the exhaust pipe both before and after adjustment. I just used my hand. While they all had different amounts of airflow before they were properly adjusted, afterwards they all had about the same amount. These are all 'dirty air' cleaners, which are best for carpet cleaning.

The only real difference I found was the tightness of the seal to the carpet. The Kirby had the tightest seal followed by the ESP. The Convertible had the least amount of 'seal' but still have about the same amount of airflow after adjustment that the Kirby had. My conclusion was that all these fine cleaners had about the same amount of air movement in normal use (with clean bags) and I feel they would remove about the same amount of dirt.

2 cents, for what it's worth.

 

[jo]

It’s all about airflow

So a vacuum will not stick to a rubber backed carpet reducing effective suction performance if the nozzle is designed properly to facilitate airflow into it. This is done with grooves or slots in the front and sides which allows the airflow on these types of rugs and also, if placed properly, can allow for good front and edge cleaning against and along baseboards and other objects. Being an Electrolux canister enthusiast, I’ve often studied their power nozzle bottom design as well as even the design of the carpet glide side of their flip over rug and floor tool which both seems to rarely if ever have issues sticking to rubber backed carpet.p and if they do, the suction control can be mildly opened to reduce the airflow a bit, but rarely is this needed. Even their sidekick mini power nozzle units are designed with airflow slots to the sides of the brush and an airflow reduction vent to prevent sticking to things.

If the nozzle is well designed and airflow is allowed in from the sides and front of a power nozzle or even a straight suction nozzle that will create the air movement which will then allow the dirt to be picked up since airflow cannot come through the bottom of the carpet. If one is using a power nozzle, the vibration and sweeping action will agitate the dirt and the airflow coming in the sides and front of the nozzle then allow the dirt to be sucked up out of the carpet.

The problem is too many vacuum manufacturers are not paying enough attention to airflow.

As novice buyers, one thinks, if it sticks to the carpet or furniture great the machine is good because it is sucking fantastically....but it may not actually clean as well as one with similar suction, but better nozzles designed for proper airflow preventing it from « sticking » giving it the sensation it’s not actually doing a good job on such surfaces, but in reality it is performing better. I even notice Shark is paying attention to airflow with their nozzles and attachments if you look closely...they have strategically placed slots or holes in them around the main slot or opening.

It’s all about good engineering people.

 

[kloveland]

Direct air vacuums are the best for wall to wall carpet especially the newer Kirbys and Eurekas with 7amp motors (Eureka). The virbagroomer beats carpet like no other extracting sand, grit, etc. The Hoover Concepts also do an excellent job! I enjoy my canisters and really bypass uprights are just canisters if you think about it. However, I do not feel a canister cleans carpet as well as an upright. Canisters are also less energy efficient because they draw more amps than a traditional upright.

 

[vacfan1982]

Instigate arguments? Who's arguing? It's a discussion that I thought was interesting. But hey ho I won't say another word

 

[crazykirbydude]

It's a "discussion" that you have tried to start on other threads. I am convinced that your intent was to disturb the peace. We get it. You have a thing against Kirby. Repeatedly posting about how much you hate a specific brand is a great way to get a one way ticket to Banville. I've started to grow tired of all of the arguments on here recently. It's a major buzzkill and makes me not want to use this site.

 

[vacfan1982]

I'll leave you all in peace then

 

[crazykirbydude]

Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to resolve this in a respectful manner.

 

[vaclab]

Let's Examine The Original Statements, Shall We...

Mark's Claims (with no evidence of course).

1) Personally I prefer low pile carpet or hardwood floors as "they are more hygienic."

Where is your evidence that hard floors/low pile (bare floors with fuzz) carpets are more hygienic? FACT: deeper pile carpets literally absorb dust/dander/fluids because they act like a sponge, effectively wicking away the aforementioned stuff. Think of a baby diaper. More absorption is better.

From a physical standpoint when a person walks/shuffles around on low pile carpet and especially bare floors, dust and debris gets “liberated” back into the air (or stuck on socks/shoes). When I rub sand and baking soda into my medium pile carpet, it literally disappears and no one would ever know it was there, effectively removing it from having most negative health effects.

Here's a link to a brand new study: https://carpet-rug.org/study-shows-carpet-is-a-viable-choice-for-asthma-and-allergy-sufferers/

2) The Kirby will suffer more on sealed carpets because of the low suction.

Low suction compared to what? Newer Kirbys have around 30" of nozzle suction paired with insane airflow. They do not have 100" or more of nozzle suction paired with low airflow like most stick vacs. Based on extensive testing of clean air bagged machines, the best I've come across is a little more than 40" of nozzle suction, which isn't that far off and is paired with much lower nozzle CFM, like 80-90 CFM. The best full size Dyson I've tested pulled over 60" paired with less than 60 CFM.

REMEMBER: SUCTION DOES NOT MOVE THE DIRT, AIRFLOW DOES. Suction is a pressure and does not carry dirt through a hose.

3) In my opinion a Kirby will have a very similar performance on a sealed carpet to the best clean air motor Vacs.

Although I do not test specifically on low pile sealed carpet, I have done plenty of testing on bare floors back in 2017 and Kirbys did extremely well with a variety of dust, sand and debris. Keep “opinions” out of the argument and stick with actual testing.

Bill