Miele Bags Letting Dog Hair Escape

[coder]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been lurking here for a few years now, and I’m grateful for you all sharing such a wealth of knowledge. I’ve poured over the archived posts and watched so many of your videos on performance testing and repairs. I’ve been fortunate enough to find great deals on so many of the quality uprights and canisters - bagged, bagless, and water filtration - that you all recommend, but I haven’t found that ideal machine yet that can contain the hair of my two Dobermanns.

Dobermanns have very sleek, short, coarse hair, and they shed all year round. This sort of fur doesn’t tumbleweed like fluffy dog hair. Instead, the hair pokes and embeds into everything. It pokes through couches like they are pin cushions. It can intertwine into the densely woven fabric of car headliners. Sometimes I suddenly find myself hopping around because it feels like I’ve stepped on a huge splinter, but instead I always find a single strand of Dobermann hair somehow piercing through the thick skin on the bottom of my foot.

I’ve given up on trying to remove the dog hair embedded at the base of my carpet strands, but I’d at least like to find a machine that can trap the hair that is vacuumed up. With bagless machines like the Dyson Ball, the hair escapes the rubber gasket around the bottom of the dust bin and also bypasses the cyclones and winds up in the motor.

With direct air machines like the Kirby Avalir or Simplicity Symmetry, I find the machines leave tons of hair behind on the closet floor where they are stored after they are turned off, as if all those high CFM numbers can’t sweep this sort of hair fully into the bag.

With modern canisters like the Miele, the individual hairs poke through the sophisticated Miele bags and litter up the bag compartment and get caught in the pre-motor filter. In fact, the genuine Miele bags seem to let more hair poke through than even the Envirocare HEPA bags I use in a Panasonic canister. I’m using a Miele C3 and previously had a Miele S5 that also showed the same issue with these dog hairs.

The only machine I’ve used that can trap the hair once it’s been vacuumed up is the Rainbow. I’ve had a D4, E2 Gold, and currently have two E2 blacks. These are also the only machines that I have that smell pleasant to use every time, but sometimes I just want a quicker, easier “dry” vacuum experience, and I’m still searching for it.

What advice can you offer?

 

[mylesrom]

Interesting

I would have said maybe give a tristar a whirl, but it looks like you have a partriot or something like that in your collection already. Maybe give a used filter queen a whirl, they can be picked up for cheap.

Interesting

 

[coder]

Tristar/Patriot

The Patriot that I have with the Sebo ET1 powerhead does a pretty good job of containing these sharp dog hairs. I recently started using the Envirocare bags for the Panasonic canister with the Patriot. The round opening in the cardboard for these bags fits tightly over the rubber inlet tube for the Patriot. It seems like the second fabric bag does a good job of catching any hairs that make it through the bag because I've only ever seen literally one or two hairs make it into the compartment below the bags. I should just buy the smaller Tristar exhaust filter for the Patriot to make it a more manueverable package compared to the current huge HEPA filter that bangs into things as the vac moves around.

Another member contacted me with some advice about the Panasonic MC-CG917 that is pictured. He suggested using some weatherstripping to in the path from the lid to the bag dock,which I think is a good idea. I've actually been using a toilet paper roll to create a sealed path from the inlet into the bag. Just like the Miele though, I find lots of dog hairs on the pre-motor filter but not as many poking out of the aftermarket Envirocare bags.

I'm just surprised at how hard it is pick up and contain these hairs in a vacuum. I remember vacuumdevil/Performance Reviews saying that Miele bags were so great that the pre-motor filter was basically just to catch the "fuzz" coming off the bags. I just wish my Miele experience matched his.

 

[huskyvacs]

Wow! I have never seen this in all my life! That is crazy!

 

[vacuumdevil]

With all the Miele's I've serviced over the years I've never seen that.
Recently within the past 2 years they did change their vacuum back around yet again something they do every few years.
I've included photos of the previous style next to a full one from my house with two cats and a Chowski dog.
If I had to guess the force of the Miele motor is allowing the animal hair to penetrate like a spear. Or upon opening to check the bag hair is flying out.

Whichever it is I have two solutions.
1. BBQ the animal.
2. Search for the older style of bag and hoard them. Till the next revision of bags come out.

I'd like to note the vacuum bags are made by "Bruno filter" I'm sure I spelled that wrong,anyways they make the bags for a lot of different vacuum cleaners including Numatic and MD .
Which I've included pictures as well hope that helps.

 

[ultralux88]

Brano Filter

We had this customer with a White Pearl who refused to buy anything but the paper bags for it, we’d actually have to order them just for her. She SWORE up and down that her pet’s hair (don’t remember if it were dog or cat) would leak out of the bag. I never saw it happen, but eventually she traded that Miele in on a new one and as far as I know, she’s using it with the newer bags and no issues.

Our dog Sammy has a similar hair, short, completely straight hairs, no corkscrew to it at all. Honestly I haven’t used my Mieles all that much in the last few years since we got her, it’s been mostly the central vac. I suppose I might as well examine that bag and then see about putting some fresh Miele bags in some Mieles, and filling them up around the house...

 

[fan-of-fans]

I don't have any advice on bags, but I wanted to ask how you did the toilet paper tube on the Panasonic? I've heard of this but wondering how you put it in.

Also, I wanted to add, on those canisters, it's recommended that you take the hose off the wands when storing them upright like that. It puts stress on the hose at the wand end and can cause cracks in the hose over time. It's best to just loosely coil them when not in use.

 

[tseg]

That stinks... I have short thin pointy hair with our puggle (pug/beagle) and have not seen such an issue with my Miele C3 or U1 nor my Sebo Felix.

 

[photowizd]

I've noticed this on my C3 with cat hair

But the cat hair never makes it all the way through the bags. Usually just a few hairs that stick out the bottom of the bag sort of like what you have shown. I'm really not that worried about it. The inside of the bag camber is still clean so the bag is trapping the fine stuff. I'll keep an eye on it I bought a huge bulk thing of bags from a dealer back in December.

 

[myles_v]

I have experienced this in the past, it is definitely dependent on the breed of dog as you mentioned. I used to live with a boyfriend who had a Rottweiler, her short hair pierced bags with ease. I don't really think that searching for an older version of the Miele bags is a reasonable option, I also doubt it would provide the result you're looking for.

Some bags have a plastic piece opposite of the intake hole in order to decrease the chance of piercing the bag on impact. It seems like the Miele bag would be perfect if it had this, as most of the hair seems to pierce the bag right as it enters the machine. A central vacuum may be a good option actually, although it may not be feasible. I prefer bagged units, but a "true cyclonic" unit may actually be the best bet. A relatively sizable amount of dirt goes through the fan and gets exhausted outdoors, but at least the motor is designed to handle it without being damaged.

 

[kirby519]

I have never had that issue with having a cat or taking care of a my parents Pug/Rat Terrier mix dog.

Not even my mom has had that issue and we both have Kirby's. Our machines use the older style bags on one machine and the newer cloth type F bag on the Sentria models we both have.

 

[coder]

Fan-of-fans, see the attached picture for how I'm using the toilet paper or paper towel roll to create a continuous path from the inlet into the bag on the Panasonic/Kenmore/Cleva canisters. Just cut off several inches of the tube and sort of crush it and then expand it into place since the diameter of the tube is just a little larger than needed.

I'm inclined to agree with myles_v that this problem is unique to certain dog breeds and certain bags. My Boston Terrier also has short, straight hair, but that hair does not poke through bags or embed into fabrics. I think this is the same phenomenon of goose down poking through the very tough nylon shells on down jackets.

The Miele bags disappointingly have proven to be by far the worst in regards to this particular problem. The Miele bags feel like a porcupine in no time at all.

I've also posted a picture of a very full Envirocare bag that I'm using in the Panasonic canister. I now only use the Pansonic caister in the laundry room to clean out the lint trap in the dryer, so it is only picking up lots of dog hair and lint. No hairs poke out of these bags like the Miele bags, but as you can see from the filthy pre-motor filter, the rest of the design of the Panasonic canister leaves much to be desired. It was vacuumdevil's shockingly bad particle testing videos of the Panasonic canisters that actually led me down the path of collecting better vacs.

The hairs are definitely poking through the Miele bags even on the first use of a new bag, and the dog hairs only poke through on the bottom of the bag. I don't generally open the bag compartment until it's time to change the bag. I checked again today, and the hairs are actually making it through the Miele pre-motor filter and to the other side of the filter, so I'm sure some are also getting into the motor.

Kirby519, I didn't experience these hairs poking through either the green or red labeled Kirby bags. My problem with that vac and the Simplicity Freedom was that piles of hairs would fall out of the Kirby nozzle after it was turned off. I'd try lowering or raising the Kirby height adjustment on carpet or tile before shutting off the power, but I couldn't figure out how to get the Kirby to suck up all those hairs. Vacuuming with the Kirby also meant vacuuming the nozzle housing with another canister and then also vacuuming the floor where the Kirby was stored. I wasn't able to solve this issue, so I went from 2 Avalirs, 1 Sentria, and 1 Diamond G down to no Kirbys at all because of it.

 

[tolivac]

On rare occasions I have had my pubic or chest hairs from my "man pelt" go thru bags-not enough to be a problem happens when the bag is full.

 

[vacuumdevil]

@kirby519 from what OP is suggesting is the force of the vacuum is causing the hair to go through. Dirty air machines like Kirby don't have the force to do this.
Think about it I Kirby has about 21"of working vacuum and about 30" sealed. Where a Miele s8/c3 has 50" working and 85-100" sealed depending on altitude.

Though I'm still not certain that the hair isn't from opening and closing the bag compartment a bunch of times. There's really not enough information to rule anything out.

 

[rolls_rapide]

The Panasonic's dirty pre-motor filter could be due to a hidden suction release vent somewhere in the bag compartment area.



Mum had a UK Panasonic upright, Made in Spain, 1700 Watts, I think it was. I always found dog hair and general fluff on the sponge-foam pre-motor filter under the paper bag.

I disassembled the non-swivel hose connection (something like 3 screws, accessed from around the bag fill tube area, inside the bag compartment). That allowed the outer surround ring to drop away, on the exterior of the cleaner.

Lo and behold, there was an 'always open' hole under that surround ring, and the surround ring itself, had a little nick to allow air in. Very probably carrying dust, bypassing the dustbag altogether.

I wasn't impressed.

 

[kirby519]

vacuumdevil

I do understand the bag(s) in question are for a clean air machine.

So far everyone I know that has or had pets and used any vacuum with a disposable bag hasn't mentioned a similar experience with hair passing thru the bag. Or they just took it for granted it happens.

It is a range of pets with different hair types and vacuums.

With the huge improvement in disposable bags with multi layers it is hard to imagine something as large as hair of any kind puncturing thru the walls of the bag.

With the new cloth F bags for Kirby it could happen too. Most especially across from where the fill tube attaches and that area takes the most abuse from the debris blown at the back wall of the bag. Breeds like Rat Terrier, Beagle, Dalmatian have very stiff hairs. My folks have a Rat Terrier/Pug mix. Very short stiff hairs that can stick into or onto many surfaces.

 

[kirby519]

I too was thinking maybe at some point the seal was broken where the bag and the cover meet there by letting some hair by pass thru the opening. As hard as anyone has tried it is hard to make the perfect seal in this situation. And or checking to see if it was time to change the bag a small amount of hair could have escaped from the hose or bag unnoticed.