Modern canister vacuum bags are tiny !

[DesertTortoise]

On my thread called "More Kenmore Porn" over on the Vintage page you can see some images of my old 1982 or so Kenmore 4.1 canister vacuum. Since my fiancée has terrible allergies I have upgraded the secondary and exhaust filters using modern Electrolux bulk filter material and some weather stripping from the hardware store to bring the filtration into this century. Next up was finding a HEPA bag.

The Type E bag the machine uses doesn't come in HEPA from any supplier, and it attaches differently than any other Kenmore bag except one bag for their uprights. The bag fits over a spout on the bag adapter and has a stretchy rubber seal that keeps the bag from blowing off the spout. The hole in the Kenmore upright bag was too big. We tried bags from Electrolux and Riccar/Simplicity and they were tiny, not even half the size of the Kenmore bag. We tried several others and I lost track of them, but none of them even half filled the bag cavity in that vacuum. If you look at the images I have in my other thread you can see a Type E bag fills the cavity. Owners of new vacuums must have to change bags all the time. Compared to the old Kenmore they all seemed ridiculously small.

 

[eurekaprince]

For me, I prefer having two separate vacs - an upright for carpet cleaning and a canister for everything else. As a result, I don't have a problem with small bags for the canister since it does not fill rapidly with carpet fluff. My Hoover Platinum Lightweight upright has a very large bag that handles large volumes of carpet fluff like any classic fan-first Eureka or Hoover upright.

Indeed, small bags would for sure be a problem with power nozzle canisters.

 

[turbo500]

Owners of new vacuums must have to change bags all the time

Not necessarily. My Dad has a Miele S2 in a house with 3 dogs. The bags are designed in such a way that the dust and dirt compacts inside the bag, so when it comes to changing, the bags are actually full to capacity.

 

[sebo_fan]

The newer ultra X series dust bags last quite a long time.

infact the last one I had went from start of December 2013 to May 2014 on my SEBO X1. On account you get 8 dust bags in a box, I guess that box of bags is going to be with me for quite a long time!

 

[turbo500]

Sebo bags

Nar, I'm just about to replace the bag on the Sebo X1.1 that we bought in January for the first time. I'm really pushing it at the moment, I'm determined I can squeeze a bit more in it. That's from an all carpeted, 3 story house with a long haired cat.

Based on the bags lasting 4-6 months, that means a pack of 8 bags should last about 3 years.

 

[sebo_fan]

Heres the bag..

 

[sebo_fan]

Good to hear there's someone else!

Chris, take the bag out and press it down with the crevice tool in the dust hole. You'd be surprised how much buoyancy dust can take in those bags : )

 

[turbo500]

Good to hear there's someone else!

Must be a northern thing, Nar. We're stingey with everything else, why not vacuum bags?

 

[sebo_fan]

LOL. Very true, but I think everyone is with the German vacs. Especially if you own Miele.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Eurekaprince, I have an upright Windsor in addition to the Kenmore canisters. I use both but for a deep clean, the canister with a good powered brush puts the upright on the trailer. I use the upright for a quick buzz around during the week but for serious cleaning, it's parked and I drag the canister around.

 

[dysonman1]

It's true

The old Kenmore 5033 bags were quite large. However, being made of a single ply of cellulose, the pores clogged very fast. I remember those vacuums when they were new. The bag couldn't really get more than half full before all the airflow was lost. The HEPA bags have no direct pores, so the air has to weave its way through. Better filtration, and the pores don't clog like the old paper bags. I use a Simplicity type H bag in my Kenmore that uses 5033 bags. While the bag doesn't fill the compartment, it does fill the bag solidly.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Dysonman, thanks. That was modern vacuum bag that made me start looking. I saw an image of one with the rubber seal and thought it might be a good candidate for the old Kenmore. I guess I will reconsider and try a couple for giggles. Thanks again.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Even with 5 Great Danes in the dry, dusty desert, I only fill a C type electrolux/aerus bag every 2 months or about 5 per year. I rotate the bag with the machine when I change it up and that way I don't have partially full bags in all the vacs. The exceptions are the 2 Kirby's... the Sentria II uses F bags and the D50 is either bagless or more often running with a HII mini em-tor and gen 3 bag. When the gen 3 bags run out in a few years I'll use Micro Magic bags for longer life... the gen 3 bags start having a noticeable effect on suction at about 2/3 of the way to the fill line, but they are cheap so who knows..

 

[madaboutsebo]

Good to hear Turbo500 & sebo_fan your getting great dust capacity and length of time used from your SEBO bags. That's good going sebo_fan in your X1 with the new ultra synthetic bags 6 months, looks like a big heavy brick too!! Look forward to see how long the bigger bag capacity will be for me when I get an X series. My 1st synthetic bag on my Felix lasted 5 months and the 2nd one just changed last just over 3 months rob ably used the vacuum more having a dog. You sound like me Turbo500 pushing the bag capacity see how much you can get out of it. Good tip to sebo_fan with the crevice tool might try that! It still surprises me now how much dust and dirt you get into these SEBO bags and how well they compress the dust too! Here's a picture of the bag I've change last week.

 

[ajr2993]

It's called shrinkflation.

 

[jo]

OMG

Why would anyone pack a bag that full…are we really that stingy? Bags should be changed when 2/3 full because the dirt compacts into it quite a bit blocking off suction. You’ll burn out your motor if you run the vac with bags past 3/4 full not to mention lose suction power which makes cleaning inefficient

I don’t mind the smaller bags because the giant bags…that old dirt stored in there gets to stinking especially if you have pets. I mostly use older Electrolux canisters and I can usually get 3 months worth of vacuuming in one bag for my 2950 square foot house before the automatic control activates to change the bag when the automatic control is set between a coarse to medium setting which is a more sensitive setting. At that point the bag is usually between 2/3 and 3/4 full and satisfactorily filled to me to feel that throwing it away is not wasting money. At 4 bags a year…that’s not very many bags. I know some of these dinky canister have even smaller bags and the consumer should really consider if buying a lot of bags is going to be an annoyance when they are considering the purchase in the first place.

People with bagless vacs tend to empty them more frequently (or should after every use) because they see the dirt in the bin…at this point it is usually loosely packed in the bin but the bag type pack the dirt in much more densely.

Be kind to your vacuum motor and change your bag more frequently.

Jon