New Carpet with Vacuum Limits

[tdembroidery]

So my wife and I were shopping for new carpet when we happened upon the Shaw booth. I notice a little packet with "Vacuuming Tips" written on it and of course had to investigate. According to the pamphlet and sales person, there are only certain vacuum cleaners that you are allowed to use on carpet by Shaw and other companies. If you use vacuums not on the list your warranty is void. I was fine with this until I found out that many of the finer machines are not covered. My beloved Filter Queens will have to take a backseat to a newer model Miele and even then you can't use the higher powered power head.

LET me know what you guys think about this craziness.

 

[jade_angel]

That's actually rather wacky. I think I'd be avoiding them like the plague.

Lemme guess - you can't use a Filter Queen, Patriot, Tristar or Silver King, but I'll bet a $50 Dirt Devil is just fine. Phooey.

Out of curiosity, what *is* on the list? Any of the known really good ones, like Royal, Kirby, Sanitaire, Riccar/Simplicity?

 

[tdembroidery]

Recommended Vacuum Cleaners

Here is a link to the pamphlet of Recommended Vacuum Cleaners.

http://caressbyshaw.com/InfoEvents/Common/caress-vacuum-list.pdf

 

[ncovert]

At least you can still use a Kirby. But really, how are they going to know you use one of the vacuums that isn't allowed?

 

[sebo_fan]

Thanks for posting but...

What a lot of old marketing hoof. The brand should be ashamed of themselves. They've cobbled together uprights that are clearly dirty fan and then added bagless clean fan uprights like Eureka's Airspeed etc. No surprise to see Miele top of the list with various models. It is a bit unfair to anyone who owns Hoover etc that isn't part of this "elite list."

 

[sebo_fan]

Central vacs and PN's "suggested"

Central contd

 

[jade_angel]

Well, you could use one of the more powerful Miele power nozzles - if I remember correctly, their SEB 228 is a re-badged Wessel Werk EBK360.

 

[blackheart]

This makes me wonder

Have they forgotten some of the lesser known high end brands? There is no lindhaus or sebo i see. Why is it that the wessel werks EBK 360 can be used but the EBK 340 cannot? I also see that The tandem air vacuums don't make the list either only the lower end clean air ones do.

I guess i don't really get exactly what they are looking for It probably would have been easier to refer customers to the CRI's approved vacuums they've covered many more vacuums. I'm not sure if they have done things like Patriot or Silver king either though.

 

[suckolux]

I was told 2 years ago at the local carpet store they do not recommend use of Dyson. I said you have got to be kidding?She said they seem to shred the pile on some carpets. Wow, not mine.

 

[georgect]

Get Mohawk Carpeting Instead...

It is better carpet.

http://www.mohawkflooring.com/

 

[starryblues4u]

Mohawk carpeting

Found this while on their site. If you go farther into it, they also tell you where you can purchase such vacuums at.

 

[beko1987]

Sounds like some brown envelopes are being passed around with that approved list!

Couldn't you pull an 'approved' vac out of a skip somewhere, spa day it then keep it in the loft just incase you need to make a warranty claim, then have it sitting in the hall in full view of the carpet warranty man when he comes to visit?

Then just use a proper vac for the 100% of the time, since I doubt there will be an issue, unless its crap carpet and their scared a proper vac will pull the tufts out!

 

[parwaz786]

Nt even a clutched Dyson is allowed? I thought they were "Wimpy" on American carpets? :/

 

[turbo500]

Nt even a clutched Dyson is allowed?

Tayyab, it's a lot of rubbish. The vacuum companies will be paying the carpet company to recommend their product. It's quite obvious as there appears to be no reason for the approved list. There's no pattern or reason in the cleaners chosen.

My local carpet shop has "We recommend" signs up around the shop, based on floor type. They always recommend Sebo, Miele, Dyson, Numatic and Nilfisk depending on the floortype. The shop vac is a Sebo BS36.

Also, did the US ever actually get the clutched Dyson models?

 

[tolivac]

Didn't in years past most carpet companies recommended Hoover Convertable type vacuums-some carpet places even GAVE you one free when you had WW carpet installed to take care of it.

 

[ncovert]

Sam, that's exactly what I was thinking. How would they know that you actually used the vacuum that you show them?

 

[man114]

If the brush roller wasn't recommended on certain types of carpets doesn't this mean that any canister or upright that you could disengage the brushroll on or operate with a straight suction attachment (Dyson, Rainbow etc) be perfectly acceptable?

While I'd be comfortable with some of them, some of those are low end vacs that lose lots of suction (particularly that Eureka Airspeed, which I've used as my Grandpa has one) and airflow is great for your expensive carpet.

 

[parwaz786]

Yes the US market did have the clutched Dyson vacuums from DC07 to DC33 models.

 

[kirbysthebest]

It looks to me that a carpet manufacturer is just trying to find a way to limit their warranty on their sub-standard merchandise.

I have heard carpet centers recommend that you use a brush roll that is not aggressive, but once you start to recommend one vacuum over another . . . they are just lucky they recommended Kirby, that way they won't bring the wrath of Warren Buffet upon themselves.
Then again if truth be told, he probably owns Shaw carpets.

 

[williamr1248]

New Carpet with Vacuum Limits..

This HAS happened to me and I have ruined rugs to prove it.
Both high quality rugs.
One completely ruined with my Dyson upright and the area rugs "fuzzed" with the use of my Hoover Windtunnel. I have also noticed my Hyla with it's power nozzle is very hard on the area rugs. You can see the "fuzzing" after a time.
When we moved into the house about 7 years ago and were picking out carpeting, I was warned by 2 different carpeting stores that they were seeing a lot of "out of warranty" claims because of "fuzzing" caused by certain vacuums with too aggressive brushes. Neither store sold or recommended ANY brand of vacuum. When I did ask if they had any information about what brands had caused the problems, I was told Dyson.
If anyone remembers both Electrolux and Kirby had warnings about what can happen when you have a brush roll that is too aggressive.
Electroux showed it on an informercial for the Rene and at one time Kirby had it on their web site. I have a copy of the Electrolux tape and a print out of the old Kirby web site material.
I cannot imagine the older Style Hoover's with the soft real horse hair brush and smooth metal beater bar ever doing any damage.
Have you ever compared the stiffness of many of the new machines with the plastic brush roll and brushes compared to the older gentle cleaning action of an Electrolux power nozzle, Hoover upright or Kirby brush. It makes perfect sense to me that the newer machines would clean faster but could and as I have proof on my rugs,did cause damage.
In my particular case, these were both high quality rugs.

 

[vackid]

If I may offer some insight on this whole thing. These vacuum companies have not paid to be on this list...Were dealers for both Miele and Riccar and we would've been told to expect people coming in with these brochures in hand, if they would've paid to be in them.

Here is my experience with this carpet. I had a couple come in with this carpet about 6 months ago, they were the first sale for a local interior design company of this new style carpet. I know it's listed as Caress above but it's also known as SmartSilk and SmartStrand. This carpet is an absolute nightmare for most vacuums and most home owners. The culprit isn't the height of this carpet, it's not much thicker then normal frieze, but it's the fact that there is no substance to it. It's so soft that anything that is sat on top of it sinks down to the base. It also is extremely dense so it's harder to open up the pile to clean.

I can attest to the nightmare that this carpet presents because my customers took home over 10 different vacuums from my store, the only one that would push easily AND clean, were the Miele power nozzles. They tried Supralites, Vibrances, Brilliances, S7's, Oreck, Panasonic and Windtunnel and T Series Royal. The height would either be too high that it just skimmed the carpet, or it would sink in and the machine couldn't even be pushed across the rug. They were almost in tears when they took home a S1 Quickstep with SEB228 attached and it worked perfectly for them. The secret with the 228 is the extra wide rear wheels. They're at least an inch wide and this, along with a very well calibrated height adjustment and the variable speed motor on the machine, make this an unbeatable 'Silk' carpet cleaning machine. I say 'silk' because most of this carpet is not silk at all, it's actually made from recycled plastic bottles, which for the premium they charge for this stuff, it seems a little overpriced.

The next biggest problem with this carpet is that they're all different. What will work on one, wont work on the other. The carpets can vary so much from manufacturer to manufacturer that we almost have to send the floor model home with the customer for them to try to see if it will work on their carpeting. So far the Miele's work on them all, and I've had several that Riccar Vibrances and Supralites work beautifully on. I'm really curious to see how well this carpeting holds up because my original set of customers came in for bags and they said that even in their low traffic household (No kids, no pets, both retired) they could tell it wasn't going to wear very well.

I figured I would share with everyone what I know about this carpet coming from a vacuum collector and dealer.

 

[parwaz786]

I never had this problem with Dysons but on large area rugs the edges have been SHREDDED especially the corners, I can post pics but later when I have time hopefully

 

[electromatik]

Well this certainly is contradictory to what we hear a lot of on this site. Several people here constantly scream you must have a stiff brush roll to clean. Then you hear that they are too aggressive and will ruin it. Who do we believe?

 

[sebo_fan]

It would be good to know however if this carpet /Shaw carpet is a premium product that betters all others.

If however the carpet is no better than the average, then the whole marketing suggestions of vacuums is a bit too much to ask for. After all, you don't get brands like Samsung stipulating what kinds of floors their larger appliances like freezers etc should sit on. Why should it be the other way around? Surely if the carpet in question is of a premium nature, it should stand up to any vacuum cleaner regardless of what it is made from?

 

[nycwriter]

I wouldn't have believed it ...

... if I didn't see it for myself.

I'd been using my Fantom Thunder since Day One with my new wool rugs (which I purchased 7 years ago).

The one rug is vivid orange and red, so it was really apparent seeing the carpet fibers in the Fantom's dust bin.

I knew, though, that new rugs "shed", so I wasn't alarmed.

7 years later, though -- it finally dawned on me that I shouldn't STILL be seeing big clumps of orange fibers every time I vacuum.

Just out of curiosity, I ripped open the first full bag from my new Aerus Platinum. Lots of dust and cat hair (the sucker was like a brick!), but nary an orange fiber.

 

[dlb764]

My Carpet Is Similar

I had Mohawk Smarstrand (the fiber is called Triexta and is manufactured by Dupont) carpet installed throughout my house back in March. At the same time I also purchased a new Wessel-Werk EBK360 central vacuum kit to replace the Beam Q attachment kit (I hated the bulky hose handle). This carpet definitely is not for everybody. The EBK360 power nozzle moves easily enough with the height adjustment on 4 (out of 5 height adjustments). I tried the Beam Q power nozzle on it and it would barely move even on the highest setting. I only have the central vacuum but I can't imagine having to push an upright on this carpet, I just don't see how it would work. In my opinion no upright should be recommended for use on this carpet. Otherwise the carpet is the best I have even set foot on. It looks great and feel great underneath your feet.

 

[spiraclean]

Been there, done all that. Had a very dense, deep pile carpet installed in the guest bedroom a few years ago that it seemed no vacuum cleaner could cope with. We went through several different vacs, only to get them home and find that they either couldn't clean the carpet or would get severely bogged down in it. Over a space of time the carpet got filthier (if you parted the pile and inspected all the way down to the backing, you could see dirt and grit rapidly accumulating between the tufts), and we became increasingly frustrated at the amount of time and hassle involved in trying to care for it.

The Sebo X pulled fibres out by the handful with the stiff brush roller fitted, and bogged down with the soft roller. Dyson managed to do both at the same time. A Vax commercial upright burned through belts every single time it was used, and Vorwerk did well aside from that fact that it was so light it couldn't sink deep enough into the pile to clean much below the surface. No cylinder, whether straight suction or turbo head equipped, would even touch this carpet. I recall the only cleaners that did work were Filter Queen and Kirby, both of which were completely impractical for use in an apartment; the former gets hung up on furniture and has too many cables to plug and unplug, while the latter is ridiculously big and heavy for a home of this size.

The carpet dealer was very helpful, and when a home visit was carried out they tried their own commercial Sebo and Electrolux uprights on the carpet with the same results. They concluded that it was indeed virtually impossible to keep clean, and agreed that we had already tried more than enough different vacuums on it already in search of a solution. With no further ado, they took the carpet up and replaced it with another of our choice, so we played it safe and sprung for the same short berber we have elsewhere in the house. It cleans easily and wears well, and pretty much any vacuum will do a good job on it.

 

[man114]

Fantom Thunder

The Fantom Thunder brushroll is more aggressive on carpets than that of the Dyson in my finding, which also accounts for it seeming to outclean the DC33 and DC07 I have. It would not be surprising that it would pull fibers on a wool carpet if particularly a deeply tufted one like the one area rug I have.

My parents had a deep pile polyesther carpet and the 11 amp version of the Thunder did wonders on it. It was starting to look pretty lousy and the Fantom streteched it out a few more years.

Its bristles however are softer than that of a Dyson so I'm guessing that accounts for it performing fairly well on certain carpets.

My single speed E Series Rainbow doesn't pull anywhere near as many fibers out of the wool even with then older design powerhead but still gets a ton of dirt out.

The rug is relatively new, so I didn't mind running the Fantom over to get all the loose stuff out.

In regards to Dyson, someone from our office just did a Rainbow demo for a guy that owned a carpet store and he said never to use a Dyson because the brush roll is harsh on modern carpets and can melt or tear the tips of the fibers. Other than that though he had no stipulations, just was firm about not using a Dyson.

 

[suckolux]

This sort of makes sense on my end. I have a good looking, but cheap? Oriental rug, feels like velcro loops and boy the rug burns, lint just clings to it, even the concept and decade 80 will leave lint sometimes, not the Dyson, stiff bristles.