New Upright for Area Rugs

[chuffle]

This question is more out of curiosity, rather than a recommendation for purchase. I have recently moved from a house with wall to wall carpeting to a house with hard wood flooring. I have area rugs in the dining room, living room, receiving room, and den. I also have a dog.

I am lucky in that I have a couple of Hoover Convertibles in my collection that see day to day use on the rugs. I have tried using my Kirbys, and metal Royal, only to find the suction far too strong. The Simplicity 7350, and Windtunnel, have far too aggressive brush rolls for these carpets. The Convertible combines just the right amount of suction with the good brush roll and beater bar.

My question is--are there any current upright vacuums on the market that folks find to be really great for these area rugs (sizes 5x7 and 8x11)? Once again, I am not in the market for a new vacuum (well...there is always a possibility that something new will catch my eye), I am just curious as to what other folks find to be good.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Joe

 

[kirbyboy1]

IF I were you get a filter queen. If you put it on low speed its great for cleaning the area rugs. We have one and thats what we always use. The new power nozzle is great. I love teh filter queens. In fact on the way to the convention Im stopping to get a tour of the factory. I will take pictures. Well hope this helps.

 

[chuffle]

Thanks for the reply. I have used the power nozzle on my Filter Queens, Air-Way, and Electrolux Renaissance on the rugs. I just was pondering what folks today use on their area rugs, thinking that most would just go with an upright. I guess that I wasn't thinking too clearly...must be the snow that we got through the day today!

Joe

 

[logan]

Hey Joe

If your area rungs aren't too thick and plush, a canister vacuum with an air driven turbo nozzle can do a nice job on smaller area rugs. A good example is Miele. I'm just giving you more suggestions. You can use the canister vac's bare floor attachment to clean your bare floors and then grab the turbo nozzle for the small rugs.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Hello Joe, I would say (if it had to be a more modern machine) I would go with a cheaper Panasonic upright or an Oreck. After all it's just rugs. The Oreck would be great for that.
Phillip

 

[swingette]

If its area rugs, i say Hoover Convertible is best.

The old 3.5 amp Eurekas are excellent too, but these are just copies of Hoover's classic design.

If your rugs are wool, that rules out most inferior modern machines. Many modern clean-air machines have mediocre airflow with harsh sweeping to compensate. The beating is ignored (vibration) so hard bristle action has to do all the work. They will eat wool carpets.

A classic Convertible will get rugs very clean with no trauma to the rug. And the bags are cheap and its quiet and lightweight.

 

[swiveltop]

I have the same situation,In part of my house I have laminate wood flooring and area rugs,and those are the rooms that are most used and need to be vacuumed every day mainly the kitchen and utility room (the cats room),we cook and eat in the kitchen,I had a Shark Sweeper that was perfect for those quick clean ups,but it finally died,so I've been trying different vacuums,I have a Kenmore Progresive Canister that I really like but the powernozzle is aggresive and will unravel rugs,I like the bagless idea for those rooms,so I tried my Fantom Fury,That is the worst vacuum ever made,besides the dyson,it will barely pick up a thread,so I'm down to my two favorites,My Riccar Canister with the air driven powernozzle,it works great on the floors,it has super great suction,so I have to use the suction release on the rugs or its hard to push,The kirby is wonderful but tends to pick up the rugs,my favorite for the floors and rugs is my Oreck Upright two speed,it wont hurt your floors or area rugs,on low it is great on fluffy bathroom rugs,it wont try to gobble them up,in my defense LOL,I love Filter Queens,I have two but no power nozzles,and I ussually use the Kirby or a Hoover on my wall to wall carpeting,great carpet groomers,but the Oreck does a great job too. Mark

 

[chuffle]

Thanks for the thoughts...

Hi all:

I would like to thank you for your thoughts and ideas. I am quite content with my Convertibles on the rugs, and the Filter Queen upstairs and Renaissance downstairs for the wood and vinyl floors. Small throw rugs are shaken outside and laundered when needed.

It just seems to me that the Convertible is the way to go, and it is sad to think that this model machine is no longer produced. A friend asked recently why I was using such an old-fashioned vacuum...and if it is so great, why aren't they made anymore. I proposed the idea that today's vacuum owners (not collectors) want the convenience of on-board tools and a quick grab hose, hence the clean air models with harsh and aggressive brush action.

I am thankful for the little bit of knowledge of vacuums that I have, and for the fact that I have a host of machines here at the house to use. Besides, they are just so darned much fun to work with! (I am looking forward to the day when I can complete my move, as I have my collection of Kirbys stored at my old house, and I want to put them on display here in my office.)

Be well,

Joe

 

[hoover1060]

Joe,

You've already been given some excellent suggestions, and now I have one more.
For a new cleaner, you could also consider the Sanitaire Blue S634. This is the basic 5.0 amp cleaner, and it works pretty well. I have one here for a daily driver(it shares duties with a Miele and a Kirby) and I am quite happy with it.

I have an Oreck too, mainly used for sweeping the kitchen floor and occasional fast pickups. Like someone mentioned earlier, the Oreck will sweep a rubber-backed throw rug pretty well and not eat it, something most big vacuums will not do.

Good luck with your search, let us know what you wind up with!

 

[xraytech]

I have a few suggestions for the throw rugs
My preference is also the convertible. My G6 2000 edition sucks the rugs off the linoleum, if I use it I turn off the Tech Drive and raise the heigt positoon up to about 4 and it works ok, the filterqueen on low speed works great, put for a newer vacuum I would reccoment the Sears Kenmore Progressive Upright, Mine is about 6 or 7 years old(they still make them,different look) it works great on the rugs, i put it on a medium height setting, it also has a switch to shut of the brush if needed) they are either 149 or 249 new and are a bagged cleaner and well worth it

 

[gottahaveahoove]

convertibles

If you have a convertible, (or several) there is NO need for another cleaner. Why guild the lilly? The later ones had great tool suction, OR get a connie, slimline, or portable, Great tuflex hose, great brushes on the tools. You're all set

 

[danemodsandy]

Lux!

Okay, I know you said upright, but there are upright people and canister people and I confess to being a canister person.

A Lux with a power nozzle and the suction control on the hose gives you a tremendous amount of ability to fine-tune the suction for a given rug. Get with a friend who has a Lux and try it on some area rugs and you'll see what I mean- opening the suction control (more or less, depending on the weight of the rug) will give you exactly what you need.

The trade-off is that Electrolux evidently maintained an engineering department devoted exclusively to making good and damn certain that their power nozzles were the noisiest ones on the market!

 

[riccarlover]

air driven

i use my windtunnel hand tool on our little rugs with the central. works great! the air driven seems not to have so much force.