Powerful deep cleaner or carpet destoryer?

[stricklybojack]

I have noticed new vacuums fill with fluff fast. Is this the vacuum's cleaning ability or just an abrasive, overly aggressive brush roll? The rather incredibly short brushes on The Shark Navigator i recently traded got me to thinking on this point again. I wonder if high power and stiff nylon bristles have a lot to do with the apparent "performance" of today's modern vacuum?

This pic actually doesn't illustrate my point, that roll is choked with hair not carpet fibers. i just found it and thought it, ahem, eye catching.

 

[bagintheback]

I would think the brushroll is more to blame. I've noticed vacuums with stiffer bristles tend to have a greater problem with pet hair collecting around it. The style and pattern seems to play a roll as well. As great as chevron brushrolls are,  I have to clean my Aerus Electrolux brushroll much more often than say my upright Hoovers. Vacuums with beater bars rarely collect pet hair in that area. I would deem the bristles guilty. 

 

[sebo_fan]

My Vax Mach Air has a soft brush roll, yet it picks up a lot more than a lot of other bagless vacs. I don't think it is the brush roll to blame entirely but rather the shape and whatever may be on the sole plate that contributes to agitation. I note no difference where threads or pet hair is concerned - with both chevron style bristles verses conventional rolls, pet hair/threads still get wrapped around and require to be cut and cleaned off.

 

[stricklybojack]

Ya i shouldn't have used that picture..

good points about hair, but what about damaging good carpet with an overly aggressive brush roll and then thinking your vacuum is great cuz, "see look at all this stuff it pulled up"...but the stuff is actually your carpet being thinned by unnecessarily rough agitation and/or overly abrasive/stiff brush roll?

 

[alexhoovers94]

I have noticed that American Vacuums tend to have very stiff dense bristles that are very VERY aggressive, Vacuums in the UK tend to be Gentle on Carpets, although some of the old Hoover and Electrolux cleaners had stiff bristles.
However Kirby's have dense, soft bristles and they stiff provide a great deep clean.

 

[floor-a-matic]

What happened to choice of brush rollers? How about all beater bars only rollers or rubber blade rollers without bristles for delicate rugs?

 

[tolivac]

Strange--the brushroll bristles on Kirbys and Royals don't appear to be abrasive--yet the brushrolls on some vacuums can be used as floor grinders!!Then another brushroll is USELESS---just wraps in hair!!!I beleive the brushroll "roughness" to the carpet depends on how the bristles are cut--if they are just cut and the ends still sharp from the cutting process-then they will be hard on carpets because the sharp bristles cutting or snagging the rugs fibers.On other brushrolls-the bristle tips are "polished" after being trimmed to blunt them so they won't snag or cut carpet fibers.

 

[suckolux]

I have a theory on the ones that get wrapped worse than others, low air flow!

 

[ralph123]

If you google carpet damage from vacuums, the first brand to pop-up is Dyson - not a traditional American brand. However, who's to say that that the problem is with the vacuum and not the carpeting.

http://consumerist.com/2012/11/02/my-dyson-vacuum-cleaned-my-carpet-then-shredded-it/

http://www.thefloorpro.com/communit...2-another-carpet-damaged-by-dyson-vacuum.html

http://www.thefloorpro.com/communit...-dyson-vacuum-destroyed-my-berber-carpet.html