Problem with the bagless vacuums

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mike811

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 5, 2016
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504
Location
Finland
This is my rant about the bagless vacuums.
I am not good at writing all what I have to say so here is video about that.
 
You raise a very good point, the average consumer is not going to take the time to knock down their vacuum to clean it once in a while. In fact, the average consumer probably doesn't have the intelligence to even do it if they wanted to. You can chalk this up to planned obsolescence, but for a more expensive machine like a Dyson, the owner would probably wait until the machine stops performing well, and take it to a repair shop. It seems kind of silly to me that someone would pay to have their vacuum cleaned, but here we are.
 
True

Sharks which I have a few 2 I use the rest are going for sale shortly.
If you keep filters cleaned, hose unclogged, empty the bin, keep brush roll maintained, clean bin every year and remove brushroll and clean there too. If you do these things the vacuum will last a long while. One of two sharks I have is 5 or 6 years old. It runs great. I maintain it and it runs great.
It's no sealed bag system 100+ CFM but it's 80-95 CFM and does what I expect of it.
I use rainbow or compact çxl/ TriStar for areas I need to agitate carpet or deep suction is needed. Golden lab inside dog fur gets everywhere.
If I used a shark only it would never get cleaned well. If I bought a new shark Apex zero m for $300 it might but I'm not doing that. When that Apex is available for about $100. Even then I'd still use rainbow or compact /TriStar/ Patriot. The power nozzle is wessell werk 360. I love the power nozzle. I use it in all machines as it is awesome.
Les
 
Mike, well put!
This is the whole reason I avoid those bagless machines like the plague.

The average consumer can barely empty the dirt cup, let alone disassemble the whole thing, let alone getting it back together CORRECTLY without having parts left over.
Even if they got that far, chances are they would break the little plastic clip that holds the whole thing together (that is not sold separately either), so the whole thing ends up in the trash in a few short years.

Over 23 years the only thing I did to my Kirby is emptying/replacing the bags, belts, and replaced the brush roll once. Never did I have to take the whole thing apart to unclog it. I only tore it down to polish and restore it, which is purely cosmetic.

Long live the bagged machines!
 
I did this video because more and more people are buying bagless vacuums. Commercials make them look better than they are. Both Dyson and Shark suffer from the same thing. Part of the dust goes to the motor. Shark pre motor filters leak and Dyson inner bin pipe collects dust making it dirty the motor. After empting the bin static electricity makes the dust stick to the outside of the bin and then to the vacuum. It doesn't take much time bagless vacuums to look dirty. Monthly filter maintenance is needed and people often forgot that. Some people don't even know that these need filter maintenance. Bagged vacuums only need new bag once a month and filter maintenance once a year. Motors in bagged vacuums also last much longer and they usually have noticeably more suction/airflow.
 
It's funny bagless vacuums were invented to save the environment from having trees and paper wasted from bags and to keep less trash in the landfill - but look what they did. They are so not-user friendly and maintenance intensive, and the companies do not provide accurate guides to follow - the entire vacuum ends up in the trash and then THAT clogs up the landfill instead.

And yes, MadMan, people do throw out Dysons versus service. People get mad stupid with their money and especially when shops tell them it can't be fixed when they just bought it, they toss it. Like $400...gone. Then that's usually when I get them, lol I have about 5 Dysons now, both uprights and the ball styles. Didn't pay more than $40 for any of them as-is. One is a store display that had the cord clipped off so it doesn't count as user damage, but they all have been defeated by a worn out brushroll or broken belt. One was an estate find a seller flipped, and the only thing that stopped it was a paper clip wedged in the hose that made a hair clog that cut off the airflow. All of them have simple fixes but the parts can be tough to get ahold of. It took 3 months to find a lower motor filter housing for one of the uprights believe it or not.
 
bagless vacuums

The only bagless vacuums I ever use are my water vacs. I have a few central vacuum units that are hybrids, that is, they can be used bagged or bagless but I would never use them bagless. What a mess to empty out. For the price of those Dysons, the consumer could get a much better vacuum such as the Sebo Felix which should work for many years.
Mike
 
I own my own vacuum shop. We sell and repair all brands (except shark) of vacuums. We make good money cleaning vacuums and doing the exact same thing outlined in the owners manual.

It isn't necessarily true that bagless vacuums are dirtier, messier, etc. I have hundreds of pictures in my phone of filthy, nasty bagged vacuums in for the same service. These are to show folks in the vacuum industry who live by 'bagged is better'. The truth is, bagged is clean only when you take care of it. Bagless can be clean but only if you take care of it.

The average consumer knows nothing about vacuums, bagged or bagless, as far as their care. The consumer will continue to spend money on vacuums that they THINK will take care of their needs. If you try to make a hard case for bagged vacuums, they need to be machines like the Aerus Electrolux with bags you cannot get in 'wrong'.

Failing to install the bag correctly is the number one problem with bagged vacs. As simple as a Simplicity type A bag is to install, you wouldn't believe the people who didn't take the time to shove the cardboard onto the spout more than an inch or so. Of course, the bag comes off and fills the compartment.

All the Kirbys in for service have filthy cloth bags. I make good money cleaning and servicing Kirby. I've washed hundreds of Kirby cloth bags in my washing machine, and charged good money to do so.

IF bagged vacuums were really better than bagless, I would not be able to afford the things I can now. It takes just as long to clean and detail a bagged vacuum as it does a bagless. In all cases, money moves from one wallet to another (mine).
 
Crazy Neglect

That kind of neglect is crazy! I've treated a cheap Durabrand Canister better than what you are describing here. It was a bad electrical connection on the inside that caused me to scrap it due to not having the correct screwdriver at the time.
 
Bags in wrong? If it has one. People you think of as smart, mechanical will get it wrong too. My landlady talked me out of an older eureka high powered upright. She is smart, I thought husband was handy, we have done repairs around here. They were having problems changing the belt and so they brought it back to me to look at. Yes they had the right belt of course installed turning the wrong direction but the real shock to me was messing up the install of a f and g bag.with all the pictographs I didn't know that was possible but it was, facing the wrong direction yes but also upside down which folded the air inlet in half meaning it did not inflate. She complained afterwards oh now it's too hard to push oh my God
 
I tried out bagless and NO, like everyone else is saying, it's not a good thing.

That goes for canister, stick vacs, robotic, uprights, shop vacs, and Central Vacuums.

Always have a bag and /or some type of easily changed paper filter.

Not only is cleaning fabric filters and bins full of "dirt" messy, it's time consuming, and it's dangerous to your health.

There are lots of fine dust particles that can rise up as they are lighter than air and you breath them in or they stick to your clothes and skin.
You can get sick. You can breath in asbestos particles and if you do it enough times that can cause cancer.

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When people don't take any care of their vacuums also bagged vacuums will fail.
I gave old pink Volta U258 to my sister because previously she had bought super cheap bagless vacuums about once a year. Few years later Volta came back to me. She just said that it doesn't suck so well anymore. Well vacuum was technically in good working order like motor and so on. However bag was full as it can get, pre motor filter was very clogged and post motor filter was pretty bad also.
Apparently she had used wrong bags or no bags at all.
I just get upset when people say that they need a new vacuum because "it doesn't suck so well anymore" and I find things like this.
Blue bagless vacuum was her previous vacuum and it "lost suction" very quickly.
I wonder why LOL
I still think that bagged vacuums are way better for people who don't take care of vacuums. At least bagged vacuums have more airflow/suction and they keep going longer without maintenance.

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After working at a vacuum shop I would never want to use a bagless vacuum as a daily use machine. I got grossed out by all the dirty bins and bagless components. Especially when people vacuum up pet poops and urine. Plus who really wants their filth displayed in a clear bin for guests to see?
 
Yeah un-cleanable pleated paper filters are a joke. It's the vacuum manufacturers' sorry attempt to replace their disposable bag sales with filter sales. Washable foam or felt filters are much better. In my opinion, popping the filter out once in a while, rinsing and wringing it, and leaving it to air dry overnight, is not difficult or tedious or anything. It legit takes 2 minutes and no effort.

Granted that's just me, and I'm not the average consumer.
 

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