"Uh, mom, we need a new vacuum cleaner"

[gmerkt]

"Because this one sucks. Er, uh, I mean, it doesn't suck anymore."

I got this lovely lavender Hoover Windtunnel bagged SP a while back and it's been waiting for work. The definition of lovely being it came with all of its attachments including both wand sections (worth $4.29 each if you cannot scrounge used ones and have to buy replacements).

It was dirty enough that it needed disassembly for cleaning. When I took the dust compartment cover off, I noticed the bag was packed tight like a sack of Portland cement. When I pulled it off, here is what I found.

 

[gmerkt]

It was filled right up to and into the bag dock but it didn't yet extend into the hose.

Since aside from being dirty there isn't anything else wrong with this machine, I assume it was discarded due to the bag being full. In another thread here, we were discussing the "why" of $42 specials at Walmart. Because of our hyper-disposable society, this is the why.

By the way, that isn't dog hair. I believe it's cut human hair.

 

[gmerkt]

Oh, I forgot...

This machine was dated 2006.

 

[GM1982]

This is the result of someone not changing the bag and/or filters.... poor maintenance

 

[goadie12]

Wow that's amazing I just don't understand why people don't take care of their vacuum cleaners. If people would take a little time to maintain their machines they would save an enormous amount of money just my two cents thanks. Zach

 

[georgect]

That's a shame

and pretty gross to boot.

You'd think changing a bag was brain surgery.

 

[floor-a-matic]

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">This reminds me of the TriStar EXL that I found on the curb; the bag compartment was full of dirt & hair; & did NOT have either the paper or cloth bags in the vacuum.  The dirt was even backed up inside the hose, wands & PN; & the PN & MiniStar brush rollers were worn down to nothing!

</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Why would ANYONE want to mis-treat even high-end brand vacuums?  This happened to be a surprise; but at least I got the newer TriStar for free.

</span>

 

[ned_flanders]

Looks like a lot of material there for that artist who makes houses out of vacuum bag debris...

 

[lunchboxsean]

I've seen Mieles do that, I've seen Kirbys do that, and I've seen Orecks do that. That is a testament to the Hoover right there.

 

[electromatik]

Yea, that's human hair. Someone must've used one of those vacuum hose haircutters with it or vacuumed up a hair salon with it. Sad that someone is that lazy (or ignorant) that they don't bother changing a bag. I've always loved changing filters and bags. It let's me feel good to throw dirt away.

 

[GM1982]

Unfortunately, its become a lazy ignorant society in this country...can you image now, how many people probably don't think to change their home air filters, refrigerator water cartridges, or even the oil in their car when its due. :-0

 

[cue003]

If it was a hair salon it could have been a younger person using the vacuum. The younger generation is a bagless generation and don't know a whole bunch or maybe nothing at all about a bagged vacuum. They may have thought that you vacuum and the hair magically disappears never to return.

 

[GM1982]

If you graduate high school then I think one can figure out pretty easily that its not a bagless vacuum. I am real estate agent, and I have been in homes where I have seen a bagless vacuum in the homeowners laundry room filled to the brim with dirt...guess they magically think the dirt will disintegrate or empty itself.

A bagged vacuum is better, but I guess with the fast paced oh so busy society, a bagless is more convenient, especially when you run out of bags and don't have the time to get off your lazy ass and order a new bags. In my experience, since I am in people's homes often, I tend so see more affluent households take care of their appliances, vacuums, flooring, landscaping, etc. better.

 

[vacuumman206]

not changing the bag

I know a few people that the bag got so full the cover blew off and the bag exploded from being so packed (obviously not bypass vacs). I saw a concept one once the bag was so full it looked like the machine was on all the time!! My dad's old bissell lift away got so full one time the dirt packed the bag and filled about 1/2 of the hose and there was a clog in the nozzle hose due to the continued loss of suction. I don't bother maintaining that vac for him and his wife, it's there own fault if they are too dumb to change the bag and belt every once in a while even after my years of attention to the up-keeping of their vacuums.

 

[electromatik]

A lot of it is due to how you are raised. If you were raised to care for your possessions, as I was, you tend to do the same. Growing up my Mom had an Electrolux Model R in bronze. She bought it in the late '60's. It lasted her the better part of 20 years of regular use. She ruined it accidentally. When I was little our hot water heater leaked and soaked half our flooring. We didn't know it and she began vacuuming one of the saturated carpets. She sucked a great deal of water into it and fried it. The entire time she owned it she emptied it's cloth bag nearly every time she used it and periodically she would take it out and wash it. She was good to it. After it was thrown away, she bought a Hoover Spirit straight suction which burnt up in about 5 years or less. She never got one to last until she got her Kirby in 1999. She raised me to care for stuff you buy with your hard earned money and I am grateful!

 

[dysondestijl]

i once got an old Panasonic upright, and the bag had got packed full, and had gone up the hose, complately filled the hose, gone into the cleaner head right up until it reached the opening at the brushroll. how could someone let it get so full??? no wonder they thought it was broken! they cut the plug off and put it in the shed and got a dyson DC01. nearly 20 years later i noticed they had 2 vacs in their shed. one was the old panasonic and the other was the Dyson which had replaced it. turns out the dyson had died 5 years ago and had been in the shed since the. i got the dyson working again but the panasonic was completely siezed up!

 

[aeoliandave]

Halfway down this archived thread about a rather spectacular 2008 curbside junk weekend haul is the Bagectomy I had to perform on a Kirby G4 tossed, literally, to the curb because "Mom says it doesn't work anymore".


So stuffed with dirt that the inner bag had burst, filling the outer cloth bag and windways as Mom kept vacuuming as though there was some magical cosmic debris vaporizing masticator inside.


The Copper Cord Bandits had already made their rounds but I stuffed the car with some real treasures that day.


I knew it was at least worth bringing home for parts at least...


 


Dave



http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?3402

 

[jodan3399]

I see alot of those.

Un-clog them and they're ready to go again...even after what looks like years of abuse.

Best one was the "bagless" vac that someone had at a bar, they couldn't understand why it kept blowing dust out everywhere but used it like that for months until they brought it to me.

Had they put a bag in it they might have noticed a difference...it wasn't bagless.

 

[electromatik]

LOL

Too funny!