Upright hose useability

[suckolux]

My DC-18 the suction is low enough to be still usable on the hose and a nice long hose, but the DC-33? Yeah that sucker will come flying at you.

 

[briannc]

The Hoover Dial-A-Matic has a nice set up and suction is adequate/okay. I have a model 1118 and for the time, think it was a great set up. The Windtunnel I have has great suction but experience the same thing the hose shrinks and the machine wants to tip over. I rarely if ever use an upright vacuum.

I always found uprights cumbersome to use, especially with tools, my mom had a Concept One in the 80's with the converter up front, it was easy to hook up but very poor suction. We had a separate straight suction Spirit canister to do stairs and above floor cleaning. I constantly reminded her that she should have never gotten rid of the 1975 Best Kenmore Powermate canister, now we had to store 2 vacuums and the Concept was HEAVY...self-propelled but heavy...lugging that up and down stairs was ridiculous.

My aunt had a Kenmore twin fan upright with the front tools and you had to lower the cleaner handle back to turn it on, talk about awkward to use tools...suction was okay but it was just a hassle to use tools with the handle lowered...

 

[jo]

I like

The tools in my Shark Rocket. I wonder if this qualifies as an upright though. It is more of the modern stick vac where the motor and dirt bin is at the handle and then a wand is attached to it then a power nozzle at the end forming an upright design. Converting is simple, unlatch the wand and add the flex hose with whatever attachment you want and suction is good too. I even use a 5 or 6 foot dog leash looped through the handle and then hang the main unit over my shoulder and am able to walk around and clean holding the hose end.

I’m a clean freak admittedly…I enjoy a clean home and enjoy having a tool that will thoroughly assist me in my desire to achieve the cleanliness level I desire as easily as possible, I find vacuuming to be far more thorough with a good quality well sealing vacuum than any other type of cleaning such as using a dust mop or swifter, etc. to clean off dust and dirt capture it so as not to be airborne. Try sweeping in a sunbeam coming in your home and you’ll see the clouds of dust a broom churns up! I rarely use a broom…only time I use a broom is if I’m in a hurry because I dumped or spilled something dry and want it picked up quick. Never for any type of regular indoor cleaning.

I also wonder on uprights with tools…if the suction is so poor when using the tools which many are…does that mean the suction of the machine without the tools is just as poor? After all usually the tools are just inserted into the suction channel in some way. I get that many don’t seal well when inserted but to have such a major loss of suction really perplexes me and makes me think such machines just flat out have poor suction to begin with and are relying on the brush roll to do the picking up action and the suction just to be enough to suck the propelled dirt into the bag or bin rather than disperse it back onto the floor.

I notice people mentioning here that their Aerus/Electrolux uprights have good suction with the tools…the system has a decent sealing off design when the hose is inserted blocking off the suction completely from sucking through the floor nozzle and directly through the hose only allowing full and complete suction through the hose. The hose itself has a sealing gasket built right into it by design. Converting an Electrolux upright is far easier than converting a Kirby and with the Electrolux’s combination dusting brush upholstery tool…using the tools is easier.

Growing up my next door neighbors had a Hoover convertible….they had the tools and hose that attached to the bottom of the floor nozzle but never used them because it was too annoying to attach them and when attached, the suction was poor. So they had a small Hoover straight suction canister as well.

I notice Oreck has this two vacuum machine system for a complete cleaner. Personally, I don’t like this because when I’m cleaning If I suddenly see something that needs to be cleaned using the hose and an attachment I don’t want to have to come back to it later with another vac or a vac I’ve had to stop to convert, instead Id rather pull the wand off from the hose, add the attachment if needed and clean the spot that needs attention then resume the main floor cleaning. Hence, I choose to use either a canister type or the new stick vac type with my Shark rocket.

Jon

 

[fan-of-fans]

Jon, with direct air vacuums like Hoover Convertibles, Eureka F&G, and Hoover Elite, Eureka Bravo, etc, I think it really had to do with airflow vs suction.

With these vacuums' shorter dirt path from brushroll to bag, they didn't need a lot of suction to do a good job cleaning the carpet. But they usually had larger fans which gives higher airflow.

Adding a hose of course extended the path of the airflow so you really wouldn't have much suction with tools. Clean air uprights have more suction necessary to get the dirt from the longer path from floor nozzle into the bag or dust bin which translates to more tool suction.

I'm guessing in a lot of cases like your neighbor that people with uprights would have a separate canister or handheld vacuum for above the floor cleaning.