Vaccum bags in your machines.

[fan-of-fans]

What do all collectors do about bags in machines that you don't use often? Do you keep a bag in every machine you have or change between machines? Personally I tend to use one bag between machines if they take the same bag. I also tend to use only one vacuum as I don't like having to put a new bag in a machine if I'm only going to use it once or twice. I don't like having bags full of stuff in multiple machines, it seems dirty to me. I'd rather just store the vacuums with no bags in them, much cleaner.

There's also the issues with vacuum bags that are in short supply or not possible to find, I'd rather not use them.

I suppose something similar goes with bagless vacuums. If I clean up a bagless vacuum and don't plan to use it much, it's disappointing that one use makes it all dusty inside.

 

[human]

All of my bagged machines use common types of bags that are plentiful and cheap--Kirby Generation 3 style bags and Electrolux 'C' and 'U' bags. I can buy those bags online by the carton for pennies apiece, so there's always plenty to go around. Every machine gets its own bag and each one is ready to go when I want to use it. The only bags I use that are semi hard to find are the Hoover 'G' bags for my QuickBroom stick vacs and the optional paper liners for my Royal Prince 501 hand vacs, but I have a good supply of both on hand.

I don't worry about storing them with a bag inside since the dirt is neatly contained. That said, I agree wholeheartedly about the bagless machines. I think those things are totally nasty and a pain in the butt to keep clean, so I refuse to own one. I can't for the life of me understand why they're so popular.

 

[suckolux]

I kind of recycle mine? I use partly in one, then pass on to another. My Concept gets some smell or fuller, move to the garage Decade 80, yes it's carpeted. My Kirby Diamond, less than half full take it to the kids house for the Legend 2, they fill them much faster there with 7 people and dog and cat.

 

[dysonman1]

If I let any of my vacuums in my home collection stand without use for a few weeks (think 3), they all smell like dogs ((I have two BIG dogs). So I throw away the bag after two or three uses. All are stored with clean bags in them. That's why I tend to use my bagless vacuums and my Central Vacuum the very most. I can clean out the bagless machines in a moment with the Vacuflo and only my neighbors (if they are outside) have to smell the dirt.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

When I restored my basketcase Kirby 505, I installed a modified Kirby HEPA bag inside of the cloth bag so that the clean cloth bag does not get dirty. I can still empty it with the emptor and the filtration is supurb. I may do the same to my Omega. My home is pretty clean so no issue with odors. However, I will replace them if and when odor does start to be an issue.

 

[tolivac]

How do you use a modified HEPA bag in your dump bag Kirbys-would like to know!

 

[ultralux88]

$50 says he sealed the normal bag opening and cut open either the top or bottom, and then used the spring in the bottom of the bag to hold it over the emptor, essentially making a HEPA bag liner for the cloth bag.

 

[tolivac]

That would work--but would be a PAIN to change the HEPA "liner" bag-you can only use them so many times this way-their pores will eventually clog.

 

[n0oxy]

bags in my machines

Every machine I have has a bag in it so it's ready to go. I use cloth bags whenever possible, although my Panasonic canister, most of my backpacks and some of my electrolux canisters came with paper bags, I was able to get cloth bags for them, these are far better. The only bagless machines I have are a Rainbow and a Sirena which use water filtration. The regular bagless machines are nasty to empty. My beam central vacuum unit originally was bagless with one of those supposed self cleaning filters, fortunately I was able to remove that and install an adapter that allows it to use cloth bags. Now all the dirt goes in to the bag and the bucket stays empty.
Mike

 

[texaskirbyguy]

Ultralux88 got it!

See reply 18 in my 505 resto thread below for details and pictures...
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?34158_27
It is not too much a pain to replace every 2 years or so, as these are in my occasional use machines. That spring is not a big deal once you get the technique down. The two machines that get used a lot have the regular disposable bags for easy changing.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

Most of my machines always have bags in them.


The machines that Always have a disposable bag in them:


-Kirby Charcoal HEPA bag in the Daily Driver Hoover 29


-Genuine C Bag in the Custom Hoover 1060 Hot-Rod Daily Driver


-Perfect HEPA bag in the Electrolux Silverado Daily Driver


 


The rest are not used as heavily, but I try to keep bags in them all the time. I like to be able to take them out and use them at my leisure without the hassle of getting bags out.

 

[dartman]

My two main machines have bags in them, my cordless stick vac is bagless so no issues with it for quick touchups. When I got my newest Royal it came with a bunch of oem bags so still working through them. I actually dug one out clean and reused it recently and it seems to work like new but pretty messy to deal with. The Orec portable had a bunch of bags when it was given to us as well and pretty sure either one bags should be cheap on eBay or Amazon. I just replaced the hose on the Orec and the hose on the Royal finally split but I have the one that came with it if I can figure out how to swap out the ends and cut the bad wiring section out and redo it.
My oldest Royal 413 the hose is all split and the power head isn't as good as the 4650 so I haven't used it in years. It probably uses the same bags though I'm pretty sure.

 

[huskyvacs]

I keep bags in all my vacs. For completeness, and also because I would never remember if it has a bag in it or not and likely end up turning it on with no bag in. I never buy OEM bags, so it never hurts my wallet that much for a simple pack of 5 bags for each vacuum.

For bagless vacs, I give them a quick blow-out on the filter and dust cup with my Tool Shop air compressor. I forget how many gallons, but it's big enough to need wheels. $89 on clearance at the hardware store, I use it several times a month with various cleaning-related repairs so it was a wise investment. 100psi with the precision blow gun makes quick work of those filters. I used it on my Eureka Optima which still has the same filter in it from when it was bought, and you wouldn't believe all the caked dirt that flew out of there. The vacuum ran like new afterwards, you would have thought it was a new filter. I will get a new filter for it though when I refurb it, it's slowly been breaking piece by piece over time and it needs to be gone over.

 

[tolivac]

Careful in using 100 PSI air on airfilters-you could rip the filter material.Hold the blow gun a few inches from the filter you are blowing.Holding the blower nozzle against the filter might rip it.Another canister vacuum set up as a blower is safer for filters.And---Blow them out OUTSIDE!!!

 

[kirbylux77]

Well, what I do with my vacuums is I only keep a couple in daily use at one time. And I use both until the bag is completely full & need to be changed, at that time if I decide to change machines the vacuum that was used gets stored with a fresh bag.

I agree with Huskyvacs about using generic bags - there usually isn't much of a difference in quality between generic/aftermarket & OEM. I usually buy HEPA Cloth generic bags unless there is a huge difference in quality (like generic Miele & OEM Miele bags), & I buy them in bulk on Amazon. If they start to smell with little dirt in them because of sitting around, I don't feel bad about it since I paid so little for them.

Rob