Washing a Kirby cloth bag ???

[vegaslux60]

Dear Friends !
I recently added a great Kirby Omega to my collection, with many Thanks to Chad ! Even though this machine is part of our collection, it's main purpose is to be used occassionally with the Miracle Head, as a carpet nap lifter. It's in great condition other than needing polished, however the original cloth bag does have a musty odor! This drives Jill crazy !
My question is: How can I safely wash the cloth bag??? Or is it even safe to do so??? Can I put it in the front-loader on gentle??? How about the dryer?? Once again, your replies to my thread are greatly appreciated! Thanks, Kenny

 

[swingette]

yes, its safe to wash.

make sure to vacuum out the inside of the bag with another cleaner. take your time and be thorough. use a crevice tool to make sure the seams and pleats are cleaned of ALL loose dirt and hair.

gentle cycle on front loader sounds fine. hand wash is just as good. if using a front loader, add a couple towels or throw rugs to help with the cleaning action. if any of the seams or logos seem weak or aged, hand wash to be safe, and spin in machine to damp dry.

dryer? not necessary. just drape over a rod or chair after spinning.

 

[charles~richard]

Dryer not only not necessary, strongly discouraged! The heat will cause the bag to shrink. I dry my bags outside on the clothesline.

n.b. I would never machine-wash any of the Kirby bags with over-printed silkscreened logos. GENTLE hand washing in Woolite or other mild detergent, with NO rubbing or brushing of the silkscreened lettering, is the only safe way to proceed.

 

[xraytech]

Washing is fine, Actually recommended because the cloth bag is part of filtration and does get clogged over time, NEVER put in dryer, I line dry along with most other things I wash

 

[electroluxxxx]

oops I put mine in the dryer once and I never plan on doing it again. is it ok to put on the no heat setting if my dryer has it???
Mike

 

[kirbysanitronic]

what i do...

what i do to clean bags is i turn it inside out, then i hold my breath for a few seconds as swing it at a big tree, i keep swinging intil i see no more dust come out, its a little dirty of a job but it works great!

 

[thunderhexed]

Kirby bags...

For me it depends on what machine it comes off of... for newer bags, from the Heritage on up... I wash in cold water, very light detergent... hang dry... for sanitronic and Classic type bags, i will thouroughly scrape as much as I can into the em-tor while it's on the machine, then I remove.. take outside, turn inside out, hold one end with my foot and whisk the bejesus out of it with a broom.. rotating it to cover all areas.. then i use a disposeable bagged machine with attachments on it to vacuum as much as i can, this DRASTICALLY reduces the amount of hair and lint left in the bottom of your washing machine after washing it... then I will wash on delicate in wash, cold water with either wool-lite or a touch of hair shampoo... then I hang dry. I would hang out in sun, in fresh air... the one time I let one dry indoors, the bottom portion where the spring is sewn in to fit around the em-tor rusted and busted into bits when I tried to put it back on...

 

[louvac]

How to clean Kirby bags?

Like Xavier, I also turn them inside out and beat them against a tree with SMOOTH bark only so as not to create a tear or snag in the fabric. Do it until no more "smoke" comes out. Then, I use a Kirby Turbo Tool from the Heritage series (it's also called a Rug Rat-which is the company who made it for Kirby) an/or another good hand vac with soft bristle brush roll and vacuum the wrong side of the fabric (the inside) that way, also. Concentrate on the inside surface first so as not to pull any more dirt than necesasry through to the good side of the bag fabric. The older fabric bags are not all that expensive to buy new. At the coming convention in August I will bring some with me and those of you who need them can purchase them for a reasonable price. As the time draws near, I will create a thread and ask what some of you guys need and want and I will bring that stuff with me to the convention.

Louis

 

[rowdy141]

I washed my Kirby TRADITION blue cloth bag gently in cold water. By hand, with a small dash of Woolite liquid detergent.
The water immediately ran dark inky-blue as the colour immediately bled from the fabric.
I tried re-dying it. Dylon 'Ocean-Blue' is a good match. The fleck pattern in the fabric was unaffected, and the Kirby label-tag remained white, but the colour didn't take too well. I won't be washing it again.

Has anyone tried Dry-Cleaning these bags at their local shop?

 

[texaskirbyguy]

When I washed my Tradition bag, it turned the water deep blue as well. Apparently these are not colorfast. Mine looked so bad that it did look better after wash and I did not notice any missing color.

Dry cleaning uses solvents, so not sure how well that will work.

 

[suckolux]

I have cleaned many, just for upkeep, not restore. Had some color in the water, but the bags looked ok after. Scrape and clean inside, remove from machine, removed ends, turn inside out, brush and vacuum off, hand wash or very short gentle wash with cold water and VERY little detergent. I used woolite, rinse well and hang to dry.Air flow is SO improved and of course smell

 

[cmbcool01]

I've cleaned mine before in the wash on gentle/delicate usually with mild detergent, Clorox 2 and that lysol disinfectant addictive if you stick it in the dryer use an air fluff setting with no heat best to air dry though

 

[lesinutah]

Clorox 2

Don't use that in my opinion. I just use tide pod cold water gentle cycle. My washer has no agitator so i could put on bulk it's just going to spin more.
Don't use downy or other cleaners breaks down the bag faster.
Always air dry bag if you put it in the dryer you will get fuzzies all over it.
Les

 

[kirbybb]

A local vacuum repair guy that I’ve chatted with a few times does mostly Kirby rebuilds but also works on any other vacs. I asked him about washing my Kirby bags and his recommendation was to hand wash only. Hot water in the bath tub with some Gain and a soft bristle brush. He emphasized to turn the bag inside out and brush/gently scrub all the crevices, seems, and both sides of the zipper. He also recommended air drying but I did toss my bag in the dryer on the no heat setting. Pair occasionally washing the bag with the Kirby Charcoal Odor Fighting HEPA bags and there is 0 foul odor when I clean and we have an 80 pound Golden Retriever.

 

[huskyvacs]

If you do dry the bag outside, make sure it is HOT outside. You don't want the bag to dry slowly and have that moldy damp dirt smell. I will hand wash mine and dry on a clothesline once I build it. I do not trust my washer even though I have a tumble washer, the holes on the inside of the drum can scrape over fabric and make it get fuzz balls all over it in my past experiences. I think I'll probably test it first with my junky Kirby Classic 1CR bag, as I do not even think it's OEM anyway.

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

Any vacuum after 560 without logos would be fine in washer. The classic 3 and tradition bags are not great material. The other bags can be washed and air dryer.
Just hand wash screen printed bags.
Les