Impressive use of the DC23...
Boy, that's impressive. Concrete chunks in there, no less.
I don't push my DC23 that hard, but I have to say the filtration on mine has been great. That's not the cyclonic separation it bulletproof, necessarily, but the filtration of dust is so good it doesn't get into the air.
My girlfriend is hyper-allergic to a bunch of stuff. For a while we were using her Kenmore vacuum cleaner. It was a bagged model that's made by Panasonic. I don't think the filters had been maintained too well as every time we used it we could feel that uncomfortable feeling of fine dust on our skin and in our lungs. I hated it, and she felt it every time too. When we got the DC23, it was a revelation. It seemed to clean much better and the air was so clean feeling after we got done.
I bought the DC23 from a local thrift store in mint, as-new condition. This store gets a lot of overstock and clearance donations from Target (based on the Target house brand products and the distinctive labeling stickers on many of the goods). I believe that this vac was a floor display model based on its unused condition and stickers. As you may or may not know, floor displays at Target can only be touched and looked at, but they cannot be taken off the shelf or powered on. So it had never been used.
It turns out that when Target had assembled the vac for display, they had neglected to put in the user serviceable washable hepa pre-filter. This was my first Dyson, so I had no idea to check for that. So for the first 4 or 5 months we had been using that vac with no hepa pre-filter. All the filtering was done by the big pleated post-motor hepa filter, the one that isn't supposed to be user serviceable. After I found out that this was happening, I took the big post-filter out and washed it with warm water and dish washing soap. Interestingly, it didn't look dirty when I took it out, and there was no sign of dirty water coming off of it when I washed it. I ordered a replacement for the missing pre-filter.
With the pre-filter in place it's still filtering just as well now, and that's to say very well. Like a champ. I couldn't be happier.
I do have to agree with Gareth that emptying the bagless cyclonic bin is no messier than disposing a used paper bag. I do use care however: I hold onto the bottom of hinged cylinder door whenever I open it and ease it open. Then I slowly pour the dust and debris out, just so it's right above bottom of the trash bin, or just above whatever surface I'm pouring it onto. Then I'll give it a light shake to dislodge any caked on dust. By doing it this way the dust doesn't drop, hit the bottom of the bin, and form a big cloud. If you hold the cylinder above the trash bin, even a foot, and pop open the door, you WILL get a big cloud of dust after the debris drops and hits.
Just look at it as if you were dumping out a cup full of flour. If you put the lip of the cup near the floor, or surface, and slowly pour it out, there will hardly be any flying dust. If you take that cup and invert it at a distance of a foot or two above the floor or surface the impact will, of course, cause a ton of flour to fill the air.
The problem with removing a used bag from a vacuum is that the bag puffs up to its full degree, fully filling out the bag compartment, as air is sucked into and and out of it during vacuuming. When you take the bag out it's nearly impossible to do so without squeezing or collapsing the bag to some degree. It acts like a bellows, and it's amazing how much dust puffs out with just a minor squeeze. In fact, unless the bag is packed full of debris, it's unavoidable to collapse the portion of the bag that contains only air. I always get more than a good puff of dust despite being extra careful not to do so.
A few bag designs do exist that minimize this problem. I'm thinking about bags that have hard cardboard as a structural surface and a fold-over tab to close up the hole. An example are bags used by Electrolux uprights, and on canisters like the Eureka Mighty Mite. The squeezing/collapsing is minimized because you can grab the edges of the cardboard, pull the bag straight up or out, and close the tab. Because the cardboard is solid and does not collapse when you handle it, there's no bellows effect to blow out dust.
Boy, that's impressive. Concrete chunks in there, no less.
I don't push my DC23 that hard, but I have to say the filtration on mine has been great. That's not the cyclonic separation it bulletproof, necessarily, but the filtration of dust is so good it doesn't get into the air.
My girlfriend is hyper-allergic to a bunch of stuff. For a while we were using her Kenmore vacuum cleaner. It was a bagged model that's made by Panasonic. I don't think the filters had been maintained too well as every time we used it we could feel that uncomfortable feeling of fine dust on our skin and in our lungs. I hated it, and she felt it every time too. When we got the DC23, it was a revelation. It seemed to clean much better and the air was so clean feeling after we got done.
I bought the DC23 from a local thrift store in mint, as-new condition. This store gets a lot of overstock and clearance donations from Target (based on the Target house brand products and the distinctive labeling stickers on many of the goods). I believe that this vac was a floor display model based on its unused condition and stickers. As you may or may not know, floor displays at Target can only be touched and looked at, but they cannot be taken off the shelf or powered on. So it had never been used.
It turns out that when Target had assembled the vac for display, they had neglected to put in the user serviceable washable hepa pre-filter. This was my first Dyson, so I had no idea to check for that. So for the first 4 or 5 months we had been using that vac with no hepa pre-filter. All the filtering was done by the big pleated post-motor hepa filter, the one that isn't supposed to be user serviceable. After I found out that this was happening, I took the big post-filter out and washed it with warm water and dish washing soap. Interestingly, it didn't look dirty when I took it out, and there was no sign of dirty water coming off of it when I washed it. I ordered a replacement for the missing pre-filter.
With the pre-filter in place it's still filtering just as well now, and that's to say very well. Like a champ. I couldn't be happier.
I do have to agree with Gareth that emptying the bagless cyclonic bin is no messier than disposing a used paper bag. I do use care however: I hold onto the bottom of hinged cylinder door whenever I open it and ease it open. Then I slowly pour the dust and debris out, just so it's right above bottom of the trash bin, or just above whatever surface I'm pouring it onto. Then I'll give it a light shake to dislodge any caked on dust. By doing it this way the dust doesn't drop, hit the bottom of the bin, and form a big cloud. If you hold the cylinder above the trash bin, even a foot, and pop open the door, you WILL get a big cloud of dust after the debris drops and hits.
Just look at it as if you were dumping out a cup full of flour. If you put the lip of the cup near the floor, or surface, and slowly pour it out, there will hardly be any flying dust. If you take that cup and invert it at a distance of a foot or two above the floor or surface the impact will, of course, cause a ton of flour to fill the air.
The problem with removing a used bag from a vacuum is that the bag puffs up to its full degree, fully filling out the bag compartment, as air is sucked into and and out of it during vacuuming. When you take the bag out it's nearly impossible to do so without squeezing or collapsing the bag to some degree. It acts like a bellows, and it's amazing how much dust puffs out with just a minor squeeze. In fact, unless the bag is packed full of debris, it's unavoidable to collapse the portion of the bag that contains only air. I always get more than a good puff of dust despite being extra careful not to do so.
A few bag designs do exist that minimize this problem. I'm thinking about bags that have hard cardboard as a structural surface and a fold-over tab to close up the hole. An example are bags used by Electrolux uprights, and on canisters like the Eureka Mighty Mite. The squeezing/collapsing is minimized because you can grab the edges of the cardboard, pull the bag straight up or out, and close the tab. Because the cardboard is solid and does not collapse when you handle it, there's no bellows effect to blow out dust.
but yes it was some drywall dust) what interested me was that I used my dyson dc25 to vacuuum the rest of he room and not a hint of drywall dust on the filter at all.
