With Bagless Vacuum Cleaners - do you empty the container after every use or when it gets full?

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hi-loswitch98

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Apr 29, 2013
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What do you do?

I always thought that it was essential to empty the dust container after every use but then again I haven't had much experience with Bagless Cleaners.

I guess it does depend on how the machine is designed & the capacity of the Dust Bin.

Thanks for any replies!
 
It depends on what you are looking for

Many bagless cleaners lose suction so quickly that it's more than advisory to empty it mid-use; it's often essential, as is cleaning the main filter. Of course, a good deal of consumers don't do that, or at the end of a cleaning session, they do it when it looks full, and quite frankly, I don't think they can be blamed as there has been very little to suggest otherwise.

A Dyson cleaner will of course go on & on until the tank is full, so it's not necessary to empty that until it's ready, and in fact on models where the dust could not be emptied from the bottom of the tank, it was a bit of a job to do and was probably best left for as long as possible anyway.
 
I think it depends on the kind of bagless cyclonic vac you have. Back in the day when I owned Dyson you could get away with going past the Max empty suggestive line but the older types depend on the filter design, particularly if you know in the back of your mind that you will have to attack the filter to be cleaned. It is one reason to why I prefer bagged vacs - there's very little to clean dependent on the brand you have.
 
I do as advised in the operating instructions, all my bagless cleaners say empty when the dirt reaches the MAX line but they all have decent cyclone systems. If I had one of those horriable pleated filter in the bin types I'd be emptying and tapping the filter after every use.

Dan
 
I'd say that it's all a matter of ...

<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">... personal preference.  When I use my bagless machines -- either one of my two Dysons (DC07 All Floors upright, DC11 Telescope cylinder), one of my two Electrolux Twinclean cylinders, or my Electrolux PowerSystem Z1720 upright -- I prefer to empty the bin thoroughly when I'm done cleaning.  And sometimes, I have to dump out the bin midway through the job when I'm doing a heavy clean!</span>


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">-- Bill W.  </span>
 
Its not just that though - if you have or own a cheap bagless cyclonic with a paper pleated filter you have to know in your mind what you're picking up that will clog easily and thus cut the suction. Doesn't matter if its a Hoover Jazz, Dust Manager or even a Bissell bagless - if it uses the old cyclonic filter cleaning principle after each use, its pointless to call it reliable. Not when you have to clean it out all of the time.

Dependent on the kind of dust you're picking up, some brands and their associated models can get away with different types of dust that doesn't necessarily clog up the filter quickly.

Yet again though, if your machine has a bag theres none of that extra bit of work.
 
Hoover Jazz & Dustmanager

just a heads up that the Hoover Jazz and Dust Manager use 2 different bagless systems. The DM uses a crappy low efficiency, direct filter cyclone in a dustbox that leaks. The Jazz uses a high efficiency, multiple dust seperation cyclone similar to (but not the same as) a Dyson or a Vax Mach. The Slalom, Freedom, Jazz and Turbo Power all use a high efficiency cyclone. The rest of Hoovers range uses the crappy filters. The cyclone isn't as efficient as a Dyson, but it's still 100% better than any of the cheaper cyclones. If anything, the Hoover Airvolution cyclone and the Vax Mach cyclones are more similar to the original Dyson Dual cyclone than anything else.

Back on topic, I don't own a bagless vacuum. I have had several Dysons over the years and always kept them for a few months and then sold them on. I've always preferred bags as I'm highly allergic to dust and therefore emptying a bagless vacuum usually sets off a sneezing, wheezing, itchy eye fit. The last Dyson I owned was a DC04 Absolute - I actually quite like the DC04's and if I was to own a Dyson for daily use, it would be one of these. I just emptied it when it was full - I didn't see any point in emptying it every time.

turbo500++5-27-2013-06-37-41.jpg
 
Indeed the only way a bagless is effective in picking up dirt is when the bin is emptied after each use, which is why a bagged is much more convenient.

It is actually a huge step BACKWARDS for vacuum cleaners, as they used to have to be emptied after each use when the "shake-out" bags were still in use in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s then paper bags were fitted and made things a lot easier.

Bagless has just brought us back to those days of unhygienic messy empting all the time.
 
I should probably add that my previous statement was in relation to cheaper (more common) bagless machines such as the Dust Manager and similar.

More advanced cyclones can be left for a while before emptying but are still much higher maintenance than bagged.

Of course in some applications a bagless machine is better and I do actually own one (though it never comes within 6 feet of another cleaner and has more dust on the outside than in the bin) so I'm not totally biasted towards bagged, I just prefer them.
 
Indeed the only way a bagless is effective is when the bin i

Sorry Jamie, but I disagree entirely. If you use a bagless cleaner with a high efficiency, multi-cyclonic system, you shouldn't need to empty the cleaner after each use and you should only need to wash the filters every few months. 3-6 months, depending on use and what you've been cleaning up.

It's these type of cyclones that need emptying and cleaning after each use with the pleated HEPA filters actually in the dust bin and no dust seperation system. The Dyson cyclone works by seperating dust particles, with larger particles being spun out of the air first in the bottom of the cyclone, the air passing through the different cyclones as it does, the particles get smaller and smaller, so only very very fine dust ever reaches the filer. Whereas on these, all the dust and dirt is coming into direct contact with the filters, meaning they require more maintenance.

turbo500++5-27-2013-06-45-14.jpg
 
Bagless has just brought us back to those days of unhygienic

well, not entirely. These is a significant difference between tipping a plastic bin full of dust into the trash or shaking out a cloth bag. The cloth bag is porous and so will retain dust particles, despite how many times you shake it (oooo-errrr Mrs!). Plastic isn't, so the dust will just slide out with minimum retention.
 
With the Dust Manager Upright though the dirt enters just below the filter so it shouldn't need emptying after each use or am I wrong.
 
the dirt enters just below the filter

That doesn't really make any difference, to be honest. The suction is still coming through the filter above, so more dirt and dust is coming into contact with the filters than on the Jazz or other multi-cyclonic cleaner. The DM is also one of the most notorious cleaners for leaking dust into the bag chamber (or box chamber) and motor. It's amazing how many dust managers you see covered in dust and burnt out at the tip. They've been on sale for far too long now, it's about time Hoover scrapped them in favour of the Jazz, Turbo Power and Globe
 

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