vacuum cleaners

[quietann]

I have been using a vacuum cleaner a lot in the past couple of days. We have two. The first belonged to Ben's paternal grandmother, and according to a friend whose geek obsession is vacuum cleaners, it dates from the 1920s. It was refurbished in the 1970s. It's a very simple canister with a powerful motor and a built-in fabric bag for whatever it sucks up. And it sucks up almost everything up to 3/4 inch in diameter with no complaints.

The second is a fancy new one that Ben bought after we got some new carpet. It has all kinds of attachments, a filter, etc. -- but is completely useless for most tasks. It can't deal with hair (a problem, given 2 long-haired people and lots of furry pets), or particles larger than about 1/10 inch. The beater bar gets clogged regularly, and the path to the dirt chamber is twisty and turny and gets clogged very easily. It is clearly a vacuum cleaner designed for cleaning an already-clean house. Worthless IMHO.

Comments

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I'm really intrigued by the Dyson Vacuum Cleaners and am likely to get the Animal Hair/Pet version of it. Heck, it's purple, why not?

Of course, it's also nearly $500. That's why not now.

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

Whuffle and I have similar issues with vacuum cleaners. They never seem to actually pick anything up. I think we'd do better to just roll up the carpets and beat them senseless over an exterior railing.