Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Hello Mike:

I defer to your superior knowledge and experience over the collective vacuum industry guidance and teaching of the past. 

But please to eliminate any doubt I might harbor that you may be wrong, share the tests/measures you use/perform before and after bag washing to make your above statement. And even to conclude and recommend that hand washing these old cloths is just fine and poses no degradation/risks to vacuum performance and operation.  

Feel free to cite here any other authoritative source on the matter to validate your opinion.

Carmine D.

Hello Mike:

Water causes the pores to open up.  Guess what happens then?  Small holes!    And the small holes get larger.  I'm sure you/others noticed cloth bags with holes.  Even cloth bags that appear vibrant with alot of useful life remaining.  Whenever I saw a good looking cloth bag with some pin holes, I'd ask the user:  Did you ever use water to clean.  I always knew the answer.

Carmine D. 

Silly and absurd of you Mike to use this as an argument to support your view?  Why?  I can argue in the reverse and say you can't show us a vacuum maker who said you can use water to clean the old cloths. 

Carmine D.

MH:

I got a rude awakening recently.  Why?  I read the water quality report issued by my local Nevada authorities on the composition of the substances naturally occuring and/or added in our drinking water and their quantities. 

Chlorine [I think this is a substance that qualifies as a bleach which Mike says deteriorates bag cloth] is one of the many chemicals that is added to Nevada water to control and inhibit the natural occurrance of microbes.  BTW, Webster defines chlorine as a poisonous gas used to purify water and to make bleaching chemicals and powder.

In any event, there is no doubt why I don't need to be told: Don't Use Water.  I don't drink it from the tap/filter.  I bathe/swim in it only.

Carmine D.

Silly me  I now know why after a years washing I get holes in my socks.

Oddly all that chlorine in the water does not bleach white clothes.  I can't understand why additional bleach is needed to achive proper results since it is already in the water.

After pondering a while your argument doesn't hold water.  I suppose your argument has been soaking in the bleach too long.

Howdy Mike,

No, that's not where I get my information.  It was the first available example.  There are a number of home care books I read during those days that didn't promote the idea of washing vacuum bags either.  The feeling being that many were chemically treated or made in a fashion that washing in water might undo .   And, in answer to your question -- nowhere did it say "Wash"?  The argument works both ways.  To my mind, if a manufacturer specifically gives instruction to shake out or brush off a cloth bag and does not make mention of washing -- you don't wash it.  It's a common sense call.

Who wants to clean their shake-out vacuum bag?  Obviously people who wanted to keep the vacuum.  You are also talking of a time when vacuums were expected to last.  Most people were aware that if you wanted something around for a while, you took care of it.  The task wasn't pleasant but neither was diaper washing -- also a common practice at the time.

Having lived during the time when tank-type and canister vacuums with cloth bags were bountiful and having used them, the usual idea was to shake out the bag well to keep the vacuum running at its best.  No, most folks did not empty their vacuums after every use.  But, when you did, you laid newspaper on the floor, placed the open end of bag on it and held down the ring and shook out the bag.  You got more paper or moved the bag to a new spot on the paper and shook it out again.  This process was repeated until, if not any all, at least a minimal amount of dust appeared on the paper when you lifted the bag away.  And the larger part of vacuums I saw, many purchased before I was born,  fared well enough.  This was also the usual method for wide-mouthed Hoover upright bags.  As well, I actually knew someone who would set her Hoover upright out on her back steps when she thought the bag needed a good cleaning. She'd undo the clip at the top and lay the still atttached bag flat, then turn the vacuum on and pat the bag until it was blown clean.  Canisters and tanks could also be set outside and the hose, attached to the blower port could be use to blow their dust bags clean as well.

In any event, we're spared all that now as everything is disposable -- including the vacuum cleaner.

Venson

Hello Venson:

Common sense is very uncommon. 

Carmine D.

You let me down.  I thought for sure you [of all persons] would call me on my coffee drinking!  You're losing your touch.

BTW, did you ever filter your morning brewed coffee using your socks?  Even after washing in water?

Carmine D.

Hi Venson:

You, like me, remember these days well.  Generally, the woman of the house set aside one day a week for a specific household chore.  Like washing clothes, by hand, on Monday.  Baking bread/desserts on Tuesday.  Oven cleaning on Wednesday.  Housecleaning on Thursday.  Grocery shopping which included a visit to the butcher on Friday, and so on.  Vacuuming was not a daily task.  Emptying the bag after each use was not as uncommon as it may sound in today's terms. 

My grandmother, her soul rest in peace, had a straight suction Eureka upright from 1915 with all the attachments.  When she instructed the family members to vacuum, it always included a PS: Don't forget to empty the bag.  And she demonstrated the instructions you so eloquently cited/sited.  Tho, she was no higher than 5 foot, all obeyed.  I recently donated that vacuum away, still in original working condition with the same cloth bag [never washed even by hand].  I was forced several years back to replace the cord.  The inner wiring insulation dried out.

Carmine D.

Hi Venson:

Smart person.  Some vacuum repairers used a similar method to undue dust packs in the Convertible HOOVER-s.  A quick and dirty way to clear blockages in the bag tube which inevitably occurred due to gravity.  Remove the paper, turn the vacuum away, turn on and run a clothes hanger through the tube.  Then reinstall a new bag and carry on.  [Of course there was usually a dust pack in the motor housing but this needed disassembly to correct.]

Carmine D.