Im pretty sure you're referring to a star screwdriver - star heads are what Miele use to screw things in - that can't be undone by the owner unless they have the specified tool/driver.
Also if you have new carpets or just a carpet that evidently hasn't been properly cleaned, you will be liable to fill up dust bags. It's a sad fact of life and one I can't stand being a bagged vacuum fan. However, having a bagless upright on standby (and they're pretty cheap in the U.S compared to the poor economy we now have in the UK) is handier!
Hi vacmanuk,
I'm going to have to check that out. I've looked at the aluminum screw heads on my power nozzle and you might be right, better yet I may even have a small set in the house. Still, even though the torx screws do allow for putting a "seal" of sorts on the inner workings of a pricey vac that I wouldn't want just anyone messing around with, I don't think life needs to be made quite that complicated for something as small as I experienced.
First thing I noted when I brought my Tango S7 upright home was that the instructions indicated that a coin could be used to undo the two locking screws holding the little cover at the back of the machine in place if you needed to remove it to clear clogs. Stuff like that is my idea of simple.
Since the age of ten, if some obviously minor problem arose with a vacuum in the house, I simply went to our kitchen's odds-and-ends drawer and pulled out a screwdriver for either Phillips-head or slotted screws -- sometimes a plain old table knife did the trick just as well -- and voila, the problems was solved. I'm talking not to be sneezed at Hoovers, Eurekas, Electroluxes, Rainbows you name it and simple things I managed.
I have common sense enough to know what I can fix and what I should leave for better trained hands However, my Capricorn and the Miele Tango I had to leave behind both leave you wondering how to get them apart. The performance and design of either is wonderful I but dread the day a belt replacement or some other small repair is required that I should easily be able to do myself but can't due to difficulty of access. An air of mystery did a lot for Garbo but doesn't do a thing for a vacuum cleaner.
As for bags, I'm still groaning and moaning over the price of a package of high-filtration bags but thoroughly enjoy that dust disposal is neat and easy and, from what I can tell, the bags do their job. I do confess here that, getting past the three year mark by now, I have yet to replace the HEPA. But, just the other day I took it out of the machine and it and the bag chamber are quite clean. To be on the safe side, I did go over the HEPA with a hanheld just in case there might be some minute quantity of "schmutz" on it and put it back.
This message was modified Oct 30, 2011 by Venson
