Cleaning Tips
Bag Vacuum or Bagless?
Recent vacuum ads have been cleverly convincing consumers that they never have to buy a vacuum bag again. Unfortunately, as usual, it's too good to be true–unless you're willing to sacrifice the efficiency of your vacuum and the air quality in your home. Here's why:
Leaky Seams
Bagless vacuums leak at the seals and seams, spewing millions of fine dust particles (bacteria, viruses, allergens and more) to settle throughout your house. So instead of getting rid of dust and dirt, like a bagged vacuum, it only relocates it. You'll even notice dust collecting on your hard surfaces much sooner than it usually would.
One of the claims made by bagless manufacturers is that these vacuums are appropriate for allergy sufferers because of their HEPA filter. Remember this: the air that leaks out hasn't gone through the HEPA filter, so you are not really getting the HEPA filtration you thought you were and the fine dust particles (bacteria, viruses, allergens and more) are now floating about your head. Does this really sound like a great vacuum for allergy sufferers?
Dusty Bin
When emptying the dust bin on bagless vacuums, there's a thick “dust cloud” that billows around your head as you empty it into a trash bin. This releases a lot of the dust (bacteria, viruses, allergens and more) and dirt that you just worked hard to vacuum up.
Demanding Filters
Bagless vacuums need at least two filters to catch all the fine dust particles that flow through the vacuum. If these are not regularly cleaned (after every use) and replaced twice a year, your vacuum will spew dirtier air into your home than a bagged vacuum with a torn bag ever would.
Also consider that, over time, the cost of replacing filters in a bagless vacuum will far exceed the cost of replacing bags in a bagged vacuum.
Next time you're looking for a new vacuum, reconsider those bagless options. For the $400 to $700 that some manufacturers are asking you to pay for bagless, you can breathe easier and have a cleaner home with a high quality bagged machine.