What's Gone Wrong With My ... Vacuum Cleaner
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 11, 1999
It's possible to spend up to $700 on a vacuum cleaner, yet it still breaks down or loses suction within what seems like an obscenely short period of ownership. Why does your vacuum continuously break down? Do they all break down as often and what can be done to prevent it from happening?
The motor in a vacuum is behind the bag and powers a fan, which creates the suction. The circulating air, responsible for the suction of a vacuum, is generated behind the bag but also moves through it. In turn, the bag that collects the dust and dirt has a dual function, acting as both a catcher for the dust and a filter.
John Hardy, the managing director of Godfrey's, says if a vacuum cleaner is not working properly, it is usually a result of the machine not being serviced regularly, misuse (for example, sucking up water and spills), or the bag not being emptied or changed regularly. "Most people only read the instruction book if something goes wrong," he says, adding that most standard vacuums are designed to have a lifetime of 600 hours if they are serviced (the motor and fan cleaned thoroughly and a new bag inserted) every two years and the bag is cleaned or replaced by the owner regularly.
Because the bag in a vacuum acts as a filter as well as a catcher, it will become clogged and impregnated with dust if it is not changed regularly, resulting in the air being unable to circulate through the bag to pick the dust up off your carpet.
While the bag acts as a filter, it obviously does not stop all dust particles slipping through. If a vacuum cleaner is not serviced regularly, the fan and motor will become clogged with dust.
There will obviously be other reasons why the vacuum is not working. Hardy says he's seen vacuums come in with screwdrivers and tools jammed in the hose, polystyrene balls in the bag and, just last week, one came in with an expensive pair of French underwear stuck in the hose ("One can only wonder how they got there," says Hardy). So the moral of this story is that if you look after your vacuum, it will look after you. n
© 1999 The Sunday Age
