Actually, the vacuum really didn't suck at all. It was just too clogged to do much of anything.
We bought it at a tag sale this weekend for $5.00 mainly because Jim was tired of shlepping my Oreck (which I love) back and forth with him every weekend. I thought we could get by this way but it seems that Biscuit's hair makes once a week vacuuming impossible. Despite the hardwood floors, the broom is just no match for the hair of a yellow lab mix.
I discovered the clog while taking the hose off to vacuum the edges of the room. The pile of sand that fell out of it was the first clue anything was amiss. We upended the vacuum and a ton more sand and lint fell out. I wish things came out of the hose that easily but that task took the better part of an hour using a broom handle and a wire snake to clear things out. We opted to do the job outside to keep the indoor mess to a minimum.
It turned out that the entire length of hose was clogged, as was pretty much any other cavity that could be. We took every part we could off and just kept cleaning until we could find nothing else to clean. Then we cautiously plugged it in and hoped for the best. It actually worked really well. Despite our sweeping earlier in the day, we were still able to fill up the dust cup with Biscuit hair. We emptied it immediately to avoid the same problem twice.
In the end, the vacuum really did suck, but in a good way. The moral of the story is, when buying a used vacuum, check for clogs first.
4 comments:
Katie -
We rescued our vac from the dumpster when we were first married. Never in the last three years have we had a clog, and since we got Mr. Bit we've had 3! We found brushing him with a furminator brush (any brush would probably help, but this one is excellent) once a week has saved us a lot of hassel (and vacuum cleaner bags). You might try a dust mop, as my mom used one on her wood floors with three dogs and it helped a lot. I also brush the carpet with my furminator brush before I vacuum. It seems to help a lot. :)
Ruthie
I'm intrigued by the furminator brush. We have a regular dog brush and a shedding tool but he still sheds like crazy. I met woman who swore yellow labs shed more than other other dog and I'm inclined to agree.
I never thought of a dust mop. I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid in the 70's. Thanks for the ideas.
If you are able to remove the vacuum hose entirely (from both ends), it's much easier to clean with a hose. Then just leave it to dry for a couple of hours.
I don't know if I believe that labs are the worst shedders. We used to have a husky and that guy killed our vacuum cleaner after a few years!
Chile,
We did remove the hose completely. I honestly don't think we could have cleared the clogs without doing that. Just envisioning a Husky shedding makes me thankful I only have a hairy lab. Thanks for making me feel like he's not the worst shedder in the world!
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