Review Of Bagless Vacuum Cleaners

Bagless or Bags?

Before you hear the arguments, you should learn some facts about the allergens in your home. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, over 50 million Americans suffer from allergies. Twenty million suffer from asthma.

What causes allergies? Some allergies are topical (things touching your skin), but the majority are perennial allergic rhinitis or nasal allergies. You inhale the offending particle (allergen) through your nose. It goes to your lungs, and you experience an allergic reaction. Typical allergens come from dust mites, pet dander, and pollen.

If you think keeping indoors is safe, you’re mistaken! Most of our homes are filled with allergens that cause allergies and asthma attacks. To minimize the allergens, bagless vacuum fans say to stop using vacuums that require bags. Others say that bagless vacuums only re-release allergens.

Vacuuming Dust Mites & Pet Dander

We all have dust mites. They have adapted to live on every continent except for Antarctica. You can’t see them. They are smaller than dot of an i on this page. Their feces are even smaller.

They are currently living in your bed, your upholstered furniture, and your carpet. They love warm places. Spend a lot of time in your cloth computer chair? They are crawling under you right now. They can live up to four months, and each female can lay 100 eggs in her lifetime! They are eyeless, nose-less, 8-legged creatures that feed on the human skin we shed. Every day, you shed enough skin to feed a million dust mites. They do nothing but eat, reproduce, and produce dust mite feces, which is a common allergen. If you’re one of the millions who suffer from allergies or asthma, the dust mites are probably affecting your health. It’s impossible to rid your home completely of dust mites, but there are measures you can take, and your current vacuum might even be adding to your dust mite problem instead of helping!

Just because you have dogs or cats and don’t sneeze or get a rash doesn’t mean you’re not affected by pet dander. Fifteen to thirty percent of people who have any allergy are also allergic to pets. In many cases the reactions are very mild such as a runny nose or an itchy throat. It’s not the pet hair that bothers people; it’s the dander (shed skin) often clinging to pet hair. Pollen and other outdoor allergens are brought into our home through open windows, our shoes, our clothing, and pet feet.

There are things you can do to minimize allergens in your home. You should cover mattress in a zippered, plastic allergy cover. You can control the humidity in your home to make it less of a hospitable environment for dust mites. You can brush your animals often (outside) to minimize falling hair and dander. You can use air conditioning instead of opening windows to keep more outdoor allergens outdoors. Above all, you should vacuum, vacuum, and vacuum some more! Here’s where the debate begins!

The Bagless Vacuum Cleaner Debate

Relying on an expensive HEPA filter in your vacuum? You might still have problems.

According to the European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, some of the newest vacuums with HEPA filters often didn’t even get the mites from the carpet, and then they released air just as dirty as ten-year old vacuums did. Apparently the mites and particles bypassed the filter. Worse, changing the bag produced a big cloud of dust full of offending particles. While vacuuming, the suction leads the dust mites, dirt, and other particles into the bag.

The bag fills up with air and particles, and the bag then filters the air out, supposedly keeping all of the bad stuff in the bag and letting out clean air. The filtered bags don’t always work, and air can escape through the bag connection, releasing mite feces and other allergens through the vacuum exhaust. Dust mites can also jump out of the bag while the vacuum is sitting in your closet. These are the main reasons advocates of newer vacuums give for going bagless.

So Do Bagless Vacuum Cleaners Help?

Before you jump on the bagless bandwagon, you should be aware that most bagless vacuums didn’t perform much better. The suction wasn’t great and the exhaust released was bad on several, and emptying the container released a lot of the allergens back into the air to be inhaled by allergy sufferers.

If you or someone in your home suffers from allergies, you should be aware that vacuuming does help control allergens in carpet, upholstery, and mattresses. However, during the act of vacuuming, these allergens are disturbed and more likely to be inhaled. If the allergy sufferer is the person vacuuming, he or she should wear an allergy mask and try to leave the house for a few hours after vacuuming if possible. If the allergy sufferer does not vacuum, she or he should not be in the house during or immediately after vacuuming.

The key to getting the dust mites out of the carpet (and beds and upholstery), is superior suction and a sealed compartment or bag with a very good filter and close attachment.

Dyson vacuum cleaners are the only recommended bagless vacuum for allergy sufferers. Dyson explains that the suction is superior because it creates a mini-centrifuge in the collection container that successfully separates the allergens from the air. Its exhaust is exceptionally clean. The container is fully sealed until it is placed into the trash (which should be done outside). If you use a vacuum with bags, you should go for powerful suction to get as many allergens as possible out of the carpet. You should then use quality, several-layered, filtered bags. Bags that are self-sealing are preferable. As soon as you disconnect the bag, it is sealed for clean disposal. Oreck and several other brands offer self-sealing bags. If you use bags, you should empty them as often as possible – after every use is preferable, but at least when the bag is half to two-thirds full.

As you can see, the bagless vacuum cleaner debate will continue.