What to look for when making a purchase.

This information is brought to you by Absolute Air Cleaners and Allergy Products Inc.

First, some quick history about vacuum cleaners!

The first vacuum cleaner was invented and Patented in the USA by Robert Taber in 1869. MR. Taber invented this wood and canvas hand pump controlled vacuum cleaner in his Chicago, Illinois home. He called it The Whirlwind.

The first electric motor-operated vacuum cleaner with a cloth dust filter bag with cleaning attachments was put on the market in 1908 by who else, The Hoover Company in New Berlin Ohio.

In the 1940’s HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters were invented to filter out radioactive dust particulate contaminants in bomb shelters during the atomic bomb tests. These filters were designed to capture particles down to 0.3 microns in size at efficiency ratings of 99.97%. This standard is still used to this day for HEPA vacuum cleaners and HEPA air cleaners for asbestos and lead abatement. However HEPA vacuum cleaners are now used everyday in homes and businesses to clean and remove household dust and allergens to improve the indoor air quality you breathe.

HEPA Vacuum cleaners come in two basic styles,

upright and canister. The upright HEPA vacuum stands by itself and is a single unit, some with or without an attachment hose to clean hard to reach areas with specialized vacuum tools. All upright vacuum cleaners tend to leak more dusty air back into the environment. Also since the rug beater bar is permanently attached to the case of the vacuum cleaner, the vacuum cleaner is almost worthless if the beater bar fails.

HEPA canister (Better Overall Choice) vacuum cleaners have a smaller mostly more powerful, compact designed case that will roll along and follow behind you as you vacuum the floor, carpet, furniture or upholstery. A long hose is attached to canister vacuum cleaners so you can reach those hard to get areas with the many vacuum tools that are available for them for easy cleaning of most any surface. The rug beaters, also known as power nozzles, are detachable from the canister type vacuum cleaner units. They are often much more powerful then the ones found on uprights. This is because they are powered by their own separate electric motor. If a power nozzle breaks down on a canister vacuum cleaner, the vacuum cleaner can still be used to clean many different kinds of surfaces while the power nozzle is being repaired or replaced.

Important Design Information:

There are different designs of HEPA canister vacuum cleaners available to you. The most common is a case made of plastic with a disposable paper dust collector bag to catch the dust from your home and into the vacuum cleaner. Be aware that many of these so-called HEPA vacuum cleaners can and do leak dusty air through air gaps in their UN-PRESSURIZED plastic cases and around the openings that surround the HEPA filter itself. The dirty air can then pass through the exhaust side of the vacuum cleaner and back into your indoor environment to breathe and react to! Another important fact to know is, both HEPA and non-HEPA vacuum cleaners pass the airflow from the vacuum cleaner tools being used and then into the unit. The dirty air is then passed into the dust containment bags located inside of the vacuum cleaner’s tank and then onward to the motor where the air is then forced out of the vacuum cleaner through the exhaust side of the vacuum cleaner.

The common problem is, when the dust bags containing the dirt become about one third full, the fine dust particles plug the pores of the paper dust collector bags. This restricts a tremendous amount of airflow to the motor, which will cause the vacuum cleaner to lose suction while putting a strain on the motor, reducing its life. This restriction of airflow to the motor can cut the cleaning ability of the vacuum cleaner up to 80%! That’s why most people end up replacing their costly, less than half full paper dust collector bags far too often. And their vacuum cleaners as well!

Important INFO On Water Filtered Vacuum Cleaners

There are 6 or 7 brands of vacuum cleaners on the market that use water to trap dust particles instead of a proper government certified HEPA filter. We have found these water vacuum cleaners to be inefficient, heavy and bulky. For years the companies that produced water filtered vacuum cleaners boasted how they were superior to HEPA vacuum cleaners and all others. This was until a few independent testing laboratories tested them with laser particle counters to prove that they leaked a whole lot of dust back into the air! Now some of these same companies are adding replaceable HEPA filters into the exhaust side of their water vacuums. This defeats the entire concept about water being a better filter and the dirty water vapor mixed with air blowing into the HEPA filters may promote mold and bacteria growth in the HEPA filter itself! Also water vacuum cleaners are heavy, bulky and it can be a real mess filling them with tap water and then dumping the moldy, smelly, dirty water from the units every time you operate them! Most water filtered vacuum cleaners offer chemical fragrances to add into the water to cover up the moldy odor they release into the air that your breathe while vacuuming. Many people with allergies or asthma will react to these chemicals! Also it is another added cost to operating these units on top of the cost of replacing the HEPA filters. We recommend that you stay away from water- filtered vacuum cleaners!

Vacuum Cleaners That Have Ultraviolet {UV-C} Lights In Them

The latest vacuum cleaner on the market with far-fetched claims is the HALO UV-ST, the HALO SV-UV and the HALO UVX upright vacuum cleaners. These HALO vacuum cleaners claim to be able to kill bacteria, flu virus, fleas, dust mites and even lice with an ultraviolet UV-C light that is mounted on the bottom of the vacuum cleaner. When we first saw this vacuum cleaner come onto the market, we thought right off that it would not perform as advertised. We went to the HALO factory website and saw all kinds of scientific facts about how UV-C lights were able to kill all kinds of bacteria, and viruses. However we also read this. QUOTE: “It is important to note that Halo vacuums will not kill all germs instantly. However, the research and data show that Halo vacuums will instantly kill the organisms exposed to its UV-C light.” In other words the Halo’s UV-C light cannot kill what the UV-C light can’t shine on, which is a very large amount of your carpeting! Then we saw a test done by the folks at Popular Mechanics Magazine in the February 2008 issue, where they tested the HALO vacuum cleaners for the ability to kill E Coli bacteria in a laboratory environment. As we guessed it flunked the test, as it was not able to kill all of the E Coli bacteria. The reason was simple! The ultraviolet light was not able to penetrate deep enough into the fiber of the carpeting. Plus the shadows made by the carpet lint itself shielded the carpeting from the UV-C light. So we are now shedding some light {pun} on the HALO vacuum cleaner to keep you informed. If other brands of vacuum cleaners with ultraviolet lights come out onto the market, we expect them to produce the same results when tested for the same reasons. It’s a cool concept, but one that is mostly all show and NO GO!

Hepa Filtered Vacuum Cleaners

What to look for when making a purchase.

This information is brought to you by Absolute Air Cleaners and Allergy Products Inc.

SOURCE: AirCleaners.Com

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