Shop-Vac for *inside* the house?

Carpet is gross. Not ever changing your socks gross.

Another nice thing about Dyson is they are serviceable. My g/f's Animal had a cracked hose. She was able to find online vendors and how-to articles to pretty much rebuild the whole machine for a lot less than she expected.

That said, I have to admit that when she bought her Dyson it was a quantum leap better than anything else on the market. However, the market has caught up quite a bit. I've seen similar bag-less vacs for ~$100 or so that I might try when I decide to dump my 20+ year old Eureka.

I banned carpet from the new crib because 1) daughter's asthma 2) I frikkin' HATE carpet anyway. I have a dustmop like you see in school hallways and on a whim I bought a dinky little $20.00 3-in-1 Bissell:

http://www.bissell.com/3-in-1-vac/

This little thing does a helluva good job on bare floors but I would not want to use it on carpet. I also have a Eureka bagless, but I don't think it's been used more than three times since I got the little one.

mtn wrote:

EastCoastMojo wrote: One of the tests that Dyson recommends is that you vacuum your house with your old vac, then vacuum over the same area (carpet of course) with the Dyson and see how much more it will pull out of that carpet. It will gross you out.

To be fair, if you do this with any vacuum, then take that same vacuum and completely clean it and change the filter and everything, you will get similar results.

yup... it's just a vac sales tactic... I could take a 35$ walmart vac after you spent hours with your dyson and freak you out about how disgusting your house is...

slefain wrote:

mtn wrote:

EastCoastMojo wrote: One of the tests that Dyson recommends is that you vacuum your house with your old vac, then vacuum over the same area (carpet of course) with the Dyson and see how much more it will pull out of that carpet. It will gross you out.

To be fair, if you do this with any vacuum, then take that same vacuum and completely clean it and change the filter and everything, you will get similar results.

Want to be even more disgusted? Pull up your carpet and see what is under it. After yanking the carpet out of a house I was renovating I swore I'd never have carpet again. My 50 year old house has old school (not urethane treated) wood floors with tile in the bathroom and vinyl floor in the kitchen.

while I was in MI I worked for my grandpa who had about 200 rental units... we pulled the carpet out of an house built around the turn of the century... In a closet under the carpet it had a news paper from the 20's... I still have the news paper

but yes whats under carpet is nasty... you should see the water after you go in an "steam clean" a house with a good truck mount HWE carpet machine... but you can get a similar feel with even one of those cheap ones at the super market.

I spent some time as a carpet cleaning professional... ;-)

at some of the various meet ups they tested all sorts of vacs ranging from the $50 wal-mart bissll (SP?) up to the 1000$ commercial vacs...

dyson is has awesome suck and rarely clogged up because of the design... but it never came close to winning... just because it has great suction doesn't mean it can clean anything.

when it comes to carpet the beater bar is what kicks the dirt to the surface... only then does the suction come into play... so if you can get a beater bar type head setup on a shop vac you would have awesomeness

anyway check the setup of your vac... raise the beater bar as high as you can and start the machine, lower it untill you hear a change in the sound (when the beater starts hitting the carpet)... most people set their beater bar to low and it doesn't work as well as it could like that.

as for the carpet/hard flooring argument when it comes to asthma... 2 ways of looking at it... one is that getting rid of it is the best option (as shown above)... the other way is that it filters and keeps a lot of the crap in the floor instead of floating in the air... regular vacuuming and cleaning will keep it that way for many years.

my son was in the hospital for a week at 4 months old because of severe asthma... I'll keep my carpet... but then again i still have commercial carpet cleaning equipment at my disposal and I hate living in a house with hard floors...

If your sucking up stuff that looks like dryer lint to that degree your carpet is dry rotting and aged out. Basically, after a point the carpet has gotta go. If this is impractical, get it steamed (Stanley or the like) before attempting next.

I used to sell vacuum cleaners for sears (years back).

Dyson, Work well, washable filters. I hate all the plastic and the fitment of them leaves a ton to be desired.

Bissel, made a knockoff of the dyson tech that was cheaper and I liked much better. Didnt rattle and was tight, unlike the dysons. This is what I got.

Bags have their place. Yes, it stinks replacing bags, they are inconvienient. They also never loose suction as the limiting element is replaced when you replace the bag.

All that said, if I have my way I will never have wall to wall carpeting again. Only thing I would consider is area rugs that I can take outside and pressure wash a few times a year. I have hardwood/laminate right now and it is awesome. Dust mopping is easy and fast and much less hassle than vacuuming. Wet mop every now and then and you have a wonderfuly clean home. Cold floors? Just wear slippers or flipflops. Seriously.

my fiance has a dyson, I never would have spent that much (or let her spend that much) on a vaccuum, but she had it before I moved in. we have 2 cats and 2 dogs and it eats hair for breakfast. Its very hard to clog and when it finally does clog its very easy to clean, just pull the foam disc thing and rinse it off and let it air dry before using again. its super easy to empty... its got as much suction as my 2 hp shop vac brand shop vac. Well, nearly as much. plenty for use in the house. I've been lazy and used it to suck up a few pounds of spilled kitty litter and it just eats it up.

I don't really see how you could be killing these things... personally I'd spend a few hundred on new carpet before I'd spend a few thousand dollars on an expensive vaccuum... if indeed the carpet is the problem, which I'm guessing it is. hair alone shouldn't clog a vacuum like that but long strands of thread still attached to the carpet definitely will.

My daughter's allergist said the best thing that could be done for her is to put down hardwood and it would also help with her eczema. When she goes to visit her mom (with wall to wall carpet) for a few days, she comes back with eczema outbreaks on her feet and has a kind of clogged sound. Two days in my house, she's breathing normally and her feet are mostly cleared up. She doesn't have a problem at my house even though Binky the Wonder Cat insists on napping on her bed while she studies, etc.

When my daughter was first diagnosed with eczema and asthma we asked the allergist about carpet cleaning etc and he said that helps but is not 100% because there's just no way to get everything out. The carpet pad can also mold but it's not visible on the surface, so rather than take a chance I went with hardwood and ceramic tile.

Vacuum? I think you're going about this all wrong...

I have three dogs and three cats in a house built in 1915. I love the shop vac. I think I gave Sears $50 for it five years ago. When I vacuum the floors, it looks like an instructional video explanation of black holes, and the event horizon.

I don't know about carpet, but on wood, it's great.

Mike wrote: When I vacuum the floors, it looks like an instructional video explanation of black holes, and the event horizon.

Hold on. I'm still contemplating this last part....