The GoVacuum Blog

Rechargeable hand held vacuum cleaners can be very handy. From cleaning out your car, to vacuuming hard to reach places, to quick pick-ups in the kitchen, cordless hand vacuum cleaners are extremely useful. One of the most popular hand vac’s has been Dirt Devil’s Kone, and Kurv models. Half piece of art, and half hand vac, these machines are a popular item here at GoVacuum, especially during the Christmas season.

In Consumer Reports’ annual vacuum cleaner ratings edition they tested different widely available hand vac models, including the Kone. In their report they discovered a “safety hazard” with some of the Kone models.

The specific Dirt Devil Kone models in question are the M0213, and the M0212 models. The problem, however, seems to be narrowed down to only the older L series machines. The problem is apparently because of an undersized filter adapter that has caused the machine to expel sand particles out of the exhaust port. The new “J” series models have a better sealing filter adapter and are not having this problem. “L” Series models are identifiable by the Plant code on the back of the machine.

Although no injuries have been caused by this problem, particles as big as sand being expelled from the vacuum cleaner should be a cause for concern, especially for those suffering from breathing issues such as allergies and asthma. Sand particles can be as large as 100 microns in size compared to dust mites and their droppings at 10.0 microns, or pollen particles at 10-30 microns, which are both highly explosive triggers for people with allergies and asthma.

In response to the Consumer Report’s test, Dirt Devil is giving customers who purchased the L series a free filter adapter. Customers can call Dirt Devil directly at 1-800-321-1134 in order to receive your free filter adapter.

One thing must be made clear to our readers. Rarely, dare I say never, do we agree with Consumer Reports’ view on vacuums. For years, their top rated vacuums have been some of the worst in the industry but “ironically” are vacuums sold exclusively to Big Box stores like K-Mart (Kenmore). (Corporate collusion anyone?) Our goal in discussing this specific Consumer Reports’ piece is to make sure that our customers get the free filter they deserve, so make sure to give Dirt Devil a call.

Further, we’ve made active attempts both online and in our retail stores to educate consumers on their vacuum purchases.

In addition to the Dirt Devil Kone, GoVacuum recommends the Filter Stream V2510, the only hand vacuum to have a sealed, HEPA certified filter. This Filter Stream Dirt Tamer is Wet/Dry and comes with a strong warranty for a hand vac, with a 2 Year parts and labor warranty.

- Chris Jones, Operations Manager

With the incidence of asthma increasing a lot of people are worried about the quality of the air inside their home.

Air pollutants are everywhere now either drifting in from outside the home or coming from within. External pollutants range from natural pollens to man made pollutants such as vehicle fumes or pesticides. Internal pollutants include dust mites, fumes from heating or cooking and even low level fumes from chemicals used to preserve and protect new furniture and clothing.

Removing these pollutants from the home is sometimes difficult, particularly when there are weather extremes. Having a wide open home with doors and windows open can help; they can however aggravate problems if pollen is one of the allergens.

Buying an air filter may be one of the options to consider. These units are capable of removing almost all of the air pollutants in the home depending on the type of filter purchased. HEPA filters will remove as much as 99.97% of airborne pollutants at 0.3 microns or larger.

Air filters can sit in a corner and do their job quietly and efficiently with many capable of cleaning all the air in a room once every 10 minutes. This is generally sufficient to remove all airborne pollutants leaving the air clean and fresh for most people suffering from air borne allergens.

GoVacuum.com has a series of articles that go further in to the subject of Indoor Air Quality and Air Purifying Buying Guide. These articles should answer most of your questions. If you do have more questions then contact us for more information. We have a wide variety of air purifiers on sale so check out our range at GoVacuum.com.

So small you can hardly see them, members of the arachnid or spider family, the mighty dust mite is one of those amazing little creatures. Viewed through a microscope, the look like they belong in outer space.

But they are not found in outer space, they are found wherever soft furnishings are found. Your bed, only 10000 of the little mites there. Your lounge suite, carpets and even in you curtains.

Humans have a fear, some verging on paranoia, about the common dust mite. Yet they are harmless. They don’t bite, sting or even transmit diseases. Yes, public enemy number one is totally harmless.

If they are harmless, why the constant talk about removing them? The dust mite is harmless, it is what they leave behind that causes the problems. Dust mites excrete up to 20 tiny little pellets of fecal matter each and every day. Multiply that by 10000 in your bed and you 200 000 little pellets floating around. These pellets contain a protein that many people are allergic to.

Allergies to this protein range from very mild through to very severe. The only way to control the situation is by reducing the number of dust mites and, more importantly, reducing those pellets.

Basic regular laundering of all bedding helps along with good protection for your mattresses and pillows. Air filters can help remove many of these allergens. Regular vacuum cleaning with a quality vacuum cleaner and HEPA filter can be extremely effective as well.

The dust mite isn’t public enemy number one - but what it leaves behind should be.

The world of science and technology is taking a hold in the vacuum industry with smarter vacuums being introduced all the time. The latest is the use of ultra violet to kill micro-organisms from bedding mattresses, carpets, curtains and furnishings.

Individuals suffering from allergens will welcome the introduction of this technology. Using UV-C, the vacuum extracts all the visible (and not so visible) material and whilst exposing the surface to concentrated rays. Exposure to UV-C kills up to 99.9% of all micro-organisms including dust mites.

Dust mites live predominantly in mattresses and carpets and when you consider that up to 70% of your home is carpeted, that is a lot of space for these mites to live and breed in.  In addition, our bed mattresses is where we spend as much as eight hours a night on and the thought of battling an army of those pests is quite daunting!
There are two new weapons in the fight against dust mites and other micro-organisms:

The Halo Ultraviolet Vacuum Cleaner and the
Earlex RayCop - Mattress Vacuum Cleaner With Micro-Organism Killing UV Light

With spring just around the corner and dust mites sharpening their teeth, its time for those with allergies to start thinking about keeping the air inside their homes clean. There are several ways you can do this. One way is to use canister vacuums.

A canister vacuum usually comes equipped with an allergen filter to filter out those undesirable air pollens that get in the way of healthy breathing.

When it comes to canister vacuum cleaners, the one that is right for you is dependent on several factors. They come with several features and your choices are pretty diverse. You can get a basic canister system with few bells and whistles or opt for something much more advanced like the SEBO Air Belt C3.1. We recommend you check out our canister vacuum chart and do some research to find out what consumers and vacuum experts have to say about the brands you are interested in.

In the latest issue of Wired Magazine, Scott Taves went on a search for the cleanest clean he could attain (he sounds as anal as me). He tested a slew of air cleaners and found his favorite to be the IQAir Healthpro Plus (also my favorite!). It’s not the prettiest or the fanciest, but damn if it doesn’t get the job done right. As he mentioned, it was used in hospitals in Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak, and effectively squashes any hypochondriac tendencies (at least while you’re sitting in the comfort of your own so-fresh-and-so-pure home). Yay. Now, if I could just squish my procrastination tendencies and get some damn work done.

Who knew cat vacuuming was so popular? Certainly not me. I thought Peter’s question would be a rare one, but some people have practically made a sport out of it! Check out the YouTube video below; you can also watch the video on YouTube’s site, and check out other cat vacuuming videos while you’re there. (Yes, there are more.)

I would like to get a small vacuum to use on the cat. I have used my big vacuum with a long hose and a soft brush on the end on the cat and that was acceptable to the cat so I would like to get a small QUIET hand held one that wouldn’t freak the cat out. I tried a Shark? one that was advertised as quiet but it was everything except quiet! Obviously I only need one with fairly low suction, don’t want the cat stuck to it.. /Peter

Dear Peter,

Well, believe it or not, you probably already found the best handheld vacuum for your needs. There are a few quieter ones, but they are also somehow much stronger, and would probably only serve to anger your cat. As an alternative, I recommend something that is sort of an in-between option: the Sanitaire SC3683A. It’s not a full-sized vacuum, and is meant more for quick and easy kitchen clean-ups, in the car, etc. That means it won’t be as loud as a full-sized beast, nor will it be as strong. It has a very light touch, especially when used with the brush attachment. Plus, since it has a longer hose than comes with most standard uprights, you can place the machine on the ground away from the cat and bring just the hose and brush attachment near. That’s gotta be way less intimidating than even a small and quiet handvac (the loud motor is that much further away) and less suction and noise than a full-sized vacuum. Especially useful is the variable suction control — if kitty starts complaining, you can just turn it down a notch and keep cleaning. After you’re done, it’s actually useful as a regular vacuum for cleaning around the house, around the litter box, in the garage, in your cat’s car, etc. I hope that helps! Let me know how it goes with Princess.

And for the other readers out there who don’t believe Peter is actually vacuuming his cat, Peter was kind enough to send us a link to a video of Princess being vacuumed. Enjoy!

We just got our shipment of Blueair AirPods in, and I’m way more excited than I should be about something as boring as an air purifier. They’re way cute and they’ve even managed to coax out a girly squeal or two. They make me want to decorate and clean at the same time. Anyway, they’re useful too (of course) — they make breathing in an otherwise stale and musty environment (I work in the warehouse, where all the vacuums are) more pleasant, and I bet they’ll make sleeping easier too. I’ll take it home and let you know. They’re kinda like smoothies — supposedly healthy and good for me, but fun! Also, I was happy to discover (as you may be) that it’s the filters themselves that are the decorated part — those waves and paisley-designs and stuff are what you replace every 4 months. So, if you get bored of the blue wave, you’re not married to it. Dump it and move on to another scheme. Maybe Blueair will come out with some new designs as well, to keep up with the times?

Cheesy photos below. Humans provided for scale.

So we’ve decided to debut a new cleaning/vacuum advice column here at GoVacuum. It’s going to be creatively named (dramatic pause) … Ask GoVacuum! Ta-da! We’ll be answering reader questions and generally making sense of our vast messy physical world. Shoot any questions over to ShaliniGoVacuum@gmail.com. Now, on to our first question:

Why won’t my Shark HEPA vacuum roller spin on it’s own any more? The last time this happened we fixed it by getting rid of all the people hair that had twisted around the roller, which was at the time keeping it from spinning. Now, it only spins for a few seconds after I flick it into action. Currently, there is no obstruction, on the roller or the little spinner thing that seems to move the roller. The hose seems to suck just fine now that we’ve cleared the giant hairball/ plastic bag combo that one of my old roommates left for me to find.

The machine makes no ungodly noises; I have also not done any upkeep for this machine besides banging out the filter with each use (which I know is counterintuitive with my allergies). It’s clearly time to order another Shark brand filter from the internet, but I have to wait for a paycheck on that one.

Because we’ve lived in this apartment with cats for almost 2 months without using the vacuum, I’d like to take care of this.

- Frustrated and Sneezy

Dear F&S,

Thanks for writing in! Unfortunately, I don’t have much good news for you. It sounds like your roller is actually busted and you’re going to have to replace it. I say that because you’ve mentioned that you’ve already cleaned it out thoroughly (and that it has worked well in the past after a cleaning) and that it does spin for a few seconds when you first turn it on (which means the belt is on and probably working).

Normally in the case of a busted roller brush, I’d recommend you either 1) purchase a new one and replace the roller yourself (if you, like me, are the tinkering-type) or 2) take it into your local vacuum repair shop and just have them take care of it for you. However, in this case, you’re probably not going to have any luck with either of those options. It seems Shark parts are getting harder and harder to come by lately, and vacuum specialty stores around the nation (including us) are having trouble reliably maintaining them in stock. So, we recommend you call Shark directly and see what they can do for you. Their customer service number is 1-800-798-7395. I hope that helps!