Purchasing Vacuum Cleaners

The two most salient questions to consider when purchasing a vacuum cleaner are whether it is easy to handle and move around with easily and whether it can actually do away with dirt and dust from all areas of your home.

Deciding on the household-vacuum cleaner to buy for your home means thinking about other factors other than what the Vacuum cleaner is meant to do. The surfaces you will be vacuuming are factors you should consider, how much time you have for vacuuming, and how your home is arranged.

The process of Testing Vacuum cleaners.

The Good Housekeeping Cleaning Lab tests all kinds of vacuum cleaners, these include stick vacs, HEPA vacuums, handheld vacuums, robot vacuums, canister vacuums, and other more. We focus on major factors like how they remove simulated pet hair spread evenly on the carpet’s surface and dirt embedded into pile carpet. We also consider how the household vacuums remove small and large debris from hard floorings like linoleum, hardwood, or tile, also how much suction they draw at the tools and how perfectly the clean along edges.

The tests we conduct are under the basis of ASTM standard test techniques the industry recommends and all household-vacuum cleaners are tested in exactly the same ways to ensure equal reliability reports on all models. The Ease-of-use testing includes evaluating the ease of moving around with it, the running time or battery duration for cordless vacuum cleaners, the ease of using its controls, the ease of emptying and cleaning the dust cap or even changing the dust bag and finding out the total weight of the vacuum cleaner.

Some testers rate the vacuum cleaners’ ease of move by operating it on a bare carpet and floor, under furniture, and around corners. They also rate the ease of removing and cleaning the dust bag or cup, and the ease of controlling the vacuum cleaner via its buttons or control module. We take note and test features like battery level indicator, brush roll control button, and other accessories.

Do you require a HEPA filter?

The High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter vacuums are a perfect technique for trapping even the most microscopic particles like pet dander, dust mites or pollen, this means that they are crucial to have if your family has individuals who are allergic.

However, having a HEPA filter is not sufficient. For the best approach against allergens, a vacuum cleaner is mandated to be “sealed,” meaning no air will escape from crevices and cracks and everything else that may pass through the HEPA filter. You should check the box or visit the manufacturer’s website to know whether the vacuum cleaner you are thinking of purchasing is sealed. It’s important to know that HEPA-like and HEPA-type filters do not trap microscopic particles like the true HEPA filters.