flemmings: (Default)
flemmings ([personal profile] flemmings) wrote2017-04-29 08:37 pm

Further techno-fail

Was vacuuming the upstairs and wondering why the upstairs Dirt Devil picks up so much more dust than the downstairs Dirt Devil. The downstairs one, bought in 2011, sucks at sucking; I think I messed up its inner alignment once while cleaning the upper chambers, where dirt isn't supposed to go but did. Have often considered putting it out on the sidewalk for someone who wants a semi-functional vacuum cleaner.

Then went to empty the canister of its admirable/ appalling load of dust. (Really, if dust is made from skin cells, I wonder I have any epidermis left.) And on the side, in white print I had never noticed before, was a box with an arrow and the legend: 'To maintain peak performance empty dirt cup and clean filter after every use.' Filter? Oh, this button here that says 'Press to access filter'? I press. Inside there's a filter on a piece of plastic sponge. Who'da thought? And the one downstairs? Same filter, completely clogged with dirt. So I take it out, and on the side of it these words appear: 'For best performance change filter every six months'. Six months, not years- even for someone as lackadaisical about vacuuming as I am.

So now I have two functional Dirt Devils, go me.

(The 'clean filter after every use' message is absent from the downstairs unit. Obviously the company got tired of the mechanically challenged complaining about their 'defective' vacuums that wouldn't clean any more, and demanding refunds.)
incandescens: (Default)

[personal profile] incandescens 2017-04-30 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
I have occasionally been rather surprised (or even horrified) when changing the filter on my vacuum cleaner. Where does the dust come from, I want to know.

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2017-04-30 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
It can't all be shed cells. I'm sure some comes through windows and cracks.