With the many varieties of vacuum cleaners out there, it is easy to get confused. Here are 7 of the most common mistakes you should avoid when buying a vacuum cleaner. Too noisy: Many people associate the best vacuum cleaner with the power of the vacuum but forget to check the noise level. Unfortunately, some vacuums can be deafeningly loud. If you live in an apartment complex, chances are your neighbors will start to complain especially if you vacuum late at night or early in the morning. Thankfully, some vacuums are near-silent. One example is the Electrolux UltraSilencer EL6986A Vacuum Cleaner. It has a 65 dBA noise level, is lightweight and can clean hard floor plus low-pile carpet areas. Not suited for allergies: If you are sensitive to dust, pollen and other common allergens, you need a vacuum cleaner that contains a HEPA filter. These filters are certified able to remove 99.97% of all particles less than 0.3 microns, which covers most of the common allergens you can think of.

One such vacuum cleaner is the HEPA certified Shark Navigator NV356E Vacuum Cleaner. It comes with Anti-Allergen Complete Seal technology, and is a lightweight vacuum with a portable extra-large capacity canister. Too heavy:If you have a large home and you have a heavy vacuum cleaner that is cumbersome to move around, you will not be very happy. In general, it is better to get lightweight vacuums that still have decent suction. For example, the Soniclean Galaxy 1150 Vacuum Cleaner weighs 12 pounds, yet has a strong 1150 watt specific variable speed motor. It also has rubber wheels and a handy automatic cord rewind. Difficult to vacuum stairs: If you have stairs at home, a canister vacuum is your best bet. Canister vacuums tend to be rather versatile. For example, with the Eureka AirExcel Canister Vacuum, 990A, you can simply carry the canister on your back as you vacuum - this works wonders when you are trying to vacuum stairs. Not able to remove pet hair: If you have pets at home, you will need a vacuum cleaner that can remove pet hair.

Pet hair can cause some vacuums to get stuck easily. Try a vacuum like the Bissell Handheld Vacuum 33A1, which has a specialized rubber nozzle that can attract hair. It also pulls out annoying dirt from stairs and upholstery. Forces you to bend: If you have a back problem, you will want to avoid vacuums that force you to bend too much. Upright vacuums avoid this problem altogether with their design. A lightweight upright vacuum such as the Dirt Devil UD20015 Vacuum Cleaner would be your best bet.best vacuum cleaner wattage Not suited for carpeted or hard floors: Many of the basic vacuums may be suited for carpeted but not hard floors, or vice versa. vacuum cleaner price kenyaSome people resort to buying two vacuums to deal with this problem, but there are in fact vacuums that work well on both types of floors. laptop cooling fan has stopped working

One example is the Soniclean GU520-HH Galaxy Vacuum Cleaner, which has separate modes for cleaning carpet and hard floors Vacuum Vacuum Cleaner Cleaning Tips Home Hacks Cleaning HacksThe robots are coming. Every week, it seems, announcements hail a coming era of personal robots: machines that will ingratiate themselves into our homes by liberating us from despised chores like folding fitted sheets.Vacuuming is one of those chores. And for that, help is already here in the Roomba by iRobot.More than 10 years ago, I bought the first-generation version of the Roomba, intrigued by the algorithm that sent it scooting automatically around the room, entertaining my cat along the way. commercial duct cleaning costBut the vacuum didn’t clean very well, and when the battery no longer held a charge, the expensive cat toy found its way down to the basement where I imagine it still sits.couch cleaning service cape town

The latest Roomba, the 880, will probably not share that fate. The machine, which has the same hockey-puck profile of the earliest Roombas, not only cleans floors as well as an upright or canister vacuum cleaner, it may actually do a superior job on pet hair.The algorithm still sends the robot careening around a room in what seems like a random pattern. When it comes across a bit of dirt, the little machine focuses on the spot, twirling around in a spiral until it licks the problem.best cordless vacuum cleaner for stairs A little spinning brush under the Roomba whisks the dirt into two rotors that never seem to get tangled with hair and string, unlike many of the most expensive vacuum cleaners. No bristles on the rotors.) The machine signals when the dirt bin is full, and when I was alerted I found a large clump of cat hair and dirt inside. The Roomba emits a pleasant hum, not the high-pitched whine of most vacuums.

Aside from it gently thumping into table legs and walls, you get used to it working in the background as you go about more important tasks. And like the previous generations of Roombas, you don’t need to worry about it crashing down stairs. Sensors stop it from going over the edge.The machine comes with two pillars that block off portions of the room that you don’t want cleaned. The pillars shoot off an infrared beam that acts as a fence, maybe to wall off a precious vase or the pet bowls on the floor.In my experience, the Roomba never grabbed carpet tassels, which can’t be said of many regular vacuum cleaners I’ve tried. (The iRobot engineers added what they call “anti-tassel mode,” by making the rotors momentarily go in reverse if it detects a cord or carpet fringe.) And at 3.6 inches high, the machine can slip under most furniture, a chore that with a regular vacuum cleaner would force you to bend and twist.It’s also easy to schedule the robot, so the machine can work every day without you raising a finger.

You can see the house getting cleaner. Every day there is less debris in the bin so you know it is working. The robot returns by itself to its recharging station when it runs low on power. It docks itself, beeps out a little salute and prepares itself for its next bout of cleaning.But you may want to know, how does it do as a cat toy? I suppose results may vary, but in a test of four temperamental cats and one dog that is frightened of its own shadow, let alone vacuum cleaners with tubes and hoses, we got unanimous approval. The dog ignored it. The cats were intrigued and spent hours watching it, though they didn’t ride around on it like the cat in the YouTube video wearing a shark costume.(There is an entire Tumblr page devoted to cats riding Roombas if you care to verify the Roomba’s usefulness as a cat toy. ) If the Roomba is at the vanguard of the robot army that will take over our lives by folding our clothes and cooking and serving us dinner, well then I say, bring them on.

It made my life a lot easier.IRobot makes other consumer robots, like a new floor scrubbing device, the Scooba, and one that cleans roof gutters of leaves and debris, the Looj. (It also makes some scary robots for the military.) IRobot also does something that I rarely see in consumer electronics today, and certainly not in a Dyson, a machine honored for its great design: You can easily take apart its products and replace modules that fail. You can even replace the Roomba’s battery, which iRobot says is good for about three years. But this robot is not yet perfect. The 880 has a remote control so I can focus the Roomba’s attention if necessary — sometimes it gets a mite confused — but the vacuum lacks a connection to the Internet so I can’t schedule it via a mobile device from the office. (I can control my thermostat that way, why shouldn’t I be able to manage my robots?)And here is the real downside to our little robot friend: its $700 price tag. When a Dyson costs $400 or $500, that seems a little steep.

(An older model, the Roomba 630, sells for $350.)I’d have to go through considerable financial contortions to justify the purchase. But when it comes to finding ways to avoid housework, I can be pretty flexible.Here is my thinking: The Roomba saves me a half-hour of vacuuming every other day. That’s about two hours a week, 52 times a year. If I value my time at $15 an hour, the Roomba saves me $1,560 a year.Slam dunk for this wonderful machine. On second thought, I’d still have to own another vacuum cleaner and use it on occasion to clean tight corners, the stairs, couches and chairs, and the spots between the furniture that the Roomba can’t reach. And to really have a work-free life with robot vacuum cleaners, I’d ideally have one for every floor. So my outlay could be at least $1,400, making my timesaving investment far less appealing.But oh, did I enjoy the extra free time that the Roomba provided. And the truth is, when I used the Roomba every day, very few dust bunnies accumulated in corners.