Thursday, March 11, 2010

We Have Suction

A while back I noticed that my vacuum cleaner didn't seem to be picking things up the way I thought it should, the way it used to.  It still seemed to be picking up an entire cat in every room, but the hose just didn't seem to have any suction like before.  And, every once in a while, it would simply shut itself off, and I couldn't turn it back on for an hour or two.  Not good!

I looked for the owner's manual, which I still haven't found, to see if there was anything in there to help me fix it.  Finally, I had my husband look at it - because that's what husbands are for, after all.  He found the filters, which were very, very dirty.  Of course, once he showed me where they were, they were really obvious, and even well marked - but I had never gotten down and really looked.  Apparently, the cell mass of all the dust and dirt had exceeded the capacity of the filters, and they desperately needed cleaned, so I hosed them down in the kitchen sink and let them dry.  And when I put them back in and used the vacuum cleaner the next time?  Suction! 

My vacuum cleaner works properly again, and if you're having the same problems with yours, check the filters.  It's very important to clean the filters on a regular basis - unless you're looking for an excuse not to vacuum.