If your home has carpets, most likely you have a vacuum cleaner to use, but how does it work? Sometimes understanding how things work will help us to analyze problems that may occur when it breaks down. The vacuum cleaner is no different.
A vacuum works by building air pressure and sucking air up through the front and out the end filter. The older models, the bag style vacuum cleaners, use a motor attached to a fan with curved blades. As the fan rotates, it pushes air out of the end filters. The fan pushes air from the front of the vacuum to the back, causing suction.
In most cases, vacuum cleaners will have a front end where an opening exists that you can push along the carpet. The rotating fan creates a semi suction-like effect that allows it to suck up not only air, but dirt and particles in whatever surface it is placed on. The air is pushed into a bag that will catch the particles, but not the air. The bag itself acts as a filter and entraps the particles inside while the air is free to escape through tiny holes in the bag.
There are also canister vacuum cleaners that work in almost the same way. With canister vacuum cleaners there are filters in the rear of the vacuum and a canister in front to collect all the debris. As the vacuum cleaner sucks up air, it deposits dirt into the canisters and the dirt is prevented from going anywhere due to the filters. This replaces old bag vacuums where you constantly have to buy new bags as they need replacement, which is every time the bag becomes full. The canisters vacuums allow you to remove the canister to clean it out and reuse it.
There are a number of reasons why a vacuum cleaner looses suction power or doesn’t seem to work as properly as it did when someone bought it. One reason is the filter system. If filters are clogged, less air can be pushed through, which means the vacuum loses suction power. This can happened in both bag and canister vacuums as they both work using various filter systems. For example, a new bag in a vacuum will let the air run through rather well but as the bag gets full of dirt and dust, the bag filter becomes dirty. The lining in the bag is then covered with dirt and that makes it harder for air to pass through.
Like other household appliances, there have been many types of vacuum cleaners and as technology improves, we may see improved versions of the vacuum cleaner. Most vacuum cleaners come with a number of attachments for reaching high or out of reach places. In some cases filters can be replaced with ones that are scented to make the clean air being pushed back into the room less stale. As improvements are made, new models will become even more efficient. If you have carpeting in your home then you understand why having a vacuum cleaner in your house is so important.
