So in Today’s Guide we are going to cover 7 tips for picking the perfect vacuum for your apartment or condo.

5 Tips for the perfect vacuum for your apartment –

1. DEEP CLEANER

When I lived in an apartment my wife and I had a Bissell vacuum that was a gift when we were married. It cleaned the dirt off the top of the carpet but not much more. Here I was dealing a high end vacuum’s every day and my frugal wife would not get rid of that Bissell until “it no longer runs”. So one day I had a customer who lived near me and had ordered a E2 Eseries Rainbow vacuum. I agreed I would take it home from work and they could pick it up from me. While I was waiting for them I decided to test it one more time. So I let the canister run but the power nozzle was not running so just straight suction. I left the room for a few minutes and came back to turn it off. I was shocked to see a ½ inch of sand and dirt in the bottom of the Rainbow. I could not believe it, it had not even moved and the brushroll was not spinning. Two things came to me at that moment. One that Rainbow vacuum was a great deep cleaner and Two that was other people’s dirt. So first thing I suggest is a good deep cleaner. This will also help with allergies as well.

2. WORKS GOOD ON CARPET AND HARD FLOOR SURFACES

There is a very good chance you will use it to vacuum carpet, hardwood, tile, throw rugs and more. So make sure that it can clean all those surfaces and well. Many vacuums claim to be able to vacuum hardwood surfaces but fail miserably. The key to that is they must have good suction in the middle of the head and I also like to see a good floor tool. For example Dyson advertises their model works good on hard floor surfaces but we have had lots of customers have issues with that because the suction tube is on one side of the head so the other side of the head did not clean very well. However if your Dyson vacuum has a good floor tool then it would work fine.

3. HEPA FILTRATION

HEPA filtration is basically the best filtration there is for a vacuum. Make sure its real HEPA filtration. To qualify for HEPA filtration you have to be able to filter down to .3 microns (very very small). I wrote another article on this but make sure it’s a high end vacuum so the dirt doesn’t hit the HEPA filter backtrack through the tubing and blow out through non sealed areas (disposable vacuums at the big box store are famous for this) but almost all high end vacuums with HEPA contain the dirt and allow clean air to come out the other side. The reason I think you should have HEPA fliltration besides Allergy reduction is because apartments are small and when you vacuum your not going to want to blow dirt around in the air.

4. DURABLE

Think ahead. The day will probably come where you will be in your own house (think bigger) and that same great vacuum could work in both homes. Usually when you move into a house you don’t have money to drop on a nice vacuum so this vacuum might have to last for both. So most disposable vacuums sold at the big box stores last 2 to 5 years on average. I would say the average lifespan on a well taken care of Kirby vacuum, Rainbow vacuum, Tristar Vacuum, or Filter Queen vacuum can be 25 plus years. We see 30 to 40 year old models of those running perfect all the time. A leading consumer magazine ranked Kirby vacuums the most durable upright and Rainbow vacuums the most durable canister (see March 2009 Consumer Reports Magazine).

5. LIGHTWEIGHT, ON BOARD TOOLS AND EASY STORAGE

OK this is actually 3 tips in one but they all relate. In a apartment or condo storage space is very important so make sure it stores well and is easy to use. For example under most bed’s a Kirby, Proteam, Electrolux/Aerus, or Oreck would fold down and store. A Dyson (except for the Dyson Slim) or canister vacuum probably would not fit. If the vacuum comes with lots of tools and parts that must be stored off the vacuum consider where you would put them. The Kirby vacuum falls into this category. However the Kirby also has a tool caddy with screw holes where it could mount on the wall in a closet up and out of the way.

I hope that helps and steers you in the right direction on the perfect vacuum for you. At GreatVacs.com we have sold over 20,000 vacuums and know a lot about them so if you have any further questions please email us at service@greatvacs.com If you tell us about your situation we would be glad to make some recommendations as well.

Thanks,

Dustin, Chaffin

GreatVacs.com, Manager

SERVICE@GREATVACS.COM