Vacuum cleaners are a great tool when it comes to cleaning floors, carpets, furniture, walls, and other flat surfaces throughout your home or apartment. With the right vacuum cleaner, you can get a lot of utility out of a single machine. But the most important part of maintenance is understanding the limitations of your vacuum cleaner. Using a vacuum against the way it was intended is one of the easiest ways to cause severe damage to the vacuum cleaner. It is important to understand what causes issues with vacuums, and most importantly, what shouldn’t be vacuumed. Of course, different vacuums have different abilities and resistances to damage. in this article, we want to provide some general rules about some items you should never vacuum up. We will also discuss what to do if these items are accidentally vacuumed, and how to handle damage to your vacuum cleaner. If you live in the Plymouth Massachusetts area and are interested in vacuum repair services, please give our team a call.
What Items Should Not Be Vacuumed?
Many different items should be avoided when cleaning. Here are a few of the most common:
- Glass: Broken glass is a common occurrence in homes and other properties. If a wine glass is dropped, or something is knocked off a shelf, it can be dangerous for your children and pets. You want to get the shards off the floor. But you shouldn’t use a vacuum as the glass can destroy the inside of the bag, hoses, or scratch the interior. The first thing you should do is sweep up the glass shards.
- Small Objects: Coins, screws, nails, paperclips, and other small objects frequently can find themselves loose on a floor. Like with shards of glass, it can be dangerous to have hard or sharp objects kicking around inside the vacuum. Punctures and scratches can happen quickly. You should always try to sweep up large objects with a broom and dustpan and use vacuums to clean up dirt and dust.
- Ash, Sawdust, Fine Dust: Depending on your vacuum you might want to avoid cleaning fine dust like sawdust, as it can clog air filters. Different vacuum filters are made for different types of cleaning projects. While most vacuums are designed for dust and dirt, fine dust can get stuck in filters and lead to overheating.
Can Vacuums Clean Up Wet Messes?
That depends on your vacuum cleaner. Many vacuum cleaners are actually not designed to handle wet messes. For that reason it is smart to use a paper towel to remove spills and dry the floor before the vacuum is used to clean it. That said, there are some vacuum cleaners create specifically for handling wet and dry messes. It is important to understand what type of vacuum you have.
How Do You Fix A Vacuum Cleaner?
When a vacuum cleaner is damaged either from general wear and tear or because something was vacuumed up that shouldn’t be you need to assess the damage to figure out how to fix the vacuum cleaner. If the issue is with a tangles or clogs, opening the vacuum and removing them will generally fix the problem. In some cases, you may need to replace parts of the vacuum like the bags, filters, or hoses. In other cases, you might need to replace the entire vacuum if the damage is extensive.
Vacuum Cleaner Repairs & Cleaning in Plymouth MA
Our team at Vacuum City provides new vacuums, parts, and repair services for people in the Plymouth County area. Whether you simply need replacement bags and hoses to fix your vacuum, need a hand with the repairs, or considering replacing the vacuum with a new model, we would be happy to help. Give us a call for more information.