Your vacuum cleaner tirelessly works day in, day out, to keep your home sparkling. Yet, it too needs some care and attention to remain in peak condition, so that it will continue to serve you well for many years to come.
As with most maintenance tasks, the ‘little and often’ approach will prevent this becoming a daunting task. The steps that follow should help you to keep your vacuum cleaner at a professional standard and serve it as well as it serves you.
Firstly, the only place that should contain dirt on your vacuum cleaner is its dirt container! To safely begin maintenance, firstly unplug your appliance. Any other collections of material or foreign objects are best removed from the unit as soon as possible.
Next, follow this checklist:
- If you own an upright vacuum cleaner, begin at the base of the unit. Remove any threads or material trapped around the brushbar. If your unit allows further access to this area, lift the removable panel as per the User Guide instructions and check that no material is trapped anywhere in the base of the machine, including any fixed sections of hose in this area.
- For any style of vacuum cleaner, remove the flexible hose and check this for blockage. You may wish to simply shake the hose to see if any items/material fall through, but a smooth item such as a broom handle can carefully be pushed through the hose to free any stubborn obstruction. You may then wish to drop a small ball of paper through the hose to ensure it has been successfully cleared.
- Many bagless vacuum cleaners feature a dirt separator (characterised by many small drilled holes) inside of their dirt container. This area should be tapped or brushed to free trapped material, but should not be wetted or washed at any stage.
The last areas of your vacuum cleaner needing regular maintenance are the filters. Think of these as the lungs of your machine – the clearer they are, the better it ‘breathes’ and the fitter it is.
Check your vacuum cleaner’s User Guide to find the location of all the filters and use the following steps to help with your cleaning of them:
- Lift the filter from the unit and tap it over a bin to remove any loose surface material. Do not use brushes/scrapers as these can damage the filter material.
- Many vacuum cleaners have washable HEPA-style filters, built from an efficient, multi-layer material. Check your User Guide for guidance and if the filters are washable, rinse them in pure, lukewarm running water. Allow to naturally dry for at least 24 hours, or until completely dry. No soap or detergent should be used as this too can damage the filter material.
Finally, if your vacuum cleaner has a neat parking spot in the cupboard under the stairs, well done, because we’re not all that organised!
If your vacuum cleaner is on show, you may want it to sparkle on the outside too. It is recommended to use anti-static wipes, such as those used to clean TVs and computer screens, to clean the outside of your vacuum cleaner. This will not only remove any dust or grime, but it will also help to prevent it being attracted to the unit once it’s cleaned.
This is a particularly useful tip for upright vacuum cleaners, whose rotary brushbars can generate static charge on the bodywork of the unit, which in turn can attract dust.
All this information should help keep your vacuum clenaer in tip-top condition for a long time to come!
