It's the second week of January, I'll continue my discussion on vacuuming. The 4th week of December post covered vacuuming the kitchen floor and the 1st week of January post covered techniques for vacuuming carpet and choosing the right vac for your home. Today, I'll type about why it's so important and what it is you need to vacuum up.
There is much that's obvious about why to vacuum. Having a clean looking floor means you can think about other things. There is much that cannot be seen without magnification that needs to be eliminated from your living space so good technique is a must. Vacuum cleaners are rated by the volume of air they can move in 1 minute. HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters are most efficient at 150 cubic feet of air per minute or better and as you recall from last week, the whole reason for the vacuum cleaner is to draw particle laden air through a filter. HEPA filters with adequate air flow trap particles down to .3 microns in size with 99.97% efficiency which covers most air pollutants.
Particle size ranges
From .3 to 1 micron - most bacteria, droplet nuclei (sneeze), cooking oil, most smoke, insecticide dust, face powder, paint pigment.
From 1 to 3 microns - humidifier mist droplets, lead dust, milled flour, some auto emission particles, nebulizer drops
From 3 to 10 microns - mold spores, dust mite body parts and droppings, cat and dog dander (dried saliva from grooming themselves), hair spray, fabric protector, dusting aids (don't bother with these products, Pledge etc are a waste of time and money and have bad chemicals in them, I'll go over dusting at a later date)
Greater than 10 microns - pollen, dust mites, cockroach body parts and droppings, sanding dust, spray paint dust, textile and carpet fibers
Some of these air pollutants are generated inside your home. Some come in your home on your shoes and clothes. They all get kicked up and travel through the air on larger particles of dust so they tend to settle. If you think your air purifiers are getting them, you may need to rethink. An air purifier has to be pretty powerful to circulate the air quickly enough to get them out of the air before they sink. I'm not saying air purifiers are a bad thing, just be realistic about what they can do. If you have a cluttery house, the air is not circulating. The best way to get the pollutants out of your home is to vacuum them up.
Just so you know, some of the things smaller than a HEPA filter can capture are viruses, carbon dust (comes from cutting, grinding or sanding composite materials like in a machine shop), sea salt, combustion smoke (car exhaust) and fine dust from auto tires wearing down on the road. Most of these are so small they can be difficult, even impossible for our lungs to clear out if we breathe them in. If you live on a busy road, I suggest you do not open the windows facing the road during and shortly after the heavy traffic times. You could put a fan in those windows to blow air out. Definitely, my darlings, do not let this pollutant laden air inside.
There are a lot of bagless vacuums out there and I'm not wholly opposed to them, though I prefer to change a bag knowing I'm putting in a clean filter. I've not been overly impressed with the bagless machines I have used as they have not been easy to clean out, the dirt gets into narrow places in the machine and I'm not convinced the filtration systems are that sound. They also tend to be heavy, bulky and difficult to get around furniture. I use an Oreck which is lightweight, has powerful suction and fits under most couches and chairs with legs and it fits between most end table legs. I have used one Dyson vac at a clients' home several years ago. I actually found the suction too much for the area rugs this family had. The suction actually pulled the carpet up into the machine but it would have been suitable for wall to wall carpeting. I found it to be heavy and unwieldy. That said, it was an early version and I wasn't able to use it enough to determine how well it cleaned. I was impressed with how solid the machine seemed and look forward to test driving more Dysons and talking to someone who can tell me how efficient this new filtration design is. If you have a bagless vacuum because changing a bag was inconvenient for you, I hope you are maintaining it. You absolutely must take care of your tools. It's reckless, irresponsible and self defeating to not maintain your machine. I'm starting to preach instead of teach so I'll quit for now.
Next week, I will go into the gory details of dust mites, bed bugs, spiders and how to get rid of them. Be well, my darlings and show your vacuum some love.
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