I am haveing problems getting litter out of my hi lo carpets what vacuum will do me a good job old & or new .. I have tried all my cleaners, Electrolux 1205 .Automatic G. ,& L Filter Queen, Kirby dual 80, Eureka Commerical Electrolux commerical C B Sanitronic 8 most of them do a fair job but dont really get it up. Any Suggestions will be welcome thanks

Hi Lee, it's my personal opinion that nothing deep cleans carpets like a Sanitaire, or a good old Eureka ESP with the 6-amp motor and Vibra-Groomer I or II. They're the old-school built uprights and the above mentioned agitators really vibrate the hell out of the carpet and should bounce the litter right out of your carpet! Vac shops and even the discount stores now have high filtration F&G bags now to keep down odors and possible litter dust. Good luck!

I have a Eureka Commerical That uses the F& G bags Model#
C2904 A but is does not to too good a job either .. What else should I try?

I agree with Rick on the Eureka with a vibra-groomer brushroll. I have two cats and their litter boxes are in the second floor laundry room, (a southern thing I am told that we have our laundry rooms on the second floor), and they track a small to fair amount of litter around.

I have used all my Luxes and Kirbys. Some of the older Hoovers, i.e.: 150, 64, 68, 69 have done well as has my Concept One.

However, the Eureka upright 2074, (early to mid 1970's), with a vibra groomer II, consistently does the best and ties with my Air-Way Signature Series. On the Eureka, I use F & G bags made by EnviroCare. They are micro filtration and work great. The Air-Way still uses the 14 layer wood pulp cellulose, (no longer available but as a dealer I have an inventory for my own use), which is the best filtration available.

Other things to consider: is the height too low? If so, it will "push" the litter along instead of pulling it into the vacuum. Kirbys are notorius for this.

Are you belts and brushrolls in good shape? Is the bag reasonably empty?

I know some people that use a canister with just a rug tool to pick up the larger clay pieces and then go over it with a power nozzle for the finer, sandy like pieces.

Hope this may help a bit. Keep us notified!

I thought she was over in Dallas, at some of the Snob Clubs !!She has lots o Tails ...Ha Ha

Try a Royal with the double-brush with stiffeners,especially their 10 amp. models.You will be ASTONISHED at its power.

Try a Royal with the double-brush with stiffeners,especially their 10 amp. models.You will be ASTONISHED at its power.

your sculpted carpet may simply be breaking the suction too much. a higher-amp Eureka is just about as good as it gets. perhaps a 5 or 6amp Royal with the brushroll that has the bristles set in a steep chevron? with the brushroll mounted as if for *worn* bristles. or a Hoover Concept?

The Royal you are speaking of is this one of the metal uprights? C U are Texas 2 what town?

I can't speak for the other David,but I am talking about the metal Royals,they need to be at least the 6 amp.,but the 10 amp.one ,with double-row stiffenerd brushes is best.In test after test,I've found it to outclean even the Sanitaire.Funny,the old 3 amp.Royals with the single row brush are just the opposite,they have no real cleaning oompf except on flat carpets.

i imagine the ball-bearing spiral-bristled agitator might get into the nooks and crannies of the sculpted carpet better? i am in San Antonio.

The 10 amp Royal uprights are beastly. One of the most powerfull vacuums I have ever used, they roar pretty losdly too.

Beastly, just like you, Reggie.

Such a beast Thanks to you all !

that is what my aunt wanted to replace her old royal tank with so i bought her one about 6 mo ago.. the maid liked it so well she took it home with her .. Have not seen either since.. Was sick for about a week I wanted"go after her butt" but auntie is a live a let live type and would not hear of it.... Ill get you my dear any our Royal too..

I would have gone after her anyway. Nobody steals vacuums from me.

During my very-short-lived stint as a vacuum cleaner service technician at a shop here in Los Angeles, two customers still stand out as the most amazingly stupid people I have ever seen.

First, and most topically: One day a man brought in a Eureka Bravo and said it was not picking up anymore and was "making a funny smell when it runs."

The shop owner brought the machine back to the Service Department and one of the guys laid into it. He removed the bag chamber cover and OH MY GAWD this horrible stench filled the shop!

Holding his nose with the fingers of one hand and carrying the machine with the other hand, he beat a hasty retreat out the back door with all of us following behind him. He stood the machine on the parking lot pavement, pulled off the bag that was so full at the bottom it was like a solid mass, tore it open and looked inside.

{{{*EWWWWWGGGGGGG*!!!}}}

The bag was full of KITTY LITTER.

Not CLEAN kitty litter.

USED -- very used -- and very rancid -- kitty litter.

Even outdoors the odor was overpowering. Our eyes were burning and noses were running.

The serviceman very gingerly wrapped the bag inside a heavy duty garbage bag and taped it closed - to show the customer in case he had any arguments. (They had a lot of experience at that shop with kooks.) He would not bring the Eureka back inside but left it sitting by the back door. "I can only HOPE some dumm mudder-fudder steals it!" he said.

The shop owner called the man and asked if he could stop back by. The man came back later and the owner told him his sweeper was outside in the parking lot by the back door where he could get it if he wanted it, and then showed him the plastic garbage bag, and then told him what was in it.

The man was very confused, concerned and angry. He "simply could not imagine" how this could have happened, and was hinting that he still wanted to ge a replacement machine under warranty.

Fat chance buddy! The man left a couple days later muttering he was going to go buy a Dirt Devil.

Good riddance!

A couple days later the man came back with a very sheepish look on his face. When he had gotten back home he had grilled his family about the vacuum cleaner. His 12-year-old STOOPID son finally admitted he had used the sweeper to make quick work of his least-favorite chore: cleaning the cat box. Yep. He just vacuumed the entire contents into the vacuum cleaner and then "forgot about it."

It stood in the cleaning closet for several days until the man's wife went to use it and detected "the strange smell" (Good Lord, what could have been wrong with HER nose?!) and that it would not pick up.

The man said he wanted a new Bravo, and his son would be paying for it out of his allowance.

-------

Another time, same store, a customer came in and said her Eureka Bravo (what was it with these machines?!) wasn't picking up and was making a "burning smell."

The owner brought it back and one of the guys took a look at it. He peered up into the agitator roller and saw a little white thing -- what looked like a little piece of gauze -- sticking out. He pulled at it with his fingers but could not get it free. So he removed the agitator and tried to stick his fingers up inside the motor housing. He still could not get the cloth out.

So one piece at a time he disassembled the machine, getting closer and closer to the motor. Finally he got up into the motor housing and began pulling and untwisting something. Looking like a magician doing the "never-ending scarf" trick, he kept pulling this white gauzy fabric out of the machine until it was free. He shook it out and held it aloft for all to see:

It was a pair of super-duper mammoth-plus-size nurses' white PANTYHOSE!!!

The owner picked up the pantyhose and, dangling it off the end of his finger, took it out to the counter and showed it to the customer. He said, "THAT is why your machine stopped working. Someone sucked up this up into it. Maybe they ran the vacuum under the bed or something?"

The lady became VERY irate and started shouting. "What kind of MF BS is this? I ain't got no pantyshose like dat (maybe not -- if anything, she would have required a pair several sizes larger if you get my drift!") The owner said, "Well, ma'am, I don't know what to tell you, but this was what we found when we checked out the machine. The serviceman had to completely take it apart to get to the, um, hosery. The service charge will be [X amount - whatever it was, I don't remember now] dollars. Will that be cash or charge?"

She hollered "What kinda MF scam you runnin? That be a brand new MF vac and it ain't workin no mo and you just don't want to respect the warranteee! I'll SOO you if you don't give me a new one at no charge!"

The owner very calmly said, "Ma'am, you can sue all you want. Meanwhile, you will please take your vacuum, leave my store, and don't ever come back here again."

With a harrumph and one last profanity mumbled under her breath, she snatched up her repaired Bravo and waddled out of the store.

It most likely would not have done any good any way as by the time we figured out what had happened I am sure it was vacuuming hotel rooms in mexico. Get my drift>>> Its really
strange during the past 10 years she has had 3 different latino men help her with the yard and general paint and maint. not any of them ever took a thing.. She has 3 latina housekeepers and all have helped themselves to anything they could get>> Please, everyone dont think bad of me as I mean do disrespect for anyone I am just saying what happened to my aunt.

Not prepared for the truth in many cases. I very early on worked at a place where we sold mainly used vacuum cleaners. I told Jeff Parker this sotry years ago when I was in my teens and starting in the buisness...and I'm sure it's happened before to others.

I had sold a lady a rebuilt FilterQueen model 31X, and gave her a fair deal on it. She picked it up on A Saturday afternoon after she had made her last payment on it as we offered in store terms to certain persons who needed it.

Anyhew....she picked up her gleaming brown Queen..and left while saying..I'm gonna giv' dis tang a run fo it's mon-nah. She couldn't have said it better, and hollywood could never film a scene as grand and as perfect as what was to happen.

Monday fairly early, she bursts thru our front door very PO'd....waddlin her Super Capacity Whirlpool washbasket of a midsection up to the counter, where she dropped the machine on the floor and said to Corey my manager...as I kinda looked on in horror....as she flicked out her index finger towards me...

You guy there just sol me dis GD thang, and it wont be pickin up no mo'. I be tryin in in different plugup's and all and it not pickin up fluff . I wan mah money's back.

Well Corey being a failry coolheaded guy askes me to come over, and lug in the thing and figure out what is going on. So I drag it to the showroom floor a few feet from where she was standin with her hands fisted on her "bellyhipathighs", and says to me..It dont work I's tol you. I just wants my moneys bak.

Well I turned it on and there was NO suction and the motor revved fairly high and I kew immediatly it was clogged. So I removed the hose...the motor slowed back to normal and it was sucking in air just as a FQ should. So I shut the machine off, took off the ventcap at the top, and hooked the hose to it to blow out onto the floor whatever was in there..and pointed the hose downward.

I turned the machine back on, and as I was bringing it upwards to feel what was goin on...at about fifteen degrees toward straight up.. I heard a muffled POOF and saw burgady material fly past my face. As I looked up I saw a HUGE pair of frilly BIG girl panties floating toward where she was standing.

Well being that ther was others in the showroom...there was immediate laughter, and even I cracked a smile as I looked over at Corey who was staring in horror at the parachute panty's now on the floor.

I t goes without saying tha the lady was VERY irate..and picked up her bigdrawers...grabbed her machine and stormed out the door. It by far is the funniest thing that has ever happened to me while in this buisness. Even stuff in the last few years hasn't compared..and believe me there have been many kitty litter, water sucked itno, baby wipes clogged in, fans broken sucking out gravel from a fish tank and on and on it could go.

I love my job....

But yeah...many customers are just informationally challenged, and treat their VERY expensive machine with little more reguard than a leaflet on theri windshield. They trash it!

It comes with the territory....


Chad

Ann Arbor Vacuum

Too many people that aren't vacuum cleaner lovers-to them the vac is an "electric dirt shovel" as one vacuum dealer I know.they expect the machine to pick up ANYTHING-weather it be feathers,kitty litter to whatever!I help out at the vacuum place near me-and one time someone from a hamburger restuarant brought in a clogged Cirrus upright-They said-"just won't pick up"It swallowed a --HAMBURGER!!What a mess!!Remains of it were in the roller brush compartment of the floor nozzle-the hose,body and bag chamber.Took a few hours to clean it out-Later The vac store fellow told me that the person that used it was fired by the restuarant owner for what she did to the vacuum cleaner.Now the machine has a note on it-"this is not a MAGIC vacuum cleaner"It won't pick up everything-including hamburgers."A Kirby dealer I knew of told me about a Kirby Classic that was trashed from its owner trying to use it to clean a swimming pool-he tried to use it to clean the water and gravel on the bottom of the pool-wonder the user didn't get electrocuted.The fan was torn up and the fan housing badly dented.This was from a long time ago.

...i once found a WHOLE sausage link in a windtunnel bagless...

Chad,

Great story! It reminds of me of some of the stories that Clay Floyd and Tom Gasko have told us at the conventions. I DARE not repeat them here as the language was rather colorful and not always politically correct!

If you ever meet them in person, just ask!

At the Louisville convention in 2002, Ruth Hollander, one of our, "Vacuum Legends", provided material for several members to put on skits that were about a few of her more unusual incidents with customers when she was the Queen of vacuums in St. Louis. It was hilarious and fun to watch.

Charles Richard,

Great kitty litter tales! I once had a neighbor in San Francisco in my condo building that flushed the ENTIRE contents of his cat's litter box down the toilet about twice a week.

It took about a year for everything to come to a screeching halt and then the association had to hire a plumber to do some major litter removal! I'm not sure if he had to pay for it but thankfully, they traced it to his unit and he admitted doing it. Scary part-----he didn't know it would cause a problem!

Keep those stories coming.

My story isn't quite as colorful, since I haven't worked in the vacuum business. I work in healthcare, and boy, the stories that come out of the emergency rooms are amazing, but I will spare you the details here.

My story is from when I was back in California and had a central vacuum that my cleaning ladies used. I had the same husband and wife team that ran the service and dropped the ladies off. They did a good job. They had just started a new lady who spoke only Spanish and since I don't speak Spanish (I would have taken Spanish instead of French if I knew I was going to live in Southern California) we couldn't communicate. She left a note through the owners of the business that the central vacuum didn't seem to be working. Well, upon investigation (and a declogging of the tubing) I found the contents of my bathroom trash can including cardboard TP tubes in the pipes. I had to inform her that she shouldn't suck up the contents of trash cans with the central vac! I guess it could have been worse.

Fred

yup,it's the clods in you in vacuums.that's why it's not picking up like it's sopose to. tip check your'e vacuums once in a while.

I suggest using a Hoover Convertible in good working order or if you have a Generation model Kirby, I find that my Diamond Edition does a great jobu. We have our cats litter box in the basement on a commercial style low pile berber rug. I love Electrolux, but they mine seemed like they would just send the litter flying and not pick it all up. I haven't used a Sanitaire but most VCCC members have wonderful things to say about them and they might be worth a try. I use only my central vac now to vacuum up the litter that our big guy tracks through the basement but I would suggest using something that uses in-expensive bags so that you can toss them at the slightest bit of ""litter box" odor.
Good Luck,
-Stevn

try the hoover concept 2

LOL LOL LOL

That is the CRUELEST thing I have ever seen!! (giggle) I can't believe you would put something on this website like that!! (Giggle!) What kind of person are you to be doing this??? (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!)

No, actually, that is quite funny. I just had to say that, as that might be what some people think about that. I did just get a kitten a few days ago. That is a hilarious picture. BTW I was just kidding about all of that at the beginning. Please note the lauging in parenthesis. :-)

1) Place a machine-washable bath rug with thick pile in front of the cat box. This works best for covered cat boxes that have only one entrance. The pile will trap most of the litter adhering to fluffy's paws. Periodically you can vacuum it with a machine having light suction, but best if you just roll it up and shake it out in a garden or into a trash can, and then launder it.

2) Use a good clumping litter (not the awful wheat based stuff). I use an "Omega Paw" cat box that you simply roll upside down and a set of internal baffles directs the clumps to a removable drawer. I keep a very small covered lined stainless step-lid trash can nearby, where the clumps are stored until trash collection day. The lid keeps the odors to a minimum, and the bag liner makes it easy to move the clumps to the trash.

3) Remove clumps at least once a day. The cat will track less out of the box, and parasites/odors/etc will be kept to a minimum if the litter is kept clean.