We took our Christas tree down this weekend -- I know, waaaah! That's always a kind of sad thing because by the time it goes it looks so dried out and withered, and old.
I always thank the spirit of the tree for gracing our house and helping to bring a cheerful Christmas. Guess that "connection with the Great Spirit of Nature" comes from the, what, about 1/10th Native American blood in me! (My maternal grandmother was part Cherokee Indian.)
Anyway, I hadn't used my dainty little Model S in a long time so I got it out to vacuum up the pine needles and boughs that fell off as we took the tree out. My S has a shake-out cloth bag (an option) and I like using it with the S for some reason, I guess because one lady I remember who had the S used the cloth bag. Why else, haha?!
After I finished cleaning, I opened the front cover to remove the bag and saw something that really surprised me, and that I had not ever noticed with an Electrolux before.
The bag was very full with pine needles -- they were in fact pretty well packed in there. I did of course notice some suction drop-off as I cleaned but it was not enough to have to stop and empty the bag. I wish I had had the presence of mind to take a photo of what I saw, but I didn't think about it. ' In the middle area of the bag, was a circular hole about 2.5 inches in diameter that went all the way to the bottom -- it looked as if someone had inserted a tube down inside!
Now, this hole was not just created by the "snout" on the inside of the cover. It was caused by a, for lack of a better word, "cyclonic" action of the pine needles twirling about.
The size and position of the hole corresponded to the size and position of the opening in the rear wall of the bag chamber where the fan is.
I never knew that Electroluxes had this cyclonic action but you could clear see it by the way the pine needles had been pulled into position.
So the idea, as some claim, that the moment you begin cleaning with your Electrolux the bag immediately clogs up because the dust collects against the rear wall of the bag may not be wholly accurate, assuming the same thing happens with the paper bags and I don't see why it wouldn't.
The appearance of that hole in the middle of the pine needles looked kinda like a miniature crop circle!
Hey ... maybe THAT's how crop circles ARE made ... aliens are flying about with gigantic vacuum cleanners, coming down with a wand and super suction to arrange the wheat into those amazing patterns!!
Cue THEREMIN: {{{*oooEEEEEEEooo!!!*}}}
Oh, and P.S. have you ever noticed with an Electrolux that when the motor is running and there is stuff in the bag, especially things that make noise like, say, paper clips or gravel, that you can hear the stuff flittering and clittering about inside the bag! You -can- hear this sound with the hose attached, at least, on the earlier, more "gently-toned" Electroluxes, but when you disconnect the hose while the motor is running you can really hear it! I'd have to think that's more evidence that the bag is not clogging up, since the stuff is whirling about inside.
Well, Charles. I have looked at a lot of this cyclonic action with both my Automatic E and my Air-Way! If you are to get a flashlight, turn on the vacuum and light, and peer into the vacuum, you will definitely see the stuff flying around in there! It is very effective with styrofoam peanuts. The Air-Way is VERY noticeable when you remove the bag. We recently got a new area rug for downstairs, so it was emitting a lot carpet fuzz. When we emptied the bag that day, it was SO full! But it was still very powerful right before we turned the machine off. So! There is a lot of cyclonic action in a vacuum like the E'lux or A.W.!
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