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Thread Number: 15831
What are suction and airflow, and how are they related? |
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| Post# 168647 , Reply# 1 2/7/2012 at 04:25 (4,453 days old) by jmurray01 (Scotland) | ||
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| Post# 168666 , Reply# 2 2/7/2012 at 07:19 (4,453 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
I'll try and answer the best I can here.
You're getting confused easily with the name and I can see why - Air Flow has little to do with the size of the hose - but more to the point of how air moves through a vacuum cleaner quite literally- therefore even the best vacuum in the world could claim to have the strongest air flow - but it depends on how the vac is built to contain the air flow without leaking air - and well before the hose is affected. Suction is related because full suction could weaken if there's a leak in the system so therefore it is affected and could lose strength. | ||
| Post# 168670 , Reply# 3 2/7/2012 at 07:23 (4,453 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
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So, moving on from that - airflow will only be maintained well if a vacuum cleaner has excellent sealed suction. The Germans know best about this!
Clean air vacs AND Dirty fan vacs can suffer from leaking air, but not all - I recall my Turbopower Total suffered from leaking air, usually from the hose converter door at the side of the vacuum cleaner - you could also feel various points of suction air coming from the vacuum rather than the hose and the floor head. Brands who make a play on the Air Flow idea confuse buyers because they are hyping up an effect that really isn't required to be promoted - unless it links with allergy sufferers if dust in the escaping impending air leaks - and if the machine is claimed to offer sealed suction. | ||
| Post# 168679 , Reply# 4 2/7/2012 at 09:59 (4,453 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
Consumer Reports rates vacuums on "airflow through the hose for tool use". I think "airflow" is a much better indicator of how well a vacuum can clean because it gives you an idea of how strong the "wind" is coming out of the hose. The faster the wind, the more it can pull dirt and move dirt. You can have strong suction in a machine, but if the design of the airpaths from "fan to finish" does not allow fast moving air, the vacuum won't clean well.
Just think of what happens to the upholstery nozzle on the end of the hose of a 12amp Hoover WindTunnel upright - the suction is very very strong, but that nozzle has no holes in it to allow the air to get moving, and so it does a "suction lock" on any fabric it's cleaning. I guess airflow/airspeed could be measured in volume per second (kind of like car traffic - 200 cars per hour), whereas suction would be measured in how many pounds could be lifted by the end of the hose - like those bowling balls in the Oreck commercials! | ||
| Post# 168711 , Reply# 7 2/7/2012 at 17:15 (4,453 days old) by sanitaire (anchorage, alaska) | ||
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the ways of measuring vacuum performance in commerical world is CFM (cubic feet per minute) and inches of water lift. you can buy a gauge that you put on the end of a hose and it will show the inches of water lift. | ||
| Post# 168717 , Reply# 9 2/7/2012 at 18:30 (4,453 days old) by vintagerepairer (England) | ||
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In all of this though, no where have I ever read anything which said how much suction or airflow was needed to clean carpets. I do wonder if the people who make vacuum cleaners even know. | ||
| Post# 168720 , Reply# 10 2/7/2012 at 19:20 (4,453 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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In truth, the ability to clean carpets depends as much, if not more, on nozzle and brush design, than on suction or airflow.
You can have the most powerful suction or "windy" airflow, but if the powerhead, or attachment or tool is designed poorly, the sucking power is really irrelevant. Take my Hoover WindTunnel example from above. Consumer Reports has consistently rated the "air-flow through the hose" on all top-rated versions of the Hoover Self-Propelled WindTunnel as "excellent" - a score that is rarely given to uprights or canisters. But this powerful airflow is useless for upholstery or drapes using the upholstery nozzle provided. There is no suction relief valve, and the design of the plastic tool is so cheap that it constantly causes suction lock on anything you are trying to clean - the plastic edges are so sharp that it actually "scrapes" the fabric and can damage it. Another example is any Eureka Dial-A-Nap F&G Bag Fan First Upright. Many of these Eurekas are excellent at deep carpet cleaning. But if you attach the optional hose for above-the-floor cleaning, the suction and airflow are very, very weak. Therefore, these Eurekas are cleaning the carpets well because of the brush and nozzle and air passage design through the main unit, not because of the level of suction or airflow provided. | ||
| Post# 168783 , Reply# 13 2/8/2012 at 01:05 (4,453 days old) by pr-21 (Middletown, OH) | ||
Aerus has the same airflow problem When I bought the new Aerus Guardian Ultra with the more powerful motor, it seals the tools to drapes, upholstery, etc. The suction relief vent was usless for that much suction power making the airflow unusable. If you were only using it on carpet that would be a different story....I ended up giving it to my nephew. Hopefully Aerus will correct this and then I will get a new one. Very frustrating......
Bud Mattingly PR-21 | ||
| Post# 168789 , Reply# 14 2/8/2012 at 04:15 (4,452 days old) by beerad (Beautiful Vancouver BC) | ||
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my filter queens..pull between 85 and 90. | ||
| Post# 365236 , Reply# 16 1/17/2017 at 13:03 (2,647 days old) by Kirbysthebest (Midwest) | ||
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Thank you for posting Very good information. | ||
| Post# 365240 , Reply# 17 1/17/2017 at 14:31 (2,647 days old) by ronni (USA) | ||
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You're welcome. | ||
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