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Thread Number: 31921
/ Tag: Recent Vacuum Cleaners from past 20 years
manual or automatic height adjustment for uprights and power nozzles |
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Post# 351905 , Reply# 1 5/9/2016 at 17:15 (2,908 days old) by Vinvac  (Dubuque IA) |
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I prefer manual myself.
Most that are self adjusting do just what you said...they float across the top of the carpet because there is no weight to the power-head. I personally like the Kirby system the best, it allows for all types of carpets. The best setting is not having it set all the way to the floor. The setting should allow the vacuum to pick the carpet up to vibrate the dirt loose. Using this procedure allows for better air flow as well. Just my 2 cents. | ||
| Post# 351907 , Reply# 2 5/9/2016 at 18:38 (2,908 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 351909 , Reply# 3 5/9/2016 at 18:49 (2,908 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
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| Post# 351936 , Reply# 4 5/10/2016 at 11:41 (2,908 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine) | ||
I like the Kirby system... | ||
| Post# 351940 , Reply# 5 5/10/2016 at 12:18 (2,908 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
With manual height adjustment I have noticed that the pattern of the wooden floors underneath can sometimes leave their imprint on the carpet above. This is down to the force of the carpet pile being constantly cleaned with a manually "locked height" brush bar.
What most people don't realise is that a canister vac with a suction only floor nozzle does not have a locked height position. If the vacuum cleaner didn't have variable suction between the vacuum air of the floor nozzle and had wheels that roll over spongy pile, then the floor head would clamp down making it impossible to move. A bit like pressing the pedal on the floor tool to carpet position and then finding the floor head is impossible to move. I much prefer automatic height adjustment - less wear and tear on the carpet at the end of the day. | ||
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Post# 351975 , Reply# 6 5/11/2016 at 01:42 (2,907 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC) |
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If the auto nozzle height adjust works right-fine-If not manual adjust for me.The auto height on the Sebo and Riccar-Simplicity vacuums works pretty well-no beef with those.-Carpet airlifted by the nozzle-roller brush not too low or high-and machine easy to push. | ||
| Post# 351978 , Reply# 7 5/11/2016 at 03:36 (2,907 days old) by matt8808 (Teesside - North East - UK) | ||
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wooden floors underneath can sometimes leave their imprint.. This is nothing to do with the type of vacuum and more to do with cheaper quality carpets and underlay that wear and flatten down much quicker. | ||
| Post# 351992 , Reply# 8 5/11/2016 at 08:58 (2,907 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
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Not necessarily so, Matt. sorry but I disagree. It depends on the pile of course but also how the carpet has been laid in the first place and if it hasn't been finished and nailed onto the sides of each part of the hall way or walk way - or wherever it has been placed - to allow "give" when the carpet is laid on the floor.
A carpet that has underlay already fitted to the underside of the carpet seems to be the issue PLUS adding the weight of a controlled height upright. I suspect that was the problem with ours - since the underlay was automatically bonded on, several rooms show signs of the imprint of floor boards coming through. Only way past it has been to steam the carpets, fit new underlay on and then roll the carpet so that it fits over the new underlay. We were recommended NOT to use an upright on the type of wool carpet we bought. I couldn't abide the amount of dirt and hair the carpet accumulated (and when we had dogs) and so delicate brush rollers were used so that they dig deeper into the carpet but doesn't flatten it so much, or rather rip out unnecessary top pile carpet if its an aggressive brush roll. Auto height seemed to be better for the carpet generally or suction only. | ||
| Post# 352095 , Reply# 9 5/13/2016 at 06:05 (2,905 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
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The other thing of course and slightly away from topic are carpet washers - suction only or roller bar and after all, they don't require height adjustment.
I suppose if they did offer manual height adjustment, the brands could be in danger of being sued given the three processes of pumping water into a carpet, agitating the pile and then sucking the water and dirt out. Too much clamping onto a wet carpet with height adjustment might just leave a carpet threadbare! Three processes of wash cleaning versus dry dirt suction and agitation are of course not comparable given that wet carpet is more fragile than dry. However, after seeing what my Bissell was still ripping out of my carpets seven years on, I was actually relieved when the machine broke down. If it was cheap carpet, then the carpet itself wouldn't still look as good and the pile would be ripped to shreds. So I did not buy a cheap carpet despite the bonded on underlay. However I doubt I will own a carpet upright washer with a roller bar again, unless of course I change to a less delicate carpet. | ||
| Post# 352104 , Reply# 10 5/13/2016 at 08:49 (2,905 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
Manual all the way
When it comes to machines, be it vacuum cleaners or cameras or whatever, I'm a control freak. The more control I have over the machine, the better. I have a brain and I know what I want the machine to do. I don't need the machine to try to make arbitrary decisions based on lowest common denominator data. Machines like that are designed to perform acceptably under average conditions, which means that at best you get average results. The engineers who designed the machine aren't present in my particular environment and conditions. I'm the one who needs to make the final manual optimizations to the machine's settings to achieve the results I desire. And for what it's worth, I've never seen the pattern of a wood floor show up through my carpets, but that's probably because there's a concrete slab under them. If there were a wood floor there, the carpet wouldn't be.
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| Post# 352111 , Reply# 11 5/13/2016 at 12:34 (2,905 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine) | ||
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Well Said Edgar... | ||
| Post# 352117 , Reply# 13 5/13/2016 at 15:46 (2,904 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
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| Post# 352122 , Reply# 14 5/13/2016 at 16:34 (2,904 days old) by kenkart () | ||
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The BEST height adjustment! Ever devised is the Hoover 150 from 1936, nothing has ever equaled it. | ||
| Post# 352142 , Reply# 15 5/14/2016 at 11:34 (2,904 days old) by floor-a-matic (somewhere) | ||
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I only have experience with Lux, Rainbow or TriStar which are 'automatic' so I cant really say about manual height adjustment | ||
| Post# 352147 , Reply# 16 5/14/2016 at 13:57 (2,903 days old) by electromatik (Taylorsville, North Carolina, U.S.A.) | ||
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@sebo-fan I never thought of it that way before. | ||
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