Thread Number: 33913
/ Tag: Brand New Vacuum Cleaners
Pet Hair Tools That Really Work |
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Post# 367948   3/6/2017 at 20:58 (2,607 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)   |   | |
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Most of us have pets we love dearly, don't we? Back in the fall, I moved into a new place, & now I have a cat that shares my new space. Pictured below is Aries.
Now, of course, the challenge becomes how to clean up after our beloved furry friends. It seems nowadays you see lots of uprights being sold with handheld turbo brushes, but they aren't a real solution. Although they do work, problem is the hair wraps around the brushroll, & you spend just as much time maintaining them as you do using it to clean the hair to begin with. And then there's turbo brushes that are impossible to take apart & clean out....Wessell Werk hand turbo brushes for example. There's also the issue of them eventually failing due to hair damaging the fan & inner workings of the tool. Niclonnic's recent post with his Eureka turbo brush being a perfect example. Having said that, there have been turbo brushes that have addressed these issues....but without success. Dyson's Tangle Free Turbine Tool does work, but it does have the flaw of hair still getting stuck in the bristles & needing to be manually picked out. A electric mini powerhead does work well, & more reliable, but you still have the issue of having to cut hair off the brushroll. So....has anyone ever found pet hair tools for vacuums, whether OEM attachments from a manufacturer's line of vacuums, or aftermarket generic tools, that REALLY work to remove pet hair, aren't turbo brushes, & don't require a ton of maintenance & cleaning out after cleaning? Rob
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Post# 367955 , Reply# 2   3/6/2017 at 22:19 (2,606 days old) by countryguy (Astorville, ON, Canada)   |   | |
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I have had long hair cats for the past 30 years....for the past 16 years I have had 2 cats. I brush both cats every day which cuts down greatly on cat fur all over the place. They both love to be brushed so it only takes a couple of minutes. For cleaning the furniture, stairs, etc. I use either the Aerus/Lux mini power nozzle or the Wessel Werk mini electric nozzle. Some hair does get wrapped around the brush but it is not a big deal to clean if done after every use.
Gary |
Post# 367956 , Reply# 3   3/6/2017 at 23:06 (2,606 days old) by vacuumlad1650 (Wauponsee, IL)   |   | |
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Post# 367959 , Reply# 4   3/7/2017 at 01:11 (2,606 days old) by compactc9guy (Bathurst NB)   |   | |
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Post# 367969 , Reply# 6   3/7/2017 at 08:08 (2,606 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)   |   | |
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Randy - Much agreed! They're definitely worth it. It's amazing how much a cat or dog adds to our life, & you don't realize it until you are away from them for a day or two & you miss them. I can honestly say I look forward to coming home at night, knowing Aries will usually be waiting right at the door for me.
Gary - You're right, normally part of the solution would be brushing the cat & remove some of the hair to begin with. With Aries, though, I don't think that would work. This cat is a little bit on the skittish side. For instance, if I am on the couch, he will come up & spend some time with me....but if I sit up to grab something off the coffee table, off he goes! Mike - Yes, right, you do need to have a solution to get hair & litter off rugs, & have a good floor brush. Not a problem here though. The cat's litter box is located in the laundry room, & it's on a laminate floor, pretty easy to pick up the kitty litter using the powerhead with the brushroll turned off. Pet hair on the carpets isn't a issue here, Aries usually hangs out on the stairs or the couch. I picked up the Wessell Werk RD285 floor brush to use with my Simplicity Gusto, as my previous house-mate had a dog & her short hair clinging to the horsehair bristles was a annoyance. This solved the problem entirely, though, so for any other pet owners reading this, something they might want to consider trying. www.allegrovacuums.com/we... I have already decided against the Wessell Werk HEB160 being something I would use for the pet hair. I bought it, & the Simplicity adapter wand, to use to clean up short dog hair on the couches from my previous house-mate's dog....for that, it worked great! Problem is, in order to clean it out, there's 4 screws that would have to be removed. I would find that annoying quick, if I had to use it for cat hair. And although it is a good tool, I do prefer the Lux Sidekick & Kenmore Powermate Jr. Right now, I don't have access to my other vacuums, as they are in long-term storage a couple hours away. I have a Shark Rotator upright & Shark Professional EP754 canister I kept here & am using, mainly the Rotator I use though since it's bagless. The Shark Rotator's turbo brush is a copy of the Wessell Werk turbo brushes, & I think this should illustrate my frustration with it, & the HEB160. The opening around the brushroll is smaller than most, & it only opens up part of the way, making it annoying to clean out. Whoever came up with this design obviously wasn't thinking of hair wrapping around the brush & the need for cleaning it out! Rob |
Post# 368000 , Reply# 8   3/7/2017 at 16:15 (2,606 days old) by countryguy (Astorville, ON, Canada)   |   | |
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Rob,
One of my cats is very skiddish also. She will be on my lap one minute and if I just move the wrong way or sneeze, she is gone like a bat out of hell. However, she still loves to be brushed. Start out with a brush that will not get caught in the knots so that it won't hurt the cat. Have the brush beside you and while the cat is on your lap, start to brush him gently. You'll be surprised how quickly he will get used to the brush. Gary |
Post# 368061 , Reply# 11   3/8/2017 at 13:42 (2,605 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine)   |   | |
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Post# 368231 , Reply# 13   3/11/2017 at 02:09 (2,602 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)   |   | |
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Joe - I have seen the demonstration videos for the Riccar Fur Get It tool. It does indeed look very effective. My only issue with it is it appears like it wouldn't do a very good job on carpeting, that it would be best suited for upholstery. Considering it is likely going to be very pricey, that's a deal breaker for me.
Zach & Stan - I have had the exact opposite experience with the Kirby Zipp Brush. I have the Heritage II chrome version & the G4 Zipp Brush. IMHO, both do a poor job, both bog down & nearly stop spinning the moment they touch a carpet or couch. I have tried it on many different styles of upholstery & carpet over the years with the same results. I have even tried it with my Kenmore EVPC that has the double stage Ametek motor from the Perfect C101 that pulls 125" waterlift, it STILL does the same thing! What I find is FAR BETTER is the Kirby Turbo Brush from the Heritage I, now sold as the Rug Rat hand turbobrush for central vacs. That thing just rocks! It's next to impossible to stop the brush from turning. Now if only it wasn't so big & bulky.... Gary - I will take your advice. Come to think of it, you may be right on this one! I remembered after posting my reply to you, that one time after using the Shark Rotator, I forgot to put away the wide upholstery tool, & when I went to get up from the couch to put it away, Aries came up & brushed up against it. So who knows, maybe he will take to being brushed, & knowing him he can probably be coaxed with a treat or two. There is a Pet Valu across the road from my work, I'll stop in & see if they have something gentle & make sure it can be returned if need be. Mike - I agree with you, I think a electric mini powerbrush does have the edge over a turbo brush. Problem is, I don't think the average consumer would be willing to go to the effort of hooking up a second cord with a upright just to get better performance. I think most people would just stick with their turbo brush & be satisfied with it's performance generally. Pictured below is the Shark Wide Upholstery Tool. It does work well, except that it tries to suck the fabric in while cleaning the couch. If they had positioned the vents of the tool at the back (like Miele does on theirs) instead of at the sides, it would work much better. It would also be nice to see a little wider red felt strips too. Rob |
Post# 368251 , Reply# 15   3/11/2017 at 14:35 (2,602 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)   |   | |
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Mike, I agree with you on both points. I would also add the original (NOT T series style) Hoover Windtunnel hand turbobrush is one I recommend as well if you can find one, it's a shame they recently discontinued it.
Speaking of bad hand turbobrushes, this one from Shark is a disappointment as well. It's the latest clear one they now use on new models. I got it with my Shark Navigator I picked up for $5 from a thrift shop. Brand new, & a disappointment from the start. It takes literally nothing for the brush to slow down to a snail's pace the instant it touches upholstery. There's also another version on Amazon.ca for Dyson vacuums, exactly identical, it just has a adapter insert for the Dyson hose & wand. I would take the Dyson Tangle Free Turbine over this!! www.sharkclean.com/parts/0/all/14... www.amazon.ca/Spares2go-Turbine-... Rob |
Post# 368254 , Reply# 16   3/11/2017 at 14:46 (2,602 days old) by mark40511 (Lexington, KY)   |   | |
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with tools getting pet hair probably because I have a short haired cat, except trying to get it off the cat tree. That soft plush material has hair sticking to it like mad, and no brushroll tool will get it off. My Lux sidekick, the rainbow power brush, the shark air driven or kenmore air driven brush. It's like the cat hair becomes PART of the cat tree. I just give up knowing that I at least vacuumed the dust off and got as much hair as possible.
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Post# 368303 , Reply# 18   3/12/2017 at 15:38 (2,601 days old) by Kirbysthebest (Midwest)   |   | |
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I think I read they were notorious carpet destroyers. |
Post# 370947 , Reply# 19   4/18/2017 at 15:35 (2,564 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)   |   | |
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I took Gary's suggestion & bought Aries a nice gentle pet brush. Gary, you were right....Aries took to it right away, & he seems to like being brushed. Now, the only problem is, he will take only 2 or 3 minutes of brushing & then he will have had enough & run off. Also, he will only let you brush his back & side, not his underside. Since Aries likes to lay down while getting pet, I think the majority of his shedding hair on the couch is coming from his underside. At least this is getting rid of some of the hair at it's source though. 🙂
So, I decided to go ahead & buy a new turbo brush that claims to clean the pet hair without tangling: The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser turbo brush from their latest Pet Hair Eraser upright. This uses a brushroll with a larger diameter than normal, & it has rubber around the opening. The principle behind this working is the rubber helps loosen the hair from the surface, & the brushroll sweeps & carries it away. Due to the brushroll's design & larger diameter, the hair slips off the brush after it is agitated, does not stick & gets carried away by the airflow. To adapt this Bissell tool to work with both Shark vacuums, I had to buy a Dyson Universal Tool adapter, modify it slightly, this made the Bissell use 32 mm hose, & a 36 mm to 32 mm, & combine both together to make it fit the Shark Rotator & Shark canister hose. Now, this tool really does work! It DOES solve the problem of the hair sticking to the brushroll & needing to be cut out, unlike the Dyson Tangle Free Turbine that you still need to pick hair out of the bristles. But with one catch: It only works on upholstered surfaces. It does not work well on carpeted surfaces. The reason for this is the rubber on the outside of the brushroll opening, it causes the tool to be difficult to push & pull on carpeting. I tried cutting off the 3 rubber fins on the back to help, that did make it easier, but not by much. I have already contacted Bissell & suggested to them the turbo brush needs improvement, & specifically that if they use the red felt material instead of rubber that would help loosen the hair, be just as effective as the rubber is, & not impede use on carpeted surfaces. It's a shame the turbo brush has this flaw, but hey it's a good first start. Let's hope they improve it in the next design generation, & even better if they come out with a universal 32 mm version to fit all vacuums. In the meantime, I think I am going to order the Rug Rat turbo brush. That is, by far, the BEST turbo brush I have ever used! Rob |