Household chores: vacuum cleaner losing suction(?)

Self-tutoring about household chores: the tutor mentions a situation with the vacuum cleaner.

We’ve had the current vacuum cleaner for nine years. With it, I vacuum the premises once per week. I’ve suspected, for years now, that its suction is weak. It doesn’t seem to pull up debris like it once did. Yet, every week, when I’ve finished vacuuming, its bin is about half full; then, I empty it. Week after week, the cycle continues: the bin starts out empty, then I vacuum the house, then the bin ends up about half full, then I empty it. Therefore, I’m not sure, even now, that the vacuum cleaner’s suction is weak. If it really was, then would the bin go from empty to half full during two hours of vacuuming?

I clean the vacuum cleaner’s filter periodically, so that isn’t the problem. Its performance does improve a bit each time I clean the filter, but not much, and soon drifts back to “normal.”

My wife thinks the vacuum cleaner is weak, and has commented about it. “It doesn’t seem to pick up a lot of things you can see,” she points out. She is right. Yet, it does pick up a lot of debris. Who knows for sure whether it’s weak or not?

A few times, over the years, I’ve taken it apart, looking for blockage. Once or twice, when it truly wasn’t working at all, I found obvious problems with the brush being jammed, a passage being blocked with hair, etc. After I removed those obvious obstructions, the vacuum cleaner returned to working as it does now. Recently, I decided to have another look, but found no obstructions.

Today, I seemed to have a mission to discover the problem with the vacuum cleaner. Believe it or not, I might have found it. If so, it was very subtle.

A video I watched pointed out that one can check the actual device, apart from its hoses and attachments, by disconnecting the hose from the unit and then putting one’s hand over the intake. I hadn’t thought of that, so did so, and discovered what I thought to be weak suction. Yet, the canister, etc, were clean; moreover, the filter was cleaned a week ago. Nonetheless, it seemed the problem was lurking somewhere within the canister, if I could just find it.

I took the filter out, wondering it there was some blockage between it and the unit. I didn’t notice any. Although I just cleaned the filter last week, I cleaned it again so it would be less messy to handle. Rinsing it out, I examined it for any damage I might have overlooked before. I didn’t find any, but did notice the following: Around the filter, near the top, is a rubber collar. At a couple of places, it was pulled somewhat out of place. It was easy to imagine that, sitting outside of its intended position, said collar might not make a proper seal. This was hard to notice; we are talking about a difference of maybe an eighth of an inch where one isn’t even meant to be looking for a problem. Yet, one never knows…

I tucked the rubber collar back into place, observing that afterwards its position was noticeably different from before, and uniform all the way around, unlike before. I left the filter outside to dry in the sun. (Suddenly it seems to be summer here, at 50 degrees north…that’s perhaps for an upcoming post.)

Once the filter is totally dry, I will be able to test the vacuum cleaner to decide if the misplaced collar on the filter has been “the problem” all along. I hope to return with good news:)

Source:

YouTube: eSpares: What to Check if Your Dyson Big Ball Cylinder Vacuum Isn’t Picking up Properly