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There are so many different vacuum cleaners on the market that it can be confusing to choose the right one.
The first step is to determine whether an upright or canister is right for your lifestyle and home environment. So well identify the different types of vacuum cleaners and examine how you decide which type is right for you.
This decision is based on the amount of carpeting and other flooring in the home whether or not you have stairs as well as any specialized cleaning situations.
Once you have identified the type of vacuum cleaner there are still a number of other considerations that will narrow your choices further and ultimately lead to the vacuum cleaner that will perform optimally for you.
These considerations include the type of fibers used in the carpet and/or rugs; the amount of traffic and the types of soiling in the home; performance durability ease of use filtration noise level capacity storage features and cost.
The Different Types of Vacuum Cleaners
While there are all sorts of specialty or secondary vacuum cleaners such as hand vacuums car vacuums wet/dry vacuums and so on this article is focused on choosing the primary vacuum cleaner for a home.
There are two major types of vacuum cleaners uprights and canisters. There are significant differences between these types. The most obvious is that you push an upright and pull a canister.
Uprights generally have a revolving brush roll to provide agitation and may have one motor that provides the suction and also turns the agitator or it may have two motors one to provide suction and one to drive the brush. There are a wide variety of different upright designs for many different cleaning situations.
Upright vacuum cleaners excel at cleaning synthetic (nylon olefin or polyester) carpeting and many also have the ability to turn off the revolving brush for cleaning smooth floors. Recent innovations like onboard attachments and integrated extension hoses have made uprights much more versatile and able to offer many of the features of canisters.
Uprights have traditionally been the favorite type of vacuum cleaner in the U.S. and Great Britain. In Europe and the rest of the world canisters are the vacuum cleaner of choice.
A canister vacuum cleaner has a base unit that contains the vacuum motor dust bag and filter system. There are three types of canister vacuum cleaners. All three are used with a hose wands and attachments. The difference is in the attachments.
Canisters may utilize a revolving brush like uprights in a cleaning tool known as a power head or power nozzle. The first type of canister has no power nozzle of any kind is called a straight suction canister and uses a variety of nonrevolving brush floor and carpet tools to clean flooring.
The second type is a canister with a turbo or turbine power nozzle which is a power nozzle with a revolving brush that is powered by the airflow created by the canisters suction motor.
The third type of canister features a power nozzle where a separate electric motor drives a revolving brush roll. This type of canister is often referred to as a power team.
Canisters are by far the most versatile vacuum cleaner design offering outstanding performance on carpet and smooth floors as well as above the floor surfaces. Because the cleaning tools are used with a hose and wands these vacuum cleaners are more maneuverable and easily able to get under most furniture and into tight spaces.
And because canisters are designed to be used with attachments they generally have more thoughtfully designed highly functional attachments that perform a wide variety of above the floor cleaning tasks easily and effectively.
The Cleaning Environment
The next step is to evaluate the surfaces that you will be cleaning starting with flooring. Is your home primarily walltowall carpeting except for smooth floors (vinyl wood tile marble etc.) in bathrooms and kitchen Or do you have large amounts of smooth floors perhaps with area rugs
Another important question is whether or not your home has stairs.
Also are there any special above the floor cleaning requirements that might require specialized attachments These might include high ceilings elaborate light fixtures ceiling fans special collections and so on.
Choosing the Type of Vacuum Cleaner
With this information you can now decide on the type of vacuum cleaner youre looking for.
If your home has stairs a canister or power team is the recommended type of vacuum cleaner. An upright is not designed to clean stairs by itself. And even with attachments attempting to clean stairs with an upright is awkward and the results are generally poor because you cannot use an uprights revolving brush on the stair treads an area of high traffic.
If you do not have stairs and if your home is primarily synthetic fiber (nylon olefin or polyester) walltowall carpeting an upright with smooth floor cleaning ability and the necessary attachments to clean above the floor surfaces is a good choice.
However many homes today feature a combination of smooth floors in a variety of materials area rugs and some walltowall carpeting. In these homes (or in homes with stairs) a canister or power team will provide the best results.
As mentioned above there are three types of canister vacuum cleaners. A canister that has no power nozzle of any kind is called a straight suction canister. It is suitable for environments with very little or no carpet at all. If there is any carpet the soiling conditions will be light to moderate as this type of machine cannot be expected to do a good job removing soils from carpet pile.
The second type is a canister with a turbo or turbine power nozzle which is a power nozzle with a revolving brush that is powered by the airflow created by the canisters suction motor. This type of canister is a good choice when soiling conditions are moderate or when the amount of carpet and rugs in the home is either not a large percentage of the flooring or has lower pile (the thickness of the carpet fibers) such as Berbers.
A canister with a turbo nozzle is also an excellent performer on the new woven area rugs made from natural fibers such as sisal jute coir etc.
The third type of canister features a power nozzle where a separate electric motor drives the brush roll. This type of canister is often referred to as a power team and is ideal for homes with large amounts of carpet or rugs and standard to heavy soiling conditions like pet hair. There are different types of power nozzles that are used for different types of carpet fibers and soiling conditions which are discussed below.
Other Considerations
Once you have identified the type of vacuum cleaner you can begin look at these other considerations which include the type of fibers used in the carpet or rugs; the amount of tra