All kinds of factors come into play when trying to figure out the best vacuum cleaner to buy, but most people probably assume that strong suction is the most important thing to focus on. Good suction isn’t irrelevant – you need a certain amount of air watts of power to pull up dust and debris from floors. However, it’s not the be-all and end-all, as I learned when I spoke to Dyson engineer Amy Wright.
“Many people assume that if visible dust and dirt is picked up, the problem is solved, but vacuum cleaning is pointless without thorough filtration,” says Amy. If your vacuum has inadequate filters or loose seals, it’ll end up releasing some of the dust and dirt it has picked up back into the air.
“A good vacuum cleaner is fully sealed and equipped with an advanced, multi-stage filtration system to ensure that all the dust that is picked up remains trapped inside the vacuum and only clean air is expelled back into the house,” she continues.
The best Dyson vacuums in the lineup combine HEPA filtration with a fully sealed system. A HEPA filter captures 99.97 percent of particles as small as 0.1 microns. However, it’ll only capture the particles from the air that passes through it, which is where the sealed system comes into play.
Amy also stresses the importance of a good dust separation system. “The difficulty in engineering a good vacuum cleaner lies in ensuring that there is no drop in performance throughout the cleaning process,” she explains. “An efficient dust separation system ensures that filters do not get clogged so there is no loss of suction that will affect the performance of the vacuum cleaner.”
Brilliant brushes
Alongside a good filtering system, the design of the floorheads make a big difference to how effectively a vacuum can clean with the suction power available.
“Dust and both pet and human hair embed into carpeted surfaces and electrostatically ‘stick’ to hard floors,” says Amy. “Agitation is required to peel back carpet pile to remove dust and hair in carpets, while carbon fiber removes the static attraction between fine dust and hard floors.”
Dyson’s Motorbar head has stiff, nylon bristles to agitate carpet fibers and tackle dust, hair and trodden-in dirt embedded there. It can also be used on hard floors, but if you have a lot of delicate hard flooring it’s worth seeking out an option with an entirely soft secondary floorhead (this is a feature we look for when seeking out the best vacuum cleaners for hardwood floor).
“When vacuuming hard floors, we recommend selecting a cleaner head that is soft enough to protect floor finish, while also being effective at pick-up,” explains Amy. “Dyson’s Fluffy Optic cleaner head features anti-static nylon bristles to remove electrostatic attractions between fine dust and hard floors for effective pick-up.”
Anything else to look out for? Amy stresses the importance of good detail tools. These help turn your vacuum into a well-rounded cleaning tool for all kinds of surfaces. Most vacuums will come with at least a crevice tool and some kind of multi-tool, but today’s best cordless vacuums go a step further and include more specific options.
The most unique offering in the Dyson attachment range is probably the Hair screw tool – a small, motorized cleaner head for furniture, with a tapering brushroll designed specifically for handling hair.
“Dyson’s Hair Screw Tool spirals hair off and into the bin making it ideal for removing hair from pet beds, car seats and stairs,” explains Amy. “Dyson engineers delicately tweaked the precise angle of the bristles on the tool, to ensure the release force did not tangle the hair, and tested the tool on multiple hair types.”