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Vaccuums and Ziploc Bags
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goawaybugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Nov 13 2007 18:14:37
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Can anyone recommend a good vaccuum cleaner? Mine recently gave out and I'm having problems finding a good one that won't break the bank. Sounds like suction is key as is a bag.
Also, some 25 hours of laundry later, I now have a mounting pile of Ziploc bags (and, sadly, an even bigger pile of clothing still to be washed). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to hang bagged clothing (e.g., suits, coats)?
Thanks!
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Some people have tried spacebags--there is a new kind that is made for hanging clothes.
Look for suction and crevice tools. I got a middle of the road major American brand from Amazon and it worked well enough for me. I don't believe you need to buy a Dyson or else. You may just want to go to a store to try the models there.
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itchyincharmcity
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Nov 13 2007 18:42:28
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I am impressed that you managed to find a way to bag suits and coats. What are you using, one XXL bag per item?
If your couch or living room is not infested, maybe you could lay them flat on the couch or the floor? On the dining room table if it is not being treated? If you don't plan to wear them, maybe a friend could take them for a while?
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goawaybugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Thu Nov 15 2007 21:28:50
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Thanks hopelessnomo for your advice!
itchy, you caught me. I haven't actually gotten to the suits and coats yet. I'm still plowing through the laundry stuff but am looking ahead. I went to Home Depot to look at their hanging spacebags but they're not cheap ($15 for a bag) and you have to use a vaccuum to suck the air out every time you put something in. That doesn't seem very convenient.
Quick vaccuuming question: I know they are supposed to be bagged between use. Does the brush roller on the bottom have to be cleaned as well, since there might be things stuck to it? How does one do that? Or is it just the bagging?
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bugalew
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 16:10:34
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I wouldn't/didn't use any brush attachments at all.
Crevice attachments: yes. Anything w/bristles: no.-12 amp vacuum
Re: hanging Space Bags
My understanding is the suction aspect is to save space. For simple protection, the ziploc part of them seems fine to me. They are expensive. For the next year I am not giving friends anything that's been in my apt. Enemies? Yes. Friends? NO. Gifts (Xmas and otherwise)are being ordered and sent from websites, catalogs etc. -
itchyincharmcity
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 16:26:17
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My PCO just told me he recommends a bagless vacuum over one with a bag. He feels it's easier to clean, recommended dumping it in the toilet and then washing the canister thingie.
I feel that bagless are a pain becuase every time you open them dust (and eggs) blows everywhere.
What do you guys think?
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itchyincharmcity
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 17:40:40
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Sorry for the double post but I don't see a button that allows me to edit my previous post.
My PCO suggested that I sprinkle Carpet Fresh or baking soda or another carpet cleaning powder before I vacuum. He said it will kill them inside the vacuum. I said I thought that would have no effect and that they could go on living inside the vacuum. PCO says living in the vacuum is what people used to think but in his experience if you vacuum them up with the stuff it will get them.
I let it go and moved on the the twenty other questions I had. But now I am wondering why he would say such a thing? Is it something about being inside the vacuum bag that makes it work? Suction + powder + small space? I would say he doesn't know what he's talking about but the dude says he's an actual entomologist as well as a pest tech. Maybe he bought his entomology degree on the internet.
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nomorebugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 17:46:56
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The Carpet fresh thing doesn't sound too informed. Neither does the bagless vacuum recommendation. I don't think you should flush vacuum dirt down the toilet. Nothing to do with bed bugs, but I think it might clog the system.
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Actually, David Cain (that London PCO who is a bedbug specialist) wrote about his preference for a bagless Dyson here a while back: http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/537#post-6187
Pretty much the same recommendation, down to emptying the contents in the toilet. Perhaps London toilets are made of sturdier stuff. The carpet fresh, needless to say, does not enter into it. (I think we'd all probably be skeptical of that claim. But if PCOs should comment in support of it, it would be interesting, as in learning something new.)
I think all kinds of vacuum cleaners can do the job.
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nomorebugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 18:05:20
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I stand corrected.
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Well, I wouldn't throw the contents of a vacuum cleaner down the toilet either. Nor would I bother with carpet fresh. There are different perspectives, that's all.
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goawaybugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 18:39:52
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Thanks bugalew! Doesn't the bottom of the vaccuum have a brush roller as well?--if no brushes are allowed, how does one vaccuum carpets?
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I think you can wash the brush roller attachments, no? I have a canister vacuum that uses bags, and bare floors, so I can wash the bristles in hot water perfectly well.
Remember that boiling water kills bedbugs. I think even hot water and soap can be useful, especially if it's Murphy's or something we already know kills bedbugs.
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goawaybugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 18:54:51
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But doesn't the very bottom of the vaccuum have some sort of brush thing that automatically rotates when you turn on the vaccuum?--not as an attachment but as part of the vaccuum? Since it's part of the vaccuum, you can't reach all of it without turning on the vaccuum and pushing it across the floor. (This is based on my old vaccuum which was a few years old, so maybe I'm outdated now.)
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I don't have carpeting so I use the bare floor roller and it detaches from the vacuum, making it washable.
Maybe those who have carpeting will describe what they do.
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bugalew
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 19:05:06
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I think we are talking about two different vacuums.
To clarify- I'm using a portable canister vacuum.As I was wisely instructed- I've been doing walls, picture rails, door frames,cracked plaster, window mouldings, drawers, chairs, couches, every crevice. Hence the 90 minute vacuuming ritual and hence the pco drilling holes in the walls for depositing Drionne. Yes. Since I have no drapes, my neighbors think I'm playing Ghostbusters for hours at a time. I have bare floors. Lots of old open parquet in which I have found eggs in the past. I can only speak to that.
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bugalew
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 19:07:39
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Re: Carpet Fresh? If that were the case: we'd all be sleeping in it.
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goawaybugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 19:23:11
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ok, thanks nomo and bugalew for the advice. Does anyone have an upright that they use on carpet? If so, do you worry about cleaning the bottom? Thanks!
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currentinsomniac
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Posted 2 years ago
Fri Nov 16 2007 21:03:09
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I had a Hoover bag vacuum but decided to buy a bagless vacuum to make the clean out easier (and less expensive with all the new bags I'd have to get?) Besides, I needed some attachments. So I ended up forking out the money to buy a vacuum I had always admired. I ended up getting a Dyson and so far I've loved it. I clean out the canister almost everytime I use it, but I haven't ever thought about the bristles on the bottom. My husband thought the same thing as the other guy...that if there was something that killed them inside the vacuum with them, the BBs would die. (But seriously...baking soda or carpet fresh? don't think so) But since I've been picking up my DE (laced with pyrethrin) with it as well, I figure it probably kills them. I have to admit that I use my attachments more than anything else, but a bristle brush attachment I have seems to have a residue of DE on it. I assume the main upright bristles probably do as well. I plan on thoroughly cleaning my vacuum, making it spic and span, after we stop getting bites..but until then I probably won't go to the trouble of cleaning out the bristles. If the vacuum didn't get them first I'm confident the pesticides will have to sooner or later.
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itchyincharmcity
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Posted 2 years ago
Mon Nov 19 2007 14:03:33
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I bought a new vacuum over the weekend, my first one! Man do I feel old. In the past I have alwaays used vacuums I inherited from old roommates or my mother or whatever. This was the first time I went to the store and bought one.
I bought the Kenmore Progressive canister w/bags model that was recently rated #1 in Consumer Reports. I must say the Sears saleswoman was very knowledgeable and helpful. Vacuum is still int he trunk of my car, I can't actualy use it right now, my place is in total disarray as I empty the drawers and closets.
For me, ther prep work is the worst part of this ordeal.
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bekalekah
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Dec 12 2007 1:20:07
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I have a bagless upright vacuum, and am worried about what survives in the filter. I bought an extra one for when this is over, and keep the filter I'm using now in a ziplock bag between uses.
We don't have trouble flushing the debris down the toilet, and I was all the parts of the canister when I'm done. Except the upholstery tool, it's like a little mini vacuum, only somehow stronger. I don't see how anything could survive it, I'm terrified every time I use it that my hair will somehow get caught & ripped out.
Anyway, I'd never given thought to the bristles on the bottom. I guess I figured with all that movement and suction they wouldn't get caught down there, but then again, those things get nasty so why wouldn't bedbug end up in there, too? Great, one more thing to worry about.
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bekalekah
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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Dec 12 2007 1:21:36
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Oops, removing a double post.
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I also have an upright I take the allergen filter off when vacuuming as I would think it would be a good bredding ground for any eggs that are caught in it. This is going to sound a bit odd but I also make sure to vacuum up some of the dusting powder I use when I vacuum. Under the assumption that it will at least help to kill anything live I vacuum up. Do not do this with a filter on it will clog the filter. Then I dump the canister (it's bagless) containts into a ziploc bag seal and take to the dumpster.
I then wash in hot water the canister and lid closure wipe down the vacuum with 91% alcohol and then dry.
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goawaybugs
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Dec 18 2007 21:47:29
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bekalekah, I'm not sure if the bristles on the bottom are an issue. But--just to be sure--I use the crevice tool in the bedroom (where any bugs, if they exist, might be) and stand the vacuum on a piece of plastic (a flat garbage bag). As I move around the bedroom (which is all wood flooring), I pull the piece of plastic behind me so that the bristles never drag along the floor. That way (theoretically at least), the bristles never get contaminated and I could use them in the living room where I have a big area rug. Of course, I've been too scared to put this to the test, so my bedroom is cleaner than it's ever been while the area rug could use a good vacuuming!
I never thought about the filter but am currently on obsessional overload, so will have to leave that for another day! I do replace the bag after each use, and keep it in a new, sealed garbage bag between uses. I'm sure the people who empty the trash are wondering why there is an empty sealed contractor bag by the incinerator every few days.
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