Plus tips for keeping your vacuum running smoothly for years.
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It turns out were not busting the dustwere busting our vacuums with our bad habits.
is guilty of doing.
Photo:Johnny Greig/Getty Images
Passing her vacuum over a baking soda-coated mattress killed her machine almost instantly.
But who can blame her?
Youre running it over water
Vacuum cleaners arenotshop vacs, Hankins stresses.
On top of this, were all assuming a little bit of water is harmless.
That pop in of dampness from an ice cube could spread water throughout a little handheld stick vacuum.
You get a whole mess, Hankins says.
They are rockstars in our homes for sure, but they cant doeverything.
Theyrenotdesigned to lift teeny socks, paper towels, newspapers, and such.
But even smaller items shouldnt be trusted.
Lets say you shatter a glass though, isnt a vacuum the best way to get every single speck?
Hankins confirms yes, but sweep up as much as you might first.
Its not uncommon for people toneverwash them, but its so crucial to their function.
Washing them will preserve your vacuums suction power, and itll help your home smell clean.
Filters can actually trap smells and spread them throughout the house when theyre not maintained!
The other thing people do even less of isreplacingtheir filters.
Youre leaving it on the charger… All.
Technically this wontruinyour machine if its not super old, but itll certainly help extend the battery life.
Use the machine until the battery is fully dead.
He says this is cycling the life of the battery, helping it last longer.
(Dyson confirms this is true for their models.)
Think of it as a little reset!