Old school vacuums are pretty rare these days. This makes sense: if you can get a brand new, lightweight canister vacuum on Amazon for less than $ 200, then why bother with a heavier, louder relic of a machine that needs replacement bags?
To be perfectly clear, bag vacuums are damn good. Last summer I bought a refurbished Kirby Sentria II from Craigslist for $ 80 and it instantly changed my life. Yes, it’s heavy and not particularly agile, but what it lacks in agility it more than makes up for in pure function. (This thing sucks up cat hair like a $ 800 Dyson vacuum cleaner – it absolutely rules.)
But as I’ve learned, bag vacuums offer more than just functionality. They have at least three different (and huge) advantages over all but the chicest bagless models. Unless you have hundreds of dollars on a Dyson, pretty much any bagged vacuum cleaner in your price range is the next best, and I’d love to tell you why.
Bag vacuum cleaners are a lifesaver for allergy sufferers
After using bagless vacuums for most of my adult life, I assumed that sneezing fits were part of the deal. There was always a certain amount of dust blown up when the vacuum cleaner was used, and the emptying of the canister made clouds of it rise into the air. If you’re allergic to anything that ends up in a vacuum – dust, dust mites, pet dander – the whole process can be more irritating than it’s worth.
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None of this happens to bag vacuum cleaners. As long as the tube that connects the head and the bag is properly sealed, dust, hair and other fine particles will go straight into a bag that is specially designed to catch fine particles. Changing the bag can release a tiny cloud of dust, but that’s nothing compared to the vortex you get when emptying a canister. If you or someone you live with has indoor allergies, you owe it to yourself to check vacuum cleaners in bags. You can even purchase HEPA certified bags if you need to.
Bag vacuum cleaners are more environmentally friendly than you think
I know what you’re thinking: vacuum cleaner bags are incredibly harmful to the environment. Every time you change the bag, you send a lot of dust and hair to the landfill in a bag that won’t disintegrate.
Two things here. First, while many vacuum bags – especially those that meet HEPA standards – are made of synthetic material that is not biodegradable, many others actually do. You can purchase bags made of paper and other compostable materials that will fit most bag vacuum cleaner models. Second, what do you think is more polluting: increasingly obscure vacuum bags, some of which are biodegradable – or a global industry that produces more plastic canister vacuums every year that inevitably end up in landfills when they break?
You can actually fix bag vacuums
That brings me to the last benefit, and it’s a big one: unlike most cheap cylinder vacuum cleaners, bag vacuum cleaners are designed for repair. Regularly wearing parts (belts in particular) are so cheap and easy to replace that you can do it yourself after watching a few YouTube videos. For the harder stuff, there are always vacuum repair shops out there that are less opaque than they sound. Pretty much every metropolitan area in the US has at least one because commercial cleaning companies need to keep their vacuums in order. If you live near a city with many hotels or office buildings, there is a good chance you can find a vacuum repair shop too.
Being able to maintain and repair your vacuum cleaner as needed sounds like such a small thing, but it’s surprisingly rare. Using the same vacuum cleaner for several years will keep your carpet clean, keep money in your pocket, and keep your vacuum cleaner out of the landfill – which are pretty big goals.
