Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Opinion
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Vacuum cleaner is example of technology By Carl Heintze Today I discovered the fourth filter on our new vacuum cleaner. I bring this to your attention not through any pride in my accomplishment, but rather to point out that I was brought up in a time when vacuum cleaners didn't have any filters. Nor, for that matter, did they have disposable bags, as a lot do now. You just dumped the dust when you got through cleaning. But, like everything else in modern life, technology has had its effect even on a device as simple as a vacuum cleaner. Our new cleaner has a filter for the dusty air coming in and for the less dusty air going out. It also has a filter which turns around and around as one vacuums, peeling off dust and dropping it into a chamber into which one can see. There the dust goes around and around as the wind„or rather the vacuum„sucks in air. I am unclear as to what the final filter does. That's the one that rests on top of this chamber and collects a lot of dust from somewhere. I found this out because our vacuum has three little lights on it. One is red, one is green and one is orange. Usually when the motor is on so is the green light. That, according to the manufacturer, is to let you know the air passing through the vacuum is pretty clean. When the red light comes on and the green light goes off, the vacuum is sucking in a lot of dirty air. Usually that's good, but sometimes it isn't. And when the orange light comes on, beware! That means something is clogging the four filters and you'd better shut the machine off and have a look at all four. Just why this warning light is orange and not red is a mystery the manual that came with the machine does not explain. Nor does it explain why the operator of the vacuum would care one way or the other whether the green or red light is on. Presumably the vacuum is supposed to be drawing up dust whether the floor is very dirty or very clean. The vacuum we had before this vacuum didn't have any lights on it„except, of course, the light that came on when you turned the machine on. It was supposed to serve as a kind of headlight as you shoved it into dark corners. I never really understood this, either. The vacuum was supposed to get the dirt. It shouldn't have made any difference whether you could see it or not. But, as the man who sells electric ovens on television says, there's more. The new vacuum also has levels of approach. They range from "bare floor," when its brushes practically scrape the surface near it, to "high," which one is supposed to use to clean shag rugs. (Do people still have shag rugs? I thought they went out with leisure suits and big gold necklaces.) So one does not just vacuum the house. One has to choose between the levels at which one does it and with all four filters cleaned and doing their best. One also has to remember how to clean the filters, for they all have to be kept clean or the machine doesn't work properly. One has to remember that some of the filters are washable in warm water, but others aren't, or, as the somewhat lengthy manual that comes with the vacuum says, "Warning! Cleaning this filter with water will make it no longer operative." The fourth filter I came across after working the machine for several months is located inside the filter that turns inside the dust chamber into which the air circulates after it has been filtered by yet another filter. I came across the fourth filter because the red light wouldn't go off (a bad thing, or so the manual warned me). After removing the dust chamber from the machine, removing the lid from the chamber and then removing the lid from the filter I finally found the fourth filter, The manual said to clean it by tapping it lightly on something (it did not say what). I tried that but the manual writer was wrong. The dust didn't come out. I had to get a screwdriver and pry it out and there was a lot of it. I suppose I ought to be grateful for that. It meant the vacuum had been doing a good job. But instead I just felt frustrated and saddened and I longed for the old vacuum, which, alas, is no longer with us. All I had to do with that machine was turn it on and move it back and forth and the house got cleaned. It wasn't like piloting the space shuttle to rendezvous with the International Space Station. But, hey, either shape up or ship out, as we used to say. Get with the program or get going somewhere else. Become a vacuum jockey or keep a dusty house. Carl Heintze is a frequent contributor to the Willow Glen Resident. He can be reached at feodorh@juno.com. |
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