The holidays can be a stressful time, so don’t damage your vacuum while cleaning for your holiday guests! 

 

 Did you know regular vacuums are not made to vacuum up everything? 

5 Holiday Items to AVOID While Cleaning!

 Here are 5 Things you should Avoid while vacuuming this holiday season, and throughout the year.

1. Pine Needles

Pine needles are the number one ruiner of vacuums during the holidays. We cannot even count how many repairs we get each year due to these sneaky items. Both artificial and real pine needles should never be vacuumed with traditional vacuum cleaners. Short pine needles get stuck in the hoses, bags, air passageways, and filters. The shape of the needles allows them to penetrate small areas and stay there, building up into a clog. Long pine needles do the same damage, just quicker and more severe. Even with the best suctioning vacuums, pine needles should be avoided at all costs. 

A simple solution for picking up pine needles is a broom and dust pan, or a dry mop. If you have primarily carpeting, placing a large tree skirt around your tree (or you can also use a holiday table cloth or sheet), and simply picking it up once a week, taking it outside, and shaking it, will reduce the number of needles you need to pick up. 

 

2. Ash

Although it may seem more convenient to simply pull out your vacuum and vacuum up the remainder from the fire last night, please don’t! Ash is also a common damage we see to vacuums during the holidays. But first, ash should not ever be vacuumed by a traditional vacuum as this is a fire hazard. We cannot stress enough how dangerous vacuuming up ash without an ash vacuum can be. Regular vacuums are not built to handle the heat from sucking up ash as ash stays at a warmer level for long periods of time and reactivates once moved (addition of oxygen). Combined with dust from dust bins, plastic or cloth from bags, these are all perfect fire breeding scenarios. Aside from the fire hazard, ash particles are much finer than dust particles. These particles penetrate and seep deep into motors, and “smokes” the filters. This damage results in needing to replace the entire motor, and in most cases, the majority of the parts. In other words, it’s time for a new vacuum. 

A great solution to the ash issue is an ash vacuum. Our recommended pick are from Loveless Vacuums. These vacuums were designed to be kept out for easy cleaning, and add a beautiful flair to your home. Click here to learn more about ash vacuums. 

 

3. Wrapping Paper/ Gift Tags/ Ribbon/ Paper

While you may be thinking “who vacuums up wrapping paper and bows?” you would be surprised how many customers we see who didn’t know they shouldn’t be vacuuming these items, or accidentally vacuumed up these items. Vacuuming these items generally results with a clog to your vacuum. While some clogs can be fixed, it depends on what you were vacuuming, and the level of suction your vacuum produces. Not all clogs can be fixed. 

To avoid vacuuming up these items, we recommend keeping a large trash bag and recycle bin in the room while opening presents. By placing wrapping items directly into the bag and bin, you will not only eliminate the need to pick these items up afterwards, but you will avoid these items accidentally slipping under couches and furniture, only to find out the hard way when you go to vacuum.

 

4. Broken Ornaments/Glass

While some vacuums are able to withstand vacuuming up glass and ornaments, not all have this ability. Make sure you check with the manufacturer or the business that sold you your vacuum to ensure this is possible. While vacuuming up small pieces of glass is generally fine, vacuuming up larger pieces may result in a clog. And as you have previously read- clogs can result in the death of your beloved vacuum. 

 

5. Snow/Liquid

When you pair liquid with electricity, you are not in for a good combination. Please don’t ever vacuum up snow, liquid, wet cereal, or anything damp. There were a few videos circling the internet of people vacuuming snow, cereal, and water and as a result we sadly had to send some vacuums to vacuum heaven. Please do not believe these posts: Liquid will damage any vacuum motor. The liquid also seeps into the filters, bags, and canisters, and will eventually mold and/or mildew. So not only will you have a damaged vacuum, you will be placing yourself and your family at a health risk. It’s best to avoid the liquid altogether and save your vacuum's motor. 

 

 

 

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