Did you know that when a vacuum cleaner is not quite doing the job it’s not always the vacuum cleaner’s fault? Little thought is often given to the type of vacuum cleaner floor tool used on the vacuum's wand. Turns out that little fitting has a lot to do with how quickly and effectively you can vacuum your floor. Choosing the right one can make a huge difference. They are easy and inexpensive to buy too.
So what are your floor tool choices and what works best where?
Whether you call them vacuum feet or vacuum tools it doesn’t really matter. You just want one that fits, works well and won’t damage your floor surfaces. Here’s our top 4 recommendations…
1. Standard Dual Purpose Vacuum Floor Tools
• Great on carpet and hard floors. They will most often have wheels or brushes underneath so the bottom of the floor tool won’t scrape along the hard floor surface.
• Some of these tools have a pedal to switch between carpet and hard floor mode. This pedal or button retracts the brush for carpet and puts the brush down for hard floors. You just have to remember to push the button before you move to a hard floor area or you may scratch the surface.
• Most vacuum cleaners when they are purchased come with this type of tool.
• This type of tool is inexpensive to buy and easy to replace when your old tool is worn out.
• It’s best not to wait for your tool to completely wear out before replacing because they can do damage to a floor surface.
• Vacuum manufacturer’s don’t tend to cover this item under their machine warranties because they class it as a wear and tear item. Floor tools will last if you treat them well but if you bang them around they will break from time to time. Some floor tools treated badly may only last for a single use up to 3 months of use. Other floor tools treated well will last much much longer.
2. Specialty Hard Floor Vacuum Tools
• Some vacuum floor tools are made just for hard floors. Specialty hard floor tools used in dry areas usually have brushes and sometimes wheels too. Tools designed for wet areas will have squeegees and sometimes have wheels also.
• Specialty hard floor vacuum tools usually don’t work that well on carpet.
• Whether it’s by brushes, wheels or microfibre attachments these tools are designed not to scratch floor surfaces like polished timber and marble.
• High quality hard floor tools will often have replaceable squeegees or brushes so you don’t have to get a new tool every time those parts wear out.
3. Turbohead Floor Tools
• Great on carpet and hard floors. Most Turboheads are only suitable for carpets, so if you want to use a Turbohead floor tool on hard floors be sure to choose one that has wheels so the bottom won’t scrape along the surface.
• The brush in the floor tool is turned by the airflow of your vacuum cleaner to deep clean surfaces. The more powerful your vacuum the better the brush turn will be.
• Cleans deep into the pile of carpets.
• Good for removing dirt, dust, pet hair, allergens and even dust mites.
• There are no cords or motors.
• Very lightweight and easy to change on and off the wand.
• It’s an easy way to clean faster and better.
• A Turbohead is cost effective, high productivity tool.
• Great for pre-vacuuming before professional hot water carpet extraction or dry cleaning.
• Hair and strands will get caught on the brush which will need to be cleaned from time to time. A pair of scissors can help remove the wound up hair. If you don’t remove the build up, the brush will stop turning properly and the tool will wear out faster.
4. Powerhead Floor Tools
• Very effective for vacuuming carpet and much more powerful than a Turbohead floor tool.
• A motorised brush beats and deep cleans the carpet fibres.
• Excellent for removing dirt, dust, pet hair, allergens and even dust mites.
• The roller brush is powered by a motor in the tool.
• A cord runs from the machine down the hose and wand to the tool to provide power.
• Much heavier than a Turbohead and more difficult to change on and off the wand if you want to switch tools.
• Not very efficient for vacuuming stairs.
• Powerhead floor tools don’t fit all vacuum cleaner machines as they require a power outlet on the machine to work.
• Great for pre-vacuuming before professional hot water carpet extraction or dry cleaning.
• Hair and strands will get caught on the brush which will need to be cleaned from time to time. A pair of scissors can help remove the wound up hair. If you don’t remove the build up, the brush will stop turning properly and the tool will wear out faster.
Don’t forget this when you get your next vacuum floor tool
Remember the floor tool neck size you require. That’s the inside diameter of the neck of the vacuum floor tool. The most popular floor tool neck size at XO2 is 32mm but 38mm and 35mm are sometimes required for particular vacuum cleaner wands. There are a few other odd sizes out there too just to make things a little more difficult.
There’s lots of floor tools to choose from. When it comes to vacuuming there are many possible floor tool - vacuum cleaner - floor surface combinations. That’s why the best floor tool is the one that works for you. So if you’d like to improve your vacuuming perhaps try something new. It could save you a lot of time and money.
If you’ve found your perfect vacuum tool let us know. We’d love to hear from you and perhaps even add to this page with your suggestions. We appreciate all the ideas and feedback so many people email to us.
If you’re looking for any commercial vacuum cleaner floor tool advice or help, give the XO2 team a call today on 1300 123 499, or check out XO2's vacuum cleaner floor tools online.
Happy vacuuming.
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