Dear Kenmore Corporation vacuum cleaner division,

[zwol]

I wish to register a complaint regarding your otherwise very nice model 35922 Progressive vacuum cleaner.

Do you know how many screws one must remove in order to clean accumulated hair off the beater? Ten. Two of which are in awkward places, and all of which are self-tapping into plastic, thus ensuring that after about four or five cleanings it won't go back together again properly. Not to mention the snap-lock joints hiding here and there, or the fact that you have to wriggle the cover plate past the wheels, which were clearly installed after said plate, and do not come off. It is as if you did not expect people to have to do this.

Well, for your information, I have to do it just about every time I use the vacuum. If I don't, the hair gets into the bearings, producing a horrible burning smell after about three uses, and catastrophic beater death after ten or so. I don't think I'm unusual here. I think this is a problem anyone with hair longer than the circumference of the beater will have. I'd bet that's at least a third of your market.

Extra special no-love points for the complete absence of any sort of guard to prevent the hair getting into the bearings, or the little electric motor. Double extra special no-love points for making me go buy special tools to get the motor off the end of the beater so I can clean its bearings. Yes, there's hair in there. I can see it.

No love,
zwol

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We are all supposed to have crewcuts.

Damnhippies are supposed to live in squalor.

At least that's my current theory. But I don't have much time to fine-tune it, as I have to go clean hair off the vacuum beaters.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

In my more mad-sciency moods, I imagine a second roller with blades on it that would mesh with the beater roller and chop up the long hairs so they can't get wound around anything.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Actually, in the capstone engineering class I had this last semester, one of the teams came up with a 'blades-inside-the-roller' design.

Unfortunately, the odds that they'll stick together long enough to sell a product? Dim.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Any chance I could see the paper?

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the papers don't seem to be on the Web. If I recall rightly, though, the design had grooves in the outside roller, and blades inside that rotated against an angled plate – thus moving back and forth across the grooves to cut hairs. (There was also a planetary gear system to reduce the vibration speed of the blade assembly.)

They had an awesome CAD team, let me tell you. Animations of the pieces moving and everything.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

That doesn't immediately sound like it would work, 'cos the hairs tend to be trapped on the brushes a little away from the roller itself, at least at first; and once they get really wound tight you've lost. Did the blades stick out from the grooves?

[packbat.livejournal.com]

No, there was geometry that was supposed to direct hair in, I think. I wasn't on that team.

[echristo.livejournal.com]

one word: dyson.

I love mine. Great since we have cats as well and the animal one gets everything up nicely. Such good engineering. Rah rah rah.

Still - it _is_ rather well engineered and I like that.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Not that I want to rag on Dyson, but I can't remember anything about their designs that would make them less susceptible to hair on the beater. Or are you saying they're easier to take apart?

Cat hair usually isn't long enough to get wound around the beater. I can't remember how long Felicia's hair is ... are you sure you are actually in the same boat as me?

[echristo.livejournal.com]

It's much easier to take apart. Emptying the bag, or, pulling apart the beater. It seems like it would be much harder to get stuff wound around the beater in a bad way, but we have less long hair than you do here :)

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

This seems like an appropriate place for a Roomba plug. Turns out you only have to pop a couple of tabs to remove the beater on one of those. It's like they actually thought about this.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Sadly, Roomba does not cut it when it comes to filtration.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh.