I have just bought myself a new vacuum cleaner last week, a Deerma DX900. A small, lightweight portable vacuum with good suction that is budget friendly to my pocket. Also, it is easy to clean and I do not get dust flying all over the place like before with my old vacuum cleaner. The build looks good and sturdy. A squarish to round converted is included in the package. So I have the option of connecting my pipes and nozzle from my older vacuum cleaner to my new one if need be (note: additional connectors and adapters needed). Or I can get additional vacuum accessories (brushes for example) when my need arise. Good.
There is one problem though. I find the perforated metal particle steel filter to be too small. It clogs up easily in less than 5 minutes of use, even faster when used in a very dusty part of the house. Just emptying the dust container will not help as once the steel filter is clogged up, I get practically no suction at all. A thorough cleaning of the steel filter is required when this happens. You can tell that there is poor or no suction when nothing is twirling around in the dust canister.
My vacuuming is hindered. In my typical use, I will spend something like 5 minutes of use and 10 minutes of filter cleaning. That can't be right. How can I be spending more time cleaning filters than actually cleaning the house? It doesn't make sense, does it? Needless to say at this point, I was a bit disappointed. Time to put on my thinking cap.
Put A Sock On It
And this is what I decided after some 24 hours of thinking and analysis: to increase the filter area by placing an additional filter over the DX900 steel filter. And I did this by... placing a cut up sock over it. Length of the sock is slightly longer than the filter so that it bulges in the middle (thus, increasing the filter surface area). Two rubber bands were also used to hold the sock in place. They don't have to be very tight.
But anyway boy, am I glad this works. I now get about 15 minutes of vacuuming before needing to do any filter cleaning. Obviously, this is still subject to the amount of dust in the area that is been vacuumed. Less dust equals more vacuuming time, while lots of dust equal less vacuuming time. Anyway, I got an improvement with my little hack. I am a very happy.
It would be great if I could find a cupcake typed HEPA filter of suitable size, but I have none of these at hand.
Something strange though. I find that most of the dust and dirt is stuck on the sock while the steel filter is relatively dust free. Hmmm... Maybe I will have more cut up sock at hand and to replace them once they are clogged up and to do the filter cleaning all at once once my vacuuming task is done. Just a thought.
Some dust particles did make it pass the filters though. Putting two layers of non-woven fabric (ie. the non-middle ones) from a cut up 3-ply surgical face mask over the sponge filter (the one between the dust canister and the vacuum body) did help a bit but some dust particles, not much, still went through.
Final Thoughts
I have no overheating issues with this vacuum cleaner. All in all, I am happy with my purchase ... and with my hack.
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