VACUUMS FOR ALLERGY SUFFERERS

We want to attempt to answer a few of your questions, and give you the information you need to make an informed decision.

CLEANING POWER
First of all, forget all of the 'ratings' you see in most printed literature. Amps, watts, cleaning power per amp, peak horsepower, RPM's of the motor, etc. have NOTHING to do with the cleaning power of the machine. These numbers are a poor measure of comparison, and are very misleading for the consumer.

The only rating the matters is C.F.M., which stands for cubic feet per minute, and is a measure of how much air you can move through the machine. The movement of air is what picks up the dirt. Unfortunately for you, the consumer, most companies DO NOT publish this number, because they know their machines cannot match the upper end units, so they attempt to impress you with all of the meaningless information they can give you.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HEPA FILTRATION
This is the other area when you, the consumer, gets misled. While you're busy being confused by HEPA, HEPA-Type, and all of the other names they can give the filtration, and while you are given all of these wonderful scientific numbers (99.97% down to .3 microns) what you are NOT being told is that only the filter has this rating, and not the entire machine.

Quite Simply, if you take a poorly constructed machine and put a HEPA filter in the back of it, you have no guarantee of anything. Cheap, poorly designed machines allow the air (and therefore the dust) to leak out from around the seams of the machine BEFORE they ever reach the filter.

Don't just take our word for it - here's proof!!
Just because a machine has a great filter doesn't mean it has great filtration. Most vacuum companies with high filtration are actually quoting a specification made by the manufacturer of the filter. Their claims do not take into consideration that air can escape the machine through leaks in the machine.

"While researchers have studied a few vacuums that contained the high-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filters, most manufacturers claim their vacuums are "HEPA quality". We can only imagine what the average consumer is thinking they're buying when they bring a "HEPA" vacuum home.

"New test results presented at a recent EPA conference on particulates proved there's no guarantee of filtration quality when it comes to seeing the word "HEPA" on a vacuum. Researchers found that HEPA filters must be tightly sealed in the system to be of use in capturing particulates. In addition, some vacuums tested had HEPA filters that were so small, they weren't efficient at certain (air) flow rates.
------Indoor Environment Review, March 1998 issue.

THE SOLUTION
First, the good news - you don't have to purchase a $1500 machine. In fact, we feel the machines we recommend will outperform the overpriced machines being sold by many companies.

The machines we recommend for allergy sufferers provide the answer that you are looking for. Both of these units are among the most powerful available, and are COMPLETELY SEALED units, ensuring that the air and dust are REALLY going to properly filtered and not exhausted back into the air for you to breathe.

NOTE: If you have pets, these machines also offer a special activated charcoal filter to help control pet odors. This filter will also help absorb cooking odors and cigarette smoke.

Both are also durable units with outstanding warranties (compared with the 1-year warranty you receive with the standard 'store bought' brands).

UPRIGHT
SEBO X4

CANISTER
Miele Callisto