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when I vacuum, the machine emits a very dusty, musty smell. I change the paper bag when it is about half full. I even washed the zip-up bag that holds the paper bag, but ruffed it up a bit so I needed advice on that too, lol.
I have heard of folks putting potpourri in the bag and I'm interested in trying that. Do I put it in the cloth zip-up bag or in the paper bag? Any other suggestions?
Woodspirit1 -- There are some deodorizing tablets that go right into the paper bag. One brand is Ultra Care Scent Tablet from K-Mart. It's $7.99 for 8 tablets and I know I've seen similar products in our grocery store for much less.
Another way is to put a few drops of an Essential Oil on a cotton ball and put it in the vacuum bag. I use a cheap brand of Essential Oils for the vacuum. Peppermint or lemon work well but don't last as long as those tablets. Doesn't matter to me since I have to empty the bag so often, thanks to the generous amount of hair contributed by my cat.
I've also wiped down the inside of the zip-up bag with Febreze sprayed onto a paper towel. Just be sure the bag is dry before you turn on the vacuum!
Yes, I wipe the Febreeze on the inside of the cloth bag. You can also spray some on the outside. I love Febreeze too and have a bottle of it in just about every room.
I have had the same problem and until my mom introduced me to those vacuum tablets.
Every time when i put a new bag in there i would sprinkle some that carpet deodorizer, it's the powder that you can get to sprinkle on your carpets, Any brand would work and then when the vacuum in on and the air is pushed out the vent thingy, the whole room would smell good.
Most of those carpet deodorizers are way too strong for me. We bought one that had "pet hair release" as a feature and my house reeked of it for weeks. It smelled like cheap perfume. If these powders really are deodorizers and not just odor coverups, I wonder why they have to put so much artificial fragrance in them?
If I could find a carpet deodorizer powder that just smelled like fresh lemons, I'd be willing to try that in my vacuum.
If you happen to have an air compressor, take
your vac outdoors and blow every inch of your vac.
When I run the vac, I take the filter out and blow it
with a tiny tipped air thing-a-ma-jig. I've even been
known to do this several times while cleaning the house.
Wuvie, YOU GO GIRL !!! If you find a solution, I'd be so glad !
If we don't find a solution for the rain... I'm going to need a solution for getting the mold off of ME ! ! ! ! LOL.
Everything is so damp and wet for so long now, it's like living in the tropics here in Okla., or more like the swamp at our place.
Woodspitit1, I know just what you mean about the sweeper bag. I had the same problem. But it seems to have gone now.
What I did, was to take the sweeper attachments and sweep the inside of the space where the bag goes, and put a fresh bag into it each time I used it for about 6 times. I know it seems a little wasteful to change the bag that much, but it worked. In addition, I would sprinkle about a half a small box of baking soda onto the carpet and vac. it up before I started to do the rest of the sweeping. Finally, the vac. bag odor went away. I was almost to the point that I wanted a new sweeper and dreaded each time I had to vac. Much better now.
Sweeper still a good one, I can spend money elsewhere...LOL. Like on a new umbrella or mud boots... hehe.
