Did you know that just by vacuuming a good-quality wool rug, you can turn it into garbage?
Green Tip: Don't Felt that Rug!
According to a sales representative for one of the big wool carpet companies, an increasing number of people are ruining wool carpet and rugs by the houseful. The culprit seems to be the Dyson vacuum cleaner and similar models with a "self-adjusting" beater bar. The bristles on the beater bar wreak havoc with wool fibers, turning fine carpet into a horrible, fuzzy mess. (The beater bar is harmless to synthetic carpet, which has been heat-set to stay twisted.)
The simple solution? If you're the proud owner of a wool rug or carpet, ditch the Dyson. Our source recommends a high-suction canister vac without a beater bar. Depending on your budget, Miele, Kenmore, and Panasonic are good brands. If you have an older style upright vacuum, set the height adjustment all the way up. And if you indulge in professional cleaning help, figure out a way to provide a gentle reminder. We've printed out the above picture and leave it on the rug in question.
Bonus for the vacuum geeks out there: the technical name for beater bar is "disturbulator."
Comments (3)
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Rather than ditching a perfectly good Dyson, you can always turn the beater bar off. It's the red button next to the power button.
view Liz's profile
That's what I was going to say. Most vacuums with a beater bar also have a switch to turn it off when cleaning hard floors. My Dyson doesn't have a red button, but there's a dial near the vacuum head to switch from carpet to bare floors.
view leanneabe's profile
Love that word, disturbulator. I think it applies to several people I know.
view SFGail's profile