This is my problem today: if you look closely at the pic of the evil vacuum, you will see that in one section, the hose is very straight. That is because K vaccuumed up one of his sister's scarves. How did that make the hose straight? The scarf didn't- it was the mop handle that I shoved and shimmmied through the hose to get the scarf pushed out that caused that. Before I could do this, I had to untape that handle from the swiffer head it was attached to. (I duct taped that together after an earlier incident). Anyway, that was pretty powerful tape cause whatever residue from it that was left on the broom handle adhered to the scarf in the middle of the hose. Can you guess what I am thinking about that?
I am getting an idea. I am desparate to vacuum up the dust bunnies, so I do what any good Canadian girl would do:
get out my hockey tape and a fish knife!
I know, I know, cutting on my knee is not very safe- I was in my "get 'er done" mode.
Aha, the offending neck apparel that jumped out in front of K while he was conscientiously vacuuming (his version of the incident)
There we go- successful surgery: the foreign objects have been removed! (turn head to the right to view- I don't know why I couldn't get the pic to turn-sorry)
I am just closing up my skinny patient. I am telling you- every housewife needs hockey tape kickin' around. It is a staple of mine, along with my stash of duct tape.
I went on my merry way, vacuuming all dust in sight. Later that day, K came home from school and vacuumed up a stick...
8 comments:
Ooooh....let's hear it for hockey tape! Totally Canadian. Seriously, I think it's the new duct tape in my life. I just used it to close up a bunch of boxes full of Christmas decor because we had run out of packing tape. And I've used it to de-lint my hubby's black jacket. I'm thinking it's right up there with duct tape and bay wipes. ;-)
Remind me never to covet those built in vacuums again. So how many surgeries have you performed on that thing, because you might as well make a tube of soccer tape for your hose. At this rate it's going to end up nothing BUT soccer tape!
Hello from Lee,
Don't give up yet on your vacuum!!! I have had a central vac for years and have found a great product. I had suction problems with my vac in the past and I found this product by putting in clogged central vacuum in google. It is called TORNADOPOWER Central Vacuum Maintenance Cloths. These cloths are great. They smell fresh, test your system, deodorize and clean the whole thing. Their website says that they don't claim to unclog systems but these little babies are pulling globs of stuff out. I got fur, nails, shoelaces, etc. out of mine! You empty the canister in the garage or basement first. You plug in your hose, suck one or two cloths through each inlet of your house. I put my hand over the end of the wand part to create big suction and then go see what comes out in the canister!! If thie is a huge clog( maybe like the scark), it will of course get stuck too. Instead of cutting into your hose, call a central vac dealer and have them come do a service call, it will cost you but then use these cloths from then on to keep the hose and pipes clear. Here is their website: www.tornadocloth.com
They have tons of U.S. and Canadian dealers that have the product or you can order off their website. They last about 8 months and I love them. Please hang in there, you may start to like your vac after using these. I know love is strong word right now!!! Good Luck, Lee
Well Lee, thank you for the tip. The vacuum we have right now is old and junky, so I didn't mind cutting it too much. We do need to buy a new one as the motor head on this one is dying too. I will NOT want to chop that one up, so am grateful for the advice!
hee hee hee
Love your story. I can only imagine your frustration! :-)
Found your blog through HisGirl. I love the post about your vacuum! Hilarious (I can laugh because I have kids and old stuff too!)The pictures didn't load for me so I'm a little sad about that, but I'm going to look forward to backreading and getting to know you!Blessings!
I used to have one with the long hose like that. In the hands of my son it became a suction device for everything on the floor. I got so tired of unclogging the hose.
Now I have a stand up--so far so good.
And I would have never thought to just cut the hose. I would have had to make it so much harder. ;)
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