Vacuum Cleaners

Which type for which home

Cordless stick. The category that changed the habit: because it hangs on a wall and is ready in three seconds, you use it every day instead of once a week. The practical result is a cleaner home, even if the suction is lower.

Corded cylinder. Greater suction, a large container and no battery to worry about. The right choice for large homes, carpets and pets, where suction matters more than convenience.

Handheld. For the car, crumbs on a worktop and local accidents. It does not replace a vacuum, it complements one.

Wet and dry. Karcher’s speciality: a storeroom, garage, workshop, or after a water leak. It swallows what a domestic vacuum cannot handle.

Bagged or bagless?

Bagged. The dust stays sealed inside and emptying happens without contact — important for allergies. The cost is buying bags continually, and suction dropping as the bag fills.

Bagless. Emptying is free and immediate, and you see what you collected. But emptying raises dust, and the filter needs regular washing or performance falls.

The feature that genuinely matters in both cases: the exhaust filter. A vacuum with a poor filter returns fine dust to the air — it collects from the floor and scatters it around the room. For allergy sufferers it is the single most critical choice.

The three things that decide whether it lasts

Clean the filter. It is the number one reason a vacuum "lost power". On most it washes with water — and it must dry completely before going back, otherwise it develops mould and smells.

Check the brush roll. Hair and threads wind around the roller and jam it. Ten minutes with scissors every month.

On cordless models, mind the battery. It is the part that fails first, usually in three to five years. Before buying, check whether the battery can be replaced — on several models it cannot, and then the whole vacuum is thrown away.

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