Of course, Ashley knew she was taking quite the risk when she put the device in the dishwasher. Yet she really wanted to give it a try because her vacuum had gotten so dirty on the inside that some simple soapy water wouldn’t do the trick anymore. But pay attention: you can only do this with a stick vacuum cleaner!
Canister
She decided to put the device in the dishwasher anyway. First, she took the whole thing apart until she had a separate canister, filters, brush and hose. Then, she took the top rack out of her dishwasher so she had enough space to put the vacuum’s canister inside the dishwasher at a certain angle on the bottom rack. Next, she changed the water temperature setting to cold. She added a dishwasher tablet and then she let the machine do its thing for three minutes. After those three minutes, she checked whether everything was going alright. What did she find? The canister was clean already after three minutes! She then let this part dry for an entire night.
Filters
Ashley didn’t put the filters in the dishwasher but instead cleaned them with a drop of dish soap under running water. She wrang them out until the water was clean and no filth came off the filters. She did this with both the felt and the foam filters. Then, she put the filters in the sun on a tea towel so they could dry through and through.
Brush
The vacuum cleaner has a rotating brush and there’s a good chance that a lot of hair has gotten stuck in this. This is very easy to remove by using a seam ripper to cut through the hairs. After you’ve done this, it’s easy to get them out of the brush.
Hose
You can clean the hose of the vacuum by mixing together 1/4 vinegar and 3/4 baking soda. Pour this mixture through the hose and you’ll see a lot of filth will come out the other end along with it. Repeat this a couple of times and then properly rinse the hose with water to make sure any cleaning product or filth that’s left behind comes out as well.
Leave all of the parts to dry properly and then put the vacuum back together. You’ll see it’ll look as good as new!
Read more: Smart cleaning: you can use dishwasher tablets for these 5 things around the house
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Source: The Kitchn | Image: Flickr, Allen Michael