I have an expensive vacuum cleaner that takes expensive bags. To save on buying new bags for my vacuum, I simply cut the bottom off the bag, empty it, and duct tape the bottom shut. Voila! I have a recycled vacuum cleaner bag.
By Dee from Salem, VA
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I am living on a very, very tight budget and this is a brilliant idea. Thanks.
Before I switched to a bagless vacuum, I had one that I could never find bags for. So I decided to make my own reuseable bags. I recycled old, worn-out pillow cases and sheets by cutting them to size and then stitching up the sides and bottom. To solve the issue of keeping them in place, I took thin pieces of elastic and fed them through a little pocket I had stitched around the opening for just that purpose.
A vacuum cleaner picks up dirty air from the floor and forces it into the reservoir, where the heavier particles (dirt and hair) drop out. The air, still dusty, is then forced through filters - either the sides of the bag, or a HEPA filter, or whatever. If your machine is designed to use disposable bags, and you reuse them, the dust and mold are still trapped in the sides of the bag, clogging it and then being forced back out into the room by air pressure. If you make your own bags, they won't trap the dust like they're supposed to, and the whatever gets through will get into the motor on the way back out of the machine and will damage it.
A HEPA filter is used to get the air as clean as possible, for severely allergic people; that's why it's so expensive. To reuse one is like washing your clothes in a muddy creek.
Any time you reuse a disposable bag or filter, or substitute something else, you're going to have dust and mold going back into the room, or you're risking killing your vacuum cleaner motor, or both. Is it worth the savings in bags?
Get out of my head!! Been doin' this for years. Great minds think alike, I guess!
Bad idea, I'm afraid. These bags aren't as efficient, which will result in more dust being deposited back onto the carpet and elsewhere in your home. This is especially bad in homes with allergy sufferers.
I love this idea. Bet if you used clamps instead of tape you could get 3 or 4 uses. I did this in a way with my "free" dynamite plus dirt devil that I picked up in a dumpster. It is bag-less but uses a heppa filter. It recommends that you change it like every 3 months.
I agree with wildirish. Those vacs also have other filters that need replacing more often because now they have to work harder. I think if you are in the market for a new vac. Think and say to yourself. Do I want a bag or a bagless vac this time?
I think this idea is disgusting. As an allergy suffer to mold and dust, recyling a vacuum bag is the last thing I would want to do. I purchase expensive bags because they are able to trap small particles.
This is actually a very bad idea. I used to repair vacuums on my job. As they fill with dirt they lose air flow and even after you empty them there is very fine dirt and dust that will clog up the bag. So you lose suction in you vacuum as a result. And of course, that doesn't help your vacuum. Besides that, some of the dirt can contain bad things like mold and bacteria which is bad for allergy sufferers and some of that can be blown out and into the room you are vacuuming. If you don't want to use bags why don't you buy a bag-less vacuum instead.
Very bad idea. These vacuums are a very expensive investment.
The bags are HEPA filters.
Trying to save a few pennies and ruin your machine is senseless.
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