I Never Though I’d Love a Vacuum Cleaner Till I Met the Dyson DC14

When I was cleaning my house the weekend before we were to move in, I started out cleaning with a Shop-Vac. After a while, I grew tired of it as it wasn’t doing the job I needed it to do. I decided I deserved a treat and went out to the nearest Sears and bought myself the Dyson DC14 Vacuum.

I had anticipated a problem assembling the Dyson DC14 Vacuum and even tried to con a few people into doing it for me. However, when I opened up the box the next day I was surprised at the ease with which it went together. It was really just two steps and I was good to go with vacuuming the carpets in my new home. This was good since there really is very little documentation with the vacuum and I ended up figuring a lot of the operation myself. Either Dyson assumes users of their vacuums have a modicum of intelligence or something was missing from my box.

We had a wide variety of messes. There was dirt tracked in from the “sandy fill” and gravel which had been used for my driveway. Button-up work had included spackling and sanding, so there was dust from that. I had to pull up the plastic which was anchored over the carpets, so that helped a little, but it was inevitable that the carpets still needed a great deal of cleaning. My vinyl floors also needed a once-over with the Dyson DC14 Vacuum before I could mop them to thoroughly clean them.

Operating the vacuum is very easy. There’s an on/off button located on the handle, then I lightly step on the front of the vacuum pad where the brushes are located and the handle easily tilts back. Adjusting the brush from carpets to bare floors is easy as there’s a clearly-marked knob on the pad which twists easily.

Almost immediately I was impressed by the Dyson DC14 Vacuum. It cleaned the carpets with ease. I couldn’t believe the amount of dirt it picked up. My carpets looked great despite the dirt which had been tracked in. I adjusted the Dyson DC14 Vacuum and tried it on my vinyl flooring before mopping it. Again, it did a terrific job and picked up the majority of the dirt. When I mopped later on, I didn’t see a lot of dirt in the water.

Dyson vacuums are based on a different technology than the traditional bagged vacuums. The call this “root cyclone technology”. This is what gives the Dyson DC14 Vacuum it’s distinctive look and clear canister.

The first time I emptied the Dyson DC14 Vacuum I did it the wrong way, only I didn’t know it at the time. I found that out the second time I went to open it - quite accidentally - and ended up having to re-vacuum the work I’d just done. Releasing the cyclonic canister from the body of the vacuum was no problem. However, it was finding out that all I had to do was press a button and the bottom of the canister dropped out (hopefully over a garbage can) that didn’t hit me right away. I never claimed to be a domestic goddess.

Actually there’s a lot of terrific information on the Dyson website at www.dyson.com which also includes animated demonstrations of a variety of functions of all of the vacuum models they sell. Had I seen that originally, I might have saved myself some trouble. Since I found out how easy it was to empty the canister, though, I’ve done it fairly regularly which means the dirt and dust doesn’t sin around inside of the vacuum for long periods of time as it does in traditional bagged vacuums.

I also thought the Dyson DC14 Vacuum was medium-weight as I had no problems lifting it to move between rooms and around boxes as I tried to keep my floors clean while we were moving in and unpacking.

The hose and wand come off of the Dyson DC14 Vacuum pretty easily. Again, the first few times I struggled with getting it apart and then getting it back together. There’s a button on the handle which releases the wand/hose and then the wand extends out. To put it back together, I have learned to partially push the wand back into the hose, realign the wand on the body, snap it in place and then push the wand the rest of the way down into the hose. One time I tried to reassemble it and then slide the wand into the hose I ended up with a kinked hose and the wand so tight against the handle that I had a great deal of difficulty getting it apart to fix it.

Although it would be nice if there was more reach with the wand and hose, they do a terrific job. I’ve had the vacuum sitting in my bedroom while cleaning my oddly-configured bathroom and although Dyson states that the vacuum won’t tip over, I’ve had it happen to me. Because it never loses the terrific suction, I’ve often used just the wand around crevices without the attachment. The hose/wand combination alone is enough to suck up the dirt.

One of the main attractions to the Dyson line of vacuums for me was all of the notoriety about the lifetime HEPA filter which comes with the Dyson DC14 Vacuum. I suffer from a variety of allergies, one of the worst being dust. Whenever I used to go to give my house a thorough cleaning, it was a given that a few days later I’d be down with a sinus infection. Granted, I’ve only been in the house a few months now, but so far within my normal routine I haven’t noticed the problems I used to have. I think a lot of it has to do with the HEPA filter on the Dyson DC14 Vacuum. It cleans the expelled air so dust and dirt particles aren’t thrown out of the vacuum back into the room. When it gets dirty, it’s easy to remove, rinse out, and replace on the canister portion of the vacuum. Dyson promises this filter will last a lifetime with regular cleaning.

Dyson warrantees the Dyson DC14 Vacuum with a 2 year warranty.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So far I have been very happy with my Dyson DC14 Vacuum. I wish the instructions with the vacuum had been more comprehensive, but the information is available on the web. It cleans my floors really well. Emptying the canister is really easy (now that I’ve figured it out) and so far my allergies haven’t kicked up thanks to the HEPA filter.

At $429.99 this is one of the lower-end Dyson models, but it’s still pricey compared to other vacuum cleaners. I think its worth it. I looked at The Ball model when I was in the store and I just really wasn’t impressed by it. I would think most people can get by just fine with the Dyson DC14 Vacuum and save themselves a few dollars.


© 2005 Patti Aliventi