Compact/TriStar Single HEPA Bags Usage: High Performance Versus Safety

[@vacuumtests9225]

I always love a good rant and proof why others are wrong. I have several bagless vs bagged rant videos because I feel like people are brainwashed to buy a bagless vacuum. I don't seem to find the thread where this TriStar subject is...

[@VacLab]

It's right here. Enjoy! www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?38750_48

[@ajc5869]

Definitely going to do this to my Tristar Exl, it makes perfect sense. Using a HEPA bag completely negates the cloth outer bag, it will just make you lose power. I plan on cutting off the cloth part of the outer filter bag and using the rubber gasket with the ring still inside and leaving it where it normally sits, just without the cloth. I think it will be nice that way, you can just slip the HEPA bag in and close the lid, this is definitely an upgrade for any Tristar. Tell everyone that thinks this is bad for your machine to piss off lol just having a bag as your only line of defense before a motor is nothing new.

[@VacLab]

Yay, someone that gets it. 👍

[@iZacharyD]

As an enthusiast I completely agree with everything you said. I was originally skeptical about bag possibly hitting motor when you first showed doing it in the video, but in the same video you turned the machine on and it used its “cyclonic” action and just fluffs the bag out. Honestly the pre motor “filter” is just a protector to not jab things and fingers in. Electrolux has a grill in their compartment for the same reason, you can see the blades of the actual motor. TriStar does make a HEPA pre motor filter but that significantly reduces airflow. While I hardly use my Compact say maybe once every couple months, I like to collect and have it be “original” so I do have those filters with the machine. Mine has the t-shirt type material bag, when I go to use it I put in the better quality micro bag with paper inner and barnacle post filter on it just for “originality’s “ sake as to how it was supposed to feel. So my case is a little weird you could say. Sorry for such a long comment.

[@VacLab]

I restored a 1960's D80 and keep it original with the shakeout bag. But if I wanted to upgrade the filtration to HEPA, I simply install the emptor/bag assembly from one of my Heritage 2 Legends. I had people on Vacuumland cuss me out (and other things) when I showed this alternative method for running their TriStar like an Electrolux. For some, it was the end of the world in their minds. 😞

[@iZacharyD]

VacLab I was reading the whole thread it was ridiculous. They were acting like the compact was going to explode or something crazy if you didn’t follow exact directions. So angry they couldn’t even type lol

[@VacLab]

@@iZacharyD Yes, that was funny but also disturbing. Perfectly defines the word "triggered" unfortunately. He even had two foul mouthed posts that someone else reported and they were deleted a short time later. Definitely not the way to go about refuting someone.

[@MarcelloTheBandit]

@@VacLab it's never a good ole pot stir unless one makes the monocles drop, huh? 😂

[@WJCTechyman]

Interesting video, Bill, I am a bit late to this one but it was pretty informative for sure. This is one way to make older machines new again just by changing filter material in the machine. I am not really liking the HEPA bag idea because we would be throwing out something potentially hazardous to the environment but to make our homes cleaner may be a necessary evil. Another machine I can think of that has as basic filtering of air as these three do is Numatic's Henry, but it still retains a large filter bag in the top of the canister...for what reason, I don't know.

[@123spleege]

I have had a Green "Jetson's" Compact C-7 for 35 years and I got it used! Old style bag, no filter......no nothing. C-7's are indestructible and I never purchased a bag. It is the pre-power brush model so I miss that and use a lightweight Simplicity Freedom for carpet. Electrolux I have owned since the days of door to door sellers and sorry but they are way overpriced, heavy and cumbersome. The problems began in the early days of one machine does it all. It just got worse from there. Vacuums nowadays are hilarious. Keep your eyes peeled for an old Compact and rebuild it if necessary.

[@VacLab]

I just rebuilt the motors in my CXL and C8. Have you seen those two videos?

[@123spleege]

@@VacLab no I have not. I'm new to the channel but I like your comments. Old school. I am looking for an older power head compact now. Hard to find locally here in Sacramento. I'll watch your rebuild vids and subscribe.

[@MarcelloTheBandit]

I understand where you are coming from but if I had a Tristar, I would probably use the V.A.C. bags and the pleated cloth bag just out of an over abundance of caution and nothing more. That piddly excuse of a pre-motor filter? That would be thrown out before the ride home. I've had too many bags tear a 3 inch hole after the microlining clogs with grit, and sand to just let one filter be the end of it. Imagine my surprise when my Kenmore kept ripping holes in 1/4 full paper Kenmore bags. My Windtunnel Supreme has Genuine Hoover HEPA type Y bags, my Kenmore now has the Cirrus HEPA type A bag (soon to be Riccar Type B after a good 3 years with Kenmore Type O HEPAs) and regardless of what I use, i always find a bit of grass and coarse sand in the premotor filters. I do notice however that my use case is much heavier than yours, so that's where my mileage varies. Where you usually get less than 10 grams for a whole house, if memory serves, I get between 50 and 80 grams each time depending on what we've been doing the past 3 days. The only thing I can chalk it up to is the comparatively microscopic amount of dirt that collects around the bag tube from just pure airflow characteristics falling into the chamber when I change the bags. Still, even that small amount would have me in a moderate panic. Let's not even get me started on our late 00's Electrolux Oxygen EL6988A canister...

[@VacLab]

I think the last time I personally had a ripped bag was back in the 1980s. I've never encountered a ripped cloth HEPA though. 😎 And thanks for informing me of your 3 day dirt pickup, it's nice to know what others have in their homes. 👍

[@MarcelloTheBandit]

@@VacLab the last time I ripped a bag(s) was that time when I first brought the Kenmore home. May 2014 to about November of 2014. I blew out probably 5 of the 18 pack even though I inspected them before each use for wear spots. Our soil composition is about 40% sand so paper bag abrasions happen a lot with paper ones. Most houses with animals/thick carpet hold more fluffy dirt along with the standard grit that's smaller than sand around here. The way I describe it is "a bit finer than a smooth espresso ground to coarser than ashes." My house is: light - dryer lint; moderate - cat litter, sand, concrete and outdoor grit, grass, pet hair, and heavy - crumbs (neices, nephews, and brother) chicken grit, gardening, and automotive projects, and you have QUITE the housekeeping job. 😅 My house could be a Subaru and old Hoover commercial hahaha!!

[@Captain_Char]

i think if anything you could have 3d basket printed off to hold the hepa bag for whatever reason you may need, but yeah I dont fault your logic here, personally id just take the foam out of the pre motor filter and use your bag setup just so theres a guard infront of the impeller there you get your safety setup and your hepa with minimal if any airloss, lol

[@ahoover6170]

What will you do today’s videos

[@nunyadambidniss]

WAITADAMNMINUTE !! Can one do this with any vacuum, Like a Bissell Zing ? Subbed ^_^

[@mysteryjesus]

Where can I get a HEPA bag???

[@VacLab]

eBay, where I get nearly everything.

[@mysteryjesus]

@@VacLab Great thanks!

[@mysteryjesus]

@@VacLab I can't find one...do you happen to have a link to one you mean?

[@VacLab]

@@mysteryjesus I stocked up years ago, so I would have to search for them as well.