MORTIFICATION is not too strong a word for what I felt when I saw what came out of my carpets with the Dyson Dual Cyclone DC01.
The amount of fluff, dust and general ‘oose’ was there for all the world to see in the see-through dirt container. Would I ever hold my head up again?
I had borrowed a friend’s Dyson because our own vacuum was on the blink and way too heavy for me with my bad back. She swore by hers– and I could understand why!
The decision to buy one of our own was fairly instantaneous. We had to have a Dyson!
The only thing I wasn’t very keen on was the colour. The dull grey and yellow combination did nothing for me, I thought it looked boring and utilitarian.
Then I clapped eyes on the De Stijl version….. Here was a vacuum cleaner which appealed to the artist in me. The combination of deep purple, red and golden yellow was eye-catching and fun. I had to
have it!
Now, of course, the ‘limited edition’ De Stijl version is exactly the same as the ‘boring’ DC01 in every respect save the colour – and the price! It cost £50 more. We happily paid our money and took out an extended warranty of the kind which gives you money back at the end if you haven’t made a claim.
Having lovingly brought our new Dyson home, like a new-born, we set about giving the house a good going over. More mortification – good for the soul! And at first, everything in this bagless world seemed rosy.
The first thing to go was the hook onto which you wind the cord. This was a nuisance, and not worth losing our extended warranty for, so we taped it up, rather unsuccessfully, and made do.
The next thing was that it seemed to keep clogging up. Hubby, in his new-found enthusiasm for hoovering (sorry, should that be Dysoning?) would occasionally gobble up (in the vaccuum) a paperclip, or two thereby causing the machine to come to a grinding halt. We cheerily sorted out such problems and tried to remember to change the filters at the requisite three- month periods.
To explain, the Dyson, although bagless, has not one, but two filters which have to be changed as follows:
The S-level filter – every 3 months (at least)
The HEPA filter – every 12 months (at least)
Failure to change these filters renders the machine useless!
In lieu of a bag, the Dyson has a clear plastic container into which goes all the garbage you wish wasn’t on your carpets. It whirls around inside this container, presumably the ‘cyclone’ aspect of the name. If it stops whirling you are usually in trouble.
It may just need emptying. This is a relatively straight-forward procedure, once you have mastered the art of detaching the bin from its ‘cyclone top’ which I have never managed to do. The result is that the ‘cyclone’ drops down, scattering fluff and dust in its wake.
The clear bin is inverted (inside a bin bag!) and given a few shakes, to empty the contents. It can be wiped out, if desired. I don’t usually bother as this is yet another fiddly procedure.
Every now and again, the belt will break. Replacing this entails unscrewing three screws on the bottom of the head, removing the sole plate and the brush bar. The line drawings with their little arrows, make it look so easy. In reality it is a pain in the neck. The ‘cradle’ inevitably becomes detached from the soleplate and it is hours of fun for all the family trying to realign the circular ends of the cradle with the corresponding holes in the ends of the soleplate.
If all this sounds very technical, it is because I am perusing the users’ instructions as I write. It is wonderful to give names to all these annoying bits of plastic which refuse to go where they should should you ever have cause to dismantle your Dyson. I have yet to find a name for the extremely irritating bit of rubberised plastic which goes along the join at the front of the brush bar and which steadfastly refuses to stay where it is put! Suffice to say that I have my own name for it!
As you will have gathered, I am no longer a Dyson fan. This comes from three frustrating years of ownership and goodness knows how many filter changes.
I should, in fairness, tell you that the design, with it’s on-board tools is quite nifty. It is on the heavy side, though. I was too taken with the colour to notice at the time!
The hose on the Dyson retracts into the body of the machine which is really handy. No fiddling about with changing hoses mid-clean -–it's right there for immediate use. However, I have found that this feature can make it difficult to clear any blockages. There are a couple of rubber flaps at the back of the machine which can be lifted up and lumps of fluff etc can be removed from there. However, the lumps of fluff don’t always accumulate in that particular area, so they are of limited use.
I don’t mean to sound totally down on Dyson. I have friends who swear by theirs. I can only talk from my own experience and that has been disappointing, to say the least. At the moment, the hose part of my Dyson is not sucking at all. I have tried everything I can think of and there is no obvious blockage. Very frustrating!
To be honest, the only reason we have not put this cleaner back to the manufacturers is because we are hoping to get some money back on the extended warranty at the end of the five year period in order to buy another vacuum cleaner! Three down….
I know that sounds trite, but this is not a cheap vaccuum cleaner, and I can see that we were totally seduced by all the hype .
And the pretty colours!
24.08.2001 23:45
Ow yeah and the little yellow thing broke off on ours which made it look tatty and old .The bild quality on the dc01 is crap.I think i will try that Henrt thing next time!! Sam :0)
24.08.2001 23:43
Our Dysons peformance wore off after a 4 months of use,first of all we thought it was somthing to do with them filters so we changed all the filters spendind about £18.00 in total but the suction of the dyson was still not as good as when we purchased it we sent it off and there was no blockages or any fault accordng to Dyson.So we bought another which has been okay up to now!.I do not think mine was good value for money either as they have come down in price about £80 since we bought ours!!! Good op :0) Sam
13.01.2001 07:49
Other Ciao members have reported the handle breaks a lot. In fact, Dyson are said to admit problems with this part and are supposed to be redesigning it.