Wet/Dry Vacuums
For heavy-duty cleaning jobs, a lot of people use wet/dry vacuum cleaners, models that can pick up liquids as well as solids. Liquid material would soak paper or cloth filters, so these cleaners need a different sort of collection system.
The basic design is simple: On its way through the cleaner, the air stream passes through a wider area, which is positioned over a bucket. When it reaches this larger area, the air stream slows down, for the same reason that the air speeds up when flowing through a narrow attachment. This drop in speed effectively loosens the air's grip, so the liquid droplets and heavier dirt particles can fall out of the air stream and into the bucket. After you're done vacuuming, you simply dump out whatever has collected in this bucket.
One type of wet-dry vacuum is the steam cleaner. These vacuums dispense cleaning fluid onto the carpet, massage it in, and then suck up the fluid along with any dirt.
One type of wet-dry vacuum is the steam cleaner. These vacuums dispense cleaning fluid onto the carpet, massage it in, and then suck up the fluid along with any dirt.
Next, we'll look at two more innovations in vacuuming: the cyclone vacuum and the robotic vacuum.
