Best vacuum for allergies?

penguingirl

My mum swears by her Miele upright- I have asthma and excema and when I still lived at home it made a big difference because it really got rid of the dust and cat hairs. She was worried it would be too heavy, but her local shop let her take a couple home to try one weekend and she actually found it was ok- but obviously this is completely subjective and you'd have to give it a go.

I would also recommend getting allergy bedding for your son- I really notice that my itchy gets worse when I sleep somewhere that doesn't have it (e.g. my parents-in-laws house).

jackieb

Jake'sGran wrote: »

Everyone I know who bought a Dyson didn't like them. Mostly they commented that they are very heavy.

Jackieb - I forgot to mention about hard floor covering being better than carpets probably because all my knowledge of bedroom conditions for allergy sufferers came from the time I was a member of the Asthma society. (I was being treated for it but didn't have it - it was heart disease).
There was one member who lived in a lovely part of the country and who offered one week holidays to young sufferers as she had created a special bedroom for them - and her own child as well. It was super dust free but I can't remember the details.

Slinky_Malinky wrote: »

http://www.miele.co.uk/vacuum-cleaners/s4/remotecontrolhepas4782-378/


The above Miele has some sort of sensor on it to tell you your carpet is clean. If you are worried about the weight for carrying it upstairs, the S4 series are small and compact. The downside of this is there is no on board storage of accessories and you will have to change the bag more often as it is quite small. I used to have A Cat & Dog model but when i had a hysterectomy wanted something more lightweight so I bought an S4. I love it.

On the subject of your son`s eczema, have you considered homeopathy? I have heard that it can be very effective at treating this condition.

penguingirl wrote: »

My mum swears by her Miele upright- I have asthma and excema and when I still lived at home it made a big difference because it really got rid of the dust and cat hairs. She was worried it would be too heavy, but her local shop let her take a couple home to try one weekend and she actually found it was ok- but obviously this is completely subjective and you'd have to give it a go.

I would also recommend getting allergy bedding for your son- I really notice that my itchy gets worse when I sleep somewhere that doesn't have it (e.g. my parents-in-laws house).

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Our house is a cold one and I think the hard flooring would just be too cold (I have laminate in the kitchen and it was 9C in there early this morning before the heating went on!)

I haven't tried homeopathy. I would need to look into it. The same with the anti-allergy bedding. I do have mattress and pillow protectors which are changed regularly, but they're not anit-allergy, just the quilted kind (his sheets are washed every day or every other day), and his quilt is washed every week. Everything washed with Surcare or Ecover as recommended by the dermatologist, and I have an allergy setting on my washer so everything gets steamed and 4 rinses.

I'm sure I could manage even if the vacuum was on the heavy side. Our stairs has a half landing so i'd only need to carry it up 6 stairs or so.

Erme

Have you tried a Bosch? They have just started doing bagless though they are more known for bagged. The cheapest for a decent bosch is http://www.johnlewis.com/231070837/Product.aspx and I've just gotten mine home (with packaging it's very heavy) and it's a joy....My carpets are on their last legs and attract everything and it gets up everything. I thoroughly researched a 'decent' vacuum that would last more than 6 months this pm and ended up with the Bosch. Don't know what it's like for emptying (the space for dirt is huge) but it's very quiet and powerful and has onboard tool and well...just a joy to use.

Baring in mind my last vacuum was an electrolux pink upright (gotten out of a skip) that I was always taking hair out of the brush of this is a joy....Don't know what the bosch sounds like on anything but a low setting (it has 5) but impressed so far. Has a long cable too and the hose retracts (seriously - how cool is that?)....with a decent guarantee too...

Would be interested to here other folks views on Bosch cylinder vacuums. Call me anarchist but the Dyson makes me think of sheep....just like the ipod...

E

Doc_N

Erme wrote: »

Have you tried a Bosch? They have just started doing bagless though they are more known for bagged. The cheapest for a decent bosch is http://www.johnlewis.com/231070837/Product.aspx and I've just gotten mine home (with packaging it's very heavy) and it's a joy....My carpets are on their last legs and attract everything and it gets up everything. I thoroughly researched a 'decent' vacuum that would last more than 6 months this pm and ended up with the Bosch. Don't know what it's like for emptying (the space for dirt is huge) but it's very quiet and powerful and has onboard tool and well...just a joy to use.

Baring in mind my last vacuum was an electrolux pink upright (gotten out of a skip) that I was always taking hair out of the brush of this is a joy....Don't know what the bosch sounds like on anything but a low setting (it has 5) but impressed so far. Has a long cable too and the hose retracts (seriously - how cool is that?)....with a decent guarantee too...

Would be interested to here other folks views on Bosch cylinder vacuums. Call me anarchist but the Dyson makes me think of sheep....just like the ipod...

E

Thanks - we've got one of these arriving today from John Lewis. A bargain at £149, wasn't it?

Your reviews are impressive. We've had Dysons for years, but I'm really fed up with the appalling noise they make, and if these are up to Bosch's normal standards they'll be reliable too - unlike Dyson, which are cheap-looking and plasticky.

No ongoing maintenance costs, either (filters etc) - we took back a Panasonic bagless recently after discovering that it was going to cost around £40 a year in filters!

Being told by Panasonic that "the MC-UL594 is a premium product, which is also reflected in the accessories and spare parts" didn't impress! I now see Panasonic as a rip-off brand.

sunshinetours

We have a Dyson (older lightweight one - can't remember model but it has smaller dust collection box) and it still performs pretty well. I give it a good clean out every few months or so including untangling the brush bar. We also now have a Gtech carpet sweeper which is lightweight and great for zooming round daily with (and picks up a surprising amount of dust etc)

As far as the eczema is cioncerned I would make sure you have a good paediatric dermatologist and get into a good routine of regular emolients. The one that made all the difference (after trying lterally all out there) was Epaderm cream which goes on morning and night, having first cleared up the flare up with a strong and then weaker steroid.
One thing that kept coming up in my research was the under use of steroids to treat flare ups becasuse of the perceived side effects. They do not thin the skin with occassional use, they thin the skin with excessive unregulated use!
Touch wood our daughter has been clear of major flare ups now since last Spring with this new regime and she goes swimming and gymanastics without too much issue. She wears still mainly cotton clothes and cotton bedding, she also wore cotton gloves at night time to prevent the scratching. She now doesn't wear these. As I am sure you know its all about breaking the itch scratch cycle.
We also use Surcare and no fabric softenor (couple of drops of essential oil and an extra rinse on the end of each cycle).
She ahs drunk goats milk for several years now (she struggled to take milk when she was younger aswell) but again dairy is in the diet so don't get too over focused on that as its rare for diet to be the main factor in skin conditions

If you haven't already consider joning the Eczema Society as they have some good information and also plenty of support which can help kids when they realise there are lots of others out there the same (and there are!)

I think all you can do is be sensible and follow a regular cleaning regime (which you do) and don't get too hung up on specifics as one product is not going to "cure" the eczema, despite many claims made by manufacturers. Any vacuum with a decent filtration I am sure would be fine and vacuuming at least a couple of hours before bed and airing the room after all helps.

Also ask about Protopic cream if you haven't already as an alternative to tablets to see if this is an option. We were prescribed it but never used it as flare ups stopped but would consider in future

Sorry if all this is already known but its a condition that unless you have experienced it can be very very difficult to live with

diable

I used to own a Dyson then saw sense and bought a Miele S4782 with the remote control handle. As a bloke you hates hoovering anyway I love using it ;o))))))

jackieb

I ended up buying a Miele cylinder one (S5281) , with a Hepa filter. Dh vacuumed the stairs and the bedrooms and said he normally feels dirty (and itchy) after vacuuming, but he didn't after using the new one.