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I broke my vacuum cleaner last week and it was unfixable.
Oh well, I hated that vacuum anyway. I bought it right after Garrett was born. The one we had (a Hoover V twin, which I loved) crapped out on us as we were deep cleaning the nursery to prepare for him coming home from NICU. What a fantastic time for it to break, lemme tell ya. The replacement was one of those rushed and poorly thought out purchases that made me rethink how I buy things. I am sick of buying cheap ‘disposable’ Wal-Mart vacuums every few years. I want something that will last for 20 years like they used to. I demand a lot of my appliances so I don’t mind spending a little more money to get a durable product.
In most households, a broken vac is not that big of a deal. But, with myself, 6 furry friends, 1 husband and two kids to make dirt, it is a HUGE DEAL. Depending upon my broom to tackle all that is like using a squirt gun on a forest fire. In the week we had to wait to get the $$$ to replace it, the tumblefur (the accumulated fur of all six critters-, dog, cat, and rabbit) accumulated to the point where it swirled at our feet when we walked. nice.
I needed a vacuum that can stand up to rabbit, dog and cat fur, hay, my looooong hair, phil’s metal shavings, 2 kids worth of crumbs, and anything else that I can throw at it.
Here are the criteria that I used in my search-
Gotta be an upright and I thought I wanted bag-less.
Weight is not an issue as long as it has a decent carry handle.
It needs to switch easily from brushhead to tools.
HEPA or other good filtration is a plus.
Needs to run well on hardwood, vinyl, tile and varying lengths of carpet.
Needs to be durable and be made of heavy duty, easily replaceable (preferrably DIY) parts.
Clogs need to be easy to clear.
The price needs to be right.
No, I’m not really a control freak, why do you ask, lol?
So, I am lured in by the Dyson ads. They are pretty and people seem to love them. They are spendy, but seem to be a worthwhile purchase because of the strong consumer following. So I launch into my obsessive research thinking that the Dyson Animal is the vacuum I want. The more research I do, the more I see that while consumers loooovve these vacuums, repair guys hate them. It seems that often repair shops will have many of these vacuums in the shop waiting for repair. The parts can apparently sometimes be hard to get, they are plastic so they can break easily and despite the claims that they never lose suction, they eventually do. This seems to be due to a design issue that allows dirt to seep into a void and stay there until it is cleaned out. For you Dyson owners, check for three torx screws on that cone shaped thingie. Remove them and clean out the dirt behind. I have never done this, just read that it is a common problem.
It is not necessarily a bad vacuum, but it is way overpriced for what you get. IMHO, a vacuum like that should be more in the $300 range instead of the $500 range. Dyson owners please feel free to throw things at me now. I know you love your vacuums and I hope they last you forever, but odds are they’ll be pretty jeweltone trash in three years. sorry.
Along the way I also learned that the whole idea of a bagless vacuum is flawed and a bagless will never have the same suction/filtration as a vacuum with a bag. Bigtime bummer for me because I like to use my vacuum for many things and hate spending money on bags. Guess I’ll get over it, they’re really not that expensive and the boost in performance is significant.
I’ve found too, that the whole ‘small companies making a quality product’ thing seems to have been left by the wayside in today’s disposable society. The focus now is on cheap, made in china crap that big manufacturers can pass off onto consumers who will gladly line up every few years to buy the latest *all-new* model because the manufacturer says it’s got *12.5% more cleaning power than the leading competitor* or comes in *new fashion colors*. Volume increase and profit maximization = moving production to another country where they don’t have to pay the workers a decent living wage or provide them with benefits. Several vacuum manufacturers (one rhymes with ‘oil’ – a classic brand that many depended on and the other one sounds like ‘hurt rebel’) have moved production to China recently and, apparently, the quality they used to have has suffered. There is also the issue of built in obsolescence. Some manufacturers will discontinue parts on items that have been out of production for a few years. They know they can because they know that you will try to replace a part eventually, be out of luck and getting stuck buying a brand new appliance. Think about what a toll that takes on our already overflowing landfills. It’s just unnecessary and bad business as far as I’m concerned. I prefer to give my business to companies who make solid products. Phil works too hard for me to spend our money on a cheap piece of crap.
So where do we go from here? I want a decent vacuum, Dysons are a no go. So I decide to look for others in that price range. I have about $600 to spend because Phil had a kick ass weekend on call. I don’t like Wal Mart and prefer to patronize small businesses if I can.
Now that I had convinced myself that I did not want to drink the Dyson Kool-Aid, I went looking for upright vacs in the 500-600 price range. I found a few brands, but one seems to stand out. Riccar. Why do they cost so much though? One Word. METAL. Metal bottom plate, Metal brush roller, Metal extension wand, Metal handle. You get what you pay for. Ya know, like those huge old beastly vacs that your grandmother used to have that lasted FOREVER, except upgraded to the modern version.
Look at your vacuum. Chances are that it’s plastic from top to bottom if you got it at a discount store. How long do you think it will last? How long do you think it SHOULD last? Once it’s bitten the dust (so to speak) how long will it last in the dump? Don’t get me wrong, plastics can be great for some things. They are a nessisary evil in todays world, but when there are better, stronger materials it’s kind of a no-brainer to me at least. Just something to think about that when you make your next appliance purchase.
But I digress…
Vacuum shop owners seem to love this brand. Most of them use them in their own homes. I should know, I called most of them in the Baltimore Metro area to find out who I wanted to buy from. Riccar makes durable, solidly constructed vacuums that are intelligently designed and have tremendous suction. Plus they are MADE IN AMERICA! Yes, you read that right, made in St. James, Missouri by actual Americans, albeit from globally sourced parts.Well, You can’t have it all.
I called a few shops and asked them questions like “What is your best seller? Which do you use in your own home?” This allowed me to screen out the people who led me in the direction of a Dyson. LOL, but true. I ended up at Hamilton Vacuum, about 15 minutes from my home. I spoke with one of the owners, Stephanie Marsiglia, who with her husband Rich have run their business in Hamilton for 17 years. She was very helpful on the phone and she basically verified that Dysons are overpriced pieces of shit (my words NOT hers) and there were much better vacuums available in that price range.
Enter the Riccar Brilliance Deluxe.
*cue angelic music*
metal bottom plate, brush roller, extension tube, handle and cord hook
HEPA or paper bags available, two charcoal filters on the vacuum itself
A super-neato very balanced carrying handle
Easy switch from tools to brushroller
Adjustable tool suction and brush roller height
Bag full and roller jammed lights
Auto shutoff and thermal reset for overheats
Lifetime (!) belt (yes, it’s Kevlar and Rich told me he has never had to replace one)
Bright – ass xenon headlights – they actually illuminate a huge area in front of the vacuum.
Amazing suction – we’re talking golf ball through a garden hose – hold onto your small pets – strong here. The dirt just gets scared shitless and jumps right into this thing. It’s the Chuck Norris of vacuum cleaners.
After much deliberation and research this is the vacuum I decided that I wanted. I got the vacuum I wanted at a price that we were comfortable with, considering the quality. Rich also gave us quite an education about vacuums in general while we were there. After that, I was even more confident that we were making the right choice. Oh yeah, that, and I brought my own dirt (consisting of the ubiquitous tumblefur, pure bunny fur, hay and some of my hair) to test drive the vacuums. Yeah, I’m a freak and I’m OK with that. Stephanie got a kick out of the fact that I brought my own dirt, although I am not the first to do so. I take such large expenditures very seriously. I need to know that this vacuum can stand up to what I will throw at it in the course of a normal day. That thing removed most of the ground in dirt, including the bunny fur, from the carpet *without the brush even being on*. With the brush on it got <all> of my dirt in two passes. Impressive. It performs just as well on hardwood. The tools are driven by a separate motor and are extremely powerful as well. It’s even strong enough to clean edges and corners with the brushroll alone.
I have now been using it in my home for two days and it is, without a doubt, the best vacuum I’ve ever used. I will report if my feelings change over time, but I don’t think that will happen.
So, I hope that when you are in the market for a vacuum, you will consider my research and experiences. Buy American products from a small business and you just may save somebody’s job. You get an outstanding product to boot.
SHINE ON!
So, apparently, I’ve been building readership for the last few months. (Thank you all very much for your support! – I never really expected one reader when I began this, much less a handful) Now that I have a handful of regular readers, it’s time for you to subscribe!
Now here’s the free stuff bit – To show my appreciation for my readers, everyone that subscribes to my blog between January 1st – 31st will be entered in a drawing to win a jar of my totally bitchin’ homemade strawberry lime jam!
If you are a local winner, I will deliver it or you can pick up. Long distance, I will figure out how to ship it. Sorry no international shipping since it is an agricultural product.
So subscribe today, the link is on the left side of my homepage, and win some jam!
Over the past few months I have been building my herbal pharmacopoeia in an effort to begin treating my family’s problems in a more natural way. I have tried my hand at syrups, tisanes, infusions & decoctions of various herbs and so far I am really liking the results.
Before you work with herbs, always think safety first. Get to know your herbs one at a time. I mean really get to know them. Latin names and all – inside and out. Use all of your senses. What does it look like fresh/dried? What does it smell like fresh/dried. What does it feel like, taste like, you get the idea. What are it’s applications, side effects, dangers, special preparation methods, contraindications with prescriptions or other medical conditions and on and on. Are they safe for kids and babies? What are the active parts root/seed/bark/leaf/flower/fruit/wood etc and are you using the correct one in the correct way?
<<<<<I cannot stress enough that plant medicines are powerful and they can be dangerous when used without the proper knowledge. Most herbs are safe, but in the wrong combination or used incorrectly, they can hurt you. Please, Please, Please do your homework before creating herbal remedies or using herbs to treat yourself or your family. you could possibly kill somebody if you screw up badly enough, and I don’t want that on my conscience.>>>>>
I had a ‘day off’ last Sunday and spent the day making healing salves.
It started out as one recipe that I created to treat my lizard hands and, as is typical with me, somehow it turned into 18 jars of herbal healing salves of different types. An intensive course in salve making if you will. I really enjoyed it and got some nice product out of it.
Most commercial products for dry skin have ingredients that burn, I needed something that didn’t, so, I created it. I wanted something with no fancy smell or color, no artificial preservatives, something that works with your skin to help it heal. I chose the herbs, oils, butters, waxes and essential oils specifically for their healing ability and came up with a final product that I am happy with. A little soft this time, but that can easily be remedied with a tad more beeswax. No, you can’t have that recipe *it’s a secret*, but i’ll follow with a few other recipes that I made.
**SAFETY NOTE – EVERYTHING THAT COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THE SALVE SHOULD BE SCRUPULOUSLY CLEAN, SOME SAY STERILE. THESE SALVES HAVE NO ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES AND MAY GROW ICKY THINGS THAT COULD HURT YOU IF THEY GET CONTAMINATED. FOR THE SAME REASON, ALWAYS USE A CLEAN UTENSIL OR TISSUE (EVEN YOUR KNUCKLE, ANYTHING BUT DIRTY FINGERS)TO REMOVE THE SALVE FROM THE CONTAINER. DISCARD ANY SALVE THAT DOES NOT LOOK OR SMELL RIGHT**
That being said, I used the ‘sanitize’ (it does not sterilize – there is a difference) cycle in my dishwasher to run everything through and I am comfortable with that.
The first step in most of these recipes is infusing the herbs in extra virgin olive oil. That warmed infused oil is mixed with any other oils or butters, then beeswax is melted into it, then it is cooled for a bit so the essential oils don’t evaporate then the essential oils are blended in. It is then poured in prepared glass containers and allowed to cool. Pretty straightforward – like cooking, just follow the recipe.
Extra virgin olive oil is available pretty much anywhere. I get mine in the 2L bottle at BJ’S because I use it in cooking so frequently. The other oils and the Grapefruit Seed Extract are available at The Health Concern. I got the beeswax at Herbal Accents. It is in pearl form for easier melting, but block will work too if you grate it first, kind of a pain in the ass, but usually cheaper. I got my dried herbs at The Health Concern as well. I will be growing calendula and lavender next year and yarrow grows in the field across the street, so next year I will be wildcrafting that.
I used glass bowls on top of sauce pots as double boilers and my 4 & 8 cup glass measures for squeezing the finished infused oil into. I used floursack cloths for straining the herbal oil, but you could use cheesecloth.
I used clean wide mouth half pint jars, cleaned out baby food jars and those itty bitty jelly jars as containers. Label everything. You think you’ll remember what that greenish goo in the jar is, but I promise, you won’t.
Herbal Infused Oil
Place your dried plant material in the top of a double boiler on low (or a slow cooker on low with water in the bottom and the oil and herb mix in a mason jar) and cover with olive oil. Bring the temperature up to 120-150 degrees F and keep it there for about 4 hours. Strain through floursack cloth, squeezing all the oil out of the plant material. I had four jars in the Crock Pot and two boilers going at once for the six recipes that I made. I tested the temperature periodically to ensure that they weren’t going over 150, but one did ~ ooopsie, it didn’t burn and I used it anyway. *make sure to keep that big pot lid and fire extinguisher handy*
Keep in mind that once oil starts to heat up, the temperature goes up drastically, watch it carefully.
You don’t want to burn the plant material, just release it’s essences into the oil.
Do not cover the pot. You don’t want condensation to build up and drop back into the oils. Water in your mix brings contamination and can affect the final texture.
So now that you’ve studied your herbs and made your infused oil you can make your salves!
Yarrow Salve
Great for clean cuts like paper cuts and knife cuts, not for dirty, ragged wounds or scrapes because it heals so quickly and can trap in splinters or debris. Good for nosebleeds.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an herb with antibacterial, analgesic and anti-styptic (stops bleeding) vulnerary (heals wounds) properties.
1 cup extra virgin olive oil infused with 1 cup dried white yarrow flowers and leaves
1/8 cup beeswax
20 drops tea tree (Melaleuca alternafolia) essential oil
20 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil
5 drops Vitamin E oil
8 drops grapefruit seed extract
Blend infused olive oil with beeswax in the double boiler and heat gently until beeswax melts. Pull from heat and set aside to cool for a minute. Stir in essential oils, vitamin e oil and grapefruit seed extract and pour into prepared glass containers. Set aside, loosely capped, to cool. Label and refrigerate.
To Use – Apply a blob to thoroughly cleaned boo boo and cover with a bandage. Use a bit of salve on a tissue to apply to the inside of nose to stop nosebleeds.
Calendula Salve
Use this salve on chapped hands, diaper rash, burns, and scrapes.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is vulnerary, antiseptic and anti inflammatory.
1 cup evoo infused with 2 cups dried calendula flowers
1/4 cup beeswax
1 ounce lanolin
20 drops tea tree essential oil
20 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops vitamin e oil
8 drops grapefruit seed extract
Blend infused olive oil with beeswax in the double boiler and heat gently until beeswax melts. Add lanolin and stir to melt. Pull from heat and set aside to cool for a minute. Stir in essential oils, Vitamin E oil and grapefruit seed extract and pour into prepared glass containers. Set aside, loosely capped, to cool. Label.
To Use – Apply a blob of salve to thoroughly cleaned burn or scrape and cover with bandage. Apply liberally to diaper rash and chapped skin.
Comfrey, Lavender & Calendula Salve
I’ve seen a few variations of this recipe on the internet, this is my version. Some say it is safe for use on chapped lips, but as you will see it has a controversial herb in it. I do not plan on using it for application to mucous membranes, so I feel safe with it.
Use for bumps, bruises, twists and sprains.
Calendula, see above.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is anti inflammatory and internal healer. It also has quite a bruhaha as to whether it is safe for use. Please use your own good judgement about the use and potential danger of comfrey. I chose to make this salve knowing that this would not be one for broken skin, just bumps and bruises twists and sprains. I actually plan on using it on the ankle that I third degree sprained last year that still isn’t right. I would also use it on my kids – but only in the right situation.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) (my favorite herb YAY! lavender) is anti inflammatory, anti bacterial, and vulnerary. One day lavender will get it’s very own post. Because it’s just that awesome.
1 cup extra virgin olive oil infused with 1/4 ounce each dried lavender flowers, comfrey leaves and calendula flowers
1/4 cup beeswax
20 drops tea tree essentail oil
20 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops Vitamin E oil
8 drops grapefruit seed extract
Blend infused olive oil with beeswax in the double boiler and heat gently until beeswax melts. Pull from heat and set aside to cool for a minute. Stir in essential oils, vitamin e oil and grapefruit seed extract and pour into prepared glass containers. Set aside, loosely capped, to cool. Label.
To Use – Apply small amount to bumps or bruises and gently rub in. Rub gently into minor sprains and strains. Do not use on broken skin or mucous membranes.
All of the recipes have lavender, tea tree, Vitamin E and grapefruit seed extract as natural preservatives and also for their healing properties. Keep in a cool dry dark place, or even refrigerate for shelf life up to a year.
Salves are fun to experiment with because you can infuse a multitude of different herbs into the olive oil for different effects. Instead of or in addition to the olive oil you could use sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, rose hip seed oil etc. Each of these has it’s own special healing abilities for specific conditions. You could add Shea butter, Cocoa butter or any number of natural nut butters for their therapeutic value. Lanolin is very emollient and makes salves creamier. Essential oils are also valuable in a salve because they absorb so quickly.
Once you have learned a few herbs and tried your hand at salves a few times, you can use your accumulated knowledge to create your own recipes and cater to your own families specific needs. Once you know your stuff – experiment, you may come up with something that you really like!
Have fun making salves!
SHINE ON!
Hope you all had a great holiday! I’m happy to be blogging again after the dishwasher disaster.
Right before thanksgiving, my 3 year old dishwasher took a dump on me. Kaput. It gave me a few days worth of half ass cycles and drains in it’s death throes then bit the big one. I was desperate so I kept going downstairs to trip that breaker ~ which sort of worked for a while. Mind you, it wasn’t dead enough to stop blinking it’s little green ‘normal’ cycle light mockingly at me, but dead enough that the keypad wasn’t functional and it wouldn’t do shit.
Those of you who live without dishwashers should be laughing your asses off at me right now. I was a wreck. miserable. My hands were dry & splitting despite gloves and lotion (i hate both). The underside of my counter is flaking and my sticky floor tiles are starting to pop from the moisture. On the other hand, my counter and floor have never been cleaner. I have never lived in a house without a dishwasher. With the exception of times when the ones we owned were down, I rarely had to do dishes by hand. SPOILED ROTTEN.
We even bought our rowhome with dishwasher and air conditioning over another possible candidate – a single family home without. We really did not want a rowhome, but I guess we value amenities more than being stuck (only on one side though) to somebody else.
Anyway, I figured this whole experience would make a good post on my approach to basic appliance diagnosis and repair. This is one of my tools and I should know how to maintain and repair it within reason. I wouldn’t expect to do a really complicated repair, but easy stuff like cleaning filters should be withing my scope of understanding.
So far there haven’t been any problems we couldn’t fix on our own, except when the washer started leaking while I was 7 mo pregnant. I was not about to squeeze my fat ass behind that thing. Turns out the hoses weren’t tight enough and it cost us 112 bucks for the repair guy to tell me that. ouch!
I have had to pull this dishwasher apart before to clean the filter of a toothpick and other assorted gunk (eeewww) so I wasn’t too intimidated by having to do it to diagnose the problem. The keypad is dead, so that means, at the very least, a new keypad. Duh. I figured we’d replace that part first and then see if it worked. This is usually the first part to fail just because of the nature of the part and where it is located. Water and electronics don’t get along and eventually water wins.
So we replaced the keypad and cleaned the circuit boards with swabs and alcohol and she is back up and running! We only had to remove a few screws and the ribbon cable just needed to be plugged into the new board. Anybody could do it with the right tools and the right frame of mind. Seriously, it was really easy. You can sometimes even find service manuals like the ones the repair guys use which makes the jobs even easier. JUST REMEMBER TO TURN THE POWER OFF AT THE BREAKER BEFORE TINKERING WITH YOUR APPLIANCES! DON’T BLAME ME IF YOU GET DEAD BY CRACKING OPEN A LIVE APPLIANCE. DON’T FUCK WITH ELECTRICITY!
The one sorta specialty tool that you will need for basic appliance repair is a set of torx screwdrivers. Ya know, the star shaped ones. Totally worth the investment if you don’t already have a set. Hell of a lot cheaper than a service call.
Here’s a few websites with info on appliance repair. Sometimes just googling your product model number and the symptom (or the error code if it displays one) can bring you a whole bunch of info. I’ve diagnosed clogged filters in my washing machine and my dishwasher this way. Found some icky cloth wipes, a baby sock and a toothpick but saved a bunch of money. Sometimes you’ll even find you have a very common problem with an easy fix.
fixitnow is my favorite. It doesn’t always have what I need, but I usually start here to absorb some of the Appliance Samurai’s knowledge about the particular appliance that is giving me a hard time. The first step of diagnosis, grasshopper, is understanding the patient.
applianceguru is the forum for the Appliance Samurai
This guy’s motto is “If I can’t help you fix your appliance and make you 100% satisfied, I will come to your home and slice open my belly spilling my steaming entrails onto your floor” Gotta love that. All he wants is for you to donate to his beer fund.
fixya is the most comprehensive and well organized, but with none of the bizarre charm of the Appliance Guru.
repairclinic offers exploded views and you can order parts from them. The prices are competitive, but there are plenty of local parts warehouses you can go to.
We usually end up at Landers Appliance. They are close to home, have decent prices and the staff is helpful.
I usually attempt to diagnose and fix these things myself. I’m not very mechanically inclined, and I didn’t used to know a lot about appliances, but out of necessity, I’ve learned. Once you have a basic understanding, it’s really not hard or even intimidating anymore. You owe it to your budget to at least give it a shot. Who cares if you end up calling someone out? At least you tried! That’s what it’s all about!
Now go figure out what is wrong with that washer/dryer/fridge/dishwasher/oven/freezer/furnace/air conditioner condensate pump/ (fixed that one this summer!)/whathaveyou/thromdimbulator AND FIX IT! YOU CAN DO IT!
SHINE ON!
