Vacuum cleaners

Bags, cyclones and water filters in a vacuum cleaner:

the filter, more than the motor, decides what gets left behind. A bagged canister seals fine dust inside a disposable bag: the cleanest machine to empty, and the one that keeps costing money in bags. A bagless cyclone spins the dirt into a clear bin and catches the rest on a washable filter: cheap to run, but it puffs dust at you each time the bin is emptied. A water-filter vacuum pulls the air through a basin of water: very good with fine dust, heavy on stairs, and pleasant only if the basin is dried after every use. The wet/dry drum is a different tool, for workshops, renovations and water on the floor; steam mops and pressure washers sit one level up, in cleaning and household.

Volcanic ash and the HEPA filter:

ash is the hardest dust a Costa Rican house gets. It is fine, sharp and abrasive: sweeping it dry only lifts it back into the air, and a vacuum with a loose or unsealed filter does much the same. For ash and building dust, choose a sealed HEPA filter or a good bag, keep spares in the house, and empty it outdoors. On a terrace or garage, a wet/dry drum with a fine-dust cartridge spares the household machine. If the worry is dust hanging in the air rather than lying on the floor, an air purifier does the part a vacuum cannot. After the filter comes the cord. A corded canister never runs flat halfway through the house; a cordless stick is lighter for a daily pass and only ever as good as its battery.

A corded canister against a cordless stick:

a corded canister with a bag, or a corded two-in-one stick, costs around ₡30,000 to ₡60,000 new, and a budget cordless stick runs from about ₡65,000 to ₡100,000. With corded machines that cheap new, a second-hand one is worth its attachments and a healthy motor, and should be priced to match. On a cordless stick most of the value sits in the battery: one that now gives up before the second bedroom is worth whatever is left once you have priced a replacement battery for it.

Filters, brush rolls and batteries on a used vacuum cleaner:

pull the filter out before anything else. A HEPA filter grey all the way through, or a washable one stiff with caked dust, has worked hard and needs replacing. Ask whether it has been used on ash, drywall or cement dust, which wear a motor far faster than household dirt. On a bagless model, check the bin and its catch for cracks: a bin that does not close tight leaks dust. Turn an upright or a stick head over: hair wound round the brush roll is normal, a stretched belt or a roll that will not spin is not. Open the basin of a water-filter machine: a sour smell means it was put away wet, and the mould will be in the hose and separator too. On anything brought from the United States, check before paying that bags, filters and a battery for that exact model can be found in the country, or the bargain becomes a machine you cannot keep going.

A vacuum cleaner freed up by a move or a renovation:

that is how many good ones come up: the machine someone brought from the States and is not taking back, or the wet/dry drum a renovation needed for one job. Put the brand and model in the title, say whether it takes bags or has a cyclone, when the filter was last changed and how long a cordless one runs now, list the tools, and photograph the filter and the bin, not just the machine. A buyer coming from San Ramón or Liberia will want to watch it lift a handful of rice off your floor before it goes in the car, so have a socket free and the battery charged.