A vacuum cleaner is an essential piece of equipment. It would be very difficult to cope without one. People prefer domestic vacuum cleaners for carpeted floors in their homes.

The vacuum cleaner is an ingenious device. It has an air pump that creates a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt. It collects the dirt by a filtering system or a cyclone for later disposal.

Types of Vacuum Cleaners:

On the basis of their configurations, there are various types of vacuum cleaners. The following are some well-known vacuum cleaners.

Bagless Vacuum: A bagless vacuum, as the name suggests, doesnt have a bag. It collects the dust in a compartment which is easily emptied. This saves people from the headache of dealing with messy vacuum cleaner bags.

Upright Vacuum Cleaner: An upright vacuum has the pump mounted directly above the suction intake, with the bag mounted on the handle that rises to about waist height. The upright vacuum designs usually employ mechanical beaters, often rotating brushes, to help unsettle dust to be vacuumed up. A belt attached to the vacuum motor drives these beaters.

Canister Vacuum Cleaner: A canister vacuum has the motor and bag in a separate canister (cylinder) unit (usually mounted on wheels) connected to the vacuum head by a flexible hose. Although upright units have been tested as more effective (mainly because of the beaters), the lighter, more maneuverable heads of canister models are popular. Some canister vacuums in the market have power heads that contain the same sort of mechanical beaters as in upright units, although such beaters are driven by a separate electric motor.

Backpack Vacuum: A Backpack vacuum is a major tool for commercial cleaning. It allows the user to move rapidly about a large area. Its essentially a canister vacuum cleaner, except that straps are used to carry the canister unit on the user's back.

Built-in or central vacuum cleaner: A built-in vacuum or central vacuum cleaner has the suction motor and bag based in a central location in the building, and provides vacuum inlets at strategic places throughout the building. Only the hose and pickup head need to be carried from room to room; and the hose is commonly 8 m (25 ft) long, allowing a large range of movement without changing vacuum inlets. A plastic piping connects the vacuum outlets to the central unit. The vacuum head may either be un-powered or have beaters operated by an electric motor or air-driven motor. The dirt bag in a central vacuum system is usually so large that emptying or changing needs to be done less often, perhaps once per year.

Robotic vacuum cleaner: A robotic vacuum moves around the room, cleaning automatically. A battery powers a robotic vacuum.

Small hand-held vacuum cleaner: A small hand-held vacuum is either battery-operated or electric. It is popular for cleaning up smaller spills.

Wet vacs or wet/dry vacuums: Wet vacs or wet/dry vacuums can be used to clean up liquid spills.

Vacuums are very beneficial tools against dust particles. They are particularly helpful for people suffering from various allergies due to dirt. Vacuum buyers should go through some reviews before buying, to ensure they choose a vacuum that will best suit their needs.