# Roomba vaccum cleaner & dogs



## Steve Estrada (Mar 6, 2011)

I hope this is the appropriate venue for this thread. I will try to be brief but if you hear me laughing hysterically you'll understand why.\\/ A client of mine has the Roomba in her home and enjoyed it very much until recently. Her young bulldog did her business behind some furniture where it couldn't be seen yet it was found by the ever traveling vacuum. She hadn't seen it for a while and found it through a trail it left beginning with a long brown skid mark in the carpet which became more distinct (wider) as it continued for sometime. It died shorty after, overloaded, if you will and jammed. She took it apart trying to save it's life washing individual screws and parts thoroughly to no avail as it would not recharge. So the moral of the story is if you have a Roomba and a dog "BEWARE"! It can kill your vacuum.[-X She is now looking for a new vacuum and a carpet cleaner.....


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Dyson!!!
My wife used to think it was cute when one of our Border terriers used to attack the vacuum cleaner.........till he caught and killed the bag while she was operating it. The dirt flew!!!
I couldn't mow the lawn without the little bassid stalking me.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

If you want to do it right, go with a central vac. Dyson is a marketing scheme, the same as all other uprights are. Your suction is limited due to the fact that the size of the motor is restricted because you must carry the motor with you and let's be real, weight is a factor. Central vacs are 100% dust free because they are designed to exhaust externally. They're quieter because the motor is typically located in the garage, which also does not limit the size of the motor that is used within the unit and thereby due to location gives you the ability to also clean your cars with it. 

It is a non depreciating item, they add to your homes appraised value as it is considered an upgrade. True cyclonic separation units require no bags or filters, which most uprights do. The cost of the bags and hepafilters can be quite expensive in upright units. 

And, with an interceptor you can vacuum up shit. Need I say more?


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

I have a Roomba, got it as an Xmas gift years ago, don't like it, never use it. I love my Dyson, (bagless, aren't they all?), best vacuum I ever bought and I have been through a ton of them. We will most likely go with a central vac system in the house we're building in Washington, everyone I know who has central vac system loves it.


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## Rina Rivamonte (Jan 11, 2011)

Never heard of a central vacuum system till now but I am intrigued. Definitely something I'll looking into.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Rina Rivamonte said:


> Never heard of a central vacuum system till now but I am intrigued. Definitely something I'll looking into.


Hose outlet and electrical connection in each room. The "central" vac unit is usually in a garage or basement. 
All you carry from room to room is the hose.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Bob Scott said:


> Hose outlet and electrical connection in each room. The "central" vac unit is usually in a garage or basement.
> All you carry from room to room is the hose.


Central vac has had super (powered) valves for quite a while, while some of the older more basic units required this (stated above) the central vac system has come a long way since then. The most recent development is the retractable 50' powered hose. If it's layed out right you can do an entire level off one super valve. The other pretty jiggy development is the vac pan (built in dust pan) which is generally installed in a hall or below the cabinet toe kick in the kitchen. My husband and I no longer deal in central vac sales/installations however my father in law does through one of the businesses he owns.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

The Roomba wouldn't have died via turd at my house. I fully expected to hear that the dog killed it. :twisted:


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## Sheena Tarrant (Sep 21, 2008)

Nicole Stark said:


> And, with an interceptor you can vacuum up shit.


How well do they get hair out of carpet? My current vac is the only one I've had that is VERY good at getting bulldog hair out of carpet (although I'd rather not have carpet (and some days, I'd rather not have a bulldog... )). 

Back to the Roomba - when we were in a house with only hard floors, the Roomba was fantastic. It was awesome to come home every day to nice clean floors. However, while I was out of town once, my husband had a similar experience with the Roomba and one of the dogs. He came home to find that a dog had had an accident in the house, which Roomba had gleefully tried to clean up but only succeeded in pushing the "turd crayon" (as he put it) all over the place. He said it was like somebody had used it to grout the floor. Apparently he was scraping it out of the tiny cracks between the laminate flooring for hours, and the little-vacuum-that-couldn't was dead. Rest in peace, Vinnie the Roomba. 

:-\" :lol: :-\"


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Sheena Tarrant said:


> How well do they get hair out of carpet? My current vac is the only one I've had that is VERY good at getting bulldog hair out of carpet (although I'd rather not have carpet (and some days, I'd rather not have a bulldog... )).


No problem. I've got a DDB with a very short tight coat and it removes her hair from the boat, car, and house carpets. I've got Shaw shag in the house but from tighter carpets like I have in my boat or car (which are either black or dark grey) it removes it very well.


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

Nicole Stark said:


> If you want to do it right, go with a central vac. Dyson is a marketing scheme, the same as all other uprights are. Your suction is limited due to the fact that the size of the motor is restricted because you must carry the motor with you and let's be real, weight is a factor. Central vacs are 100% dust free because they are designed to exhaust externally. They're quieter because the motor is typically located in the garage, which also does not limit the size of the motor that is used within the unit and thereby due to location gives you the ability to also clean your cars with it.
> 
> It is a non depreciating item, they add to your homes appraised value as it is considered an upgrade. True cyclonic separation units require no bags or filters, which most uprights do. The cost of the bags and hepafilters can be quite expensive in upright units.
> 
> And, with an interceptor you can vacuum up shit. Need I say more?


I want that in my next house. For now, I have some industrial vac made by hoover or someone...idk, it weighs a freaking ton and is hard for me to carry up and down the stairs. 

What I hate about any upright is that you have (or I do) to empty them frequently and the motors eat it due to dog hair and dirt. I vacuum a lot though.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Ashley, I've got one in my house and one in my cabin and my in laws/relatives all have them in their cabins/homes as well. I'm betting we remove the debris from the cabin units once a year (maybe less) and in town maybe every 6 months. I don't wear shoes in my house and if I let a dog in I restrict their access pretty heavily to certain rooms or lay something on the floor as a barrier if in a common area so I'm probably just vacuuming up schnibbles and bits of loose hair/crumbs. Even still I'm sure clean out would be greatly reduced for you. The canisters are about the size of 5 gallon buckets give or take.

Back in the '70s or whenever these things came out they were more hassle than they were worth but these days it's a given to find central vac in high end homes - at least that appears to be a construction standard up here. I couldn't say if that holds true in the states though.


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