Well, That Didn't Suck

In this week's episode of What Did Surely Take Apart?  We serviced the vacuum cleaners. 

First off: I'm shaving my head and the dog.

Secondly: Hello Inhaler, I love you.

I vacuumed yesterday with the common folk vacuum and noticed it wasn't working very well.  Like a responsible adult, I finished and put it away. I added looking at it to a running to-do list.

When I use the common folk vacuum, I'll usually let Rosie take a pass around the house to catch anything that my A.D.D. addled brain didn't get or that I can't reach.  That was the plan today, at least.

This is one of those I'm Super Fun to Live With events.

I put Rosie on the counter and cleaned out her filter.  This is super easy and self-contained.  I noticed the bar that sweeps had not one, but two fabric softener sheets wrapped around it.  Well, that can't be good, I thought, and began to take the roller apart.

I say again: it's super easy and self contained.  However, when you have a dog AND long hair AND fairly new carpet, things get a little messy.  All of the aforementioned were wrapped around the brushes and the bar.  I am a terrible robot owner.  She had every right to stage an uprising.

About fifteen minutes later, I've gotten most of the hair and stuff removed.  Then I rinsed it in the sink to remove any dust and loosen anything left behind.  Yeah, it wasn't as clean as I thought.  Another fifteen minutes later and I'm finally done.

But I can't put it together yet because the brushes are now wet. 

Well, while I'm in a mood: let's bust out the common folk vacuum.  

I set it on the kitchen island, got the screwdrivers and went to grab my other glasses.  Here enters Kevin into the house, to see an in-process vacuum autopsy being conducted on the counter.

"What....what are you doing?" he asks, a little fearfully.  I explained what I was doing and he thinks for a moment.  

"Do you think it was a good idea to, I don't know, take ALL OF THE VACUUMS apart?"

See?  I'm super fun to live with.  I did not consider that.  I assured him that all was well.  Rosie the Robot is super easy to assemble. I've done it before. Whatevs, Kevin.  I walked away to get my other glasses only to return and he has begun to disassemble the vacuum.

He has the tiniest bit of chauvinism in that he doesn't like me to do "messy" jobs.  To that, my answer depends on how much I want to do the actual job.  Sometimes I acquiesce, sometimes I tell him to kick rocks.

Today was a kick rocks task.  He actually gladly went back outside.  

Vacuums are very straight-forward and simple.  A rolling brush and a belt.  That's it.  It's just unpleasant to clean.  Like with Rosie, I took it apart and cut away the human hair, dog hair, and carpeting.  I also took the swiffer to all the nooks and crannies that it could reach.  I rinsed the cover, which had also accumulated dog hair in the bumper.  

The cover protects the belt (on the left side)

Now I'm back to Rosie, while the cover for the vacuum dries.

During and After

I put her all back together, easy. What does Kevin know, anyway?  I set her to run in the living room, just to make sure.  Returning to the kitchen, I noticed a yellow cog on the counter.  Hmmm, what is that? That looks familiar, I think to myself. 

I've said it before: the gods do not like arrogance.  I had forgotten one of the cogs that turn the brush on Rosie.   Because A.D.D. I had placed the cog on the counter behind me, because reasons, and didn't notice. It fits snugly enough without it that I didn't notice. Well done, me.  I retrieve Rosie, apologize, and return the cog back to it's rightful place.

Now I'm back to reassembling the vacuum.  Kevin had already used the air compressor to blow out the filters, except the HEPA filter "because that one never needs it"  Cue to me, banging it on the counter and making a dusty mess.  Sigh.

Vacuum went back together easy and I put it away. Cross that service off the list for another year.  Rosie zipped around the house without issues, even helping clean up the dust and hair that had now accumulated on the kitchen floor.  

So, add this to your list of things to do when you're bored.  It's easy to do, just dusty.  If you get stuck, there's always YouTube.  Everything is easy to take apart, it's the putting back together part that gets tricky.

Gratuitous Lucy photo.  She is not a fan of Rosie.