How often should you clean your vacuum filter?

Why bother

A clogged filter starves the motor and burns it out. A thorough-tier job. Skippable when life's busy, worth it when it isn't.

Why it's a range

Cordless models, pets, or fine dust want it monthly.

What the job involves

1. Unplug it, or pull the battery, then get the filter out. It usually hides behind the dust bin or under a clip-off cap. Tap it against the inside of the bin or the sink to knock the loose dust off.
2. If it's a washable foam or HEPA filter, rinse it under the cold tap until the water runs clear. No detergent, no scrubbing, and not hot water, which wrecks the foam and the HEPA fibers.
3. Shake the excess out and leave it to air-dry, fully, for at least 24 hours somewhere with a bit of airflow. A wet filter refitted early can do the motor in.
4. Refit only when it's bone dry. If it's the non-washable paper or charcoal sort, or it's torn or gone permanently gray, swap it for a new one instead.

Do it yourself, or pay someone?

Yourself. Five minutes at the sink plus drying time, no tools, and the only cost is a new filter when the old one's worn ($20 to $60). A shop will service a vacuum at $15 to $55 an hour, or $40 to $90 for a tune-up, which is daft money for a rinse you can do at home. Check the manual first, mind, since a few sealed HEPA filters are replace-only.

What skipping it costs

$80 to $300 is what a new vacuum motor runs, and a motor is what a starved filter eventually kills. Caked with dust and pet hair, the filter chokes the airflow the motor leans on to stay cool, so it works harder, runs hot, and burns out. On a budget machine that repair costs more than the vacuum's worth, so it goes in the bin and you start again at $320 or up. Set against that, the upkeep is a free rinse or a $20 to $60 filter. Long before the motor goes you also lose suction and start blowing fine dust back into the room.

Signs it's overdue

• Suction's clearly dropped off, or the machine strains and feels weaker than it did, even with the bin freshly emptied.
• A musty or burning-dust smell while it runs, or it gets hot and cuts out mid-clean, which is the overheat shut-off doing its job.
• Gray dust caked across the filter pleats, or the filter still looks dirty after a wash. That one's past saving.

When to start thinking about it

A few days' warning does it. Grumpty grumbles 3 days out, then leaves you alone. Mark it done and Grumpty sets the next one, every 2 months, so you can go back to forgetting it exists.

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