There are many different types of vacuum cleaners from light hand-held units to those heavy duty wet/dry vacuum cleaners.

These days there are many different types of vacuum cleaners. Most work on the principle of sucking dirt and dust up through hose and keeping it in a bag or container while the cleaned air is filtered back out. This is helpful to people with allergies as fine dust, allergens, dust mites and pet hair and dander can all be sucked up and removed from the home and atmosphere.

Vacuum cleaners are ideal for cleaning mats and carpets as well as harder floor surfaces like tile, timber and slate. They come with many handy attachments that make dusting and cleaning other surfaces such as furniture and sofas easy. You can even get that build-up of dust out of your mattress, making it a great deal more pleasant to sleep on for anyone who is allergic to dust.

Vacuum cleaners come in uprights, handheld, barrel, broom types and even a central system. The central vacuum cleaner has the main motor installed in the garage or basement and you only need to plug your hose into the outlet in each room. This saves pulling or carrying the main part around.

Most barrel or canister type vacuum cleaners are not that difficult to move around though sometimes they may be awkward, especially if you have stairs. They often have wheels or glide on a lift of air to make them lighter and more manoeuvrable. They usually have bags to catch the dust and these can be changed when they are full. Simply lift out the bag and drop it into the bin.

Uprights have the motor and bag attached to the handle or carriage and must be wheeled around to suck up the dust. There is no hose or other attachments so they cannot be used on the sofa like a barrel vac can.

Hand held or broom type vacuum cleaners are only used for light cleaning as they lack the ability to do heavy duty cleaning. Still, they are good to clean pet hairs off the car seat, or if you spill the sugar.