Dirt Devil EZ Lite Bagless Canister Vacuum, SD40010

I’ve owned this vac for about 2 months and began experiencing loss of suction and poor performance. I was literally at wit’s end and ready to throw the thing out the window. I bought new filters and still the same problems. I read the instruction manual over and over, looking for some reason. Here’s the deal that the instruction manual DOESN’T mention: there is a pre-filter inside the plastic “bagless” collector part you pull out and empty (NOT related to the grey sponge or the HEPA filter). Open the bottom of the dirt/dust collector. Empty the contents and look up inside. There is a black cylinder inside a clear cylindrical receiver. I hold the bagless collector in my left hand so when I turn it upside down, the assembly is on the right. You can’t miss it, although I did for 2 months. That is where all the hair and other light-weight junk builds up!!! Give the black cylinder a counter-clockwise twist, pull it out, and clean. I literally pulled out about a packed 8-ounce cup of hair and fibers and that is what was causing loss of performance. Be sure to clean the little perforations at the top of the black tube, too. Reinsert and twist clock-wise to re-engage the retaining tabs. Voila. Good as new!!

As far as overall design and performance, this vac’s performance is on target with it’s price point. It’s best suited for hard floors but mine works equally well on low- and medium-pile area rugs. Picks up litter my cat throws out of his box with ease. Yes, it’s a little bulky for something marketed as EZ-Lite. It’s a canister vac so as you use it, it will get caught on furniture and door jambs unless the user compensates. I’m a guy so the extra effort on medium-pile area rugs is worth it. Just go slowly and let the vac do the work.

Just remember to clean that hidden pre-filter and you shouldn’t be disappointed!

I can’t believe how many people complain about having to clean out the dirt, debris, hair, and dust from a BAGLESS vacuum. How did they think the dirt got out, internal incineration? Having no bag means it uses filters and catches to stop the stuff on your floor and in your carpet from blowing out the other end of the machine after it’s sucked up.

How about this: buy some cheap rubber or latex gloves and a cheap white breathing mask to wear while you clean out the canister each time if you can’t handle getting dirty and you don’t want to pay more for a fancier vacuum.

I looked on Amazon and the top rated bagless canister vacs are Miele and are up to $500+. I’m assuming they are less effort to clean out but the principle is the same. Everything that goes in, must come out one way or the other even if it means clogging up your machine and throwing the whole thing away.

As for using this one, yes, everything it sucks up, you have to eventually dump out yourself one way or the other. It is powerful but every single bit of stuff it picks up does cause some amount of blockage and suction is affected.

There are basically four things to do, as often as you need to.

1. Dump out the canister.
2. Pull out the long fibers like hair and carpet from the cylindrical catch in the canister.
3. Clean the white cotton (?) ridged small particle filter in the canister.
4. Clean the spongy black filter behind the white one in the canister.

You do not need a Hazmat room or suit to do this unless you have hazardous materials on your floor. Everything in that vacuum came off of your floor. I’d recommend taking it outside with your trash can and doing all four often so you keep maximum performance. I basically just vacuum, dump, pull, pop off, tap, and blow. That cleans the floor, canister, fiber catch, removes and cleans the white filter, and cleans the sponge filter. If that’s not for you, this vacuum isn’t for you, but it’s not a failure of the vacuum to do its job when people don’t like the design. It’s the fault of the user. Let the buyer beware.

Anecdote: I just used my 3.0 HP Craftsman shop vac to clean my new 8’x 10′ very shag acrylic rug. It needs a shop vac run over it every day right now – it’s new. Then I used my Dirt Devil EZ Lite to clean between the folds on the large round filter on the shop vac after I removed most of the long fine carpet fibers from the big Shop Vac by hand. Both are bagless, canister type vacuums and both work great, even better together.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with the Dirt Devil company or any other such organization. (0: