Vacuuming your home might feel like a chore. But at least by the end of it, you can sit back and relax in a cleaner, fresh-smelling environment, right? Well, most of the time, that's true. But sometimes, even the can surprise you with an unpleasant aroma.
Worse still, you might unwittingly spread it across your floors, leaving you worse off than when you started. "We know that overtime unpleasant smells can build up in vacuums, particularly if you are a household with pets," says Tracey Scully, UK managing director at . "But a smelly vacuum doesn’t mean that your home is unclean: it’s just that regular pick up of hair, dust and dander can cause bad odors to build up inside it.
" In this article, we'll draw on some expert advice on what causes vacuum cleaners to smell, and how to avoid it. These are all solutions you can try yourself, at home – if none of these things work, professional servicing may be needed. The most common reason a vacuum starts to smell, says Sophie Lane, product training manager at , is that you don't empty your bag or bin regularly.
"If the dirt and debris inside isn't removed in a timely fashion, it'll linger over time, breaking down and causing unpleasant smells," she explains. That can be especially true if you're collecting a lot of pet hair. Solution: Empty the bin regularly To prevent this happening, Scully recommends you empty your vacuum after every use.
"This stops dirt from sitting there for too long and creating a smell," she explains. I.