Most people use a vacuum cleaner and baking soda to clean carpets. But have you ever heard about the risks of vacuuming baking soda? If yes, then you might be wondering if you can vacuum baking soda.
You can not vacuum baking soda. Vacuuming baking soda will damage the motor of the vacuum cleaner, will start leaking into the air, and clog the filters completely. Vacuuming baking soda makes the vacuum cleaner unusable as long as it’s not professionally cleaned.
I have read several blogs and they recommend the same thing; sprinkle baking soda on the carpet and vacuum it. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Keep reading this article and I will show you why you shouldn’t vacuum baking soda.
6 Reasons Why You Can’t Vacuum Baking Soda:
I don’t recommend vacuuming baking soda for the following reasons:
1. Baking Soda Will Damage The Motor of The Vacuum Cleaner:
You heard me right, vacuum cleaners are not made for vacuuming fine particles. And baking soda is the perfect example of a fine particle.
Vacuuming baking soda will clog the motor; in the worst-case scenario, it will damage the motor if you can’t get it out completely.
2. The Sound of The Vacuum Cleaner Changes:
Just after you suck up one cup of baking soda with your Dyson or shark vacuum cleaner, you will notice that the regular sound of the vacuuming is changed. That’s because the baking soda gets into the motor and does not allow it to function at its full potential.
The bottom line is, your vacuum cleaner will not sound happy after you vacuum baking soda with it.
3. The Vacuum Cleaner Loses Suction power:
Just after vacuuming 1 cup of baking soda, I have seen vacuum cleaners losing suction power partially.
I will not tell you that if you vacuum just 1 cup of baking soda your vacuum cleaner will ultimately lose its suction power. But you will definitely notice the suction power is reduced and the motor is trying harder to do its job.
4. Baking Soda Starts Leaking Out:
Just after vacuuming 2 cups of baking soda, most shark vacuum cleaners start leaking baking soda and it spreads in the air.
I personally can’t tolerate the smell of baking soda powder in the air. It feels irritating when the vacuum cleaner starts leaking baking soda from the front side into the air.
If you are in a situation where you have already vacuumed baking soda and it has started to leak into the air, go get a mask and turn off the vacuum cleaner immediately.
5. Degrades The Air Quality of Your Room:
As I mentioned earlier baking soda powder starts mixing into the air. It ultimately degrades the air quality of the room. Inhaling baking soda powder with air can cause sneezing or coughing So, in such a situation using a mask or respirator is mandatory [Source].
6. Filter Gets Completely Caked:
If you vacuum a little amount of baking soda, the filter of your vacuum might still work. But Let’s say you just vacuumed 2 cups of baking soda. After that, if you open the vacuum cleaner and check the filter you will see that the vacuum cleaner is completely caked up.
The filtration system will completely collapse and the vacuum cleaner will not work as long as you don’t get the professionals to change the filter.
Also, most shark vacuum cleaners have a post-motor filter or a third filter. Even the third filter fails and needs to change.
What if You Have a Vacuum Cleaner With A Bag?
All this time I was talking about bagless vacuum cleaners. Most people who use shark or Dyson vacuums get bagless ones.
However, having Vacuum Cleaner has a few pros that you don’t get with the bagless ones.
For starters, if you vacuum baking soda with a vacuum cleaner that has a bag, you can just throw away the bag and completely restore the filtration system. You can’t get away so easily if the vacuum cleaner is a bagless one.
I still don’t recommend vacuuming baking soda if you have a vacuum cleaner with a bag. Even the carpet and rug institutes do not recommend the use of baking soda on carpets and vacuuming baking soda as well. [source]
How Do You Clean Baking Soda Without a Vacuum Cleaner?
If you have sprinkled or accidentally poured baking soda on anything, you can easily get it out by running it on water. Baking soda is water soluble. So, water should remove all the baking soda.
However, suppose you have sprinkled baking soda on a high pile carpet and can’t get the baking soda out of it as you don’t want to get your carpet wet, then you will need to get a professional cleaning service to get rid of the baking soda.
I think it’s always better, if you put baking soda on your carpet, just professionally clean it to extract it out as we established that using a vacuum cleaner is not ideal for cleaning baking soda.
What Do You Put On The Carpet Before Vacuuming?
If you really need to clean your carpets, please don’t use baking powder. Have mercy on your machine. Instead, you can use Dry carpet powder (Amazon Link). I am not saying that baking soda won’t clean your carpet.
The problem is you can not vacuum baking soda and removing baking soda from your carpet can be troublesome as you will need to professionally clean your carpet just to get rid of baking soda.
If you use Dry carpet powder cleaner, you can vacuum your carpet as this product is prepared to be vacuumed, unlike baking soda.
How Can I Make My Carpet Smell Good While Vacuuming?
No matter how thoroughly we clean or vacuum our carpets, we sometimes notice some bad smells from a particular part of the carpet as we have kids and pets inside our house.
The best way to get rid of the smell is to spray a solution of vinegar on the carpet and then use fabric deodorants. Dilute vinegar spray will reduce the bad smell and fabric deodorant will make your carpet smell good. Some people don’t like the smell of vinegar, they must use it.
I have seen some people use baking soda to remove bad smells from carpets. If you have to use baking soda, use a very little amount. Using a little amount of baking won’t harm your vacuum cleaner that much. But don’t try to be too generous and pour multiple cups of baking soda on your carpet.
In the beginning of this article, I told you the result of vacuuming baking soda. It’s time to keep my promise.
Check out this video, and you will practically see the results of vacuuming baking soda:
Related Questions:
How Long Does It Take For Baking Soda To Remove Odor?
Depending on how strong the smell is, it usually takes 3 – 10 hours for baking soda to remove the odor completely.
Can You Vacuum Baking Soda With Dyson?
No, you can not vacuum baking soda with Dyson. Vacuuming baking with Dyson will damage the motor and filtration system of the machine.
Final Thoughts:
The cyclonic separation does not do well in a bagless vacuum cleaner. That’s why it is not ideal to vacuum fine particles like baking soda powder. If your vacuum cleaner is not a bagless one, you can probably get away with it by changing the bag. But it is still not recommended.
Thanks for reading! I hope this article was helpful. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.
