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Here are the major technical pros and cons of air driven and electric power brush designs. Air driven brushes are an excellent choice for applications which involve a minimal amount of carpet. They also make installation in existing homes much easier due to the fact that inlet valves do not need to be near electric outlets. Air driven power brushes use less electric power, contain less expensive replacement parts and operate well off of power units with high waterlift readings. They are also great for alerting the operator when the filtration system is extremely full...they simply slow down due to the lack of airflow to spin the turbine and roller brush.
Electric power brushes, on the other hand, provide better grooming on plush carpets, deliver a better volume of air (CFM) to the vacuumed area, and generally get clogged less often.
The major issue to evaluate in the two types of brushes is the opening size of the air passage from the brush to the area being vacuumed. Air powered turbine brushes, such as the Turbocat normally have an opening size of 5/8”. Compare this to the normal 1 1/4” opening of the electric brushes and you can easily determine that less items and air can pass through the air powered brush. The brush requires the air passage size to be smaller in order to force air through it to provide higher torque for spinning the turbine and roller brush. But a smaller opening doesn’t mean an air driven brush is weak - it’s amazing to consider the force required to stop a properly operating one. Another thing to consider is all vacuumed items in the air driven brush are sent through the turbine fan, items such as paper clips and rocks can severely damage it.
Electric brushes, on the other hand, have a nonrestrictive throat, so much more objects are able to go through the brush while it delivers more air flow to the carpet. This is important if you understand that there are at least three dynamics to remove embedded dirt from carpet. First you must open up the nap, or fibers, to expose the debris. Then you must have air flow to channel air from behind the object to include it in the air stream passing by the fiber. Lastly, you must have a bristle action to actually pull some objects from the carpet which are “clinging.” Without all three forces, you will not clean adequately. For example, if you attempted to vacuum up a feather but had no movement of air from behind it; it would not budge!
The electric brushes’ larger air passage does not only deliver a greater volume of air to the carpet for better cleaning, but the roller brush is operated by an independent electric motor which provides more consistent revolutions per minute than that of an air driven brush. So the dirt in the carpet is agitated, grabbed and pulled out in a more consistent, deeper way. And MD has taken even further carpet cleaning steps. The electric Stealth power brush has an incredible belt protection system, ball-bearing life is much longer, edge cleaning is superior, and user satisfaction is at the top of the charts, to name a few.
Price is the last big difference between air driven and electric. Air driven brushes range from $59 to $169 and electric’s are anywhere from $129 to $324. When considering carpet is one of the largest investments homeowners usually spend money on, the up-front cost difference is easily justifiable considering the increased cleanability of electric over air driven.
After saying all that, please don’t take our word for it, try a demonstration yourself with both options. All you have to lose is a bunch of dirt! |
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