With the best car vacuum cleaner, you can ensure the cleanliness of your vehicle with minimal effort. It is important to maintain the aesthetics of the car to make it more desirable. Right?
Using the handheld vacuum helps in removing the smallest particles of dust. Moreover, it can also remove the trapped dirt, hair, and mud. It also reduces the effort that is put while cleaning.
But, finding a reliable and efficient car vacuum cleaner in India can be challenging if you are buying it for the first time. It is thus necessary to make a checklist of what features you are looking for. A good model should be able to reach right down into every crack and crevice of your car. To make your job easier, I have listed down some of the most important parameters every car vacuum cleaner must have.
Things to look for in a vacuum cleaner for car
1. Power source
The minimum amount of power needed to kickstart a vacuum cleaner is important. The power should be sufficiently supplied by the car, otherwise the device might end up exhausting the car battery. As a result, you might not be able to restart or power up your car. A good car vacuum cleaner should always run efficiently on the car’s battery. Most of them can be powered with the 12V-DC socket.
2. Suction power
A suction power tells how efficiently your vacuum cleaner can suck up the dirt, dust, mud, debris, hair, and crumbs from the surface. Some companies use wattage while others use amps for measuring the level of this power. You should look for a vac with excellent suction power, otherwise, you will be spending a lot of effort on the same spot removing the tough dirt. A corded model with high watt motor usually provides better suction, ranging from 3.5 – 4.5 kilopascals.
3. Corded or rechargeable cordless?
A cleaner which supports both corded and non-corded operation provides more convenience. You need not worry about being always connected to a power source with the tangled wire. A cordless cleaner can also be carried from one place to another. However, they are not powerful as the corded ones. Also, good cordless cleaners are bit pricey and rare to find in India.
4. Weight and portability
The portability of the car vacuum cleaner is an issue of debate amongst everyone. It is very important to note that the weight of the cleaner should be less. Less weight and small in size can help you to carry it along with you everywhere. The portability should be of a high priority while choosing a cleaner.
5. Dust capacity
The amount of dust that can be held by the cleaner is called as the dust capacity. Most car vacs offer dust capacity from 0.5 – 1.5 litre. A model with less dust capacity remains lightweight and portable too. Also note that the suction power will determine the dust capacity that your device has.
6. Wet and dry functions
It is important to understand what this means. Some cleaners can function properly when there is no fluid present on the surface. Whereas, others perform brilliantly immaterial of the surface material. The wet and dry function has two containers that separate wet and dry waste. It helps in preventing the mixing up of the waste. The waster is drawn up using the nozzle, that gets separated into two different containers. The mechanism is such that as the air passes through a smaller area, there is a compression, resulting in an increase in the pressure.
Most modern vacuum cleaners for car come with both the functionalities. Using a cleaner with only wet or dry feature has its own pros and cons.
7. Wire length and attachments
Do you want to regret that you are not able to reach the nooks and corners of the vehicle? If not, prefer a cleaner with larger wire length. If the length of the wire is large, you can even clean the backseat of an SUVs or big cars.
Also, lookout for the attachments that come along with the cleaner. The vac should have all the required tools for thorough cleaning, such as crevice tool, cleaning brush, extension pipe, and storage bag. They should be durable and perfectly fit into the cleaner too.
8. Warranty
Knowing the warranty of the car vacuum is necessary while purchasing it. You must look into the durability, which is understood by the duration of the warranty. If it has a better warranty, you can be sure about the higher durability of the product. A trusted vacuum cleaner brand always offers an extended warranty and it ensures that the product remains functional even after 5 years.
People also ask
Is car vacuum cleaner really useful?
Honestly saying, it depends a lot on your usage of the car. From my personal experience, my car is used very roughly due to the places it goes. Moreover, the open windows become the entry point of dust and I don’t have a high frequency of washing my car. Since washing a car is always a time taking thing, it is not possible to do it often. Thus, having a car vacuum cleaner is advantageous.
Saves time: With the car vacuum cleaner, you can save a lot of time in cleaning the car. Moreover, you need not worry about completely or fully washing your car always.
Self-help: Dependency on others for washing and cleaning the car is not always a great thing. Instead, it is always best to focus on ways in which you can clean the car yourself. With the vacuum cleaner, you can get the car cleaned, without any worries, whatsoever.
Can I use a car vacuum cleaner for home use?
You can use a car vacuum cleaner for home purposes. But, there are some limitations and also you might need some modifications on your car vacuum cleaner. Some of the differences between car vacuum cleaner and the normal one (home use) are power requirement and suction pressure. But, both the cleaners have similar working principle.
There is a difference in the quality of the cloth or material used in the home and car. With such a difference, you can expect a variation in the binding power of the dirt while using car vacuum cleaner for home use, thus making it difficult to suck out the dirt from the cloth material.
If you are using the vacuum cleaner for car to remove stains and dirt from small nooks and corners of the room, it will work smoothly. But, be aware that if you frequently use the car vacuum cleaner for removing large dust particles at home, you might end up damaging the cleaner.
Also, you might need an AC to DC converter for the cleaner to work for household purposes. I will try this only when it is very much required or when I have a defective or unused car vacuum cleaner, otherwise not.
Can I use household vacuum cleaner for car cleaning?
Absolutely NO! In my opinion, it is always preferred that you never intermix the cleaners of your home with that of the car. The car cleaner needs power regulation, lower power whereas a house cleaner has huge suction force. Also, the house cleaner is generally huge in size. It is often difficult to carry the house cleaner to your car. You might not be able to clean the intricate places in your car. Instead, your car might look dirtier.
Can I use dry car vacuum cleaner on wet surfaces?
Technically, no! You should never use a dry car cleaner on a wet surface. The water present on the car seat, when sucked into the cleaner might end up affecting the electrical equipment. Chances of electrocution are very high, which can lead to accidents like fire. It will also be difficult to clean the container of the cleaner after it is being used to suck water from the surface. I have personally never used it for wet surfaces and I am not going to suggest the same to anyone.
Thus, I recommend you to get a vacuum cleaner for your car with both wet and dry functionalities. It may cost a bit more, but it’s totally worth it.
Final words
What is important to understand before investing in a vacuum cleaner for car is the clarity in terms of your requirements. Making a checklist enables you to garner the required features. If you have not yet researched the products, I hope this article helped you in selecting the best car vacuum cleaner in India.
Remember to take personal care of the device you purchased. To expand its utility, it is essential that you don’t use the car vacuum cleaner in abnormal ways like cleaning the house. In case you are using it to clean your home, don’t use it for heavy cleaning and make sure that the AC current is transformed into the DC current. If not, the cleaner might get damaged.