From my very first blog and beyond my love for cleaning hasn’t wavered.  Nothing feels as comfortable as a clean house.  I am thankful for the wonderful tools and products I have, none quite as valuable as my Dyson collection.  As much as they cost, and as much as I love and use them, I must confess my abuse of them.  With the obvious cleaning tasks of any home, cleaning your cleaning devices goes unnoticed and forgotten.  Today, I am going to admit my problem and help you see how and why to clean a Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal vacuum.

The first step to recovery is admitting the problem.  I have a big problem.  I’ve known about it for a long time.  I’ve continued to commit this offense being fully aware of its ramifications.  Deep breath…ready?  I have never cleaned my vacuum.  GASP!  I said it, never.  Now, I’m not talking about emptying the canister.  I’ve done that a million times.  I’m talking the filters and nozzles and beater bar and all those hard working parts.

Call it conscious forgetfulness, cleaning out filters and other hiding places for dust is one of my bad habits.  In my defense, it’s just not in my face saying “clean me.”  It took years for my mom to drill into my head to clean the lint out of the dryer.  She’s not around to be my lint trap conscience anymore, so me and my electric Samsung are grateful for that lesson.  My Dysons though, squeaked past even mom’s keen cleaning eye.

I couldn’t avoid it forever.  Today my vacuum rebelled against me and insisted on smelling like electrical dusty funk after only one area rug.  Going in for the clean was unavoidable at this point.  The time had come to face off against the Dyson dust bunnies.

How to clean a dyson cinetic big ball animal vacuum takes basic items and a small star head (apparently the official name is a torx) screwdriver.  Luckily, I found a YouTube video of my same model being taken apart and cleaned.  What a major help!  The tutorial helped visualize and instruct on how to disassemble my machine.  Consulting the manufacturer manual is highly recommended as well.

The obvious place to begin is the canister.  This part gets emptied regularly, but it could use a wash every now and then.  Most Dysons, going back to their first uprights, have a grey knob/button toward the top of the canister that will disconnect the clear plastic can from the funnels above.  I started there on my own and the video helped me get further into the dusty depths.

As I was going through the steps of how to clean a dyson cinetic big ball animal vacuum, I knew immediately it was long overdue and this was certainly the source of the foul smell when I was vacuuming my rug.  That was somewhat a comfort to know I was on the right track.  Each layer of parts revealed more and more fine, caked-on dust.

Pretty gross isn’t it?  I couldn’t believe it.  This newer model of vacuum had more hidden dust points than I could have imagined.  It’s really quite embarrassing to show, but hey, it’s honest.  This is 2 years worth of dusty build up.  I was amazed my vacuum still worked at all.  And it certainly was still sucking up dirt and dust like a champ!  That rug I mentioned I was vacuuming?  perfectly clean, just with an air of funky smell left behind thanks to a neglected vacuum is all.  I digress…

Anyway, I took my Dyson apart as much as I felt comfortable.  The photo above is as far as I went.  All pieces removed up to this point were hard plastic or solid rubber gaskets.  Each was washed in the sink with warm water and dish soap.  Dish soap is mild, but effective for removing dirt.  For all the tiny funnel portions (above), I was not about to go further or submerge this in water. Instead I enlisted the help of my baby Dyson.  With a brush attachment, I vacuumed my vacuum’s dusty innards.

The most important thing you can remember about how to clean a dyson cinetic big ball animal vacuum, is to let all the parts dry COMPLETELY before reassembly.  Anything wet or damp can ruin a vacuum and we’re trying to take care of it and maintain it’s life and function, so don’t go cutting it short with some silly little water.  I let mine dry on a towel for 24 hours for good measure.

Once reassembled, I finished my vacuuming tasks leftover from the previous day.  My newly cleaned vacuum sucked it’s way through the whole house without a hitch (and without any musty smells).  Nothing sucky about that.  Hahaha, a little vacuum humor.  I just had to.

Clean floors with little ones around is paramount and nothing says a house is clean like fluffy carpets with vacuum lines, am I right?  Cleaning tools and devices are not immune from needing cleaning themselves.  They do a lot of dirty work and it could keep them running and working their best for longer.  In the case of pricey Dyson vacuums, you’ll certainly want to keep up with regular maintenance to keep them their best.  I have to jump on board with my own advice now.  I’ve had this Dyson model for about 2 years now and never cleaned it until today.  Eek!  I know, I’m ashamed.

If you’d like to see more cleaning of uncommon places, see my other post How to Clean a Chi Hair Dryer.