Christy’s Simple Tips–How to Clean a Vacuum Beater Bar

Use a stitch ripper to clean a vacuum cleaner bar. | Simple Tips from The Simple Homemaker

When people find out that there are seven girls in our family of nine, they often remark to my son and husband, “Oh, you poor things!” Whatever. Wink.

The one who truly deserves the pity is our poor vacuum cleaner. The beater bar on the vacuum gets so wound up with girl and golden retriever hair that the beater bar becomes more of a carpet buffer.

No problem! With a few quick passes using a stitch ripper, the beater bar is as good as new. Just insert the tip in under the hair and slide the ripper through. Voila! (That’s vwah-la, for those of you who are pronouncing that vee-oh-la. Voila is French for “see there;” a viola is a stringed instrument. Get it? Got it? Good. Back to the vacuum beater bar.) It’s like new, and you didn’t break your scissors, slice a vital artery with a kitchen knife, or take apart the whole vacuum and forget how to put it back together again. Been there!

If you don’t have a stitch ripper, you can grab one at any craft or sewing store, or in the craft and sewing section of your local discount department store. They are also available online for a reasonable price. (This is an affiliate link. If you buy something through this link, a portion of Amazon’s profits go to us…so we can make cookies for the poor outnumbered boys in the family. Wink.)

Now go rescue your vacuum cleaners!

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10 thoughts on “Christy’s Simple Tips–How to Clean a Vacuum Beater Bar”

  1. Duh! Why didn’t I think of that! It’s just three of us (so far), but the vacuum still gets bad, and last time I broke a pair of scissors trying to clean it. Thanks for the great simple tip!

  2. This is brilliant! I usually spend way too long yanking all that off the beater bar and it is gross. I’m going to use my seam ripper from now on.
    Thanks for the great tip! It will still be gross, but it will be over quickly!

    1. Bah, I’m sure you’re doing this already. You have all sorts of tricks up your sleeves!

      I love this trick…or at least I did a couple years ago when we had a house and a vacuum and waist-length hair. 🙂

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