I’ve just undergone a massive Spring clean of my home, triggered by the wonderful week of sun we had (before the clouds descended again, but I’m used to that in Wales!) and also by the fact my son’s birthday is in April and we usually have a party at home. I try to keep on top of the cleaning at all times though, as I’ve always had a problem with dust irritating my lungs and triggering my asthma. With 3 cats, a dog and a 4 year old (soon to be 5 year old!), my house doesn’t stay clean for long, and there’s always mud and dust and pet hair about. My husband also suffers quite severely, and myself mildly, from hayfever, so the onset of spring reminds us about the comeback of pollen.
I use the vacuum on my carpets upstairs, and my hard floors downstairs on a regular basis to keep everything looking clean, but what about the things, like pollen, pollutants and bacteria, that we can’t even see? That’s where the new Hoover Upright 300 with HEPA filter can come in handy.
What is a HEPA filter and how does it help allergies?
HEPA stands for “High Efficiency Particulate Air”, which is a technical way of saying it meets the standard of moving 99.97% of particulates measuring 0.3 micrometer diameter in a lab setting. If that’s all gone over your head, the basic is, it removes the very vast majority of very small particles – that could be germs such as bacteria and viruses, mold and spores, dust, pollutants, pet dander, pollen etc. – and those are often things that trigger allergies or could potentially damage our lungs or cause illness. It means that it’s been tested and verified.
The benefits of using a HEPA filter in a vacuum are simply that you can move all these potentially harmful things from your carpet, furnishings or flooring for good. I also use HEPA air purifiers, one in my downstairs living area, and one in my bedroom, to help remove anything that’s in the air, but I have often wondered what’s lurking in the fibers of my carpets.
Hoover Upright 300 with HEPA Filter
Hoover’s new Upright 300 (with Pets and Long-reach model options) has a HEPA filter installed and uses cyclonic technology. The addition of a HEPA filter has all the benefits that we’ve discussed above, making it ideal for families – like mine – who have allergies and would like to minimize any allergens in the home, or people who just want to feel confident that their home is as clean and safe as possible. This means that when I use my Hoover Upright 300 (which I’ll call the HU300 from here), I can be confident that I’m getting rid of allergens that would trigger my asthma, like dust and pet dander, and that there’ll be less pollen in the house that causes my husband’s hayfever. The multi cyclonic technology that the HU300 comes has improved dust separation. This pushes the dust away from the filter which helps the filter stay cleaner for longer, however the filter is washable as well.
For this review, Hoover sent me the Upright 300 Pets & Long Reach Vaccuum Cleaner, in snazzy metallic blue. Various models are also available in blue and red, but I love the green. Here is one of the culprits of the hair in my house inspecting it!
Upon opening the box I found it’s mostly assembled, so it’s just a few minutes work to remove the accessories and click the handle into place and you’re ready to vacuum. The instructions guide is clear and easy to follow, but the vacuum itself is very intuitive and I was pleased that all the buttons are well labelled. I often find vacuums don’t label the buttons so if you don’t want to get the instruction manual out it can be a bit of guesswork, but the HU300 is very clear and easy to use even if it’s your first time.
Hoover Upright 300 Accessories
The accessories your Hoover come with may change based on the model you purchased. I like the bag for storage, but it’s also worth noting that the main two accessories – the small brush and the pet attachment, fit snuggly into the accessory holders on the vacuum itself. This is nice because I’m awful at losing things, so having them stored on the vacuum itself means I always know exactly where they are.
Because my model of the HU300 is the Long Reach version, it also comes with a 2.5m extra hose, for 13.5m reach, compared to the standard version which has 11.5m reach. This is very useful to me as I have quite high ceilings and for some reason spiders love making cobwebs in the corners of my living room. I also have a lot of fairly high picture frames that gather dust around them and I can’t easily reach them to dust or wipe them down. This could definitely be a source of allergens in the house, so having a vacuum cleaner that can reach them is awesome.
The pets head is an additional small hoover head which attaches to the hose or the handle and it’s a mini turbo brush which can loosen and lift out any stubborn pet hair. If you have pets like me then you probably know that when they shed and you walk over it, the hair can get really embedded in the carpet fibres, so being able to lift out those hairs is very handy.
Using the Hoover Upright 300
The HU300 is very easy to maneuver around the house. It weighs less than 5kg, so it’s easy for me to use upstairs or downstairs. It has a swivel floorhead with an 80 degree angle so it can get into corners and under the sofa very easily. I find it very easy to control. On the main head there’ a switch button (clearly labelled!) between carpet and hard floor, so if you’re like me and have a bit of both in your house, the HU300 can do it all.
The bag is really easy to change, which is important to me. I’ve had some vacuums before where I’m sweating and swearing, banging buttons and jamming things about, just trying to empty the bag, leaving me dreading it getting full. But with the HU300 it’s no problem at all. You just push the – once again, clearly labelled – bag release, carry it over to the bin, push to release the bottom of the canister and once empty, just slot it back into the vacuum with zero drama or effort.
Here’s the results of a few minutes vacuuming on my stairs! And yes, that is the amount of hair I can find daily with three cats and a dog, so you can see why keeping on top of the vacuuming is important to me.
I also liked that it was quieter than some vacuum’s I’ve had in the past. Of course you’ll always have some noise with a vacuum, but it’s not deafening and I don’t think my neighbour would be able to hear it. I also found the HEPA filter easy to access and wash.
In fact I have very little to say about it that’s not overwhelmingly positive. If I was going to find some critique, it would be that the power cord could do with being a little longer. It’s 8 metres which is certainly adequate for doing a room, but since I have a very large downstairs/kitchen open plan living area, I do have to unplug and move it for some sections if I want to use the main hoover. A few extra metres would have been handy, but does also have downsides for those having smaller spaces and not wanting loads of cord to trip over. Having the 13.5m reach from the hose means I can also use this to reach far away sections instead of unplugging. So it isn’t really a big inconvenience and on the whole, it’s a massive thumbs up for the Hoover Upright 300 from me.
If you’d like to keep your house clean and help your allergies with a HEPA filter this spring, head over to the Hoover website to check out the Hoover Upright 300, Pets and Long-Reach models.
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