Plug!

The other day, I was lamenting the lack of performance of most vacuum cleaners, after they become a few years old.  I have a vacuum cleaner that I purchased in 1984, from a home demonstration salesman..  In 2006, I replaced it with a much less expensive in store brand.  This past winter, I became very distressed that the new vacuum cleaner was not working.  It lost most of its suction power.  I became more and more discouraged when trying to use it, and became less and less interested in using it.

My coworker and I talked about buying really expensive vacuum cleaners, or else being distressed by the fact that most vacuum cleaners lose their power within a few years of purchase.

Well, I had decided I was tired of not being able to clean the carpet well, and was going to look for vacuum cleaners this weekend.  Saturday morning, I took out the newer of my two vacuum cleaners, and tried to use it.  And decided enough is enough.  Well, I pulled the hose off the machine, and discovered a very dense plug in the hose.  It was so dense, I had a very difficult time dislodging it by pushing a broom stick through the hose.  It took a while, but I eventually was able to dislodge the plug.

It was amazing how much better the vacuum cleaner worked after I dislodged that plug in the hose!  I am amazed how many times operator errors is the reason things do not work as they should around my house.