Are Oreck Vacuums Good for Pet Hair?
By Howard Young Sep 20, 2011
I hate buying vacuums. We simply don’t know how well they will work until we get home and try it out on our carpet. But I’d like to save you some time and perhaps some frustration, if you need to buy a vacuum that will clean up the pet hair from your shedding dog.
I think I’ve tried just about every major vacuum brand over the past 25 years and basically it has come down to two vacuums that we use for cleaning our carpet. The first is the Oreck and the second is the Dyson. Both are rather expensive but if you look at the long-term costs and the effectiveness of how well they clean your carpet, you will find that they are less expensive than a cheaper brands which will last only a few years.
You have to understand as a dog owner, that is with three dachshunds, we vacuum just about every other day to have a clean house that is free of dog hair and pet dander. Perhaps we vacuum more often than normal, but we do that to counteract our allergies.
You may only have to vacuum once a week or about 50 times per year. But this is a lot of wear and tear on your vacuum so you want to get the most out of it and don’t want your vacuum to break down after a few years.
The Oreck is really good at picking up dog hair. I’m often surprised how well it does because it is so lightweight and easy to use especially on the stairs where Chloe sleeps during the day to look outside the windows. I usually start at the top of the stairs and vacuum each step in both directions. A quick pass to the left, rotate the vacuum 180°, and a quick pass to the right. I always work one or two steps above where I stand so that I don’t lose balance and tumble down the stairs. Also, I plug the vacuum in the outlet upstairs so I don’t have to worry about the power cord.
The Oreck has powerful suction that cleans just about any mess but its low-profile makes it difficult to push across your carpet. We don’t have shag — I would call it more of a low pile carpet — but even then it’s difficult to push. If you believe those ads on TV, the Oreck was designed for hotel use where the type of carpet most hotels have is low pile. So I can imagine how easy it would be to push the Oreck across a smoother surface.
The extra large vacuum bag is self-sealing so you don’t have to know how to change a vacuum bag. All you have to do is unzip the plastic/rubber outer lining and yank that bag off. The bag opening closes automatically so very little if any dust escapes.
So why should you buy an Oreck?
There are three reasons why I recommend this brand for pet hair.
- Powerful suction with motorized brush removes pet hair and dander.
- Lightweight and easy to use on stairs. This is important if your dog sleeps on the stairs.
- Long-lasting, high quality product. Our Oreck XL is still going strong after five years.
You may want to check with your local Oreck Dealer to see if he will let you try out vacuum in your home. That is the only way to determine if it will work out for you. The only thing I really don’t like about it is that is difficult to push on our carpet so my wife doesn’t like to use the Oreck and prefers the easier pushing Dyson with the larger wheels. But from our experience — mostly mine because I use the Oreck the most — is that the Oreck is really good at cleaning up pet hair. Our off white carpets are restored to fluffy freshness after vacuuming with the XL.