What Is a Vacuum Power Nozzle/Head and What Are the Benefits

Power heads or nozzles come in few different forms usually, but in general they're an attachment for your canister vacuum cleaner for achieving better cleaning results while using on carpets (including upholstery). Although they have few different names such as the widely spread power nozzle or head but some refer to them as power bar or beater-bars as well.

Not only on carpets, they can enhance cleaning on some of the other types of surfaces too. But because of the rough brushes, etc... they're cannot be used on hardwood or wood (subtle or easily scratch-able) surfaces in general. But there are however ones that support those floor types, but always read the manual to find out if the manufacture recommends it, otherwise don't use it subtle surfaces!.

An example, (although they have different designs...)

How they work?

Quite simple actually....

They "beat" or loosen-up the carpets by using both vibrations + the rotating brushes thus loosening the dust, dirt or gravel particle so they can be sucked into the canister or the bag, which the conventional tools fail to achieve (or not with high efficiency to be fare).

Usually they are driven by using two different methods. Either by using the suction (air flow) directly from the vacuum or by using a dedicated motor of its own. Other than removing dust/dirt from the carpets, they have a "reputation" of being excellent pet hair removers as well.

The best performing (durable) ones aren't cheap and will add some noticeable amount $$s to your current vacuum purchasing "account", but as said if you have installed a lot of carpets and have a lot of pets around, then they will come in handy nonetheless.

Now usually they have reasonable amount of widths. So sometimes it can be a bit difficult to use them in places like inside your car or under seats for instance because of the width. In that case the experts advice to consider a mini power nozzle/head, but unlike the standard sized ones they are a bit harder to find and won't suit all the vacuum models either.

How to choose the right one for you?

Size


*. Well let's say that you have a house packed with furniture (including "thin" places under beds, etc) then go for a power nozzle that has a moderate width (not too wide nor too short - you know common sense) + the lesser the height the better... think you get the idea.

Weight

*. If you have to clean a lot of stairs or upholstery then make sure it comes with a lower weight. Otherwise while on floor carpets, the weight actually can be pretty useful (helps to stabilize for instance). If you can, before buying, attach the nozzle and lift or push forward... get a "feeling" of how user friendly it is.

The heavier ones can be a bit troublesome when handling. So try to avoid them.

Height adjustments

*. When it comes to cleaning carpets (deep or normal) height is one of the most important things of all. Not only it helps to pick up most of the dust, etc but will also help to "glide" with ease as well. So if you have different types of carpets (deep or low pile, etc) then few different height adjustments should always be pretty handy.

Note : the above mentioned "mini" power bars have lower performance vs the standard version but when considered their ability to "sneak" into places where the bigger ones fail, some of that power "loss" has to be tolerated.