Sanitaire SC679J Commercial Upright Vacuum Cleaner is lightweight, corded and bagged upright vacuum. It is simple to use, low maintenance vacuum, designed to clean large carpeted areas quickly on a daily basis.
Sanitaire SC679J is a sturdy and durable unit, powered with 5 Amp motor – at first, such motor appears weak, especially when compared with 10-12 Amps motors commonly found in many residential units, but the suction is very good and when combined with motorized brush bar, it does excellent job on carpeted areas.
Sanitaire SC679J is very simplified and specialized unit – it weighs just over 12 pounds (~5.5 kg), but almost all the weight is resting on the wheels, making it very easy to operate and maneuver for longer periods of time.
Power switch – there is just on/off option and the suction is constant, with no power regulators of any kind.
However, to optimize cleaning of the carpets of various pile heights, cleaning head comes with dial-in selector, which is positioned low and one must bend down to change this setting. This can be an issue for people having back problems, but such design allows all of the heavy parts to be concentrated low, on the wheels.
Handle can be parked vertically or can be moved up-and-down to ease the cleaning and to allow cleaning under the furniture and other objects.
Unit doesn’t have power cord automatic rewind system – it would be nice to have such system, since the power cord is rather long. On the other hand, such system would increase the weight, mechanical complexity and in the end, the price of the unit, so perhaps it is not a ‘bad’ thing that this unit lacks such system.
Power cord rests on the cable hooks and can be easily wrapped on manually.
Cleaning width is 12 inches (~30.5 cm) and total width of the unit is 14 inches (~35.5 cm). Such cleaning width enables the user to clean larger area in less time, which is very important for commercial vacuums.
Motorized brush bar does very good job when cleaning various types of dirt, including pet and human hair. However, it is not of ‘tangle-free’ design and longer hair can accumulate over time around it – this requires the user to stop cleaning and clean the brush bar (which can be done rather quickly, but it does require additional work to be done).
Sanitaire SC679J uses reusable vacuum bag for collecting the dirt. Dirt bag capacity is 18 dry quarts (that is 4.5 gallons of dirt!) – such capacity enables the user to clean large area without interruptions.
To fully use such large dirt bag, air enters the bag on the top of the bag, enabling the unit to have constant suction until the bag is almost full.
Emptying the dirt bag can be done quickly and easily, just be careful when shaking the bag – don’t do that with the whole bag above the trash can, but with the part of the bag in the trash can (or one can create a cloud of dust).
Air filtration is good, but not HEPA grade.
Warranty is one year for both parts and labor – this doesn’t sound much for commercial unit, but most of the residential units will fall apart after one year of commercial use.
Long Story Short – Sanitaire SC679J Commercial Upright Vacuum Cleaner is inexpensive upright vacuum cleaner for commercial use. It does excellent job on the carpets of various pile heights. It is good practice to periodically check condition of the brush bar (long hairs!) and brush bar belt.
Residential use – if the unit is good for commercial use, than it must be good for residential use, too, right? Well, Sanitaire SC679J is optimized for large carpeted areas and it cleans them very well. But, it also lacks accessories like flexible extension hose and telescopic wand, crevice tool, dusting brush and other cleaning attachments often found on residential vacuums, designed for cleaning surfaces from the floor to the ceiling, including upholstery, stairs, book shelves etc.
However, if you have the need to clean ‘just’ carpets at your home, Sanitaire SC679J is excellent and very affordable choice.
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