How To: Deep Clean Your Shark Navigator

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Mid-week is usually a good time to break down and get serious about cleaning my house. I've recovered from the last weekend and Monday, and need to gear up for another one.

When it comes to cleaning, my Mom (who owns her own cleaning company) has me hooked on Shark products, especially the Shark Navigator. It's affordable, lightweight, and cleans like a champ. Another one of my favorite features? It is easy to disassemble to give it a good cleaning, because, let's face it, no matter what brand of vacuum you use, you always need to give it a good cleaning. I would say at least every 6 months, for me it's about every 3 (think two kids, a dog, a cat and a husband).

Here's my process:

Star with a filthy vacuum. Then gather several rags, cleaner of choice, scissors and a screwdriver (or something pointy to get into those tight crannies).

Go ahead and remove the tank and the main filter.

One you remove the dark grey piece that holds the filter, flip it upside down and you will find another.

Pop out the front piece and remove that filter as well. I throw these in the washing machine on speed wash with a teensy tinsy bit of detergent and a little bleach. Do not put them in alone, you don't want to ruin your washing machine with an excess of water. I usually throw in a towel or my other cleaning supplies (mopheads, dusters, etc).

 Detach the hose as well.

Lay it on it's back and grab those scissors! The scissors allow you to cut all the hair, strings, etc that have wound around the brush. Keep on clipping and pulling. 

Then I grab my screwdriver to scrape all the dust and debris that has plastered itself to the inside.

I washed off the brush bar with my cleaner, and then wrap it around the end of the screwdriver to scrub in the crannies.

Flip it over onto it's front and lets start scrubbing the outside. I start with the wheels as they are usually the dirtiest and then wipe down the rest.

Now stand it back up and clean off the front, top and handles. Make sure to get into the hose openings.

Now onto the sink! 

Spray the canisters with cleaner, scrub and rinse. 

 I lay the main canister out to dry on a kitchen mat.
 

 By this point, my filters have finished washing and I have thrown them in the dryer with a towel to dry. They dry very fast. In fact, they are nearly dry coming out of the wash, but you want to make sure they are completely dry. Otherwise all that dust and dirt you are vacuuming will stick to the filters and you will have a nastier mess than you started with.

Go ahead and reassemble and test it out!

 Can you feel the power??

Happy hump-day!
Xo, Natasha