Taking a Look at the SEBO Airbelt D4 Canister Vacuum
The Sebo Airbelt D4 is a full-sized canister, top-of-the-line vacuum cleaner that will make your life easier. The machine has a rotating 52-foot cleaning radius and a 40 foot power cord. It is a powerful vacuum that can handle any room in your house with ease. It features rubber-coated wheels to protect walls and furniture and a durable telescopic tube that comes with convenient quick-release connections. There is a full bag and clog indicator light that indicates when maintenance is needed.
Sebo Airbelt D4 Canister Durability
The German-made Sebo company has a reputation for being the first choice of cleaning professionals around the world. Their machines are the best in terms of quality, durability, longevity, and performance. For a long time, the Sebo company only made commercial vacuum cleaners. Sebo Windsor machines are used to clean hospitals, hotels, and even the White House.
With a focus on commercial cleaning, Sebo knows that their machines need to be very difficult to break. When something goes wrong, a high-quality machine will be easy and simple to fix. Those focuses have followed through into their consumer products. With canister vacuums, a failure point can be the long hose. Electrical wires run the length of the hose from the powerhead to the canister base. To protect those wires, the Sebo D4 has a hose that cannot crimp; it always pops back into a smooth long curve.
The Sebo Airbelt D4 Vacuum’s No-Clog Hose
The Sebo D4 has a no-clog hose. The entrance of the hose is narrow, and the hose gets slowly wider as it travels to the canister base. Any vacuum is capable of clogging. The goal of the no-clog hose is to make it easy to identify where the clog occurs. After it is located, it is easily accessible for quick and painless removal. The clog will get caught in the small diameter of the hose where it is easier to reach.
ET-1 Powerhead
To start, while using the ET-1 powerhead, you’re most likely to get a clog at the base of the vacuum. For instance, it will either be behind the brush roll, or at the 90 degree turn up to the hose in the handle. The D4 has an orange trap door on the underside of the powerhead to access clogs that occur in the base of the powerhead. You won’t even need a screwdriver to clear the clog because it is accessed through a simple trap door!
For houses that have long human or pet hair, the brush roller pops out easily for simple cleaning. There is no exposed rubber belt for the brush roll, but instead a gear drive system. The gear in the powerhead mount matches perfectly with the brush roll to make it spin and protects it from getting pet or human hair inside the mechanism. On other machines, catching too much hair can cause melting and failure of the machine. The brush roll mechanism is one of the most critical sections of a vacuum. It takes the highest impact, therefor how it is designed directly influences how well the vacuum functions as a whole.
The LED indicator on the powerhead lets you know exactly how much suction power you have at a given moment. The suction adjustment switch on the ergonomic handle gives you complete control over the powerhead’s steering and suction power.
What Types of Carpet can the Sebo Airbelt D4 Vacuum Handle?
No matter the flooring type in your home, the Sebo Airbelt D4 can handle keeping it looking clean and new. Because it comes with an ET-1 powerhead which can handle carpets and hard floors, it is especially good for picking up pet hairs. The ET-1 powerhead has a 3.5-inch horizontal cleaning profile that makes it easy to clean under furniture.
The Sebo D4 has an adjustable powerhead. They have 4 height adjustments to raise and lower the brush roll for most carpet types. In addition, they will also work on high pile carpets and “soft carpets”. Base-plates are available for purchase for the Sebo D4 power head to make it easier to push over the plush carpets. If desired, a variety of brush roll types for varying carpets can be easily swapped out for customization. Lastly, it is also possible to turn the brush roll off entirely, with an easy-access button on the powerhead. Turning off the brush roll allows the powerhead to be safe to use on bare floors.
The Sebo D4 also comes with a specific horse hair bare floor attachment tool. Horsehair wears very well due to the bristles becoming rounded and softer over time. Because the bristles wear down in this manner, rather than getting sharp, the horse hair will not scratch your bare floors, even when the bristles wear down.
Filters for the Sebo Airbelt D4 Canister Vacuum
The Sebo D4 has multiple filters to remove dust and allergens from your home. The first filter sits right at the base of the hose as it connects to the body of the vacuum, and it has a full rubber gasket all the way around the edge to keep particles from escaping. On the bottom of the machine, there is a second filter to catch finer particles. Both filters have large surface areas, which allows them to create less back pressure against the motor, allowing for higher air flow. Without the strain of dealing with that back pressure, the vacuum motor will last longer.
Once the air has been filtered and cleaned, it is disbursed through an exhaust port. Many canister vacuums have an exhaust on the top of the canister base, so that the air blows straight up. Having such a direct stream of air blowing out of the machine has the strong potential to disturb dust elsewhere in the house that has not been cleaned yet. In the Sebo Airbelt series (including the Sebo D4), the exhaust wraps all the way around the canister base in a fabric-covered bumper. Instead of directing a tight stream of exhaust air, which could disturb dirt and dust around the machine, it inflates the furniture guard and creates an airbag effect. It is a more gentle release of the exhaust air, and also helps guard your furniture from impacts and scuffs at the same time.
Comparisons for the Sebo Airbelt D4 Canister Vacuum
When shopping for a canister vacuum, consumers can compare the Sebo Airbelt D4 with the Miele Brilliant Canister vacuum. Miele makes fantastic products, and they are frequent innovators who come out with new products and concepts. First, while Vacuums R Us likes and sells the brand, it is important to note that Miele vacuums are also expensive to maintain. Their filters and their high filtration bags are the most expensive supplies we carry, per cubic inch of storage space in those bags. Second, a 4-pack of Miele high-filtration bags cost almost $20, while an 8-pack of Sebo D4 bags costs slightly over $30. The “bucket” bags for the Sebo D4 hold a gallon and a half of debris, boasting 30% more capacity than the Miele bags.
Third, Miele’s repair parts are also incredibly expensive. A brush roller for Miele typically runs between $70-$110. This is a part that everyone with a high quality vacuum will need to purchase eventually. The brushes on a brush roll will eventually wear out, and that will happen long before a quality vacuum dies. For comparison, the Sebo D4 vacuum brush rolls cost $24.
Conclusion
The Sebo Airbelt D4 comes with a 5-year warranty. There is a 7-year warranty on the motor, and a 5-year warranty on the machine over all. Vacuums R Us is a Sebo warranty service center.
If you have any questions left about the pros and cons of a Sebo Airbelt D4, please watch our YouTube video that demos the machine alongside some common vacuums in picking up pet hair and household debris.
