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About this tool
Match vacuum type, suction in air watts, filtration, bin size and battery runtime to your flooring, pets and home size.
This selector converts your floor area, pile depth, pet load and allergy status into a concrete vacuum specification: machine type, minimum suction in both air watts and pascals, filtration grade, bin capacity and the battery runtime the home actually needs. Air watts follow the ASTM F558 definition — 0.117254 × airflow in CFM × sealed suction in inches of water — while pascals describe sealed suction alone, which is why cordless and corded machines are given separate targets. It is written for anyone comparing spec sheets who wants to know which numbers matter for their floors rather than which brand markets hardest.
Open Vacuum Cleaner Selector on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Gives an air-watt target for corded machines and a pascal target for stick vacuums, instead of pretending one converts into the other.
Sizes batteries from real standard-power minutes with a motorised head, not the eco-mode headline figure on the box.
Deep carpet needs roughly three times the suction of a tiled floor, so flooring — not home size — sets the power target.
Plan on about 170 air watts for medium-pile wall-to-wall carpet and around 220 air watts for high-pile or shag, against roughly 80 air watts for hard floors. Add about 15% for one shedding pet and 30% for several, because hair has to be lifted out of the pile rather than swept off the surface.
They measure different things, so neither replaces the other. Pascals measure sealed suction with the hose blocked, while air watts combine suction with airflow at the head — a vacuum can post a big pascal number and still clean poorly if airflow is low. Compare Pa against Pa on cordless sticks and AW against AW on corded machines.
A true H13 HEPA filter captures 99.95% of particles at 0.3 µm under EN 1822, which is the size range dust-mite allergen and pet dander fall into. The filter only helps if the whole machine is a sealed system, otherwise air bypasses it through body gaps; bagged models also empty far more cleanly. Discuss persistent symptoms with a doctor rather than relying on an appliance alone.
Roughly 40 minutes on the standard setting with a motorised head fitted, even when the box advertises 60. Boost mode typically cuts that to 8-12 minutes, so a home needing more than about 40 minutes of cleaning per session realistically needs a second battery or a corded machine.