The G6 is a vacuum cleaner made by Kirby. It is supposed to be more powerful than your conventional vacuum cleaner and is said, by Kirby of course, to be the best vacuum cleaner on the market. They do back up this statement at the division I worked for by placing a guarantee on it. If you find a machine that cleans better than your Kirby then Kirby will either give you their machine for free or buy you the machine you found.

Vacuum cleaners are rated by CFM (cubic feet of air pulled per minute). Hoover, Eureka, and most of your plastic vacuums pull about 30-35 CFM. Most vacuums rate their power by amps Amps are only how much power is coming out of your wall. I have demonstrated first hand that Kirby (7 amps) pulls more dirt than a 12 amp Hoover. Your other vacuums like Rainbow and Blue Max pull about 50 CFM after going through their hose. Kirby pulls 108 CFM and has a very wide power-head. Bear in mind that I learned these facts at Kirby. I have, however, out cleaned every machine I ever went up against so I’m sure the Kirby is actually a lot more powerful than your conventional vacuum.

Kirby weighs around 22 lbs. They added a tech drive to cut down on the weight of the machine. The tech drive takes about a pound of pressure to activate and is stated to do 90% of the work for you. The tech drive has two gears. There is a neutral and a drive on the machine. You can switch between the two from the little seesaw lever on the back of the machine. Yellow corresponds to drive while gray corresponds to neutral, and they are lettered “d” and “n”. Speaking from personal experience, I pushed an 8 lb. Oreck and had an easier time pushing the Kirby when the drive was engaged. It does do a sizable amount of the work for you. Neutral is for moving the machine around when it is off. Neutral is also for cleaning your bare floors. The tires will peel out if you leave it in drive and push it on your bare floors.

The Kirby has the “Micron Magic Hepa-Filtration system. It filters down to 0.1 of a micron, which is 99.97% of all household dust and allergens. Kirby says it is the #1 hepa-filtration system on the market for a vacuum cleaner. The way the filtration system works is by using layered bags. The paper disposable bags are made of seven layers of electro statically charged paper. Each layer reduces the amount of dust that actually escapes the paper bag. The outer bag is made up of three layers. The first inner layer is chemically treated paper. The first layer is to cut down on the number of viruses and the amount of dust that does escape the paper bag. The second layer is made of non-woven cotton. Non-woven cotton is the same stuff they make surgical masks out of so it’s really good at further reducing the amount of dust that escapes the bag. The third outer layer of the bag is woven nylon. Woven nylon is almost completely non-porous so it’s almost dust proof. All these help to make the bag system a very effective filtration device. To place the bag on the Kirby you must line the arrow, located at the bottom of the bag, with the notch on the platform the outflow is on. The Kirby has an inflow and an outflow. Your outflow is where air blows out. It is on the right hand side of the machine if you are behind it. After matching the arrow with the notch push down and twist toward the machine. The bag will lock into place.

The Kirby has seven different height adjustments. There are six different types of carpet on the market today. The seventh setting is for your bare floors. To set the height for your carpet you turn the machine on at it’s highest setting. After doing so, use the toe lever to click it down till you hear a tone change from the machine noise. After that, click it one more down and you’re ready to clean on your carpet. For your bare floors, lift the hood located at the front of the machine and disengage the belt by turning the pull out lever to match up the red arrow on the lever with the red arrow on top of the power head. By doing this you’ve disengaged your belt and the roller brush will not spin so that your machine is straight suction now. Take your height setting all the way down and click it up one. The Kirby is ready to clean bare floors.

You can also buff your bare floors with the Kirby. While your belt is disengaged turn the small silver knob located above the fan under the hood. Facing the machine after turning the knob to the left, with the height setting all the way up, your power head will drop down and you can remove the power head by pulling it toward you away from the machine. Inside your shampooer kit you will find a shampooer head and a brown bristled brush. Use the pull out lever on the front of your shampooer head to turn the lever till the green arrow on the lever matches up with the green arrow on your shampooer head. Slide the tray and brush out from the shampooer head and grab your brown bristled brush. Turn your shampooer head upside down and place the brush into the head. Hold it in place and make sure the belt is centered. Turn your pull out lever to match up the red arrows. This will lift the belt and lock the brush into place on the head. Place your shampooer head on the front of your machine and use the silver knob to lock it into place. Then turn the lever to match the green arrows up and your machine can now buff your bare floors.

With your normal power head off it’s a good time to discuss belt changes for broken or worn belts. Turn the side of the power head that connects to the machine toward you and locate the small twist locks, toward the bottom, that will allow you to remove the metal rug guard. Twist them in the direction listed “unlock” on the power head. Remove the rug guard by turning the power head to face you the way it would face the carpet and pulling up on it. Using the pull out lever on the front of the power head match up the green arrow on the lever with the green arrow on the power head. This will let the belt hang loose on the roller-brush. Once again turn to the side that faces the carpet and slip your finger under the belt. Simply slide the belt over a couple inches and pull up. This will remove the roller-brush. Slide the belt off of your roller-brush. If your belt broke you won’t have to slide it off. Slide your new belt back on and reverse the previous steps to reassemble the power head. Follow the steps for removing the power head to remove the shampooer head. Follow the steps for placing the shampooer head on the machine to replace the power head.

The Kirby has a patented dual fan system that no other vacuum cleaner has. Any other vacuum uses one fan to create airflow and cool the motor. The Kirby has one fan up front to create airflow and a second fan, protected by a wall, to cool the motor. The same wall that separates the fans separates the motor from the front of the machine. This way, no dirt can harm your motor. This increases the life expectancy of the machine to around 30-40 years.

Kirby guarantees their machines for life. There is a two-part warranty on the machine. The first part protects you from any manufacturing defects and lasts for three years. If anything goes wrong with your machine in the first three years you own it Kirby will fix it parts and labor completely free to you. This excludes belts, bags, and light bulbs. The second part of the warranty is a lifetime rebuilding agreement and costs nothing extra. It just kicks in after three years and lasts longer than you will. If anything goes wrong with the machine for the entire time you own it, and Kirby cannot fix it for one hundred and seventy-five dollars or less, Kirby will replace the machine with the most current model for one hundred and seventy-five dollars.

The price of the machine is $2016.50 with shampooer and tax. The price of the machine without shampooer is $1710.50 with tax. You get all the attachments in both those deals and the warranty is included. They take cash, credit, check, or timely payments. The division I worked for allowed prices as low as $800 for the entire machine including shampoo kit. Just FYI most divisions can knock off more than half the price on the machine. Of course, they don’t want you to know that.

To use the shampooer you must remove the power head and put on the shampooer head (instructions are above on how to remove and replace heads). You fill the water tank to the third line and pour 3 caps full of Kirby carpet shampoo into the tank. The lines on the tank correspond with how many caps full to put in the water. Place the tank on the side of the machine and lock it into place as you would your bag. There is a small hose with a gray nozzle and a black nozzle in your shampoo kit. Put the gray side on your tank and the black side into your tray. Take your height setting all the way down and turn your suds on. Your suds control is located on top of the shampoo tank. You can regulate the amount of suds that come out with that knob. Use the toe lever marked on/off to turn your machine on. Pushing the machine forward will scrub the carpet and pulling it back will lay down a layer of foam. Lay foam all over your carpet and let it sit for 10-20 minutes. Turn your suds off and turn the machine on. Pick up the excess water and soap and your carpet will dry in less than an hour.

Kirby has numerous attachments. There is a list of them below and a small description of uses for the less than obvious ones.
Upholstery cleaner
Drapery cleaner
Spray Gun: sprays anything water based. Can be used for fertilizers, insecticides and to spray paint. Also can dry clean.
Wall and ceiling brush
Extension wands
Floor broom
Crack and crevice tool
Duster brush: can be used on mini-blinds, stereo speakers, TV screens, computer screens, and windows.
Plumber’s helper: unclogs drains.
Inflator/deflator tool
Elbow: small attachment for angled reach.
Portable handle: replaces vacuum cleaner handle to turn Kirby into portable handheld cleaner.
Hose: has a swivel head to avoid tangles. Connects to the inflow or the outflow to create suction or blower functions. Is made of polyurethane so is virtually indestructible under normal use. I have twisted and pulled at this hose to create dents and tears in it. It is very, very sturdy. Connects to outflow like the bag or shampoo tank. Connects to inflow by matching the small “feet” on the larger end of the hose with the “perch” on the front of the Kirby when the power head is absent. It locks in place with the silver knob used to lock the power head in place.
Turbine guard: used when the hose is attached to the outflow and the main fan is exposed. It is made to keep things from getting caught in the otherwise exposed fan. Kirby has a safety feature that does not allow the machine to turn on unless something is on BOTH the inflow and the outflow.
A combination of one extension wand, the elbow, the hose, and the portable handle turns Kirby into a leaf blower.
You can reverse the plumber’s helper and put it on the extension wands, and then attach the extension wands to the hose. Placing this on the inflow will allow you to suck light bulbs down onto the plumber’s helper and change them without a ladder. This will not work if you have extremely high ceilings.

The Kirby has a 25watt light bulb in front of the machine.
The Kirby has a 32foot long power cord.
The Kirby has a locking mechanism on the handle that allows you to store it more space efficient.
The KirbyG6 is a “chrome” colored unit with a black and yellow sticker design on the handle.
All plastic on the Kirby is lexan plastic. The same material they use on football helmets.
There is a special edition KirbyG6 with the words “2000 Limited Edition” on the handle.
The bag is black with white and yellow specks.
The caddy for the attachments is gray.
The attachments are black.
The hose is gray with black ends.
The machine has a “Brush Performance Indicator Light” (BPI Light) to let you know the roller brush is working and your belt is not broken.
It can be turned into a turbo sander with another separately purchased accessory.
The Kirby is only sold through in home demonstrations. Any other sales are illegal or “without warranty” used and rebuilt machines.
Kirby has been in business since 1914

This is more than anyone should ever need to know about a vacuum cleaner. I have one warning. Should you ever get the chance to learn this from the source, DO NOT DO SO! I encourage you to run as far from Kirby as possible. I can say their product is very good. I won’t say it’s the best, because I honestly have not compared it to everything out there. To learn more about the company and it’s product go to www.kirby.com .

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