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There are reasons we are not interested in a vacuum cleaner at the moment. I'm sure the same applies for other people. Is there an alternative that can get rid of dirt as well as pick up bigger particles?

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Please tell us why you don't want a vacuum. – Jay Bazuzi Jul 30 '11 at 16:29
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If you don't want a vacuum because they exhaust particles, consider either one with a HEPA filter, or a central unit, where the exhaust is usually in a garage or to the outside. – TomG Aug 1 '11 at 0:39

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up vote 8 down vote accepted

Use a carpet sweeper:

image of carpet sweeper

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I used one of these in the fast food place I worked in years ago. They work well and they are silent, so they can be used around customers. – KeithB Aug 1 '11 at 20:53
@KeithB, can they be used to do deep cleaning on carpet? I guess not, because some kind of suction like vacuum has to be in place. Please correct me if I am wrong. – TPR Aug 3 '11 at 11:05
Probably not deep cleaning, and they work best on carpet without a deep pile, like you usually find in commercial settings. – KeithB Aug 3 '11 at 11:11
@KeithB, does it pick up bigger particles like crumbs etc? – TPR Aug 5 '11 at 6:36
@progtick That it does. That was the main thing I used it for, picking up crumbs during the day. We also had a regular vacum that was used after closing. – KeithB Aug 5 '11 at 15:25
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up vote 6 down vote

In the "olden days" before there were vacuum cleaners you either swept or took the carpet up and beat it using a carpet beater to knock the dust and dirt out. This only works if the carpet isn't fitted.

Alternatively there are carpet shampoo machines, these spray water and shampoo into the carpet and then suck up the dirty water, so probably come under the heading of vacuum cleaner. Also they're not so useful for picking up bigger particles.

I don't think that there's another effective way of cleaning carpets.

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There is anecdotal medical evidence relating carpet cleaning fluids to Kawasaki disease in young children. And contrary to whatever you saw on "House", this disease is not exclusive to Asians. My otherwise healthy Caucasian son got it when he was 3. Treatment is 3 days in the hospital on a Γ-Globulin drip. – Chris Cudmore Nov 16 '11 at 13:31
lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/cardiac/kawasaki.html Ctrl-F for "carpet" -- Evidence is inconclusive. – Chris Cudmore Nov 16 '11 at 14:32
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I don't know how often you need to do this, or what area you need to clean, but you might consider something like this large sticky-tape roller. I have seen 12" rollers with a 4' handle at the local dollar store.

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Definitely depends on the carpet. Your average loop-pile home carpet will be torn out by the roots, literally, with one of these. They'd be fine for low-pile commercial-grade carpet though. – KeithS Aug 1 '11 at 22:50

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