I have used the same bag for over a year. When the bag gets full, I just use my shop vac, hose and it sucks everything out in seconds and also super cleans the pores inside and outside the bag as well. ♥️
Works perfectly. Thanks a lot! :D Edit 4: One bag works for 1 year and 4 months so far. (3rd of December 2019 - 6th of April 2021), and seems to still be in good shape. Edit 1: February 2020 I have thus far used one bag for 2 months, got it the 3rd of december 2019. It have cleaned just about 800 square meters over 32 "jobs" and still works fine. Maybe i should mention that we have a dog and a cat. No problems there. And i have cleaned the inside of the bag with my old vacuum cleaner 3 times in this period. But if it is actually necessary i don't really know. Just thought it would be helpful. Edit 2: April 2020 Still using the same bag after 4 mounths. 1500 m2 have been cleaned, now over 62 jobs. Edit 3: July 2020 One bag works for 7 months so far. (3rd of December 2019 - 7th of July 2020), and seems to still be in good shape. Also, 2200 m2 have been cleaned over 65 hours of run time.
Such a simple mod! It's disappointing that iRobot went with such fancy bags but then made them disposable, wasting money and landfill space. This trick will definitely come in handy. I'm going to try doing this but using a zipper instead, since velcro tends to fail pretty quickly.
Really wish you had done the video showing the actual hack work being done. I will definitely give this a try. I'd buy a reusable bag like yours if Roomba would sell one.
Most of their profits come from keeping you hooked on these ridiculously expensive disposable bags. Their business model revolves around turning your vacuum cleaner into a subscription service. Save your time and money and buy a real vacuum.
I did something similar except i bought a 6-7inch long zipper and hotglued it to the bag. Works great, well over two years now using the original bag. Still have the extra bag they give you. Wish i could post a picture here...
I don’t get why the company didn’t just put a plastic container in the station that you can just slide in and out. Oh I know, it’s so they can charge even more money on replacement bags for their already expensive vacuums.
@@fvue7663 Their other roombas don't use a bag either.... So it was probably harder to design a new bag based container than designing a bag-less one.... But then they wouldn't be able to charge for the bags........
I was going to do velcro and then i found this video. I too would like to know why fold. I know sewing through sticky velcro messes up your needle to you need to really stick it, but why do you need to fold it in half? Thank you!
@@texascindy44 to keep the internal layer attached to the external layer of the bag. If you notice at the beginning of his video he shows the bag he messed up on that it has two layers internal and external so folding the Velcro over the internal and external keeps them together. Hope that helps
You can sew or hot glue the two layers together if you are really industrious and then the velcro won't stick to anything on the outside or inside edges, except the other piece.
They won't go back to a reusable container. The original Roomba already had a much better system with a much larger reusable container in the vacuum itself, but clearly that wasn't profitable enough. The whole point is to keep you wasting your money on their ridiculously expensive disposable bags.
We just did that exact thing actually - used a shop vac to suck all the debris out of the included bag. It seemed to work well enough. If you've got pets though, the pet hair gets wadded up and may require some pulling out. We have Siberian Huskies (one of the main reasons we also have a Roomba) and their longish hair was really wadded together in the bag and turned the whole thing into a 2-person job (one person holding the bag and the other holding the shop vac hose and pulling hair out). Had we tried to clean out the bag before it was totally full, it might've been easier. It's a workable solution, especially compared to the cost of replacing the bag every week - yes, it looks like we'll fill up a bag every week! - but definitely looking into a more convenient, "dumpable" solution.
I just got the s9+, there's no tabs. But I'd get 4 or 5 bags and use a zipper and velcro cover for the zipper. That way you can wash the bags in the dish washer and have spares and can let the bags air dry.
It's pretty disgusting that they can make vacuums with bags in this day and age. I'm looking for a way to reuse my bags so I'm not sending stuff to landfill. I'm not sure I would trust this though, if it fails you motor is going to be ruined by the dirt.
@@rickgrimezz3942 maybe they stumbled across the video and your post 3 moths after you posted it. Your smart arsed retaliation, whilst you may feel superior, does not make you any more intellectual than a paint sandwich. Abbey was right at the time and most likely still. You had obviously no idea how the system worked.
@@Kontroll343 Yeah... Because I dont own any of these systems and do reviews on them.... Real smart... Perhaps you should wade back into that ignorant pool end a bit more and stop exposing anyone else to the stupidity virus... AKA MAGA CULT MORONS
The vacuum BLOWS the dirt into the bag... that motion pushes the dirt into the bag. The velcro is porous and will allow dust to pass freely into the air. Become an Engineer and then come back. Until then... keep sucking hind tit!
Aren't you decreasing the dust and dirt filtering power of your bin emptying station? I mean: as far as I know, bag-based vacuums use the bag as the main filtering component. In other words: the bag is supposed to hold as much dirt as it can, while the clean air goes out of it. Now such a filter needs to be replaced from time to time, because it gets full of dirt particles and its filtering capabilities decrease. If you keep using an old filter, you are probably letting a good percentage of dirt back in the air, which is not only dangerous and counterproductive, but it also voids the fact that you spent 800$ (or more) on a vacuum cleaner. Moreover I doubt that the velcro you used and the bag-to-velcro adhesion are airtight, which means that the bag filtering capabilities are now probably extremely bad, even with a brand-new bag.
That’s NOT the filter for the machine. There is a little filter on the side of the bin that the cleaning unit has the bag is just what the room a empties it’s contents into so that you don’t have to empty it out every single time it cleans. This machine is a self cleaning machine. It has a big container that it rolls into for recharging and emptying itself out into.
@@abbysreadingtime4022 You're missing the point. I'm talking about the base unit, not the Roomba itself. The bag in the base unit works as a filter. This is how all vacuums with a bag work. While cyclonic vacuums use cyclones to separate air from dust (so they don't need a disposable bag), all other vacuums use the bag as a filter to separate the dust from the air. If you punch a hole in the bag, then you lost most of its filtering capabilities: the bag won't be able to separate the dust from the air, so you basically end up shooting the dust that Roomba has collected back into the room where the base unit is.
This is the worst idea. 💡 🚫 Why? Because this allows for micro particles to be released in the air. The bag as originally designed locks the dander. Better off using a shop vac 😂
![Reuse That Bag! [video #219]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hzNwdIOK5Oc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Reuse That Bag! [video #219]](/img/tr.png)
I have used the same bag for over a year. When the bag gets full, I just use my shop vac, hose and it sucks everything out in seconds and also super cleans the pores inside and outside the bag as well. ♥️
Smart as hell
Through the hole like me
the best idea so far!!!! gonna use that one
Yep! We do the same 😉
Omg genius! I was looking all over on how to empty the bag, but this is the best suggestion! Thanks.
Works perfectly. Thanks a lot! :D
Edit 4: One bag works for 1 year and 4 months so far. (3rd of December 2019 - 6th of April 2021), and seems to still be in good shape.
Edit 1: February 2020
I have thus far used one bag for 2 months, got it the 3rd of december 2019. It have cleaned just about 800 square meters over 32 "jobs" and still works fine.
Maybe i should mention that we have a dog and a cat. No problems there. And i have cleaned the inside of the bag with my old vacuum cleaner 3 times in this period. But if it is actually necessary i don't really know. Just thought it would be helpful.
Edit 2: April 2020
Still using the same bag after 4 mounths. 1500 m2 have been cleaned, now over 62 jobs.
Edit 3: July 2020
One bag works for 7 months so far. (3rd of December 2019 - 7th of July 2020), and seems to still be in good shape. Also, 2200 m2 have been cleaned over 65 hours of run time.
Thank you! This is really useful.
Thank you for the research! How long did one bag end up lasting you?!
Such a simple mod! It's disappointing that iRobot went with such fancy bags but then made them disposable, wasting money and landfill space. This trick will definitely come in handy. I'm going to try doing this but using a zipper instead, since velcro tends to fail pretty quickly.
Also gets full of all the dirt that will come out and eventually not work well. Good idea!
They chose profit of selling replacement bags over such an easy upgrade.. :(
and the planet Earth say "thank you"
Really wish you had done the video showing the actual hack work being done. I will definitely give this a try. I'd buy a reusable bag like yours if Roomba would sell one.
Most of their profits come from keeping you hooked on these ridiculously expensive disposable bags. Their business model revolves around turning your vacuum cleaner into a subscription service. Save your time and money and buy a real vacuum.
just got one yesterday and first thing I though was "SOB" that bag is gonna fill up quick! I need a bag I can empty! Brilliant! thank you for the idea
I did something similar except i bought a 6-7inch long zipper and hotglued it to the bag. Works great, well over two years now using the original bag. Still have the extra bag they give you. Wish i could post a picture here...
I like the zipper idea even better... will try that out. Can't believe Dyson has not entered this market yet... they would kill it.
@@SatanenPerkele What? Which part of this is 'nasty'?
@@SatanenPerkele god I hope you don't have kids. Just don't poisen the world any further thanks.
@@richardfeilden5494 exactly. which part is nasty?
I don’t get why the company didn’t just put a plastic container in the station that you can just slide in and out. Oh I know, it’s so they can charge even more money on replacement bags for their already expensive vacuums.
So true, the cordless lightweight vaccums doesn't even use bags anymore, don't see how it wouldn't be possible with Roombas.
@@fvue7663 Their other roombas don't use a bag either.... So it was probably harder to design a new bag based container than designing a bag-less one.... But then they wouldn't be able to charge for the bags........
No brainer. They want to generate an extra income. Same as printers require ink that costs half the price of the printer
You got it
Not to mention bad for the environment
This is great! I've just been putting the bag up to my shop-vac to empty it. But this looks like way less of a pain.
Thanks for the video! I was gonna add Velcro, too- but had not thought of folding over. Nice innovation!
I was going to do velcro and then i found this video. I too would like to know why fold. I know sewing through sticky velcro messes up your needle to you need to really stick it, but why do you need to fold it in half? Thank you!
@@texascindy44 to keep the internal layer attached to the external layer of the bag. If you notice at the beginning of his video he shows the bag he messed up on that it has two layers internal and external so folding the Velcro over the internal and external keeps them together. Hope that helps
You can sew or hot glue the two layers together if you are really industrious and then the velcro won't stick to anything on the outside or inside edges, except the other piece.
Works great.. thank you for this.i have two hairy dogs and it was costing a fortune in bags. tasmania Australia
Do you mind if you can share your experiences? How do the velcro hold up with dirt stick to it ?
Great Idea and hopefully they will get rid of bags altogether and just go to a simple way for us to empty unit Thanks for posting
They won't go back to a reusable container. The original Roomba already had a much better system with a much larger reusable container in the vacuum itself, but clearly that wasn't profitable enough. The whole point is to keep you wasting your money on their ridiculously expensive disposable bags.
you, my friend are ingenious!
Can't believe Dyson has not entered this market yet... they would kill it.
They did. They were killed.
@@jspiro yeah wasnt it like a foot tall too.
I did this on my i3 roombas bag, thank you for the suggestion!! It worked perfectly ❤
Thanks for the video. I just have one question, what is the width of the velcro you used? Thanks again.
I would say about 1 inch to 3/4 inch.
Amazing thanks. How did it last?
Please update on how this hack has worked out. My guess is that the debris will eventually make the velcro less or not sticky anymore.
The issue will be that, over time, the bag will clog with dust and be unable to draw debris up from the robot. This will extend the lifespan though.
Why can’t you use a shop vac to suck out debris from used bag? Wouldn’t that work without compromising integrity of the bag?
We just did that exact thing actually - used a shop vac to suck all the debris out of the included bag. It seemed to work well enough. If you've got pets though, the pet hair gets wadded up and may require some pulling out. We have Siberian Huskies (one of the main reasons we also have a Roomba) and their longish hair was really wadded together in the bag and turned the whole thing into a 2-person job (one person holding the bag and the other holding the shop vac hose and pulling hair out). Had we tried to clean out the bag before it was totally full, it might've been easier. It's a workable solution, especially compared to the cost of replacing the bag every week - yes, it looks like we'll fill up a bag every week! - but definitely looking into a more convenient, "dumpable" solution.
Because I don't have one. ^^
You can it just doesn't remove animal hair unless it's opened.
I would appreciate a video showing you putting it in afterwards. I heard there is a tab that once it’s taken out you can’t put it back in..
I just got the s9+, there's no tabs. But I'd get 4 or 5 bags and use a zipper and velcro cover for the zipper. That way you can wash the bags in the dish washer and have spares and can let the bags air dry.
It just goes back on. Nothing is broken
What about the bags ports which are meant for filtration ? They will get cloged.
Brilliant!! 🤩
If you have another vaccuum just stick that round end up to the hole and jiggle the goods loose, no modding required
very nice the best I've seen yet!!!!!
Holy cow look at those arms!!!
Thank you for the video I won’t try I’ve got a vacuum hose what fits in the hole it’s A ryobi 18volt diy type
Further to my last comment I pull as much out with snipe nose pliers or kitchen tongues but doesn’t need much emptying any way
That is ingenious.
Going to try this using Velcro brand with sticky back for fabric. SKU 91872 My local Walmart has it in stock.
Thank you! Rumba makes too much money to make a reusable,bag.
Fine dust may leak through Veco strap
The horror!!!
Thank you !
Smart 👏👏👏😅
thank you
Perfect! Thanks!
You are a genius! You are a projector right? :)
Did you use it at all ?
I thought the same at first, then I bought some bags off amazon. Appx $2 each.
just use your shop vac and clean out the bag
Does the same work with i3+ ?
Yes, the i7 and i3 have the same exact self empty bin
Unfortunately it’s not their interest to not sell those bags… they just want more revenue…
It's pretty disgusting that they can make vacuums with bags in this day and age.
I'm looking for a way to reuse my bags so I'm not sending stuff to landfill. I'm not sure I would trust this though, if it fails you motor is going to be ruined by the dirt.
That is going to get dust everywhere! Yeah Velcro isn't good enough... when you fire up the empty bin... dust will fill your room!
Nope! It’s the bag for the self emptying container NOT the machine. Clearly you don’t know what this machine does.
@@abbysreadingtime4022 wow. 3 months later and you reply with this? Whatever you have to tell yourself to help you sleep at night ABBY.
@@rickgrimezz3942 maybe they stumbled across the video and your post 3 moths after you posted it. Your smart arsed retaliation, whilst you may feel superior, does not make you any more intellectual than a paint sandwich. Abbey was right at the time and most likely still. You had obviously no idea how the system worked.
@@Kontroll343 Yeah... Because I dont own any of these systems and do reviews on them.... Real smart... Perhaps you should wade back into that ignorant pool end a bit more and stop exposing anyone else to the stupidity virus... AKA MAGA CULT MORONS
The vacuum BLOWS the dirt into the bag... that motion pushes the dirt into the bag. The velcro is porous and will allow dust to pass freely into the air. Become an Engineer and then come back. Until then... keep sucking hind tit!
If you look closely
Aren't you decreasing the dust and dirt filtering power of your bin emptying station?
I mean: as far as I know, bag-based vacuums use the bag as the main filtering component. In other words: the bag is supposed to hold as much dirt as it can, while the clean air goes out of it.
Now such a filter needs to be replaced from time to time, because it gets full of dirt particles and its filtering capabilities decrease. If you keep using an old filter, you are probably letting a good percentage of dirt back in the air, which is not only dangerous and counterproductive, but it also voids the fact that you spent 800$ (or more) on a vacuum cleaner.
Moreover I doubt that the velcro you used and the bag-to-velcro adhesion are airtight, which means that the bag filtering capabilities are now probably extremely bad, even with a brand-new bag.
That’s NOT the filter for the machine. There is a little filter on the side of the bin that the cleaning unit has the bag is just what the room a empties it’s contents into so that you don’t have to empty it out every single time it cleans. This machine is a self cleaning machine. It has a big container that it rolls into for recharging and emptying itself out into.
@@abbysreadingtime4022 You're missing the point. I'm talking about the base unit, not the Roomba itself.
The bag in the base unit works as a filter. This is how all vacuums with a bag work.
While cyclonic vacuums use cyclones to separate air from dust (so they don't need a disposable bag), all other vacuums use the bag as a filter to separate the dust from the air.
If you punch a hole in the bag, then you lost most of its filtering capabilities: the bag won't be able to separate the dust from the air, so you basically end up shooting the dust that Roomba has collected back into the room where the base unit is.
I bought new bags from Amazon….way cheaper.
iRobot will never make reusable bags because they will lose money nobody will keep buying bags if they can reuse them
This is the worst idea. 💡 🚫
Why?
Because this allows for micro particles to be released in the air. The bag as originally designed locks the dander. Better off using a shop vac 😂
Just showed a way to reuse the bag. I've put a zipper on line since but bags are cheap as others have mentioned on amazon