The Shark BlastBoss has changed the way I clean my house

As someone who’s spent a lot of time reviewing and testing vacuum cleaners, I was surprised by how useful their polar opposite is, the Shark BlastBoss. Effectively, a small handheld leaf blower you can use inside or out, this tool blows a stream of high-power air.

I’m in the middle of reviewing one now and wasn’t sure how useful it would be, but it’s changed how I clean my house and has highlighted how hidden dust gets stuck in the most unusual places.

Vacuum cleaners just don’t reach everywhere

The issue with vacuum cleaners is that they just don’t reach everywhere. Even if flexible crevice tools, there’s a limit to where you can jam a vacuum cleaner. And, there’s a limit to their power.

Looking at the best cordless vacuum cleaners, the most powerful ones will suck up dust from around 2.5-to-3cm away. That’s good for getting dust out of a crevice, say when vacuuming your car’s dashboard, but what about all of that dust that remains out of reach?

If you’ve got old-style radiators (you know, the ones with the big gap in the middle), then you’re probably aware that they’re full of dust that a vacuum cleaner can’t reach.

In the case of these radiators, I’ve tried everything and even bought a radiator cleaning brush: a big, spikey pipe cleaner-like device that you wedge down the middle of a radiator and push along to collect dust.

It works, to a degree, but it’s hard to use, and the dust that clings to it is then hard to remove.

Blowing the cobwebs away

The Shark BlastBoss does the opposite, pushing out air at up to 190mph. Although the air flow indoors is less that that, the BlastBoss can still push out a serious amount of air. Using the BlastBoss on my radiators, I could push out all of the filth caught between the panels, and even behind it on top of the skirting board. 

In the walk-through wardrobe, the hanging rails are mounted on a floating shelf, which sits a few cm below the ceiling. Not enough room for a vacuum cleaner, but the blast boss did blow the dirt out of the side.

With three cats in the house, under the bed can get full of dust, as can the console table. It’s horrible to watch, but the BlastBoss pushed the dust out of both, letting me vacuum it up. I did have to be careful how I aimed the blower.

I did have to be a little careful how I used it. Dust you can see and reach with a vacuum cleaner is better off being vacuumed up and removed from the environment.

Use the BlastBoss at the wrong angle or too aggressively, and it can throw dust into the air and, in my case, blow hairballs around and onto surfaces; aim carefully and get it to push dust out, and it let me clean areas that I couldn’t reach.

It’s also great for cleaning out cobwebs that can be sticky and hard to vacuum. I get a lot in my kitchen around the skylight. Blowing them away and then vacuuming leaves the kitchen cleaner than I’ve seen it.

There are some extra outdoor jobs, too

While the BlastBoss doesn’t have the power of a full-on leaf blower, it’s still powerful for a lot of external jobs when switched to outdoor modes. Its brush attachment and air blast make sweeping the patio easier and faster, and they can also blow dust off garden chairs.

I also use the BlastBoss for cleaning out my vacuum cleaner. Cyclonic cleaners are powerful, but fine dust can get inside them. Taking my vacuum outside, I can use the BlastBoss to fully clear it, getting the dust out in a way I could never manage before.

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