This article is for you if you need clarification about which atta chakki to buy, with a vacuum cleaner or without a vacuum cleaner.
Also, if you believe that auto clean and power clean is the same, I will help you understand the difference between these terms so that you have a clear idea before buying your home atta chakki with auto clean and power clean feature.
What is auto clean in atta chakki, and is it really required?
Today, cut-throat competition exists between all the atta chakki manufacturers in India. All the atta chakki companies are doing everything possible to attract customers by adding more value to the atta chakki they manufacture.
And auto clean is one of the features introduced mainly to help end users clean the atta chakki at home effectively and effortlessly.
However, as a buyer or customer, you should not buy anything without understanding the feature and your actual requirement.
What Is Auto Clean In Atta Chakki?
According to the atta chakki manufacturers, the atta chakki will run for a few extra minutes even after the hopper gets empty to ensure that no grains are left inside the feeding path from the hopper to the grinding chamber.
But, I have analyzed their claim and want to share my understanding with you.
Once the feed hopper gets empty, and no wheat grains are left in the hopper, logically, the atta chakki should stop.
All standard atta chakkis are designed for this logical operation. A buzzer will sound as soon as the hopper gets empty, and the atta chakki will get stopped.
But, in auto-clean atta chakki, even after the hopper gets empty, the atta chakki will continue to run for an extra couple of minutes.
Why?
It is to ensure that the remaining pieces of wheat grains are entirely removed through the hopper feed point ( you can see the small rotating gear from the top of the hopper).
They claim that in this way, no grains are left inside the atta chakki, and thus everything will get cleaned.
However, this is NOT about cleaning. This system or function is just to vacant the residue inside the atta chakki.
Even after that, you have to clean the atta chakki manually or with the help of a vacuum cleaner.
It is recommended to maintain the condition of atta chakki filter for the overall quality of wheat flour.
Auto clean atta chakki may come with an inbuilt vacuum cleaner. You can also buy a vacuum cleaner for atta chakki separately if you don’t want to buy atta chakki with a vacuum cleaner.
Here is my article on the best atta chakki for home that you can go through and decide which one to buy according to your budget and requirement.
However, the built-in vacuum cleaner has advantages and disadvantages that you should consider before buying auto clean atta chakki.
If your main focus is this question, how to clean atta chakki at home?
Then, you should know other methods also, like manual cleaning, brush cleaning, and vacuum cleaning.
As this article is about auto clean atta chakki, let me explain in more detail.
Before you know how auto clean atta chakki works, you should also understand the difference between auto clean and power clean.
What Is Power Clean In Atta Chakki?
Power clean atta chakki has an in-built vacuum cleaner to help users effectively clean the atta chakki from the inside after every use.
So never get confused between the words auto clean and power clean.
Auto clean is a function, whereas power clean is a provision to clean the atta chakki with the help of a vacuum cleaner.
How Does Auto Clean Atta Chakki Clean Itself?
Practically, there is nothing like “Auto cleaning”. You have to involve yourself in the cleaning of your atta chakki.
Surprised?
But this is the fact.
Understand the basic arrangement of atta chakki with a vacuum cleaner.
In auto clean atta chakki, there is a small vacuum cleaner fixed inside the atta chakki.
You will have two sections or ports to connect the pipe that comes with atta chakki.
The pipe is not more than 2 to 3 feet and is designed to clean the chamber and other visible parts of the atta chakki.
These two connections are the blower and suction.
Usually, the suction connection is given at the side, and the blower connection is provided at the rear side of the atta chakki.
What is suction? Suction is to remove the air that remains inside the atta chakki, and in the case of a vacuum cleaner, it is done with pressure.
So the atta or fine particles of wheat will also be captured along with the air.
The fresh air vent (air inlet) is required for this process.
There will be two to three air inlets(air vent) in auto clean atta chakki. All these inlets let the air come inside and serve two purposes.
One is to keep the motor, grinding chamber, and other parts cool, and the second is to help the vacuum cleaner to provide air so that the fine particles that stick inside the body can be removed easily with the help of air.
If you close all the air vents, the vacuum cleaner will not work.
Now, air and fine particles of wheat (some course material also) is sucked by the pipe.
Next, you must collect or remove the left-out particles or course material outside the atta chakki.
To collect the flour dust or fine atta, there is a collector bag, usually made of cloth, so you can wash it, dry it, and reuse it.
If you want to blow forced air to clean your atta chakki, you can connect the pipe with the blower option and easily clean the atta chakki with the help of the pressurized air that the blower generates.
This is the simple mechanism for any auto-clean atta chakki with a vacuum cleaner, especially domestic atta chakki.
Is Auto Clean Atta Chakki Good?
Yes. If you don’t have a vacuum cleaner for your home, auto clean atta chakki will help you to clean atta chakki.
You can save time for manual cleaning. However, as I said earlier, you have to do the basic cleaning with the help of a brush that is mainly provided with atta chakki.
Once you are done with manual cleaning, you can use the vacuum cleaner for precise & deep cleaning.
Is Auto Clean Atta Chakki Effective?
Not 100%, but better than manual cleaning. The effectiveness of any vacuum cleaner depends upon the suction power.
When the suction power is high, it can easily pull all the flour dust and dirt, irrespective of how fine or coarse the material is.
Auto clean atta chakki or power clean has a lower suction power than the stand-alone portable vacuum cleaners.
But, if you compare the effectiveness of auto clean atta chakki with standard atta chakki, atta chakki having a vacuum cleaner wins the game.
Is Auto Clean Atta Chakki Safe?
Yes. Auto clean atta chakki is as safe as standard atta chakki without the auto clean feature.
The vacuum cleaner has an electrical motor, and protection is provided. In most cases, overload protection is common.
However, in some brands, there is an intentional auto stop after a specific running time of the vacuum cleaner (1 minute or so).
This ensures that the vacuum cleaner cools down after continuous operation for a specific time, as decided by the manufacturer.
(Any vacuum cleaner generates excessive heat during vacuum operation and needs sufficient cooling for better efficiency and long life.)
Another concept behind the auto stop is to ensure that the vacuum cleaner gets stopped even if you left it running by mistake.
Overall, auto clean atta chakki is safe, and you can operate it with the given safety instruction.
Advantages & Disadvantages Of Auto Clean Atta Chakki
Advantages: (As compared to standard atta chakki without vacuum cleaner)
- You don’t need to buy a stand-alone vacuum cleaner as auto clean atta chakki has an inbuilt vacuum cleaner.
- Compared to standard atta chakki, the cleaning time is drastically reduced.
- You can reach hard-to-access areas of the atta chakki and clean the residue with the help of a vacuum cleaner pipe which is not easy with manual cleaning.
- As your cleaning is good, you will get fresh and quality atta every time.
Disadvantages:
The biggest disadvantage of auto clean atta chakki is the pricing. You have to spend 2000 to 3500 rupees more than the standard atta chakki without a vacuum cleaner.
For example, if the standard atta chakki cost is, say, 13000, auto clean atta chakki will cost you 15000 to 16000 rupees.
Auto clean atta chakki is not fully AUTO CLEAN. You have to prepare the base before cleaning, like manually removing the atta present inside the chamber walls and cutters.
So practically, you can call it semi-auto-clean atta chakki.
The inbuilt vacuum cleaner is not as powerful as a stand-alone vacuum cleaner, and you can only use it for atta chakki cleaning.
Cheap auto clean atta chakki will have a low-quality vacuum cleaner, which will only help you a little.
You can not run the vacuum cleaner continuously due to excessive heat generation. You have to wait between two operations. Failure to do this may degrade the efficiency of the vacuum cleaner.
Is It Worth Buying Auto Clean Atta Chakki?
This depends upon your requirement.
If you don’t have a separate vacuum cleaner and want to save some time for cleaning, you can go with auto clean atta chakki. But, as I said, you cannot avoid manual work before using the vacuum cleaner.
The second option is to buy a vacuum cleaner separately.
There is a reason behind it.
Many good quality vacuum cleaners in the markets are more powerful than the in-built vacuum cleaner that comes with auto clean atta chakki.
You can easily save those 2000-3000 rupees from auto clean atta chakki by buying standard atta chakki without a vacuum cleaner and buy a good quality portable vacuum cleaner ( like eureka forbes ) with the saved money.
You can use that vacuum cleaner for many applications like sofa cleaning, flour cleaning, car cleaning etc., along with atta chakki cleaning.
You will get many accessories and longer cables when you buy a portable vacuum cleaner. With the same money, you can get a good quality vacuum cleaner for multi-purpose.
In my personal opinion, you should go with standard atta chakki and buy a vacuum cleaner separately in case you don’t have one.
Conclusion:
So by now, you have learned what is auto clean in atta chakki and how this word is misunderstood with the word power clean.
In conclusion, auto clean is the function of an atta chakki or domestic flour mill, and power clean is the additional feature provided to clean the atta chakki easily.
The branded atta chakki with auto clean feature is worth buying in case you don’t have any cleaning appliances available at your home.