A hand vacuum cleaner has a main body housing a suction motor, an air treatment member having a front end and a rear end with a central longitudinal axis extending between the front and rear ends and a bleed valve having a bleed air flow path that extends from a bleed air inlet to a bleed air outlet. The hand vacuum cleaner has right and left laterally opposed sides that are spaced apart in a direction transverse to the central longitudinal axis, and the bleed air inlet and the bleed air outlet are transversely spaced apart.