Vacuum cleaner recommendations?

[jack]

23 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

Not sure what filters the Henry has, but the old Vax 121 seems to have filters that are at least as good, most probably better, than the two very thin filters that our old Dyson had.

 

I believe Dyson has significantly changed its approach to filters over the years. No idea whether the current approach is better or worse than the first generation Dyson you had, but it's definitely different!

[Gone West]

4 hours ago, jack said:

 

I believe Dyson has significantly changed its approach to filters over the years. No idea whether the current approach is better or worse than the first generation Dyson you had, but it's definitely different!

Yes, our Dyson doesn't have any filters. Apparently it uses high speed vibration to shake the dust into the container, or something like that. We've had it about a year and it's good not having to clean filters.

[dpmiller]

really none, or just hidden inside where you can't see them without dismantling none?

[Gone West]

15 hours ago, dpmiller said:

really none, or just hidden inside where you can't see them without dismantling none?

Really none.

[Bitpipe]

We have an old Miele Cat & Dog cylinder that's about 15 years old, still working fine but casing is a bit wrecked and it's now the standby machine.

 

We bought a new Miele C3 a year ago upon moving in and it gave up the ghost last week - looks like the bag had not fitted properly and dust had got into the motor - I stripped it down as best I could but could not get it going so it went back to John Lewis under their two year warranty and was replaced with no issue.

 

However that model is discontinued so we've upgraded to their new bagless model (Blizzard CX1), interestingly it's subject to the new EU motor size restriction so is 900w but this model is still a Which best buy..

 

I can see older more powerful (1200w) models still available, however given we've only got hard floors (Karndean, resin and wood)  I think it will be fine, plus the reduced power consumption and heat output will be welcome also. Will see how it performs.

[daiking]

Well, the wife blew up the dyson last night... a DC29 approaching 7 years old

[Jeremy Harris]

25 minutes ago, daiking said:

Well, the wife blew up the dyson last night... a DC29 approaching 7 years old

 

 

I can say that the small Vax that was kindly recommended by @dpmiller works very well, and is nice and light, too

.  Even though I fixed our old Vax 121 that started this thread, I prefer the new one, as it's so light and easy to use, and has loads more suction than our old Dyson had most of the time (the Dyson was fine just after half an hour of cleaning it all out inside and cleaning the filters, but performance dropped off quickly as it got coated with fine dust internally, I found)..

[AliG]

I thought I'd come on and recommend a Dyson just to get people going but was beaten to it.

 

I think we have had 4 Dysons in the last 20 years and my parents have had a couple. I am never sure where the flimsy build quality comments come from, we have never had one physically break.

 

What we have had is the suction decreases after a while. To stop this you have to really take them apart and clean them as dust accumulates on the inside. You also have to make sure you clean the filters. What I have found kills them is cleaning up large quantities of very fine dust such as flour or plaster. Using one in a dusty building environment is not recommended at all. I have seen the suction disappear and the filters clog after minutes of cleaning up this kind of powder. I think the issue is that other cleaners would allow this kind of powder straight through or it would clog up the bag which then gets replaced. In a Dyson it tries to filter it out and the filter gets clogged. Eventually the filters stop cleaning out and need replaced, they are not cheap.

 

For this reason I am very interested in the latest no filter Dysons, but as ours works fine I can't justify replacing it.

 

We have a V6 cordless, I got a good deal on a refurb on EBAY. Once you get one of these you simply find you stop using a corded vacuum. Unless you have a lot of cleaning to do it is so much faster just to whip it out and clean the specific area that needs done. Our cleaner uses it in preference to the corded Dyson. I believe that the new V8 is especially good on hard floors. Obviously it is great for cleaning the car also, however, I find the charge does not always last for a full clean of the car. I'd quite like to try some of the other battery cleaners, shame you can't test drive them like cars.

 

I have tried various other cheaper cleaners on the grounds that they might represent better value. I have had a Samsung cylinder - useless, and a Hoover upright - constantly blocked. I have a Vax upright in London which was cheap and so far does a good job.

 

We had a VAX carpet cleaner that broke twice in the space of being used 5 or 6 times. A handle broke off and the plastic spindle that turns the brushes broke rendering it useless. Luckily they have a 6 year warranty and customer service was very good, they just sent me a new one. It's still in the box, no carpets in the new place.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stones]

We had a Dyson many moons ago, and I eventually paid for a service as performance had dropped significantly. The chap from Dyson stripped it down, and ended up replacing the motor along with various other parts. The one comment I remember from him was that fine dust - plaster in particular, killed  performance, so wasn't the best choice for a new house.

[Bitpipe]

On 28/10/2017 at 16:20, Bitpipe said:

We have an old Miele Cat & Dog cylinder that's about 15 years old, still working fine but casing is a bit wrecked and it's now the standby machine.

 

We bought a new Miele C3 a year ago upon moving in and it gave up the ghost last week - looks like the bag had not fitted properly and dust had got into the motor - I stripped it down as best I could but could not get it going so it went back to John Lewis under their two year warranty and was replaced with no issue.

 

However that model is discontinued so we've upgraded to their new bagless model (Blizzard CX1), interestingly it's subject to the new EU motor size restriction so is 900w but this model is still a Which best buy..

 

I can see older more powerful (1200w) models still available, however given we've only got hard floors (Karndean, resin and wood)  I think it will be fine, plus the reduced power consumption and heat output will be welcome also. Will see how it performs.

 

Quite impressed with the 900w Miele Blizzard - its powerful enough to come to a complete halt on a rug when on max. Have also learned not to empty the cartridge indoors as it releases a cloud of dust when it deposits into the bin.

 

[Jml]

Dyson did not work for us as continually getting clogged with dog hairs, even animal friendly version, which were nearly impossible to declog.  We have had sebo animal version which can be fully taken apart, and parts even dishwashed, only disadvantage uses bags, but you can buy non sebo ones which work fine.

[Temp]

We have a Dyson that's about 11 years old with filters that must be cleaned at least every 6 months. If you don't clean the filter the motor finds it harder to push air through, it draws more and more current and you risk burning out the motor. This is pretty much true for all makes of vacuum cleaner that have filters. 

 

We also have an unbranded cheap wet vacuum cleaner similar to a Henry. This is used mainly to dry stone/tiled floors after mopping. If you don't dry the floor the water runs into the grout lines and evaporates  leaving dirt behind.

 

 

[daiking]

I am certain it is the inappropriate use and inadequate maintenance that have killed it. I am tempted to get it repaired.

 

I have never heard a vacuum cleaner blowing like a misfiring car nor see it shoot sparks. It is lucky I was stood next to her at the time as she would have continued until the smoke alarm went off and probably longer.

[Jeremy Harris]

1 hour ago, Stones said:

We had a Dyson many moons ago, and I eventually paid for a service as performance had dropped significantly. The chap from Dyson stripped it down, and ended up replacing the motor along with various other parts. The one comment I remember from him was that fine dust - plaster in particular, killed  performance, so wasn't the best choice for a new house.

 

 

That fits well with my experience.  Every time I cleaned ours, I found that it wasn't so much the filters being clogged that were the problem, it was the very fine dust stuck to all the narrow passages, which are a pain to clean out.  When the motor finally burned out on it, I stripped it and found that the centrifugal impeller was pretty much clogged up with fine dust that was almost bonded on to the surfaces.

 

[Gone West]

2 hours ago, AliG said:

For this reason I am very interested in the latest no filter Dysons, but as ours works fine I can't justify replacing it.

 

We bought a no filter Dyson just over two years ago and it has been faultless so far. We have a Vax for cleaning up in the new build which is okay.

[Trw144]

We went with a V8 dyson - really pleased with it and it does make the corded ones redunandant. The only issue was when I dropped it and broke the battery - they sent another out under warranty though so all good.

[Jeremy Harris]

1 hour ago, Trw144 said:

We went with a V8 dyson - really pleased with it and it does make the corded ones redunandant. The only issue was when I dropped it and broke the battery - they sent another out under warranty though so all good.

 

 

I agree 100%.  We have two of them, one upstairs one downstairs and they are brilliant, and even though they were expensive they were still less than half the price of a built in vacuum system and very much easier to use.  I use the small mains powered Vax for "rough" work, where it's greater dust capacity is useful, but with mainly hard flooring and rugs the cordless ones are just brilliant.

 

However, I have to put a word in for the vacuum that kicked this thread off, the Vax 121, of 1991 vintage.  It was the first new vacuum cleaner we bought after we got married (we'd inherited an old hoover that we used until it died), and we bought it because we had bought an old Victorian stone cottage that needed a lot of work.  It went on to deal with two more stone cottage renovations, then got relegated to my workshop, where it cleaned up after four boat builds, a car build and two aeroplane builds.  It was still going strong after that and dealt with cleaning up after our house build, until it developed what I thought was a terminal-sounding noise from the motor.  That turned out to be just a nut that had come off the switch and was rattling around, so a good strip and clean, a set of new filters and that 36 year old vacuum cleaner is still working as well as it did when we bought it.  I used it just before Christmas to wash all carpets in the old house, ready for sale, and it did a cracking job.  It's now back in my workshop, and I strongly suspect it will outlive me..................

Edited January 3, 2018 by JSHarris

[Barney12]

1 hour ago, Trw144 said:

We went with a V8 dyson - really pleased with it and it does make the corded ones redunandant. The only issue was when I dropped it and broke the battery - they sent another out under warranty though so all good.

 

Another vote for the V8 here (vastly superior in terms of battery life to the V6).You will rarely use a corded vacuum once you have one and imho makes the idea of a central vacuum redundant. 

[Trw144]

We manage 300m2 of hard flooring with our V8, and you could just about blitz it on one battery of your quick and you have it on the standard power instead of boost/turbo.

[AliG]

A bit like with cars we are on the verge of a battery powered revolution.

 

With a 50-100% improvement in battery capacity wired products such as vacuums, lawnmowers etc will become redundant.

 

Generally speaking these products are already more convenient to use but sometimes lack a little power or longevity or are just a bit too expensive.

 

if Dyson made a battery vacuum with around 40 minutes run time and maybe a little more power on the standard setting that would enable it to be a main vacuum.

 

Alrrady it is now quite rare to see a wired power tool 

Edited January 4, 2018 by AliG

[Stones]

Just reviving this as looking for a replacement household vacuum.

 

We currently have a 'Hetty' (Henry in pink clothing) which is a solid a reliable bit of kit, but as pointed out previously by @TerryE whilst great at removing coarser dust, does end up recirculating fine dust into the house.  My good lady had also suggested an upright style may well be a bit easier to use.

 

No plans to get rid of Hetty, great for really messy jobs, the car and for the two deep pile rugs we have.  Otherwise we have all hard flooring, a mixture of tiles and engineered oak.

 

Suggestions?

[PeterW]

19 minutes ago, Stones said:

... solid a reliable bit of kit, but as pointed out previously by @TerryE whilst great at removing coarser dust, does end up recirculating fine dust into the house...

 

@Stones I had this issue too - replace the main filter but also try these bags instead of the paper ones - the Hepa filter bag is much better. 

 

https://m.johnlewis.com/numatic-henry-hepa-vacuum-cleaner-bags-pack-of-10/

 

You may also need to clean the motor filter - a slightly fiddly job as it’s wrapped in the motor itself and you need to take the top apart to do it - turn the motor unit upside down and you will find 6 screws. Remove them all and pull the black base away from the casing and the motor will come out, wrapped in a foam filter. Mine was full of crud and after a quick clean the auction was vastly improved as was the dust output. 

[lizzie]

I have 2 Dyson cordless sticks one upstairs one down- both have developed the same fault at the same time in their life cycles - may be I need a new battery.

 

Whilst pondering Dyson problems I was seduced by the new shark duo, my friend has just got one.  I have bought one (Argos circa £320).  It is great because it stores without the battery in situ if required so does not need to be plugged into a wall socket in can fit into a cupboard with the the handle folded down.  You get two batteries and a separate charging station so wont run out of power plus the filter arrangement is easier than Dyson - all great BUT it is no where near as good as my Dyson sticks for suction and dog hairs and is heavy and cumbersome by comparison.  Could be a white elephant as having used it for a few weeks I am looking again at getting my Dyson sticks serviced  or replaced ready for move to new house. 

 

I love my Dyson sticks so convenient so light and easy, used them at least once a day every day for years.  Hardly ever use the Miele cat and dog or the Orek (this is a fantastic upright vac no 'tools' though just straightforward all floors upright) as its such a faff getting them out and plugging them in and my  heavy old upright Dyson got given to my nephew when he got his first house.  Got one of those old Vax machines  (20+ years old) and a Henry lurking in the garage somewhere.  Personally I wouldnt use either in the house these days. Technology has moved on with hepa filters etc.

 

I seem to have a lot of vacuum cleaners LOL!

[richi]

12 minutes ago, lizzie said:

I seem to have a lot of vacuum cleaners LOL!

You took the words right out of my fingers...

[Bitpipe]

I'm a big fan of the Mile 900w blizzard but the only issue is a relatively short power cord wrt the older bag model.

 

I'm guessing that the internal reel has been shrunk to make space for the larger dust collection and filtering elements. 

 

A battery version would be very welcome...