I found a thread from 2008 recommending Dysons for plaster dust, particularly from chasing but for every positive post, there was a post from someone criticizing Dyson. So two years later, what is the consensus on Dysons? The post I found was recommending a DC04 but many Dysons have come and gone since then. Are the new models any better or will a second hand older model do just as well? I'm looking for a new vacuum for around the house but also one for dust and DIY, so perhaps it might be better to buy two second hand ones rather than one expensive brand new one?
In my experience you need two - one for the house (Dyson, Hoover, etc) and another for the diy/dirty jobs. I've had an Earlex (
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)for about 8 years and apart from buying a few new paper filters, it's sucked wood shavings, plaster, wet wallpaper, clean water, dirty water, drains and fits on my router and sander, etc. - it will also blow, great for cleaning the shelves in the garage - doors open of course and less than £60. There is also an optional 4m long flexible and with a double set of rigid pipes I can reach the ceiling of our community hall without a ladder!
Have a look on Freecycle or you local dump, you often have a choice of models. ;-)
The bad thing seems to be they can 'break down' easily. The good thing is they can often be repaired easily (or everyone I have look at has been so anyway).
The 'repairs' range from a fuse or broken mains cable to a good clean out or actually replacing broken bits but spares do seem fairly easy to get (and because they are 'popular' and sometimes 'fragile' they can be found / scavenged easily).
As for cleaning, I prefer our Miele Cat n Dog for it's capacity and quietness the DC04 for it's lightness and being bagless (horses for courses again).
dysons good IMHO - we have two a DCO1 and a newer DC07 I think (plus a bloody noisy but still going earlex combi for anything else)
Both dysons will cope with all manner of dry matter - if hoovering fine stuff like plaster dust I recommend you buy new filters so that when you need to change you can do so and continue the job whilst the washed one(s) dry.
A remarkable difference (especially the DC07) in suction when the filter is cleaned.
Probably no change now - 50:50 for Dyson:Diesoon ... We have a Dyson - DC09 and we really like it. It's now about 7 years old.
I got it 2nd hand - after it has been abused on a shop renovation. It was OK, but the best thing I did was to have it serviced by Dyson themselves
- cost just over 50 quid IIRC. The plaster dust is had sucked up those years ago had filtered through some internal gubbins and blocked the HEPA filter - that was the only part we needed to pay for.
The internal cyclone bit was replaced for free. The rest was OK. The maintenance chap said that it's very important to wash the (washable) filter very regularly - it's the single most common failure.
So now it gets a little bit of TLC every couple of months and it sucks down so-hard it's actually difficult to push over the carpet at times.
I'll buy another when/if it dies, however I won't use it on plaster dust. I have a 14 year old VAX which I don't mind abusing for that. (Although I think they've stopped making the bags for it, so who knows...)
I use an earlex for dirty jobs but bagless ones seem better for fine dust. I've now lost the foam cylinder element and never could figure if it was used in conjunction with or alternative to the paper bags but these keep splitting and I end up blowing dust back into the room, so I often run a pipe outside for dusty jobs.
My experience is that Dysons and DIY don't mix. I've lost two with my wife clearing up modest amounts of brick/plaster dust. (I hear you ask; "So, why did buy another one?" Ask her!)
It is my strong belief that a good deal of the effectiveness of Dyson's cleaners arose from his using a 1.5KW motor. The older Hoover we originally replaced had only a 700 Watt motors..... it did last 25 years. Check how hot the standard cable gets. The whole machine runs close to the limit.
We have an ancient Aquavac, "won" with Esso Tiger Tokens which I use for DiY, still as good as new, though very rusty, with a new filter every 2-3 years (Think how long ago Tiger Tokens were!).
I also note that wherever you see commercial cleaners in offices they are using machines like the "Henry" range. A bit like my indestructible Aquavac. Simple, effective and indestructible.
(Oh, nearly forgot to mention that many of these indestructible machines are built in the UK. That should delight Mr Dyson who is now David Cameron's advocate of UK manufacturing. Remind me, where is his kit built?)
they wash off with a hose pipe - I've currently got two - a spare for when the first is drying, and I don't think I've actually used more than four in the eight or more years that I've had the machine.
There are considerable improvements to both usability and performance as you move up the range DC01, DC04, DC07. I haven't used the more recent ones, so can't comment on them.
The basic issue that bags don't work with anything other than tiny amounts of plaster dust (by necessity, it either clogs, or passes the dust through). Dyson owns all the patents on designing cyclones that both separate down to cigarette smoke particle size, and are physically small enough to be part of a portable cleaner. This means you still don't have any other choice, and sadly there isn't a workshop model, so you have to treat the thing with care if you use it in a workshop environment. Note that when the container is full of brick/plaster dust, it's probably too heavy to safely hold the container only by its handle.
Plaster chasing is particularly taxing on a vacuum cleaner - a fine dust at a rate only Dysons can handle. If your DIY dust handling is less than this, e.g. woodworking, then many more cleaners become an option.
Providing the second-hand model is still performing as new, or can be made to do so by a strip and clean, which is often the case. Most common problem is that the dust container gets grossly overfilled before being emptied, so it can't work as a cyclone and dust gets further into the cleaner than it should and clogs the finer ducts.
Spent a evening stripping and washing it and its filters. That was after just an hours sucking.
Had to do it because the dog attacked the smaller heap of crap ^H^H^H^H Dyson, as it cannot bear the ultrasonic whistl it makes, and destroyed the front bit. That's been replaced at huge expense, because She won't have anything else.
Total crap, both of them. Working now, but for how long?
Oh, here we go, light blue touch paper and stand well back ;-)
(to be fair, much of the argument pro/against often seem to come down to preference for upright vs cylinder cleaners - with many assuming dyson = upright)
The models have got steadily better in terms of both performance and design. For carpet care a DC07 or later is very good. For plaster dust, an old DC01 is probably ok when used directly (its filtration is not as good as later models - which means the most clogging dust goes through it!). Later models will work best with a pre-cyclone filter in front of them.
Say like:
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I were building it specifically for plaster, I would make it from a smaller radius container with a proper cyclone shape to extract more fine dust)
Plaster dust is about the worst thing you can suck with a vacuum. It will clog anything with a bag in a very short time (sanding dust is not far behind in clogging capability). Something with a big pleated drum filter not long after. Basically you need something with a cyclone for doing any quantity of plaster dust (wall chasing etc). A pre-cyclone will also help a fair bit, although it won't catch the really fine stuff.
Numatic do a big commercial tub cleaner designed for chimney sweeps - loads of power, good filtration and cyclone action. Probably not bad on plaster.
In my workshop I use[2] the above linked pre-cyclone with an old VAX[1] to provide the suck. For general dust collection it works well, however if doing lots of sanding then I still need to replace the VAX bag after every couple hours use to restore enough airflow (the "full" bag will be
99% empty, but clogged with fines). I have also used the cyclone with someones DC04 providing the suck when wall chasing - that actually worked quite well without clogging the filters too fast, and the DC04 catching the really fine stuff quite well.
[1] On the second old VAX now - the first decided to give up a winding one day and grind to a halt!
[2] For smaller tools anyway - I have a proper chip collection for using on things like the thickneser that would otherwise swamp anything remotely vacuum cleaner like!
While we're on the subject of Dyson, does anyone know what became of their washing machine? Saw one in John Lewis a few years ago, nice looking purple thing, seem to remember the selling point was a contra-rotating drum. Can't see any mention of WMs on their website now, was it an embarrassing failure?
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