Often worth a quick look. ;-)

So you were too lazy to kick it. Be gone from here, sir! YOU have soiled this group!

Arthur

Reply to
Arthur 51
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The message from T i m contains these words:

£200 cost, perhaps. But not £200 value.

After 5 years (and a "free" five year warranty that really paid for itself many times over) the only bits of our Dyson cylinder vac which were original were the dust jug and the metal tubes. Everything else had been replaced at least once -- including the motor and the cable reel. Other parts up to seven times.

Reply to
Appin

The message from T i m contains these words:

No quarrel with the quality of a Miele -- but all the Miele models seem to use dust bags and therefore have high running costs

Reply to
Appin

Mending stuff.

Yes.

Reply to
<me9

Yeah, I used to think like that years ago

now I prefer something that just doesn't let me down

Reply to
geoff

I did something very similar last year with a GPZ550 (A2). What started as a quick tidy up turned into a rebuild of he rear brake system, new chain, making new (stainless) pins for the Uni-track setup, strip / clean the 4 carbs, weld up the exhaust, re-chrome the fork stanchions, strip / clean / replace the front brakes and anti-dive system and generally returning some modded bits to stock. I've probably spent more on it than it's worth but it's worth a motorbike to me and I'd probably do the same even if it was a newer machine. ;-)

Kawasaki are know for some pretty reliable engines aren't they (or is it just their inline 4's)?

The nearest I've ever got to Brit Iron was the Madras made REB 350!

Same here. [1]

Likewise. I've only ever had one new 'bike' and it was a Yamaha B Wizz scooter. To be fair it was the result of us outgrowing a Yamaha XT350 and we got the Scooter new in exchange.

My first was a Honda P50 bought from my school teacher with a stripped spark plug thread. I then used it for college and everything for 6 months. Then the NSU Quickly that I was given in kit form in a wheelbarrow. I also got Dads, then my Uncles Lambretta LD150 then an SX150 (I commuted to BT on for a couple of years). The Messerschmitt KR200 was bought as a runner but the Morris Minor van needed a new gearbox before I could drive it home (so I fitted one in their car park) ... etc etc.

My Dad was more of a carpenter than a fixer but I must have learned some of the basic processes from him (and borrowed most of his tools). ;-) [2]

My general "fix it' mentality probably came out of the thought that I probably wouldn't get anything even if I asked for it so did the best thing and got broken stuff cheap and made it work.

Cheers, T i m

[1] Not only is there the reward of getting about using something that was once a non runner but it's also quite nice when someone appreciates your efforts. The "Not seen one as tidy as that for a while" or "You've done a good job on that" are all extra cherries on the cake. Another big plus is because you have probably been all over the thing at one time or another you are often in a better position to fix it should it go wrong. [2] I think having access to a reasonable range of tools and a small workshop had a big bearing on how I became interested in doing stuff. Having said that I equally enjoyed 'helping' my Uncle work on his scooter in his kitchen. ;-)
Reply to
T i m

Hmm ..

Back in the UK repairing the stuff that was made abroad? ;-)

It is, and (IMHO) unsustainable.

Look at how they treat 'stuff' in 3rd world countries. Stripping pretty well everything down and rebuilding it. As mentioned elsewhere, at first glance that sounds much better than melting it down and trying to turn it into something else.

Cheers, T im

Reply to
T i m

You've been unlucky - we're still using our DC 01 bought just over 12 years ago, and my uncle is still using one which is at least 15 years old. He did have to replace the belt once, though.

Reply to
S Viemeister

I'm in two minds about the dust bag / bagless thing. It's quite nice to be able to just lift a (self sealing) bag out of the cleaner and chuck it in the bin rather than risk spilling / dust all over the place when you empty a bag less. The bag less ones still generally have filters and I'm not sure they are quite as good when it comes to the HEPA level bagged stuff (the bag acting as another filter etc)?

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

I was luckier. When I collected my Freecycle DC05 I also had the little clip broken (well the moulding was split). I rang Dyson and asked for the replacement 'bit' but told it was part of the wand, not available as a spare. I (nicely) questioned the design and they offered to send me a new wand foc. ;-) (I noticed the replacement item was of a more robust design).

I noticed that some of the new models have remote / wireless control of the motor speed from the handle!

Very handy.

A while back I bought an air cleaner thing (with assistance from some good folk here) and use now use if I'm going to be pulling stuff about in a room and likely to be disturbing dust etc.

Could be. I'd never reacted to anything, food or stuff on my skin so it was a bit of shock to be told I might have something this late in life and possibly quite difficult / costly to manage (soft furnishings / carpets etc).

We had 3 dogs (Whippet / Lurcher / cross) and I never had an issue.

Seemed perfectly sensible to me, especially as I had gone to check out other cleaners as the existing one was making my tinnitus worse.

I don't think they do, "It's a cleaner, it's going to be noisy".

Maybe because of my tinnitus I consider noise more. I've just built a little home server and it's virtually silent (and without using expensive components). I've never liked loud exhausts on machines (I fitted the factory stainless system on the kitcar but replaced it with a stock Escort (but stainless) exhaust two weeks later). I wear ear defenders when working with anything 'noisy' and electronic noise damping ones when shooting.

Of all the cleaners we tested the Dysons and the big industrial cylinders (like the Henry and Vax) were the loudest.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

You may not be able to get Miele, but you can get Sebo(*), who make really good vacuum cleaners.

(* I saw the cleaners using them in a hotel in Elizabethtown, PA.)

Reply to
Huge

Hmm, our upright is bagless - I must admit it's very nice; I just dump the contents way out in the woods (it's nearly all dirt and hair, after all! :-) when it's full and give the cartridge filter a good few smacks against a tree.

Only gripe with it is that it sucks from one end of the rotating brush section rather than the middle, which means that suction at the far end of the brushes isn't what it could be.

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

The message from S Viemeister contains these words:

Wife has far too much testosterone -- most vacuum cleaners don't last more than six months without breaking down. These insurance-based multi-year warranties are wonderful in such a situation! :-)

If Miele did a bagless one, I'd go for it, but I dread to think about the cost of bags and the rate she'd go through them.

As it is, the least bad vacuums we've had over the years have been Panasonics, though they're not really the most easily serviced or repaired.

Reply to
Appin

The message from T i m contains these words:

The cyclone design will determine how much dust gets as far as the filters. No reason why a bagless shouldn't be just as clean as a bagged one -- it simply needs an extra stage of filtration. And yes, filters cost money. But not as frequently or as much over the lifetime of the machine as bags do.

Reply to
Appin

Perhaps you should relieve her of her stoor-sooker duties?

Reply to
S Viemeister

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Jules Richardson saying something like:

For shop display, they're deliberately set horrible and garish.

For home use, all it takes is some tweaking of the controls and bingo, nice picture. I still have an issue with fast-moving backgrounds and flash photography (as in paparazzi scenes) becoming pixelated, but perhaps a 100Hz set might solve that.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

The message from S Viemeister contains these words:

Nah .... SWMBO has more testosterone than the average teenage boy. Better to let her take it out on the vacuum cleaner and carpet -- at least that's relatively harmless! :-)

Reply to
Appin

What do you make of this tho (content, not the presenter) ...

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T i m

Reply to
T i m

The message from T i m contains these words:

Even claims he's not a salesman!

  1. I'm not questioning that Miele are excellent machines. I have experience of Miele washing machines and I've found nothing to touch them at the price or far beyond it.
  2. I'm not a fan of Dysons, but why compare apples and oranges? Two totally-different types of machine.
3 Obvioulsy there are degrees of filtration and different numbers of stages of filtration and different finenesses of filters. Some vacuums have seven stages of filtration and some have much finer filters than others.
  1. There are trade-offs. Very good particulate emission may be little good if the vacuum doesn't pick up very much dirt anyway.
  2. What sort of fool imagines that a cyclone is going to be the best way of picking up kapok? Cyclones are rather good with fine dust, rather poor with something like kapok.
6 Of course the guy wants to sell a bagged machine -- he'll make plenty of money on the bags over the years.
  1. Surely no-one imagined that a bagless machine is more convenient than one using a bag?
  2. And when the bag for your model is no longer available?

Mieles are very fine machines.

I have nothing to say against them as machines.

I appreciate that there are reasons that Miele prefer to stick with the bagged design.

I appreciate that the quality end of the market into which Miele sell are unlikely to balk at the price of bags.

However, the way a vacuum gets used here, bagless is better. And there are plenty of bagless ones with very good multi-stage filtration to HEPA standards. Certainly much easier to achieve with a bagged cleaner, but not at all impossible to do with a bagless one. The downside is that you have more filters to replace periodically. Still generally much cheaper than the bags, though.

Incidentally, almost twenty years ago we had a very interesting experience trying to clean up the inside of a 1000 seat auditorium which had had the vaulted ceiling replastered. When it came to try to clean the place up afterwards we tried (quite literally) dozens of different domestic and commercial vacuums. None of them would run for longer than a minute before blocking up bags and/or filters on plaster dust. Eventually we borrowed a great big 50-gallon machine from a local grain drier. 3 separately-switched kW motors and filters suitable for grain dust. Perfect. Did the job no problem. Horses for courses and all that.

Reply to
Appin

;-)

And I wasn't suggesting Miele were particularly good, just happens to be what I have and chose because of it's low noise.

But both domestic cleaners so both should be equally competent at cleaning the same range of things.

So if you don't want to simply re-distribute the dust around the house you need the cleaner with the best filtration, always.

Agreed.

If kapok is representative of animal hair then why not include that in a test of any domestic cleaner?

So where does that place the Dyson 'Animal' models?

We buy the bags for our Miele from the same bloke down the market where we buy the Dyson filters. ;-)

I thought that was part of their sales pitch? Especially the ones where you pull the trigger and the cylinder base opens up?

Interesting point but I can't say I've ever experienced it (not saying it doesn't happen of course).

Ours seems ok and is still quiet. I tend to use it on the lowest power setting as well and it seems to work ok.

I have, I paid more for ours than I have ever paid for a car! ;-(

There may also be some good technical reasons for doing so?

Good point (except re us of course, not being yer typical 'badge buying' customer).

I'm sure there are.

So you are saying you are more likely to find a HEPA std bagged cleaner?

Cheaper I'll give you but I've noticed how quickly the Dyson needs emptying compared with the Miele. Not all of that will be down to how much each can collect. Time is money! ;-)

Yup. I still keep the Henry for building type jobs (where the general dust levels mean HEPA is a bit irrelevant) and have a Vax in the loft should we ever need to get really serious or vacuum up water etc! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

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