Workshop vacuum cleaner recommendations?

[DICEGEORGE]

its a bit late in the year for lime mortar, doesnt it fail if frost gets it in its first week?

[george]

[James Harris]

...

I can find pre-made current sensing switches in America but not the UK. Do you have a link to one?

[James Harris]

IMO Henry's are well thought out and properly made. Quiet. Good suction. Manual wind. Long hose.

[John Rumm]

There are any number of master / slave sockets about. e.g.:

Many are of dubious quality though!

[James Harris]

I just got one but it doesn't seem to have much power. The mains lead is quite thick but maybe that's because of the slave power port. What did you think of how powerful yours was and did you find any way to boost it?

[DJC]

Seems powerful enough to me, certainly as good as the 2000W Miele I use for normal domestic duties.

[James Harris]

In case we are not talking about the same model, the one I got is the Nilfisk Aero 26-21 PC.

If you've used it attached to a power tool does it clear sawdust and wood chips well enough?

I would say that this one's suction is slightly better than but very close to my 650W domestic vac. I guess I expected more in a workshop vacuum.

[DJC]

Yes, that's the one

Well enough as far as I am concerned.

Two suggestions:

1. If you are using the rubber nozzle for power tool attachment that comes with the kit check that the bypass port on the side is closed (twist the plastic ring.

1a (there is a similar slider to the same effect on the normal hose end.)

1. If you have been using it to pick up bits of rubble or wallpaper, check that the hose is not blocked. Try putting the hose on the blow port to see what comes out.

[James Harris]

Understood. Yes, I saw the plastic slider on the normal hose end. It was such a poor cover that I taped the holes up.

In fairness, I think it's the hose which is the main let down - at least on blow. Placing a hand directly over the ports on the machine shows it is more effective, though still not as powerful as I expected.

I haven't sucked anything up with it yet as I see Screwfix let customers return unused items. I just tried the blow function and, on suction, compared the hose suction with my domestic vac.

This is one of those occasions where the only way to get the kind of thing you want is to make it yourself. This vac is a bit too domestic for my liking. But making a 'decent' machine would take time.

Or, buying a more industrial unit second hand might do. But I found none available.

On the other hand the Nikfisk does tick all the boxes. It's not as powerful as I would like but it is the best I've seen. Unless I find a better solution soon I'll probably end up just keeping the Nilfisk.

[DJC]

It comes with a long hose (3.5m) which may offer too much resistance to the airflow. There is a shorter hose (2m) available which if you do not need the max length may be better. I got a shorter hose from Radford Vac Centre

[dennis]

I got feed up with cheap vacs and bought a bosch gas25. Works really well and is rated to run continuously. Not cheap but virtually no dust even when sanding walls. It has a semi auto filter cleaner so you can stop every 20 mins or so and hit clean to get full suction back even with plaster dust.

[tabbypurr]

Matthias Wandel's one is interesting.

NT