In-house visit by a "Rainbow vacuum" salesperson

[Meghan Noecker]

My parents had one for over 20 years. It always worked great, and I didn't think much about it.

When I was in college, I lost my job and started cleaning houses while looking for a regular job. I was diagnosed with asthma and had a really rough winter. The problem is I was using the vacuum cleaners provided at the houses. I never knew it, but that water tank vacuum cleaner was keeping me from asthma problems.

Changing a bag or getting a clogged hose would set off asthma attacks for a week. But with the rainbow, all I had to do was empty a water tank, and I'm not allergic to mud.

I currently have a Eureka vacuum with a canister. It's better than the bags since I can see when it is full and carefully empty it without too much dust in the air. I still have more allergy problems than I used to.

I would love to get another Rainbow vac, but I can't afford to buy a spendy one, and even the used ones are usually over $500. I almost had a good trade for one on craigslist, but after setting up the trade, the person stopped responding.

I can see why a lot of people wouldn't want one, but if you have allergies and have trouble with emptying out the dirt, a rainbow might be a great choice for you. Also, since the dirt is going through the water bowl, you don't need to buy and change filters a lot.

[aemeijers]

Peepholes are a great help. Unless it is a face I know or a uniform, the door usually doesn't get opened. Fer damn sure it doesn't get opened for shiny young faces, white shirts, and ties. They go away eventually.

aem sends....

[mc]

Of course. You don't have to open the door if you don't want to.

I should add that the mainstream Christian churches with which I am acquainted (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.) normally only visit people who have contacted them to request information. Very rarely (at intervals of several years), they take surveys of the immediate area of the church, to learn about the neighborhood, but that is not the normal form of visiting.

[mm]

My whole life is a spiritual vacuum.

(not really, but couldn't resist.)

[mm]

If I only knew when they were coming, I could get my girlfriend to do that, if I had a girlfriend who would do that (if I had a girlfriend)/

[Gunner]

Its cool when you see the crew park down at one end of the street and start making the rounds up one side and down the other. Pretty hard to miss em..the well dressed people carring bibles and literature.

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

[yourname]

uld that work with evangelists?

Or just do your best impression of Rik Ocasik [sp?] from the Cars in the John Waters flick, uh,uh why is the name escaping me.....

[yourname]

...............Hairspray, that's it

[USA1st]

They came to my house one time with the offer of a free carpet shampoo to demonstrate. They did not clean the carpet and would not leave. I had to threaten a call to the police to get them to go.

[pyotr filipivich]

I'm not all that creative, just blessed with memory for "funny" stories.

tschus pyotr

-- pyotr filipivich "Quemadmoeum gladuis neminem occidit, occidentis telum est. " Lucius Annaeus Seneca, circa 45 AD (A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killer's hands.)

[Sgt.Sausage]

It's a pain. And then you get lazy. And then the thing sits for a week and starts to mold. And then it stinks and you *really* don't want to take it out 'cause it smells like a cesspool. And then your mom yells at you and you take it out.

Grew up with one. Mom got conned. They're no better than anything else. Just cost 10 times as much.

***

We had a guy come by the house last year. Hit the wife up. I basically kept hinting that it was time to leave. He ended up spending over 2 hours on his demonstration and we turned him down on buying it. (Hey, we asked him to leave before he even started, but he *insisted*)

And then he insulted us. And then he was rude: "If you live *here* (we have the nicest house on the street, and quite likely for miles around) -- if you live *here* in a house like this, then *obviously* you can afford a lousy 2 grand for a vacuum."

I told him to go to hell. "It's exactly *because* we don't spend our money on stupid shit like you're hawking that we can afford to live in a little nicer house"

He still wouldn't leave. So ... I got out my cleaning kit, and walked over to my gunsafe. Pulled out my

12 guage like I was gonna start cleaning it and the bastard nearly crapped his pants as he was running for the door.

I hate these salesfolks and can't honestly believe there are enough suckers out there to spend 2 grand per to keep 'em in business ... but then again, I grew up in a house with one so I guess Mom got suckered too.

[Carla Fong]

The sign adjacent to our front door:

Solicitors Welcome Tuesdays 7:00 PM

Dungeon Tours Tuesdays 7:15 PM

Human Sacrifices Tuesdays 7:30 PM

Haven't been bothered in years

Carla From whence, then, could arise the solitary and strange conceit that the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependant on His protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple? - Thomas Paine

[thestuccocompany.com]

thestuccocompany.com had written this in response to

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This is ma\\' SIG

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i bought one yrs ago back before hepa filters were common. loved the lack of "vac scent". when we had to replace the carpet, there was no dirt on or under the pad. that doesn't happen with a regular vac. one of the minuses is that you have to empty the container. if you have too much dirt, which is most likely when you begin using a rainbow, you'll get mud, so be sure to empty frequently if you're a new user. if you have pet hair, you need to know if it's safe to flush down your toilet, else you'll have to dump the container elsewhere. i also was able to use it as a carpet cleaner since there was a carpet cleaning attachment. at this time, i prefer an upright, but it's still in my basement awaiting the next time i have need of a carpet cleaner (which may be never again).

[spaco]

People had pressured us to buy one for years. However, when we built a new house, we were able to install a central vac for a little more than half the price of a rainbow. The central vac has a huge primary filter (cyclone separator) and exhausts the rest outside. No contest in my mind.

Here's how they come up with the high horsepower numbers: You are, of course, correct in saying that if the thing really developed all that power it would blow the breaker. Anyway here goes: You know that one horsepower equals 746 watts. Okay. So, they connect huge wires directly to the motor, let's say #1 or #2 gage. They put in HUGE breakers for the test, let's say 100 or 200 amps. Now, these motors are usually series wound motors with brushes, right? Okay. So they connect the motor to a braking system and they connect a volt meter (probably a data acquisition unit these days) across the incoming line. They connect an ammeter in series with the whole thing. Now comes the fun part: They start up the motor and read the meters. Now, they slow down the series wound motor and, as they do, the reverse emf goes down, so the circuit current goes up because the net resistance to current flow is reduced by the lowering of the reverse emf. Still with me? Okay, now they continue to slow the motor down while taking readings. Remember that they are feeding this motor with HUGE wires, so the voltmeter across the motor leads is reading FULL line voltage all the time. They keep slowing the motor down with the braking system until the motor just stalls. Just as it comes to a stall, there is NO reverse emf generated and the total resistance of the motor is equal to its at-rest DC resistance. So the current goes sky-high! This, of course, blows out the whole motor, but, at this moment of this super high current, just before the motor creates fireworks, they read that current and, of course, the incoming voltage, which is still a full line value. Amps times volts equals watts. They could be seeing 30 or

40 amps or more for a few milliseconds. Depending on how much horsepower marketing wants to sell, they could come up with 10 hp or so if they can get 70 amps out of the system as it self destructs! Of course, this had absolutely NOTHING to do with vacuuming your rug, but that's how the game can be played without anyone actually having to go to jail.

Ain't the capitalist system great?

Pete Stanaitis

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[Stupendous Man]

I always look for the "As seen on TV" label. It has to be good then, right?

[SMS]

Wait, you mean the amount of power the motor draws doesn't directly correlate with suction? Who woulda thunk that?

Reminds me back when "transistor" radios competed by counting transistors.

[Lew Hartswick]

And if you are a little (maybe a lot) older the radios, especially by "Midwest" (as I remember the name), were competing by the number of tubes. In some cases I think only with the heaters connected. :-) ...lew...

[John Doe]

My next-door neighbors have had one for about 30 years I guess. Had to replace the switch but it still works and they still use it.

[krw]

A friend, who was taking a watchmaking class, once showed me a "23 jewel" watch. It was a typical 17 jewel swiss movement (worht about $10, at the time) with 6 garbage jewels taped to the rear case.

Weren't they all "five tube wonders"? Dangerous things! 50% chance of the metal chasis being live. The only thing between the operator and 120V was the plastic knob.