Vacuum cleaner amperage and suction power relationship

[Danny D.]

This is a general question about how to choose vacuum cleaner suction by the specifications (specifically by amperage).

At a garage sale, I picked up three vacuum cleaners for almost nothing (because my fourth vacuum cleaner isn't all that great on carpets) and three of the four work fine (the Dirt Devil has a broken belt & roller).

The amperage of the four vacuum cleaners is:

1. Dirt Devil 12.0 amps (no bags needed)
2. Eureka Express 11.5 amps (requires bags)
3. Eureka Rally 10.0 amps (requires bags)
4. Porter Cable wet/dry 4 gallon @ 8.0 amps (I bought this from Costco)

I realize the "amps" turn the motor, where we can presume that the more amps, the more "power" - but what is the primary determinant of suction?

Is it the amperage? Is it the geometry of the passages? Is it the design of the motor vanes?

My main question is whether the suction is "mainly" a question of amperage?

My secondary question is what is a good "test" of the suction, bearing in mind that I've already done a hand test, where they "seem" to be about equal in suction (give or take a bit in about the order of amperage).

What vacuum cleaner suction wisdom can you impart upon me?

[Dan Espen]

How are 4 going to work better than one?

Install a whole house vac.

[Danny D.]

Four floors. One on each floor.

But really, I just want the two best ones. The other two I'll take apart for fun.

I already have a whole house vac.

[Dan Espen]

And what do you do with these 4 vacuum cleaners?

[Danny D.]

Actually five.

1. Whole house (the motor works fine but there's almost no suction). It used to work. Something is either stuck in the main tube or there is a tear in the tubing. I can't find it since it must be within the walls. So it's essentially useless.

1. Costco 8 amp wet/dry vac. It's OK but not all that good. I like that it doesn't use bags, but that's about all I like about it.

That's what I used until I picked up these three to choose one from:

One will stay in the garage (for the cars). One will stay in the cleaning closet (for the upper floors). One will stay downstairs (for the lower floors)

But this whole question is off topic since all I really wanted to know is how people felt about using amperage as a guide to suction power.

[clare]

With a good central vac why would you EVER want a "regular" vacuum cleaner??????

We had a Beam for about 20 years, and it outcleaned ANY portable vac I ever tried. I replaced it last year with a new CanaVac unit and it has WAY more suction - it will literally lift carpet.

[clare]

Amperage is only one indicator and doesn't tell you a whole lot - it depends on the efficiency. A combination of water column and CFM is required to really analyze a vacuum. My current system has an 8.4 inch Tangential bypass motor. I was wrong on my last post - it's not Elite, it's Signature. It is rated at 675 air watts and 147" vacuum.. It is also rated at

12.7 amps, whichn is an HONEST 2 HP (1524 watts) which means it needs a dedicated 15 amp circuit.

For all you ever wanted to know, and more - including all the terminology, see:

[hubops]

Thanks for the CahaVac link, Clare - I might be shopping soon. I noticed a Costco/Home Depot machine also made-in-Canada - Husky made in Quebec. .. so we still can manufacture some things in North America !

Here's a 2012 business article about CanaVac f y i.

John T.

[Art Todesco]

Had a central system in my old house for almost 40 years. The new house didn't and wife didn't want one. So I put up with regular vacuums for a while. I then bought a used central unit on ebay just for me in the garage and basement. I eventually plumbed it to the house. She complains but doesn't use anything else. But and a big BUT, this thing, even though bagless, plugs up. In the old house, it was a Sears cyclonic unit ... no filters at all. This unit must be cleaned out every 4 months and the filter will be almost totally plugged. You have to use another vacuum to clean the dumb thing. You have it use a long wand to go up into the unit and suck out whatever plugs the filter. As far as I can determine, the filter doesn't come out. Looking to replace it with a true cyclonic unit like this:

[hubops]

Over about 30 years of using central vac in two homes - I think that I've had maybe 3 or 4 clogs - all were in the hose - not in the vac line. Just sayin' ... You can tell by the sound of the vac machine if it's a clog -

- over-working, high pitch - as opposed to a broken line - the sound would be normal, but no suction. You might also hear the location of the break inside the wall - it would noisy unless it was a big open disconnection... If the hose is __definitely not__ the problem - check & snake the inlet to the vac machine. Good luck. John T.

[trader_4]

It's all of the above. Since you have all four of them, just try them out and see which work best.

[clare]

We can manufacture a LOT of stuff in North America - and better than the far east in so many cases. If looking at Costco vacuums, remember to check what kind of motor. As far as I'm concerned, it's Lamb or go home.

[clare]

We use filter bags in the CanaVac - the Beam was bagless and the filter, although never clogging, was an awfull mess when you emptied the bucket.

[Dan Espen]

Ideally, they will directly relate.

Fortunately, my whole house system still works and I hope to never go back to those stand alone vacs. They just don't suck enough.

Sometimes you need to call a repair man.

[clare]

Why should you never buy a Lucas Vacuum?? It would be the only thing they make that doesn't suck - - -

[Danny D.]

My central vac is bagless. It has a motor hanging from the garage ceiling (in a side room) where a steel 5-gallon-sized bucket captures all the stuff vacuumed up.

[Danny D.]

Two years ago when I asked here how to debug why my central vac didn't have much suction, I didn't have extra vacuum cleaners.

Now that I have four vacuum cleaners, I might plug one each into four outlets, and see if anything comes out.

Or should I suction from the garage where the motor is?

[Danny D.]

The central vacuum is too fraught with weak spots. Like how do I debug when it doesn't work?

[Danny D.]

That's what I was kind of thinking, which was that the amperage should mostly relate to the suction and aifflow, most other things being roughtly equal (like hose diameter).

Mine doesn't work any more. It hasn't worked for two years.

Anathema!

[Danny D.]

The hose was snaked two years ago, right here, in a.h.r.

I can't tell what the sound means as the motor is in the garage and the outlets are scattered about the house.

Hmmm. I may need to try that, but I never could figure out why it had such low suction as it used to work just fine.

Maybe I should debug again.

I have a 75-foot snake but what are the hoses made of inside the walls? Are they strong enough to take a steel snake that is meant for plumbing?

I also have a 100 foot electricians snake. But I'm afraid of puncturing the tubes inside the wall because I don't know what they are made up of.