Unreliability of upright vacuum cleaners

[The Medway Handyman]

No idea, but they used to continually rubbish the Ford Escort, Britains best selling car. Perhaps they don't like best sellers?

[chris French]

IME, the cleaning performance of them isn't particularly good (average at best I'd say). but they are tough and reliable.

[Mike]

....and by chucking muck from the floors all over the room you can also charge the client extra for dusting.

If I could get a huge static Dyson for my workshop, or even something double the height and the same diameter as a Henry I'd dump the Numatic tomorrow.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Actually, it's completely useless. Try sucking up some fine dust (plaster dust in my case), and you can see it billowing out of the exhaust. Try a paper filter instead, and it's blocked almost instantly. Completely useless.

Vacuum cleaners which remove the collected dirt from the airflow make so much more sense, and hence work so much better.

Ideal for commercial cleaners. You can point to all the dust you blew into the air which has settled the next day, to show how often you need to clean the area, because you aren't cleaning the area at all. It's just a leaf blower in another disguise.

[Steve Firth]

Err you can. They are referred to as "cyclones" and that's where dumbass Dyson got the idea from. Standard kit in workshops, and they go up to sizes , you can usually see them outside the workshop looking like a giant water tank with a cone underneath.

Here's some info on bodging a DIY version:

a cyclone greatly reduces the load on the vacuum cleaner and if it's designed properly (the above really is a bodge) then it can be emptied easily and without fuss. Usually the cone is suspended over a container or bag. There dust and shavings are not ejected under pressure, they just fall out of the bottom of the cyclone.

Here's what it should look like:

[Steve Firth]

Errm you should also have a bag in the vacuum.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Last report I read criticised the amount of particles they released. And the not particularly high suction.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I meant paper bag (not paper filter).

[Steve Firth]

I suspect that as usual "Which?" applied their childish test standards.

"we tested all these paints, this was the best one but it's not sold anymore"

"The Goldring is a decent record deck (please ignore the hum and rumble)"

"The Allegro is a fine choice for family motoring"

etc.

[David]

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The sort of thing said by those who only read the headlines.

As opposed to an advertiser saying their new paint is the best ever?

All turntables rumble. At that time most produced some hum too.

Well that's one out of how many tested? Jaguar certainly didn't like Which members reporting on poor reliability. But you like Jags...

I've bought several 'best buys' for things I just expect to work. Including an upright and wet and dry vacuum cleaner. Both have been excellent, and are still in use. Unlike some I can't work up much enthusiasm for such an item, so for me that's just dandy.

[Steve Firth]

cyclone.

[jgharston]

Exactly. I bought a Hoover Junior in 1992 and it fell apart after about 2 months. I replaced it with a Mercedes for about =A3120 which has kept working ever since. It's fallen down stairs, off scaffolding, swept up cellar floors and back yards, and it just keeps on working. I bought a second one in 2001 for the tenants and they both just keep working.

-- JGH

[The Medway Handyman]

Absolutely true. Most DOC contracts cover spot vacuuming & dusting desks. The airbourne dust that collects on ledges is removed by 'periodical' cleaning which is charged extra.

[Mike]

You've certainly found the right words there :)