Vacuum cleaner for DIY

[David W.E. Roberts]

Hi,

I need a vacuum cleaner which is small and easy to handle to get into all the nooks and crannies around pipework etc. to clean up dust, swarf et al.

Using the main domestic vac is a pain because it is too cumbersome.

The little B&D dustbusters seem a joke - especially with an 8 minute run time :-(

I saw this in B&Q

which looks a reasonable solution - also designed to suck dust from power tools :-)

Does anyone have experience of this, and how effective it is?

I note that it is only 600W whereas compact domestic vacs from Argos e.g.

1400W i.e. over twice the power.

Any viable alternatives at roughly the same price or cheaper?

TIA Dave R

[The Natural Philosopher]

HENRY TO THE RESCUE!!!

[The Natural Philosopher]

HENRY TO THE RESCUE!!!

[Steve]

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1&langId=-1&catalogId=1001&productId=64736

I agree with other posters. Henry every time, its perfect for sucking up any kind of crud, plaster dust you name it. Easy to empty & doesn`t clog up providing you empty it reasonably often. Cheeper on Ebay :-)

Steve

[David W.E. Roberts]

> 1&langId=-1&catalogId=1001&productId=64736

Thanks - although there was only one other poster who seems to have a repetition problem repetition problem repetition problem :-)

The Henry looks a good vacuum cleaner but at 6.6Kg is fairly bulky. Prices tending towards £90-£100 are also far higher than I want to go! I already have a full sized 'wet and dry' vac. (not Henry)

The cheapest one at Argos is 3.9Kg and £24 which is more in the ball park for a lightweight extra vac. I was mainly wondering if the design bits on the B&Q one (power socket, power tool dust extractor adapters) were features worth the extra price on a vac. with less than half the rated power.

Cheers Dave R

[Mark]

It's not that heavy and it's got a long hose so you don't have to move ot about all that much anyway, ie. balance it on the stairs to do them all in one go. The lighter something like a vac is the more likley it is to be flimsy and prone to damage.

It will "hoover" up just about anything without complaint plus it's got a face what more could you want? ;-)

Mark S.

[Alan]

In message , David W.E. Roberts wrote

They are a waste of time. I bought something similar to clean the car (a bi-yearly activity). It was completely useless.

No experience.

Most of the large supermarket outlets are selling domestic compact vacuum cleaners (1300/1500W) for under £30.

I have one and it works well. It is built to a price but it is 'fit for purpose'. Judging by the amount of heat my cleaner generates much of the

1300W may be due to motor inefficiency.

The disposable collection bag is relatively small (6x6x4 inches) to fit the small size of the machine so consider the cost of the bags if you are using it a lot for major cleaning activities.

As for getting into small nooks and crannies the supplied tools are about the same size as supplied with any larger cleaner. However, it is easy to hold the machine in one hand while sucking up the rubbish using just the end tool on the flexible tube.

[Dave Plowman]

Thing is, for awkward jobs you probably need as powerful a vacuum as possible - at least 1000 watts.

[David W.E. Roberts]

Thanks, Alan!

First realistic answer today (please note to all Henry fans it does NOT meet my specification however much you love it).

Cheers Dave R

[Jeremy C B Nicoll]

We use one for crumbs on the kitchen floor - it's just about ok for that.

[David W.E. Roberts]

Not sure what you mean? Do you mean that if it wasn't B&Q then you would be interested?

[The Natural Philosopher]

The above is rougjly what I use as well. A sub £50 1300W cylinder with a cloth bahg I sahke out every few minutes when doing really heavey jobs like plaster dust.

Its also the one of choice for stairs (lift in one hand), cars (ditto, and it pokes in all the little corners)and general pourpose usage. The others we have are dysons (useless IMHO unless you have large uninterupted spans of fitted carpet) and a Goblin wet and dry, only ever used wet, for shampooing dog turds etc out of carpets, or deep washing things that get filthy.

Those little cloth bagged far east big suckers last for years, and when they go you just bin em and get another one. I did remotor one once. But all that hassle? And the motor was 20 quid I think.

[Eric the Red]

I bought the WD1000 from Wickes, about £40. Looks very similar to the Earlex which is available at other DIY stores for a couple of quid more.

Its not particularly fancy just a straight forward drum vacuum It has a good long hose which you can attach to powertools to cut down on creating too much mess in the first place. Then for cleaning up it has a good strong vacuum and eats brick dust/light rumble.

In my opinion a good value at £40.

Eric.

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1&langId=-1&catalogId=1001&productId=64736

[RichardS]

Then your specification is most obviously wrong!!!

;-)

You'll eventually be lured by the hypnotic gaze of a Henry...

Given the improvement in battery performance in the last 10 years, it must surely be possible to buy something approximating to a dust-buster on steroids. I haven't seen one though.

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[The Natural Philosopher]

A SUB C cell will deliver about 30 watts for 6 minutes, top technology.

You will need therefore around 30 of them to get a kilowatt for 6 minutes.

The cost will be around £100 for these rechargeables, to give you 6 minutes of mains performance vaccum cleaning.

The unit will weigh 15lb for the batteries alone.

Now would you care to rethink that? :-)

[Alan]

In message , The Natural Philosopher wrote

Furthermore, much of the improvement in rechargeable battery technology has been targeted at applications where very little power is required, but for very long periods of time (mobile phones etc.)

Something designed for a very high capacity for its size, weight and cost but can only deliver a few tens of mAmps will not be suitable for supplying the 1000W required for every working solution suggested in this thread.

[RichardS]

Well, won't disagree with the calculation, but just 2 points.

1) Couple of hundred W would do the dustbuster on steroids, surely? 2) Batteries have sufficient power to drive circular saws, would have thought that it was possible to create a reasonably powerful vacuum with such a motor/battery combination. Granted, they're expensive though.

Perhaps I'm thinking abut the wrong solution though. A dustpan and brush combination are now coming to mind... :-)

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[The Natural Philosopher]

However those cells (Lithium technolofgy)ARE avaialable and DO deliver approximately 50% more power to weight and about 4 times the energy per unit weight.

But your vaccum cleaner now is costing nearly $1000...

Packs delivering up to 50-60A at whatever voltage are being used at the moment. Probably a kilowatt for ten or twenty minutes is achievable.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You tell me? Oh well. 7lb weight then :-)

I didn't know there were battery powered circular saws?

I don't think sawing takes as much enegy as you think either.

Of course. Or an extension cable.

[Owain]

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote | However those cells (Lithium technolofgy)ARE avaialable and | DO deliver approximately 50% more power to weight and about | 4 times the energy per unit weight. | But your vaccum cleaner now is costing nearly $1000...

That'll be the orek then

Owain