Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I now work for a large appliance/audio retail chain that also sells vacuums. I won't name the chain as we're not in the business of endorsing specific vacs.However, we had 4 vacs on cleanup duty during prep for store opening. FYI, this means the floors are littered with cardboard scraps, screws, plastic buttons, styrofoam, paper, plastic chunks, minature plastic bags, sawdust, just plain dirt, etc.We had two Dirt Devil "Vision" style bagless vacs, supposedly commercial versions as both had an orange 3 wire cord (otherwise they were standard Dirt Devils). Also in the mix were a Dyson DC 14, and a Royal professional vac (old style using cloth bag).The Dirt Devils had a miserable time with the stuff. They clogged their pleated filters within minutes of use. Cleaning the filters was a joke; banging against side of trash can raised huge cloud of dust and only got half the dirt out (three different employees tried to get the filters clean but to no avail). I finally resorted to taking filter outside and brushing its pleats with a floor brush - that got about 90% of the suction back. Their hoses frequently jammed up and the stupid things were annoying loud. I might pay $20 for those jokes but no more.The Dyson and Royal just picked the stuff up. I did not see anyone having problems with either of those vacs. We sell all those brands of Vacs, BTW -- however, we presently do not sell high priced cannisters (Miele, Sebo, etc.).

Hi Vacomatic,

Interesting story.  Pleated filters just don't get it and never will.  By the way exactly how many times did you empty the bagged Royal?  I've known emptying a plain old cl;oth bag to be a lot less messy than dealing with pleated filters.

The old-style Royal upright you used is a machine that been tried and true for years. It will literally go on forever if taken care and is simple enough in design to usually not present clogging issues.  Glad to hear the Dyson did not clog but how often did it have to be emptied so as not to compromise the "cyclonics"?

My local Best Buy is in the habit of allowing staff to use some of its display machines for daily cleaning .  They are usually taken back to the display area after use without being emptied  -- not a pretty sight and a real turn-off I'm sure to possible buyers.  Why the practice of using demo household vacuums to clean substantial commercial floor space comes about, I'll never understand.  Best Buy isn't headed for the poor house yet and can well afford some decently equipped commercial machines ot take on clean up.

Best

Venson

Thanks for sharing the experience with Dirt Devils, Dyson, and Royal with cloth bag.  A couple of nights ago, I visited a Walgreens store that opened here in June.  While I was there, one of the employees was cleaning with a new Royal commercial upright with orange cloth bag; the employee said that she liked the Royal and that it cleaned well, despite the need to empy the shake-out bag.

Recently the Hoover Windtunnel self propelled, which we've had about a year and a half and that we clean our offices with, quit on us.  Needed a new switch and brush roll.  While it was being repaired, we used a Hoover Model 25 and a General Electric upright from the late 1940's from my collection.  The Hoover really cleaned.  The person who used the G.E. said it didn't clean as well; but he didn't understand how to adjust the height on it; and that's probably why it didn't clean as well.

 

Hi sfosweeperuser,

GE uprights of the era you mention were really not all that hot.  Though the actual motor power was about the same as Hoover's -- nothing remarkable -- and some weighed in on the scale at less, they did not possess aggressive brush rolls and were kind of woosy on rugs. The brush roll shaft was maybe no more than three-fourths of an inch thick and the horse hair tufts relatively soft and long.  Despite the competition, GE did not make any changes til years down the line. 

Hoover had abandoned that  kind if thing long before for the exact opposite -- thick brush roll shaft, shorter, firmer bristles and the well-known beater bar.  Model numbers escape me but the best GE uprights were probably the ones originated in the early 60's.  Then again, aside from the eye-catching Roll-Easy the world never rushed to GE for it's vacuums.  Though the company made just about everything for the home you could think of, GE home appliance product of more interest to the public were moreso its large items like refrigeraters, washers and dryers, etc., smaller items like steam irons and electric kitchen gear.

In actuality, I think Hoover along with Electrolux reigned.  Electrolux during its "straight suction" years allowed you to do many task with relative ease and became popular despite it really not being much of a match for a Hoover upright when it came to rug cleaning -- the reason shoppers of the time shoppers generally bought a vacuum for.

Emptying a cloth bag usually was never a big deal.  You simply spread some newspaper on the floor, held the bag's collar against it with a free hand or your feet and shook the bag till you'd loosened the majority of the dirt inside.  I've done the bagless deal and cloth bags in comparison are much easier to deal with.  In time, if we begin to get serious about "going green" permanent bags may be coming back in to fashion.

Regards,

Venson

Venson wrote:
Someone is tired of this practice happening, so they have posted signs to the employees.  They will be put on report if they use the machines.  Each BB store should have a commercial upright of some sort.  I have been in the stores and have seem them being used.  I think the problems are that everyone wants their department cleaned at the same time and some want to use a vacuum cleaner that is not so heavy.

no subject

I worked for a large and growing appliance electronics retailer. Each store goes through six or more household bagless vacuums per year. I suggested that they move to backpacks and vacuum daily, not at night, but in the morning before the store opened to pick up all the debris and dust that settled at night, thus saving the effort and expense of daily dustmopping which puts a large quanity of dust back into the air, and stopping the practice of putting at least six vacuums per year into the landfills. Four vacuums would allow the entire store to be vacuumed in under 30 minutes. I was told that wouls not be practical, since the compamy was now publicly traded and expenses must be held at zero.