Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I hear that the HENRY is a great european machine,anyone know about them.......

MOLE

The Henry vacuum has been made by Numatic (http://www.numatic.co.uk/). There's a write up on Wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(vacuum_cleaner)

Until reading that article just now, I had no idea that the Infamous British 'Soham schoolgirls murderer' Ian Huntley while using Numatic floor cleaners as a school caretaker, had applied for and been granted a patent (Dustatic101) that would have 'would have revolutionised floor polishing' , but refuses to allow anyone to develop it.

It might be very popular in the UK for commercial cleaning and for some domestic users but I wouldn't say it's great!

I recall reading a post on a vacuum Forum in April 2005 which included a news article by a UK consumer editor pitting the Henry against the new dyson DC15.  It was the launch debut of the DC 15 Ball n the UK.  The Henry beat the dyson in performance.  The big bruhaha on the Forum was whether the Henry had a straight suction rug tool and/or power head.  As it turned out, it was a straight suction Henry and it still outcleaned the dyson Ball which at the time retailed for $599. 

In June 2005, I predicted on the Forum, that a price drop on the DC15 Ball of at least $50 was imminent.  Most of the dyson fans laughed and said no way.  In September 2005, dyson dropped the price of the DC15 by $100.  I also recall seeing jaydee demo the DC15 Ball at the NBC studios for his big launch.  The dyson picked up zip.  And when he dumped the dirt bin, notta came out.  I laughed.  It was on national TV.

As we know DC15 Ball sales are terrible.  Never even came close to the DC07 sales at Best Buy, I'm told.  And Consumer Reports rates it a poor for pet hair pick up.  And termed it more sizzle than substance balking at the heaviness of the vacuum's weight especially on user wrists and arms.  As we also know jaydee has introed a new generation of mommie and baby dyson ball vacuums.  We'll have to wait to see if these are any better than their DC15 Ball ancestor.

Carmine D.

Don't play 'em cheap.  What's interesting about Henry -- and George no less -- is that there are options that make the deal interesting.  Double- and triple-ply bags are offered and there are also heavy, large area cloth filters to be used along with them -- something like Nilfisk.  All applied, I'd think it's possible to achieve a level of air filtration at least close to "Best in Show".

Link -- http://www.numatic.co.uk/products4.asp?id=23

The electric power appears good for at least low and medium pile carpeting.  The Numatic machines are not stylish by any means but might be quite servicable in private residences as well as commercial sites.

Venson

I have also used these machines in a industrial environment; or more properly, the commercial version of "Henry". They had twin motors; the older ones were rated at 800 Watts each motor; 1600 Watts combined.

They were adequate, but nothing special. The electricians did not care for them, as the motors kept burning out.

With reference to the 'consumer test': was that in "The Sun" newspaper, by any chance?

If so, I definately would not take that paper's reporting as gospel. What it doesn't know, it tends to manufacture!

(Edited for clarification)

DC18 wrote:
Well, as silly as it looks with the face and all, I heard from more than one person I knew in the UK that they are VERY popular in commercial settings there due to their power and reliability.  Reading Trilobite's post might indicate otherwise about the reliability, however ;-)

I saw somewhere that there is a "Hetty" version of "Henry": a female version in pink, with eyelashes! (Was it in a link to Littlewoods Catalogue?)

Also, there is a special version of the Numatic vacuum cleaner, known as the "Medivac Microfilter". This is all metal construction, and individually tested and certified to HEPA filtration standard. UK consumers can purchase it 'Value Added Tax' free, if suffering from a respiratory allergy. Previously was only a 1000 Watt motor, now a 1200 Watt.

There was scientific paper somewhere, dating from the mid nineties about the efficiency of domestic vacuum cleaners, and how as they aged, filtration efficiency became dreadful (plastic-cased machines warped under the hot exhaust air from the motor, allowing unfiltered air to bypass the filters, etc.).