Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

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

MOLE

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.).