Vacuum cleaners

I remember a marketing campaign by Electrolux years ago - caused a lot of mirth in the trade at the time..... "Nothing sucks like an Elecrolux...."

In fairness, their vacuum cleaners back in the 80's & early 90's were actually pretty decent.

 

We bought our Dyson in 1995 and used it until 2014. It was heavy and noisy but did an excellent job. The only problem with it was that the cable, where it went into the handle, kept cracking. I suppose the word 'kept' may be an exaggeration but we had to have it repaired (can't do that sort of thing myself) three times. That cost us between £10 - £15 at our little local independent repairer.

It was still going strong when we eventually gave it to a charity as it was getting too heavy for us. We now have a battery Dyson and it's much lighter and easy to use. It's also less noisy but has a very annoying high pitched whine to it (I've sensitive hearing) that nobody else seems to hear . It only lasts about half an hour per charge but that's not too much bother.

 

It is still a wee bit of a mucky job, but not nearly as bad as it was - Dyson pretty much have it down to a fine art to be fair - remove the filter, separate the two parts, wash it under cool running water, then allow it to dry before reinstalling; they generally last the lifetime of the machine too.

Some manufacturers have simply reduced the power of their motors, whilst also making some design changes to lose weight - Bosch seem to have done a reasonably good job of maintaining suction levels for the reduced wattage, as have Miele; Dyson have done a particularly good job in this area as they have not only redesigned the motor components to optimise weight, balance and speed, but they have also employed some quite clever circuitry to control the motor and get the best out of it - - I watched a video on YouTube a while back where someone took one of theirs to bits and investigated how it was built (can't for the life of me remember who it was now, but I will try to find it); I was very sceptical about our new one, as it is so much smaller and much lower wattage than the old one, but it has significantly more suction than its predecessor despite the reduction in wattage.

Another trick being employed is to lower the wattage of the motor, but to have more than one of them - have one for the suction, and another for the brush-bar for example. Generally, with the likes of Dyson, Bosch, Miele, Sebo, Panasonic and NuMatic, you won't go too far wrong with any of them. I personally don't like the NuMatic machines, but they are as tough as old boots, and there is nothing to criticise about their build quality.

 

Oh dear! Does our machine have a filter?

 

Pretty much a certainty @shiney - on the battery machines, it is in the upper part of the motor/handle/bin housing. If you can give me a model number, I am happy to research where it is and how to access it for you.

 

They are, and they don't really seem to have much in the way of an R&D department. Decent enough, reasonably well made, but have been churning out the same thing for eons. As I say, personally, I don't rate them, but equally cannot criticise them as they seem to do their thing quite well for those that choose them

 

I'm happy to help Sheal - the least I can do for the good folks here on GC, not least as I have had some fantastic advice over the years, and have made some wonderful friends. I was brought up to treasure your friends - acquaintances are easy to come by, but good friends are very hard to find.