Vacuum cleaners, vacuum cleaner technology - and the ban!

[Arif110]

Hi Collective!

Starting this thread partly to weedle out any fellow vac nuts out there!

I've been following vaccuum cleaner design from the start - not just the aesthetics, but the tech - so how for example originally the motor would 'handle' the dirt directly, to later where it got to sit behind the filter system/bag. How vacs used to be 'machines', with lots of bits to them - almost as interesting as a car to take apart - to current-day one-plastic-carcass - add motor and labels!

I used to live near the Perivale Hoover factory - worshipped the place (they've used it on Poirot sets, no less) - but was never allowed to visit, as had to be 12 years old minimum, and it closed before then - gutted! Anyone ever been? It's of course a Tesco now - and and Urbex'er in me wants to go in, sneak behind a door and see what's what!

So on to the ban - I totally understand the BS of meaningless Wattages (directly analogous to audio gear, where 'Wattage' input for audio does not equate the Watts output - efficicency is the key, of course).

For vacs - certainly, floorhead design, agitation-not-just-suction - etc, etc. But let's say you get all that right in a machine (which I think Miele has for example) - then I do sometimes need the air-watts that goes with a decently-developed vac motor and turbine head, running on 2200 Watts.

I suspect that the motor-head design is at the pinnacle of where it could be - they're almost as beautifully engineered as the internals of jet turbines - and I suspect as effective a their job as they can be.

So the only variable now is - how to get it to spin as fast as a current-day 2200W Miele motor (as an example of what I suspect is a decently-developed motor) - for fewer Watts?

Is brushless tech the answer - as deployed in radio controlled cars? Some of these apparently output power comparable to chainsaw engines, or greater?!!

Do we think that vac manufacturers will bother trying to get back the air watts of the Miele 2200W machines (or any 'decent' 2200W vac) - or simply make do with present-day 1600 Watt motor technology - which for most, seems to be 'good enough'.

Yours in anticipation!


Arif

[Arif110]

Graham said:

with the current more modular design, is there a market for after market hopped up high wattage motors... your just selling a motor not the vac so a way to get around the ban lol...

Well absolutely - my Plan B around the ban was to buy the new Miele line, which use exactly the same carcass as old, order a new 2200W motor from Ebay for an original S8 - and transplant it!

I used not to be happy with my Henry's suction - so much potential, so well-executed - but let down by an American motor (Lamb) - so had harvested a Domel (German) from an Electrolux, and transplanted it! It must have been the only Henry of its kind, and I called him Henry Domel!

So certainly - hopping up (an expression I'm more used to in the world of RC cars) a new vac to be more powerful, is something many might consider!

This is all on the assumption that the motor in question is at the pinnacle of current-day efficiency - rather than thinking that high watts equates to high suction. The vac itself and pipework needs to be sealed well too, etc.


Arif

[Arif110]

motco said:

I worked at the Perivale Hoover factory for six years and knew the buildings in the Perivale Group very well because as an engineering apprentice I supplemented my income by being a part time company auxiliary fireman. That said, although I was a lab bod, it was materials technology not cleaner design that I worked in after finishing training. During the years of training I did occasional stints on production lines: Junior (1334), shampoo/polisher, Hooverette and Dustette (at Abbey Works off North Circular), Senior and commercial models, cylinder model 419 motor manufacture, plus all the component production. At that time the company made almost every part in house; only things like standard fasteners, magnet wire, and ball bearings were out sourced. Manufacture of the Hooverflex hose was a fascinating process that was originally carried out at Abbey Works, and then transferred to the new Perivale building behind the 1930's original. The sports club bowling green was sacrificed for that! Happy days when Hoover hadn't felt the cold wind of competition from Rolls Razor firstly, then foreign rivals with cheaper labour. The management at the time were lazy and complacent and didn't react quickly enough to competition. There was little union trouble because Hoover was a very good employer, so we cannot say that it went the way of BL.

How utterly fantastic buddy!! Exactly the sort of person I was hoping to bring to the fore with this thread! You have lived through and played a part in industrial history. We know this, because that era was global, and has now gone forever, along with the motivations and spirit behind art deco, and those pointy, finned American cars. Such a different world today. I think that's why I'm so in awe of that time and anyone who's lived in it (consciously, as you clearly have) - they've lived through a Halcyon era of the entire Western world.

[Arif110]

soad said:

Similar thread (regarding the ban): Next EU Meddling Target: Vacuum Cleaners

Indeed! It's the input of someone called 'Beko...' something on there that gave me the idea that this thread might have some life! He's a vacuum cleaner collector, and had some very erudite thoughts on motor technology and the ban - although we're on different camps, as I am of the camp where there is no such thing as too much suction!

It's all about context - certainly, a floor-head can suck too hard for its own good - but with a well-designed dusting brush (which doesn't suck its own bristles downwards - like with a Miele, doesn't), I don't think we'd ever have gotten to the point of too much power - e.g. I use the brush to clean my laser-printer's output rollers - and it's nice knowing that the vac is actually sucking dust out of areas buried down there, which a normal vac simply wouldn't. Same for dust buried behind a keyboard's keys - it literally extracts stuff out from nooks and crannies, or the top of an amplifier's vents.

[Arif110]

wiffmaster said:

That's brilliant. He looks and sounds exactly as I imagine a man who uploads a 48 minute video reviewing a vacuum cleaner should look and sound.

I'm not quite that far gone, thankfully! More into the tech and history.

[Arif110]

qube_TA said:

I've never seen a cleaner or a builder use anything other than a Henry. Mines been bomb proof and I put all kinds of DIY death through it, even cleans my driveway without a grumble. Cheap too, only about £150 for the big version.

Well this is it - they are bomb-proof, & will take abuse like no other, both outside & inside. However - that they are the choice of night-staff in our office blocks only means that they are 'good enough' at the cleaning function, for the type of floor (close, short pile) in question, & for the type of dirt in question (visible bits lying around) - however you need an airo-brush for anything like a deep clean of normal carpet, & tonnes of suction if you really want that deep-clean result. A 1200Watt Lamb motor isn't going to be as good a source of suction as a modern German motor, of almost double the Wattage. Of course - in absolute terms, a Henry is excellent - but you can go even further than that high bar, IMO.