[Bertie Boo]

Hi everyone

I have a fleet of Henrys (although i only ever use one and it never lets me down), i like Henry for i'd say 75% of the work i do.

But for some carpets -in particularly houses with dogs and cats- it has to be an upright. I have both upright and cylinder in the car, the upright being a Dyson DC07 which has been an absolute trooper. It still works (despite being used to within an inch of it's life) but will need changing this year.

I have wasted so much money over the years on 'commercial' uprights, namely a Lindhaus Activa, Electrolux soft-bag commercial, plus a 'Fast' 2-motor model (this being of a 'generic' build as used by Victor, Nilco, Hoover, and Oreck on some of their commercial models).

None have been particularly lightweight, all were dangerously difficult to push around, and none went anywhere near the skirting boards (not that i'm saying that an edge-cleaning upright is an excuse not to use a crevice tool!).

I have also tried Karcher and Sebo uprights (in the case of the latter i tried single and 2 motor models) and didnt like them. I would like an upright cleaner that is easy to use and looks a bit more the part than a domestic model. Also bags must be easy to obtain.

I fell in love with a Vax commercial softbag at the Cleaning Show, earlier this year, but it was vastly overpriced and i couldnt help thinking 'been there, done that', got the tee shirt covered in pooe" when it came to getting the paper bag out of its canvass exterior...

I also find an on-board hose a real boon (though far from a substitute for my beloved Henry  )

Any advice you can give me?

TIA

Bertie

[DREAM CLEAN]

we love the dc07 too.
we have about 4 and they are as good as gold.
we service them every month.
I only buy them when they are offer in tesco for about £140

[Ian Rochester]

Have you tried the Sebo Dart, it's lightweight, does edge to edge, they were on offer at www.restormate.co.uk

[Bertie Boo]

Hi! Thanks so much for the info!

Yes, have tried a Sebo dart at the Cleaning Show 2005, but it didn't 'grab' me, so to speak, seeing how it was a 2-motor system i thought i'd do better to consider the Henry Hound (or its equivalent model that does not have the carbon filter) as the dart seemed to be basically a tub vac on a handle with a power head.

It was super light weight though 

Bags were small too 

The DC07 i have is under extended warranty (at teh time i bought it they only had 2 yr warrantys unlike the new 5 year warranty, so i extended it) but i am ashamed to have it repaired as it is in such a state for a machine that is less than 3 yrs old.

It got into this disgrace once before but on that occasion i lied and said it had fallen downstairs, to which the repairs were covered under my extended warranty cover (which, although had not 'kicked in' as the machine was under 2yrs old, did cover me for accidental damage). #

I have a brand-new 07 i bought for my house that i've not used yet (it was a clutch control model that i picked up for £130, so i 'had' to have it as it was a bargain  ) but i can see it being used for 'work' at this rate... Got it off these guys http://www.freenet.ltd.uk/dyson_dc07i.asp

Its cheaper than the non-clutch model as well. I dont like the non-clutch DC07's

I think i'll use my old DC07 as a donor cleaner to just order spares until the motor dies. I was once given a DC07 Animal which was old when i got it, i managed to remove the remaing dregs of life from it before the motor went up in smoke  :

Glad its not just me who thinks Dyson cleaners have a place in socioty. It seems very trendy to dislike them. That said, i am not wild about some of those new cylinder Dyson jobs that i've seen in peoples house. Give me 5 minutes with one and i can promise you i'll have broken the telescopic tubes...

Thanks again

Bertie

[Jan K]

i swear by anything Miele

[Bertie Boo]

i swear by anything Miele

Ah but i see your staff use the clients things...so the cost of bags and maintaince must (i presume?) fall to the customer? Plus the tools wont get lost...i loose so many crevice tools it is untrue, the beauty of the Henry is that the tubes are 32mm (miele is 35mm) and most cleaners are 32mm, so i can always buy new/2nd hand tools easily.

Problem is Jan that i like an upright as well as a cylinder. Meile dont do an upright   

I did also 'have a quick go' with a clients brand-new Meile cylinder and i have to say it wasnt a patch on the old Meile cleaners i've used 

Stephen

[Jan K]

you can get anything on ebay.....

[Bertie Boo]

you can anything on ebay.....

come again?

Bertie

[Jan K]

guess it all depends on what miele you are using......i used to regularly use a client 10 yr old miele and the one i bought for myself about 3 years ago was, as you would expect, equally as good as her older one, but it was a similar model to hers anyway.

As far as uprights are concerned, I don't rate Dysons, in fact I don't rate any Dyson vacuums.....of all the vacuums i and my girls have used in the past 4 years the Dysons are the most troublesome.....henrys are the most reliable, but of course numatic dont make uprights.......i have heard good reports about sebo tho

[Bertie Boo]

Hi jan

Problem with Dysons are that (like a lot of vacuum cleaners) people never clean the filters or generally maintain the machine (which is my own reason for going to the huge bother -and it is a drag- to take my own vacuum cleaners). I do not like the Dyson cylinders as i think the tool kits are hideous.

The meile i was refereing to when i said wasnt a patch on the old one, well, it was a slap-bang up-to-the-minute model and, although it was near the to-end of the range, it lacked all the features that used to put meile up there at the top. Like the swivel hose, long flex, full-size small tools, lots of things really.

I've never been able to settle on the upright or cylinder thing, i've always loved both for different jobs. Sebo do uprights and Sebo lovers rate them most highly. I've used one once an thought it 'ok' but nowt special. The bags were small and very expensive too.

One of my first cleaners i ever bought for 'work' was a Hitachi Advantedge that cost me all of £59 in Argos. It was a super vacuum BUT the bags were very expensive and because it had a very stiff-bristle roller brush it didnt half shift some muck, causting the bags to fill very quickly.

Sadly the whole cleaner only last a bout 3 months before all the bits that held it together fell off... it saw some use in that short time though.

Bertie

[Bertie Boo]

Sadly, in a commercial environment, i DO think that a domestic vacuum will look very unprofesional. This is my concern when using domestic products and vacuums in peoples homes (though no one has ever questioned it). I have to say that seeing the Molly Maids going into a house carrying a pink and purple mop + bucket that i KNOW are sold for a few pounds in Wilkinson did make me smile 

Sadly people will only see your staff as 'just the cleaner' and as usual no matter how good she is if there is a problem they may well be saying "and have you seen the vacuum she is using?". i understand your point about splashing out on a Henry and how long it will take to recoop...do what i do when i spend money, think of the 'bigger picture' and what you MAY need it for one day 

I have aquired several Henrys in the last few years, i think i have 9 in total. I bought a huge stock-pile of Henrys and parts on ebay, paid less than £25 the lot, it was a collection-only sale but it was in spitting distance of where my m8 lives in Burnley (he's an NVQ cleaning assesor and has sent me loads of stuff too) so he went and fetched them. Out of all of it i got 3 working Henrys and enough parts to 'do-up' 3 or four half-henrys that i had lying about. Trouble is they rarely break so i dont ever use anything but the blue one which is for 'work' and the green one for the house.

I say buy a Henry, use it yourself daily, and take one of the old Henrys to the gym...

Bertie

[dg-cleaning]

Neither me or hubby are handy with stuff like that!Wish i could fix a hoover up with parts it seems so much cheaper for those who can

[Jan K]

the trouble with electrical appliances nowadays is they just just arent built to last....5 years if you are extremely lucky but by and large 18 months is just about all you will get out of something providing it has 'normal' use, whatever that is 

as a result lots items are sold with extra insurance and to be honest half the time you are better of going for cheap with insurance than expensive without 

[domestic bliss]

I also do not rate Dysons at all!  i find them very cumberson to move around.  I could give a few more reasons but i won't bore you.  However spares are reasonable should you need to replace apart which is frequently.
I have a Henry hound which is a green henry but it has a big power brush which is great for picking up pet hairs however they are a bit awkward when having to lug it up stairs.
Upright vacumm i like the sebo as i have used one in a clients house and it was also really good for picking up pet hairs.
Cylinder vacumm. I like the miele with the power brush attachment.
Wouldn't it be great if you could test drive vacuums like you do cars.

[Derek_Walker]

My Sebo dart commercial vac gets used every day on all types of carpet. It's very powerful & great at lifting up the pile and removing dry soil, hairs & fluff etc. It is also very lightweight and easy to maneuver around obstacles.

If you need to cut down on time and be more mobile, I would use a back pack vacuum, great for stairs and offices etc, also very powerful.

[Bertie Boo]

Neither me or hubby are handy with stuff like that!Wish i could fix a hoover up with parts it seems so much cheaper for those who can

DG

as a kid i was facinated with vacuum cleaners and earnt pocket money by buying old cleaners at boot sales etc and then fixing up the neighbours and families broken cleaners with bits and bobs from the ones i'd bought. The first two jobs i did when i left school were in vacuum repair shops, and a few years later i spent several years working in an electrical showroom, where of course we sold vacuums.

You are right, it does make it cheaper as i can put right what goes wrong - when i say that my Henry never goes wrong i forget that i've had to replace the lead twice and teh switch once, not to mention repairing the hoses. I never think about it as it comes easy to me, i suppose it does save me money.

I also belive that on cylinder cleaners the floor head makes a huge difference, I have just bought a super floor tool which was actually a part made for Dyson by a 3rd party company. It has wheels and also a static brush strip to ruffle the carpet pile. its no good for hard floors but superb on carpets. Am i allowed to post links?

Bertie

[Jan K]

yea please do