Automatic wet/dry hoover - from B&Q? 8^O

[johnheritage]

I picked up a B&Q trade catalogue to have a look through.

And found a hoover in there, the 'Mac Wet and Dry'.

What surprised me is this thing has a power take off socket on it, automatic start up and a delayed switch off, as well as being wet capable.

So you can connect it to your gear and have it spin up and down as you grab the tool. Handy!

1250W, 30l, stainless steel drum.

The price is so low, it looks like a mistake. £48.49 no VAT I think

To give you an idea of what I mean, Bosch and DeWalt do these things.

Bosch;
1200W, 25l drum
£181.57 with VAT

DeWalt;
1200w, 45l drum
£249.99 with VAT

That's a big difference in price, wonder if it is in performance.

Thought some of the chippy guys might be interested in that.

You will need a trade account with them to buy it, which means proof of being in business. I don't think you need a VAT code to use their trade catalogue though.

Code is 801293 and it's on page 670 of the Autumn 2010 catalogue.

Edit: If you want to check one out, don't phone and say "Is that price correct?"

 

[muggles]

Someone else on here was asking about the MacAllister vacuums a while back, apparently it's damn near impossible to get hold of replacement filters and bags for them.

Also, beware just looking at the motor ratings. With vacuums what is much more important is the strength of the vacuum (usually measured in mBar) and the amount of air it draws through (usually in litres per minute). You may also come across Air Watts, which as far as I can tell is a shiny new unit of measurement invented by the manufacturers and calculated using dark magic.

If you intend to use it for sucking up liquids, check the liquid capacity. Some Wet&Drys have a pitiful wet capacity.

I run a Nilfisk Alto Aero 25-21, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

 

[bonzobanana]

Silverline do similar vacuums, ideal for power tools like table saws and you can easily get replacement bags etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-...ef=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=diy&qid=1293708791&sr=8-3

3 year guarantee as well. Probably exactly the same as the b&q model so maybe the bags are compatible.

Silverline products are hit and miss, some are great and some are poor its the same generic stuff you get rebranded by lots of different shops the only difference is you get a longer guarantee which makes it much safer to purchase.

 

[johnheritage]

Good replies guys!

Replacement parts are an obvious one.

I have had a Karcher for nearly a decade now and the thing is STILL working. Despite hoovering out drains, plasterboard / brick / cement dust, oil sumps full of metal chips and the poor thing gets some serious abuse - it never dies. I don't know if they do one with a socket one it, but I'd get one over everything else if they did.

Those usually use paper bags, but the local hoover place had a generic cloth bag with a zip that works just as well and can be emptied. Might be the same for the Mac ones. If not, it's not hard to sew one - just a pillow case basically.

I remember being in a curry's and seeing a Karcher with a higher air wattage than the Dyson the guy kept showing us. I pointed that out and he said "Ah, but the dyson doesn't loose air watts". My ASS doesn't it! The thing opens it's release valve thing all the time and completely wusses out. The Karcher, I get it to suck up anything, never take care of it and still works like new.

Silverline, I agree as well. I've seen a guy taking a hammer back (with the barcode sticker still on it) with the head bent 120 degrees back on it's self.

But then they do make some really good stuff too. My racheting plastic pipe cutter from them is absolutely awesome!

The silverline hoover might be worth checking out at £60. 15KPa is 150mbar. A Dyson will manage about 200, if it doesn't spazz out.

The dysons clog so easily because they're designed for filtering spores through sponges and hepa filters, which clog almost immediately with brick dust. I think the cyclone may actually be letting that straight into the filters, whereas the bag style don't. They also don't loose air watts, or mine doesn't anyway, anywhere near as fast as the dyson does.

Have an evil New Years,
John

 

[opps]

I don't think that any of the cheap models have a flow dial, nor do they tend to have decent hoses or hose length.

My festool ct22 has 3.5m antistatic hoses(of varying diameter), can be used wet and dry- at extra cost!!!- flow rate, quality of build. I can use it as a step up and stack the festool systainer boxes on top. It is also quieter than the cheap models- a factor work considering when using it day in day out.

The bags are excellent quality but cost a fiver each- they do have a reusable bag for about £90

BUT if sanding plaster etc the bag will lose suction or split- this is true of all paper bags- there is a 3rd party product that you can put inline which uses a cyclone to remove the larger dust into a cheap plastic bag.

http://dustdeputy.com/

The outlay for Festool is steep but I have had both of my dust extractors for 8 years and expect to have them in another 10, so each at 450 that works out to 20 something per year.

Having had the misfortune of using the Earlex/MA etc I just found that they made a lot of noise and blew the dust around, the earlex also fell over A LOT...

The best "cheap" unit I have used is the numatic henry sized one with auto power switching- approx 100 quid.