Vacuum recommendations

[Robotmannick]

Can anyone recommend a vacuum please? I'm getting way too much grief from the missus when I use the house vacuum for sucking up general diy debris.

I'd also like to be able to use it for cleaning ash/dust from a wood burner (yes, it will be very cold before I do this).

It will be used pretty infrequently so not looking to spend a fortune and don't need l/m class filters etc. I can't imagine I'll need wet facility too so unless that comes at no additional cost, I don't see the benefit for me.

Thanks very much!

 

[Burnerman]

The good old Henry for just over the £ ton is a great all round machine - there's also a wet vac in the same family.
I've just bought a Homebase Ryobi machine with a stainless drum, great but the filters are very pricey.
John

 

[SammyInnit]

Aldi have £50 wet vacs on now and again and they're decent. Power take off too.

 

[Tigercubrider]

my Aldi one is brilliant

 

[SammyInnit]

The good old Henry for just over the £ ton is a great all round machine - there's also a wet vac in the same family.
I've just bought a Homebase Ryobi machine with a stainless drum, great but the filters are very pricey.
John

Not sure if it was because it was 110v but the henry I had once was a nail. Chucked it in the end.

 

[Robotmannick]

Thanks all. I guessed that Henry's name might pop up!

It's interesting reading the comments above as they mirrored my original thoughts! As it will be used only once in a blue moon, I was torn between 100 notes on a Henry or less than half that for a shed special..I'll take a look at Aldi too now though.

Thanks folks,

Nick

 

[Tigercubrider]

the Aldi one is very close to a Screwfix model

 

[Burnerman]

Henry has one particular fault and that's the high speed PCB which is easily bypassed.
Good points - stainless tubes (I've squashed one to allow for car cleaning), very little dust seems to pass by the filters which are bag type and cheap and a good length of cable. Spares are good but it's best to use a genuine motor when the original one expires! Cable length is good too.
John

 

[^woody^]

Just make sure it has a HEPA filter if you dont want that dust flying all around the room.

 

[Tigercubrider]

with my Aldi one, I discovered that a Screwfix filter (the big main one) fitted.
I also bought some hepa filters and they fit

 

[opps]

I've just bought a Homebase Ryobi machine with a stainless drum, great but the filters are very pricey.
John

A mate who used to have the WAP manufactured Festo dust extractors used to use pillow cases as a pre-filter rather than paying for bags. The pillow cases were pretty efficient at dealing with MDF dust.

 

[Robotmannick]

Thought I'd post a follow-up on this in case anyone is making a similar choice...

I bought the Macallister MWVP16L for about £45. It's a wet and dry vac, although I've not used the wet function yet (and probably never will). Initially I was disappointed as the hose kept getting blocked - there was plenty of suction power, but the brush attachment was just too narrow and debris was getting stuck so I spent more time unblocking it than sucking with it. But if you remove the brush and use the pointed nozzle instead, the problem disappeared.

I've used it for general debris - small bits of plaster etc, sawdust, sanding dust and even to clean the woodburner of ash. I was more than surprised - I expected the ash in particular to all get blown out of the exhaust, but this didn't happen - I even put a sheet of white paper next to the exhaust to check and it was clean. It would also pick up lumps of plaster, stones etc that were approximately the size of a 10p piece, maybe slightly larger.

Most entertaining - I can't believe I never thought of this before - was to get the BBQ started. Move the hose to the exhaust to put it in blow mode and you create your own little blast furnace. Gets it going in no time.

I've not tried other models, but I'm happy with this one for the relatively infrequent use it gets. It does the job and is less than half the price of a Henry.

 

[blup]

Nilfisk Alto AERO26- 21PC Compact Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner, it has a washable PET filter, which is HEPA equivalent, push clean filter, and automatic power tool start feature. Long lead and hose and all the attachments (although they don't store easily on the machine) so can be used as a normal hoover . The rubber adapter that comes with it fits my Makita 1/2" router and Bosch circular saw. To have got all these features on a Makita or Bosch wet and dry would have cost well over £300. Mine was £120 last year, may be a little dearer now.

Excellent product.

Cheers,

Blup

 

[SammyInnit]

I have to say the Nilfisk vacs are brilliant. I've recently had a Makita which is basically a rebranded/produced for Makita, Nilfisk Attix 44 and it's brilliant. They do retail at £550 but I copped a brand new one for £275.