Domestic Vacuums in Commercial Settings

[bagintheback]

I realized while reading the thread "How Long Are Commercial-Duty Vacuums Used?" that I haven't seen a commercial vacuum in a proper setting for quite awhile. All places where they should be such as grocery stores, the library, retail stores, and some schools use domestic machines. $100 Wal-Mart/Target specials are everywhere, and they always seem to be the worst model as well. Why? If you can get a great Sanitaire for under $150, why buy the worst option possible instead?

Is this a genreal trend, or just around here in Arizona(a state which sold it's own capital building to raise capital)? Strange either way.

 

[thehooverman]

Some Stores Just Use Cheap Vacuums From Walmart

 

[thehooverman]

yes I see it all the time

 

[durango159]

Hotel Restaurant Management Majors opinion.

The economy is rough, businesses are looking to cut costs wherever they can. They know that an employee getting paid $8.50 an hour is going to abuse any product so they figure why spend the money on a $200 machine that may last just as long as a $40 product. While some employees are extremely wonderful and cautious others won't care about sucking up a penny, straw, crayon or perhaps a wet spot on the floor.

Most businesses that have carpeting use low profile carpeting so a vacuum cleaners performance is a non issue. Also many of the lower priced Sanitaires don't have on board tools. So the businesses figure they're getting extra value with the onboard tools while saving money.

Retail stores such as WalMart and Target, I think use returned or old shelf displays for their in-store usage.

Some businesses also just have a cheap vacuum for quick pick ups. Then they have a cleaning service that comes in every week or so. They figure if they have a cleaning service then their regular vacuum may not receive much use and can be a BOL model.

Sadly many restaurants do not have electric vacuum cleaners. The restaurant industry is one that really goes cheap on vacuums. Their labor is very under paid yet they employ so many that it is hard to keep labor cost down. They have prep cooks, line cooks, dishwashers, hosts, bartenders, servers, salaried managers and hourly supervisors, etc. That on top of food costs, fuel surcharges from vendors, other cleaning supplies such as Dip It for removing Tea and Coffee stains, rinse agents and soap for the dish machines is also Very Expensive. They also figure that their staff is constantly using manual carpet sweepers, along with brooms and dust pans continuously throughout the day so an electric vacuum cleaner for further carpet cleaning isn't necessary. On the positive side to restaurants many of them have their carpets professionally steam cleaned quarterly, and in some cases monthly. So at least they do that part right. Though that is also another LARGE Expense for the industry.

I have never seen a hotel that did not have commerial grade vacuum. Most of them have Sanitaires. I've also seen Sebos, Orecks, and Hoover Elites, and Hoover Guardsman for the majority of hotels I've been to. This is one environment that with the vacuums being on turned on and off throughout the day on maid carts that I have not seen a residential machine used in that application.

Hope this sheds some light on the subject.

 

[motojoejo]

I think that a lot of business/commercial places go through vacuums pretty fast. A big chunk of people do not maintain their vacuums so imagine 20 different people who don't want to change a belt or empty a bag. So the question comes up on why spend a chunk of money on machines that no one will take care of?

I worked at a coffee shop for a time and the vacuum was an Eureka bagless that was always packed and clogged till the motor burned out. It was replaced with a Bissell bagless that was again never emptied and burned up. Finally I talked my friend into heavy duty Sanitaire with shake out bag. The Sanitaire is still going strong after 5 years.

The piano store that I work for has been interesting. We have been through 2 Orecks (wore out after a year), 2 Dysons that just didn't do well on commercial carpet and sold on Craigslist, a nice Kenmore Whispertone that was left behind at a sale location, a trusty blue Sanitaire for 3 years and my personal Kirby Heritage 1. In our new store with 10,000 sq of carpet; 2 vacuums are nice.

 

[ryan1994jeep]

An IGA (grocery store) here has a Dyson DC33. Which of course its very dirty and dusty, but they use to have a Bissell so they really stepped it up.

 

[madabouthoovers]

In England - the number 1 vac for companies has to be the Numatic Henry - we have them at work, and I use one to vac the petrol forecourt shop. They are knocked about yes, and no-one cares about them, but they are very robust and take a lot of stick, and we don't have much carpeting in the shops, just hard floors, so an upright isn't needed. Tub vacs are ideal for business use, and Henrys are so simple with no belts to worry about, and don't even need bags, so just a good knock out of the main filter is good enough to keep them going.
They are ideal for both commercial and domestic use, but were initially designed as a commercial.
The best uprights for company use are Sebos or Nilfisks

 

[parwaz786]

I used a Dyson

I used a Dyson in a building as big as an average school, really big rooms in there, My dad had to do some work there and involved cutting, loads of dust on the carpets, I took my Dyson DC25 there, they use a Nilco clean air bagged box shaped upright vacuum similar to a Sebo, that had a faulty brush bar now, and 3X Nilco dirty air bagged uprights, they even used one of them with a clog! They don't care about vacuums either.
Dyson DC25 Animal in there, yes it coped suprisingly, and it got a bin full only from 1 room, so imagine the other rooms! one of them is about 1/4 bigger than the one I vacuumed with the Dyson in.

I went downstairs in the library section and spotted an Eco Henry box! finally, the first descent vacuum they got, Henry's are the best.

 

[dysondestijl]

Yeah I always see tub vacs, and surprisingly I've seen loads of dyson a in shops too!

 

[rugsucker]

not just Arizona

Yes,more and more commercial places seem to think that when they go to the giant Chinese dept store for x & y if the vac doesn't work right they will also get the cheapest upright they see.We do have some national stores that will be sent a good vac,such as Royal upright,from their home office.Years ago many stores used the Electrolux CB with long hose and Power Nozzle that was discontinued.

 

[super-sweeper]

I remember

Seeing a Dyson,DC14 i think in Lowes once.
That,And the K-Mart store,Which used to have a commercial Eureka,Now has a Bagless Dirt-Devil quickvac or something,The cyclonic re-do of the older Dirt-Devil featherlite.
(On a side note,The K-Mart I'm referring to is sadly closing,So i see that there is no need to invest in a new cleaner when the store is closing.They're now to the point that they're selling the store shelfs and what-not,So i wanted to (Obviously) Buy the Eureka.Seeing that there is now that devil in it's old place, I didn't even bother).

-Alex.

 

[vacuumman206]

commercial vacuums

This tread did remind me of a couple things I've seen before. I have been in several department stores where it seemed they used the display vacuums for store cleaning. Rather disgusting I would think to be investigating a new vacuum to buy and then see the model you are studying is full of crap in the dust bin and the brush is full of matted junk. Almost every display vac I've ever seen in Kohl's department stores was like that. Even though in one particular store it looked like their main cleaning vacuums were sanitaires. I would say any hotel I've ever been in had a Windsor and I might have seen sanitaires and orecks once, at different hotels, but mainly the cheapest Windsor sensors. Every drug store I've seen either has commercial Royals or usually the commercial rebrand of the Hoover Tempo. I have yet to see any establishment with a commercial elite. The party store my dad's store is in had a fancy yet cheap Hoover Whisper that was missing a bunch of important parts, and I gave them a repair estimate or offered them a cheap dirt devil for $20, they opted to sweep the throw rugs and floor from then on. There have been some oddities I've seen at several places, but the locations and vacs escape me right now.

BTW, has anyone ever heard of a Royal badged Tempo? This is one of those vacs I saw in a Walgreens. I have a picture of it I'll have to post but its on my other computer.

 

[thehooverman]

Yep Sure Have

 

[dustin]

I have seen lots of cheap machines in commercial settings, and I think in some cases they could be better than a commercial vac. I work at Dollar Tree, and the whole store is carpeted with some weird non-woven carpet tiles, and we have a ProTeam canister vac. No power nozzle, rather poor suction, and is VERY awkward to maneuver through the aisles. I think a cheap bagless upright would be a great improvement! Of course the store on the other side of town has a Sanitaire 886!

 

[dustin]

Found a pic...

 

[fantomlightning]

When...

Thinking about this one has to remember that many commercial vacuums are just household vacuums with a different cord in most cases... Hoover Elite, Convertible, WindTunnel, some canisters, and the entire Sanitaire line is rebadged Eurekas. Some do have improvements over their domestic counterparts, but at the end of the day some of the most popular and most common commercial machines just came from ordinary domestic models.

 

[tolivac]

I haved a Pro Team backpack-does work well-but in a home setting-you can have "Bump into trageties".Are the filters in the Proteam vacuum you have clean?Sounds like the filters in the machine need to be replaced.Pro Teams are very good commercial vacuums.Very simple to maintain.Just bags and filters.Most ProTeam vacuums have a cloth bag the paper one goes into-like a Compact-TriStar-is this bag clean?

 

[vintagerepairer]

Do you have commercial cleaning companies in the US or do your business and institutions hire their own cleaners? Here in the UK it is very rare to find a cleaner who is employed by the people they work for. They mostly work for a 3rd party sub contractor who then supplies cleaning equipment (usually a Numatic vacuum cleaner). Otherwise cleaning is done by the staff who work in the building, but you know you don't see that when there are more than a handful of workers. They tend to get a contractor in.

In my own experience it is the places where cleaning is done by the workers where a domestic vacuum cleaner is the choice. But even then, the Numatic Henry is often the one they go for, especially as it is fairly inexpensive and widely available to buy in so many shops. You won't often see cleaning contractors with domestic vacuum cleaners.

Back in the day I used to repair a good deal of Hoover Senior cleaners which were used in commercial environments. Those cleaners could put up with no end of use and abuse, and indeed several times over the years Hoover took the basic domestic Senior, blanked off the headlight, and called ran them as a commercial line. Some did have the old shake-out bags and some you could buy the cleaner with the paper bag set-up. Also some had longer mains leads than the domestic model, but you know, the cleaner itself was identical. There was nothing in the build quality which made them more durable. Then again, the Senior was virtually indestructible.

 

[tolivac]

Commercial companies in the US have been going the contractor route,too.If the cleaner contractor is new-they use residentual vacs because they are cheaper.Later they go to commercial models as the home type ones wear out.Knew one contractor that used a Royal "Pony" canister for years-her only machine she would use on a job.She HATED ANY upright.She had to replace the Royal with a Riccar 1500.