Numatic James for my workplace

[moderneezer]

Hello, everyone,

It's Moderneezer again. I haven't been very active in the Vacuumland forums lately but I have something to share with you. I was hired by a company almost 2 years ago where I work (it's only a part-time job) as a janitor. The company that I work for deals with children with learning and communication problems (a lot of these children are in the autism spectrum or have dyslexia, some also have Down's syndrome).

Here's the news. Recently, the company changed it's address, although I continue to work for it. There was a lot of carpets at the old place, where I used to use a cheap bagless Bissell and later a Dirt Devil, also being bagless and cheap, while the new place has a lot of bare floors with a few high-pile rugs and initially, I had to use a broom which was tedious. My boss knew that vacuum cleaners fascinated me so she decided to bring me to the Chapman boutique (a store that sells vacuum cleaners and other stuff) and she let me choose a cleaner for her and didn't mind to pay around Can$400. After a while, I chose Numatic James. My boss giggled at the smiley face and the name.

Later that week, I unboxed James and used him to clean the place. It was the first time in my life that I ever used a Numatic/NaceCare product. With the combination tool that came with him, James did a good job on the bare floors, but I had to have the brushstrip extended or else the nozzle wouldn't glide properly. Also, I need to clean the brush strip sometimes, but this is most likely the case with almost any nozzles for bare floors. The combi-tool did get rid of the fluff balls on the rugs, but after cleaning these rugs, the nozzle was covered in hair making it look like a sheep. I got rid of that hair with the dusting brush.

I believe that James is a good choice for the workplace, but if I could rate him based on a 5-star rating system, I'd give him four stars, as although he's durable and he cleans well, there are some elements in James' design that I think that the designers could do better, aside from the lack of an automatic cord winder.

 

[moderneezer]

Here are the other items that came with James. Of these items, James came with two bags, one of them already installed when he was packaged. The third picture shows James with the top off and a bag installed, the bottom side of the top and the large round filter, which was already installed too.

 

[moderneezer]

The prongs on James' plug are a bit misaligned. However, the canister still works great. It is implied, in the wiring diagram in one of the manuals, that James has a double-pole switch which I think that it's common sense to incorporate it if a vacuum canister has an unpolarized plug.

 

[human]

I'm sure the Numatic, with its friendly face, has some fans among the kids at the school. That frivolous feature would certainly have attracted me as a child.

 

[huskyvacs]

Yup, there is a lot of kids with autism that vacuum cleaners scare them, but the smiley face of James might help show them vaccums aren't scary if you happen to be using it during school hours. I think it was a good choice beyond just the performance of the vacuum, but the environment surrounding it as well.

I am not sure what is going on with the prongs, if that is something to do with Canadian outlets - or it is just a manufacturing defect during assembly. I think they didn't cut the gap wide enough when the mold fit the plug over the prongs and it bent it down a little bit. If it still works I wouldn't worry about it, just it might be tough to plug it in.

 

[thevacomaticiec]

The numatic james vacuum is excellent yes but that floor tool could be better i fully agree.I use one in a hotel to vacuum floors good but again the floor tool combo is not the best for rugs .

 

[tolivac]

I have one of these vacuums-excellent vacuum.The dealer ordered two-one for a cleaning service-They didn't want the second one so I was able to buy it.Don't use the floor tool that came with the vacuum-use a different one.I HATE those blasted combo floor tools-they don't do a good job on carpet or hard floors.Use my Volt powernozzle with the James-works GREAT!!He has HUGE bags for the size of the machine!

 

[suckolux]

I have his brother Henry, powerful and quiet! His face gets the most attention for sure.

 

[moderneezer]

Either end of the handle can get connected to the hose. The configuration in the top picture suits me better because of my height (I'm tall) while the one in the bottom picture is for short people. It's a nice feature, but Miele did better with the design of the hoses, wands and handles of it's own canisters.

Also, I do think that James' smiley face would look appealing to the children who visit the place where I work. Unfortunately, according to one of the manuals, James is not a child's toy. Another thing to point out is that, at the store where my boss bought James, she and I could have bought and used the brush-less bare floor tool modeled RD 285 from Wessel Werk. Would any of you recommend such nozzle?

And Huskyvacs, it's not hard for me to plug James' plug into a socket, fortunately.

 

[sanitaire]

they make a suction powerd brushroll for the vacs... works good.

 

[suckolux]

I have ironically two different wessel week nozzles,a horsehair bare floor brush from a maytag Hoover and a turbo carpet attachment from a recent vintage eureka, Henry can spin it well! They are effective on lower carpets.

 

[moderneezer]

Now, let's go with the design problems. One is... Just look at the way the attachements are stored in the 1st picture. The storage system on a Filter Queen is much better than the one on James. I did buy the attachment holder to ease things out, although one accessory drops off sometimes when I clean with James due to the slightly loose connections. The adapter and the crevice tool are circled in pink and purple, respectfully, in the 2nd picture.

The other problem is that I need to use elbow grease to add the brush to the upholstery tool and to remove the brush from it.

Minor drawbacks:
-non-telescopic wands;
-friction fit connections;
-lack of cord winder (not a big deal for me).

For the same price, my boss could have bought a Sebo straight-suction canister of the K series, or a Miele straight-suction Limited-Edition C3 model that comes with the combination tool and the swivel neck floor brush.

 

[thevacomaticiec]

I agree no cord winder, bad wands, and those tools that needto be pop off whti a drill or some thing !!!

Its liek they get glued on or some thing .
I suuuure would prefera tristar or filter queen better tools better storage i totaly agre.
Numaticneeds to add : telescopic wands. button lock on wands , tools and better tool desing anda rug tool that flimsy floor tool is nothing but a ........... to use on rugs i hate hate that tool on floors or rugs .
For the money they could of done better for sure .

 

[lesinutah]

Different

Numatic Henry, james etc are initially shop vacs. They shop vacs made into cannister vacuum's.
Comparing compacts/teistars to numatics is apples to oranges.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

In the UK, and in North America with some distributors, there are versions of Henry, such as Hetty and Harry, which has address all of those issues, so those different models comes with;

telescopic wands (Henry)
Airo Turbo floor head which is one of the better air driven ones on a cylinder/canister vacuum
Manual cord rewind
HEPA filtration

Henry, which telescopic wands, HEPA and a turbo tool kit with 3 extra tools above the standard set costs about £140, so the cost you guys in North America pay, are unfortunately and ironic tax and import charges due to no official NA distributors, but ive hear don the end of a grape vine that Numatic are setting up Numatic Inc for North America, due to popular and rising demand.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

My cousin in Ireland replaced

their Hoover Juniors with Henry(s). They have almost no carpeting anymore.
Still, I can't see it.
But, that's just me !!