A Commercial/Home Vac

[vacuumsalesman]

I've been working in a busy restaurant for the past year as a busser/host/food runner/salad person/vacuum repair man for nearly a year now and their vacuums experience grueling, gross stuff- like whole french fries, apple sauce, whole napkins, straws, just a lot of gross crap. So these vacuums constantly fail! They have went through two commercials orecks (rust and corrosion), a Bissell bigGreen (wiring), three sanitaires, a dirt devil, a Panasonic look-alike, and many more like dysons and electroluxes. I want to do something nice for them, as in recondition their current vacuums, keep them as spares, and buy new ones. But I want to buy new ones without breaking the bank, so if anyone could suggest a home vacuum that performs like any commercial vacuum, that would be great!
No bagless
No Orecks
No Kirbys
Nothing too ancient.
Thanks for the help!

 

[numatic_boy]

A Tub vac?

Maybe go with a nilfisk/henry type cleaner?

 

[kirbysthebest]

Just asking

Why a home machine that acts like a commercial?  Why not just get a commercial machine. 


 


There are some very durable commercial machines out there that won't bankrupt you.    Hoover Guardsman, Sanitaire (the direct air with quick clean fan chamber), and the Royal Everlast Metal machines are all good and trusty.   Tacony offers some good commercial machines, The Carpet Pro comes to mind.  There is also the offerings from Pro-Lux, or Aerus only to name a few.  There are others but you will start climbing the cost ladder.

 

[dysonman1]

Best vacs for restaurant are straight suction canisters. Or backpacks. I sold a Miele straight suction canister, more than 12 years ago, to a Fazoli's Italian Restaurant. They still have it and still use it. It gets under tables, sucks up spaghetti, napkins, etc. All they have to do is change the bag when full. No belts, no brushes, no fans, nothing to get out of order.

 

[vacuumsalesman]

I need to get like three of them so that's why I never thought of something pricey, nor commercial. I wanted something that I knew I could find if I went somewhere like a flea market and I just fixed them up and gave it to them. I didn't think about straight suction either, but that doesn't sound too bad if it is enough power. Nor did I think about canisters. I just know that if I don't get something right then the servers will bite my head off, they're the ones who have to use them, but I don't trust their ability in what to pick out.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

 

[vacuumsalesman]

Nevermind!

I went to work today with a fixed CleanMax Pro-Series and I tried to loan them a sharp and kenmore twin fan heavy duty and they outright refused because this morning they went and bought themselves a dollied-up Bissell Powerforce with green paint! So I took one of the sanitaires with the shake out bag and left my kenmore in the closet without letting them know. So now they have the Bissell, dirt devil, kenmore, and clean max. If I can sneak in the sharp as well they will be pretty well off. It is the same as the cleanmax! And I'm still thinking about canisters!

 

[tolivac]

Often the best choice for a restaurant is-----NO VACUUM AT ALL!!Use a Bissel type sweeper in between diners-then have the carpets cleaned by a truckmount every month!An operator of a truckmount commented his best customers were resturants.

 

[kenkart]

Tom is right

Straight suction is the way to go on glued down carpet, if money was no object a NSS Pig is almost a lifetime machine that cant be beat.

 

[tolivac]

I can go along with the choice of the NSS M1 Pig-SUPER "canister" vacuum!Have one that is over 30 yrs old and still going strong!The commercial glued down carpets are not thick or deep-so a straight suction should work for those.Backpacks can work as well-but not as good as the Pig.

 

[tolivac]

I don't think I would want to use the Pig in a restaurant-carpets and floors just get too greasy-hence the truckmount suggestions.

 

[human]

When I worked at Pizza Hut in the early '80s (hard to believe that's been 35 years ago!) we had a manual sweeper to use during business hours and a small Craftsman wet/dry shop vac for a final cleanup after closing. It was a pretty good combination.

 

[kirbylux77]

Edgar, I worked at a small restaurant in 2008 that was the same....they used a Shop Vac to clean the carpets after the restaurant closed at night. But, no sweeper though.

Tom is right in this situation. Straight suction cleaners are best for restaurants with commercial-type low nap/pile carpeting when cleaning on a daily basis. And perhaps on holidays or days the restaurant is normally closed, once every 6 months take a upright or canister with a powerhead to deep clean AFTER the straight suction vacuum is normally used & no large debris is present.

I think the best vacuum in this situation would be a nice condition Compact or TriStar CXL. There is very little that can break on them, they are extremely simple to repair & maintain, & the Ametek double stage motor is economical to replace if needed. The cloth bag can be used, dumped out & replaced once every year or two, & most shops sell them for under $25, not a huge expense. If filtration is needed, there is a HEPA Dome available to replace the standard dome with foam, again inexpensively. And you can buy non-electric hoses, wands & rug tools & use it as a straight suction cleaner, & have a electric hose, wand & powerhead for the occasional deep cleaning.

For these reasons, & also the fact they can be found inexpensively on Ebay, local buy & sell sites, & garage sales & thrift stores, this is why I recommend a Compact or TriStar CXL in this situation. Especially in a situation where employees abusing the vacuums could be a issue.

Rob

 

[floor-a-matic]

a shop vac with 2<span style="font-size: 8pt;">1/2</span>" hose wands & utility nozzle