A strange one- Vortech Force...

[seamusuk]

Hi Guys
Just brought this from a fellow collector for a great price.
Anyone had experience with them?
Seamus

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Oh...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Oh Mr Seamus. Your high end vacuum cleaner collection is growing.

</span>


 


<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">James

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[stricklybojack]

.

Those are rare to find in the wild even here in the States. By that i mean craigslist, garage sales or thrift shops. Ebay almost always has at least a couple.Nice find.

 

[tolivac]

I have a couple of these-bought them from the Vortech dealer that went out of business here.They are good,powerful vacuums.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Roughly similar to a Tristar, Miracle Mate or Patriot vac. Vortech has had major problems with their sales methods. It sold for upwards of $2500 to $3900 depending on your negotiating skill or lack thereof (in home demo like Kirby, but with higher pressure sales tactics that are even less reputable than those used by Kirby), which is a ridiculous sum of money for a vacuum.

Anyway, not a bad vacuum if you didn't over pay for it. Probably only considered to be "high end" due to the ridiculous prices the manage to get for them, not that they are any better than machines that cost 20% of what a Vortech often sells for.

Just my two cents, now flame away and tell me how wrong I am. The Desert Tortoise has a thick, sun baked shell.

 

[seamusuk]

The cost???

£20/$32ish inc post
Seamus

 

[DesertTortoise]

Look at that, only 1/100 of the likely selling price.

 

[turbo500]

less reputable than those used by Kirby

Is that even possible? Kirby aren't exactly well known for their honest, decent and reputable sales tactics...

 

[tolivac]

Fill in the blank-ALL of the DTD vacuum companies have been involved in questionable sales methods-this seemed to happen when the vacuum companies made the sales people CONTRACTORS instead of employees-when they were employees-if they did bad-out they go right now-as contactors the process isn't as easy.If the sales people keep doing this sort of thing--the DTD vacuum industry is in danger of disappearing!I got my Vortechs at low prices-well under the prices shown here.The Vortech dealer didn't last long here-sad -its a nice vacuum.Yes, they are a vertical bag canister-the bags hold more than TriStar Compacts.The Vortech has a more powerful motor.Don't let their plastic body fool you-its a glass filled nylon-like what is used in some high quality power tool housings.(Milwaukee)

 

[whirlpolf]

pretty nice - got one myself

hey Seamus, great find.
Some time back I got one myself (former colour scheme, older original power brush)
http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?18851
and meanwhile I could gather some experience with it.

It is a very good vacuum and very sturdy.

The suction is great, you can literally hear the debris getting slammed down the hose in no time. Only on the connectors it may draw a little side air (but that can be overcome inserting felt rings in the grooves). I am amazed how much suction this thing gets out of 1200 watts, unlike so many others.

And finally a REAL power brush like on most US machines, not the flimsical Euro sweepers. This one here cleans like a Kirby.

The only drawback I could find: The knob for the cable winder (small, must be pushed sideways which will make the machine skid on some floors). They could have installed an L-shaped foot lever for this.

The Vortech Force has no electronic speed control or "smooth ramp up" thing, so when turning it on it is always on full amps and that might blow the fuse in some older house installations.


Reusing the open-top bags (practical to retrieve items!) can be done once or twice, but more often (=clogged pores) will cut out the thermal protector (comes on again by itself after 20 min). The original bags do a tad better here than the genuine no-name bags.

The pleated microfilter can be washed using neutral soap (I took Hakawerk Neutralseife, you can use any mild cleaner). Blow out from the inside towards the circumference with high-pressure air (I went to a car repair for this).
Either buy original microfilters or get Miracle Mate filters (one of their older models has the same and the same cloth bag).

The machine is made by Ghibli, Italy.
You can get spare parts here:
http://www.firmabusch.nl/seo_urls.php/cPath/24_37/list/price-asc
And here you can get some thrifty genuine bags:
http://www.dustdeal.com/

Have fun with it.
Joe

 

[super-sweeper]

worse than Kirby?

Have you never heard of BISON?

 

[tolivac]

Thought from what info I have seen here-the Bison was a good vacuum-but yes,the advice given to Bison dealers was bad--if not even ILLEGAL--You are supposed to sell the product to whomever can pay for it-doesn't matter otherwise.If the buyer has acceptable credit and income-you are obligated to sell if the client really wants the product.--DO IT!!!Bisons sales advice was sort of bad-they could pass over some good paying clients!!!

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Bison was a good enough vacuum, when it worked. They have a reputation for being, much like an 80's Jaguar, in the shop more than on the road. Their sales practices most certainly were a contributor to their short run, but reliability, or lack thereof, was a much larger one. They are desirable more for their scarcity and for their quirky nature than for their performance.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Is there any literature that describes how a vertical bag canister works? Just curious how it differs from other styles of canister. Thanks.

 

[tolivac]

Look up or "Google" Compact-TriStar,Vortech Force,Miracle Mate-on their websites they show diagrams of vertical bag canister vacs-all of those fit into that category.Bascially the bag assembly is mounted vertical inside the canister body-the motor is horizontal just behind the bag.The hose inlet is in a lid that goes over the top of the bag-the inlet is at an angle that allows dirt picked up to collect at the front of the bag so the side of the bag facing the motor stays clear-the air flows OVER the dirt rather than thru it as on horizontal mounted canister vacs.With these machines since the top of the bag is open when the lid of the machine is opened-items can be retrieved from the bag without tearing it open as on horizontal bag machines.And the bag can be dumpted out in between uses-so odors can be kept down.You usually replace the paper liner bag in the cloth one once a month.Some people use the machine with the cloth bag alone-but don't reccomend it.

 

[suckolux]

we shook out the bag on our compact for 40 years, not saying it was a good idea of course

 

[super-sweeper]

the paper Bag!?

I sure hope you mean you shook out the cloth bag for 40 years! <sup>

</sup>

 

[suckolux]

actually 2 cloth bags, they wore out

 

[super-sweeper]

Makes you wonder why!!