American vs. Foreign Canisters.

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Sanifan - they do sell Numatic Henry models in the States - its just usually restricted to online sales. Amazon.com have them ( http://www.amazon.com/Numatic-Top-S...3AP4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329327675&sr=8-1)

The Henry vac was originally founded on plastic barrels with a motor on the top i.e. your usual "Shop Vac" or round canister tub vacuum. The reason they are so good is because they have excellent sealed suction dust bags, large capacities of 7 to 12 litres dependent on the sizes, made of thick and good PVC plastic, good power and low noise motors.

One of the other reasons to why Henry is so successful is simply because he was originally sold with a long 2.5 metre hose over the shorter hose domestic versions and has a manual cord winder (as well as a long cord) on top as opposed to auto pedal or lasso'ing the cord up after use.. Although on board cleaning tools can't be stored on the main body of the vacuum itself, the suction tubes are unique because the top pipe is a metal "bent" tube that allows you to swap that around to the bottom of the tubes to get into awkward areas - but usually incites the use of an extra adaptor to make it work successfully.

Because "he" is commercially based you can buy plenty of spares and accessories for this model, but his main filtration aspect is a washable material "basket" filter with additional HEPA also available. The basket is also double rubber lined to seal the dust in - so effectively you can use the Henry as a bagless vacuum - but it can be very messy!.

A downside to Henry is that he's difficult to store, can't be put on stairs due to his shape (hence the long hose) and can topple over due to his round, squat shape.
 
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There's even a pink one called "hetty" if it takes your fancy.

The year Charles and Camilla got together, a good friend I know on another vacuum cleaner forum suggested that a gold and black Numatic limited edition called "Camilla" was about to be launched and even though it was clearly a joke, a lot of people thought it was a serious launch!
 
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Where do I start with Henry... He's fantastic!

Since his introduction in 1980, things have just gotten better and better.

The bucket is strong, the motor is incredibly quiet and powerful, and hose is 2.5 meters, the flex is VERY VERY long, and the bag is 9 litres.

OK, there is no place to store the tools, nor is there automatic rewind, but honestly, I couldn't care less. He gives so many years of reliable use that I am willing to carry the tools around with me and wind the cord back myself.

Henry - The best canister Vacuum Cleaner around - FACT! :)

My Henry is a 2007 model, and I will bet that in 2027 I'll be back here boasting about my 20 year old Henry that works like new.
 
Henry quiet? ...nah....

Well, either the one I saw was from outer space or I had a smiley face printed on my contacts. The Henry canister "vessel" or "bucket type" vacuum that was shown to me here would scream the place down like any other commutator-motor type vac without any sound insulation.
The hose length was average (marketwise) as well. Nice face anyway ;-)

Tristar! Yes, anytime! Unfortunately Tristars come in 120 volts only, so a jump to their Italian makeovers (Ghibli's Vortech Force) is mandatory (I would have given my left arm for some Euro-current version of the original Tristar....)
On top of that: Tristars have this distinct "retro sci-fi" Gattaca look to them, that's what I like.
Don't mistake me: I love the Henry vacs as well, so friendly! But without this face they would be like any other run-off-the-mill bucket vac, wouldn't they?

THIS Henry here was loud.
Plainly loud.
I had a yes for it all the way through the demo, it changed to a no when they turned it on. *shrugs*
 
You must have had either an older model with the older style motor, or you got a dud, as the newer Henrys, as everybody will tell you, are very very quiet.
 
could well be

Hm. I leave it to the experts....

To each his own.
The only Henry I do take serious is the small table-top battery Henry, looks cute, is cute (due to its size) and will make any user look heartwarmingly silly (THIS one I do want!) ;-D
 
"Unfortunately Tristars come in 120 volts only"

Apart form the ones sold here in the UK with 240v motors of course... ;)

And of course, like my Tristar, they can be fitted with 240v motors, the main motor is the same sort that Henry vacs use, and the PN motor is a standard Lamb PN motor, which aren't hard to find, so there's no good excuse for not owning a Compact or Tristar... :P
 
Seen a few Henry's around here,, our local Habitat Restore uses one as their store vac, they bought it new for that purpose. It's pretty quiet, not any louder than a Miele imo.
 
Order of Vacuuming - Uprights versus Canisters

There is another important reason that upright vacuum cleaners are better for cleaning deep pile carpet. And it has to do with the way you start and finish vacuuming a room.

In order to leave behind a nice, freshly vacuumed carpet - with nice vacuum patterns left behind, and no footprints, it is important to begin vacuuming at the far end of the room and make your way backwards towards the door or entryway. It is very inconvenient to do this with a canister vacuum as you are forced to keep pushing the main vacuum unit backward to get it out of the way. With an upright, all you have to do is keep collecting the electrical cord as you make your way backward towards the door.

With bare floors, this does not matter as much. In fact, it is probably better to proceed from the entryway to the far end of the room with your canister vacuum, as you have less chance of kicking up loose dust and dirt with the exhaust of the vacuum if you remove any surface debris on your way to the far end of the room. So for bare floor cleaning, it makes sense to have a canister vacuum that is trailing behind you as you proceed into the room. And the long hoses and bare floor attachments that you can use with canister vacs make it far easier and safer to remove dirt from floors compared with using an upright (especially if you can't turn off the upright's revolving brush).
 
Jmurray, where did you find the date of 1980 for Henry, only I've been trying to find a date and have had no luck. I started stocking them towards the end of the 1980's and in fact had some of those rare models in beige & brown.

I will go along with the fact that the 'noisy' Henry could have been faulty or well-used, but wouldn't have said it was noisy purely because it may have been an older model (if it was older) as one of the key features of the Numatic has always been the low noise level.

It's funny, because the absence of an automatic cordwinder has been marked up as a negative on several reviews i've read online. What the people writing this don't seem to grasp is the fact that the winder being manually operated is what makes the Henry what it is in terms of reliability. Automatic cord winders can be problematic and are more difficult to repair. Added to this, at one time Numatic used to suggest only pulling out as much flex was needed as the rest would unwind as the cleaner was pulled round. The new cleaners will still do this, but the instructions make no reference as to whether the lead should be unwound fully or not. Of course from a safety point of view, its a double-edged sword, as leaving the flex wound up presents a potential overheating hazard, whereas unwinding it all introduces a very real trip hazard.

There are many features which make Henry special and unqiue. I'd say that's been covered already now. I just worked out that they cost about 150 US dollars (based on £95). One group of people who've always seemed to go for a Henry at some point are people who've spent loads on expensive cleaners with flashing lights and promises of I-don't-know-what, and found them to be useless or problematic. Henry makes few promises and does what you want him to do. He is a rugged little fellow.
 
I found the date 1980 on Wikipedia Benny, but I'm not sure if that is correct.

I know what you mean about people marking the manual rewind down - I've seen it in many Ciao reviews.

Utter rubbish, it is less to go wrong!

As for the cord Hoo-Ha, I pull it out as far as it will go before Vacuuming, but maybe I shouldn't do that ? Any advice ?

What I meant by it being an older model, was that if it were older it would probably be more worn, which would make it louder. Of course, the age itself wouldn't just make it loud, it would be the fact that being old usually means it has been used for a long time.

Your closing statement is so true. He is very tough and I don't think I could kill mine, even if I wanted to.
 
You can chose to pull all the flex out, like I said, leaving it wrapped up could cause it to overheat, even though I never saw one which had done so. It is a case of which danger is more likely; tripping over or overheating.

I just checked the Numatic official site and it says Henry arrived in 1981, so Wiki wasn't far out, but I confess I did not realise that Numatic and Henry had been around for quite as long as they have been.
 
Henry pricing...

I hope to find a new Henry at $150 stateside, but I fear it may be a case of reasonable pricing in the home market and exorbitant pricing in export markets. According to the Amazon link and some other online vac shops, they are selling for $315 give or take. If anyone if a cheaper US price, please give a holler!
 
I will say that one thing I don't understand is why the cleaners Numatic make for 'homes' have the switches on the back, whilst the new 'commercial' models have them at the front. The front is a much better place to have them.
 
What exactly do you mean by "tripping over" ?

Also, as for older Numatics, I'd love to have one of those all metal red Numatics in my collection.
 
I suppose you're right (switches at rear), but I must say it never occurred to me.

The one thing I dislike about the new Henrys is the push switches. I much prefer the more reliable rocker switches my Henry has.
 
Tripping over, well, it's what happens when one gets something wrapped around ones feet, for arguments sake lets say the mains lead of a Henry vacuum cleaner, and then one trips over / falls over, call it what you will. With the flex wound into the cleaner, the risk of this happening is reduced.

The push switches on Henry and others were very short lived as they had no end of problems with them. They only did this for about 2 or 3 years. The main issue was that the rocker switch on the back of the Henry was rather hard to find, although some cleaners did have a white dot on top of the cleaner to show where exactly the switch could be found. A foot-switch was a really good idea for Henry, alas it was one idea which failed miserably.
 
Oh that's what you mean! I thought you meant the electricals short circuiting or something.

I'm careful, so tripping over isn't a worry for me.

The only worry with pulling the cord out all the way was that it may loosen the connection over time. Would that happen ?
 
I have the ProTeam DVD video that came with my ProTeam Backpack.Backpacks are BAD for home use-anyway the commercial sized ones-remember the ad of the "Drag Along Tragedy"?With backpacks in the home its "Bump into Tragedies"prefer a wheeled floor mounted canister for the house.and the ProTeam DVD shows the same Mop Swing" method for the floor and carpet tools.You swing it like a commercial mop.I just don't think the suction only carpet tool will get the carpet floor as clean as an upright with the roller brush.the canister carpet tool will only get surface stuff.And,really,its harder to use.the upright with roller brush is easier.the backpack would be helpful for BARE floor.But--to me and many other commercial users the NSS M1 is the king of commercial canister vacuums-has higher airflow-longer motor life-and an almost unlimited array of tools to fit it from NSS.Even tools to clean out boiler flame tubes.Some M1 s do this duty.and a powernozzle can be used on an M1 gives even better performance than the unpowered carpet tool.And air powered carpet nozzles can be used on M1's-its strong airflow runs them nicely.and still another cansiter vacuum from NSS is the "Designer Dry"A large canister with about 5gal capacity-uses bags-that uses the same attachments as the M1.Its less expensive then the M1.Been looking for one for my collection-it would be somewhat like the Numatic "Henry" type vacuums.The cleaning contractor at where I work uses the Sanitaire Mighty-Mite.they are nice little vacuums.Powerful,easy to use and cheap to buy.I love my small fleet of M1's used them for radio station transmitter and studio cleanout work.and you would be surprized at how much fine dust a neglected transmitter accumilates-one filled up the M1s huge bag!showed it to the station owner.He was shocked I picked up that much dirt out of his transmitter while repairing it,too.I collected enough money from that job to buy my 3rd M1!
 
Replacing a cord on the Henry is dead easy though - there's a great You Tube video about it I saw ages ago.


I must admit VR, I have never noticed the switches - the beauty of Henry's top is that you can lock it on at any angle, so even if the hose is at the front, you could position the head at any angle that the circular head can be locked to, so even if the switches are at the front, it can be put to the back.
 
That's Your Preference.....

"It is very inconvenient to do this with a canister vacuum as you are forced to keep pushing the main vacuum unit backward to get it out of the way. With an upright, all you have to do is keep collecting the electrical cord as you make your way backward towards the door."

That is definitely part of using a canister. But those of us who prefer them gladly work with it, the same way those of you who love uprights have to deal with a total inability to get under beds with many models, and the sheer weight of the things.

This is preference, and if we start talking about the logic behind each type, then there are logical pros and cons for each, with no clear winner. You prefer uprights. You will see Jehovah's Witnesses vacationing at a nudist resort before you will see one in my house.
 
You will see Jehovah's Witnesses vacationing at a nudist

Ha ha, good one!

I love both uprights and cylinders. They both have pros and cons.
 
Sebo fan, yes I know the head of Henry can be put in any position, say with switches facing the3 front, but the cord will exit from that same position too which is jolly inconvenient as it gets caught under the wheels. Added to which, the cleaner can't be left to unwind the lead as it goes if the lead comes from the front.
 
Henry quiet? Nah.

VR - I have honestly never noticed that - but then with all my canister/cylinders, I always pull them out of the way of the lead, and if they have to go over the lead, I pull the machine through. Some brands like Miele and Sebo allow the wheels to "jump" over the leads with ease. I can see your point with Henry's larger wheels proving a bit of a nuisance.

As for Henry noise - Well current Henry motors are reasonably quieter, whirlpolf - especially ones with the 2 speed variable motor. I find the lower power even quieter than my Miele S6 Ecoline, and they're both rated the same power.
 
Hi Sebo fan. Well you see with the Henry, as I said the original idea was that as cleaner was moved round, so the lead pulled itself out of the machine. This doesn't work when the top is fitted with the lead coming out of the front.

I have a girl come in and clean for me once a month, or occasionally more often. I say girl, she's late 30s. Sometimes her sister helps. They have a good business locally and they use a Henry and I've noticed she pulls it round so that the lead feds out. I tend to go out once the girls have arrived, they are lovely but I don't ever really speak for too long. Anyway she came with a shiny new Hetty a while ago, so I asked where Henry was. She said he'd died and was at the back of the garage "with a pile of others" as she put it. She didn't know I used to have a repair shop so I offered to fix any of them for her. Thus the next time she came she bought 3 broken Henrys, a James, and an assortment of hoses! That kept me busy!
 
Many henries I've heard running in shops I've just wanted to take away from the person using it like a social worker takes kids from bad parents, cos the motors always sounded like they had severely dry bearings, and these were new-looking models, I'm not a Numatic fan, but, I hate hearing bad motors, especially when they're practically the same one I have in my Tristar, I could never let my vacs get that bad... :S
 

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