kirbylux77
Well-known member
Marcus - If you want to feel how strong your Miele canister's airflow is, hold your hand up to the underside of the rug nozzle. It will surprise you how strong the airflow is, even after going thru the hose & wand.
As for the Baird being a good way to measure airflow? No, I don't think it is. One has to remember that the Baird meter was designed for Kirby salesmen to cheat & show off how strong the Kirby's airflow is while giving a demonstration. It is designed to make the Kirby look good & impress a customer, NOT to be accurate. Bill, my apologies if that offends you, I do appreciate you doing your airflow tests & they are interesting. I just feel that a digital airflow meter would be a better way to measure a vacuum's airflow than the Baird meter would be.
Stan - "I don't know of any canister that has a power nozzle that seals to the carpet". Oh really, eh? Well, I do know two canisters that seal to the carpet. Check out this video of the Plush Pro nozzle on the latest Panasonic canisters, you can CLEARLY see the regular Panasonic PN design sealing to the ultra plush carpeting & impossible to move.
And here's another video that shows a Simplicity Gusto sealing to the ultra plush carpet before adding the adapters to convert it to use on ultra plush. And let's not forget the Wessell Werk EBK360 SoftClean powerhead that was designed specifically because they seal to ultra plush carpeting. The reason you feel that "seal" more when using a Kirby or Royal is because the weight of the motor is pushing the powerhead down into the carpeting, but that doesn't mean a canister isn't capable of sealing to a carpet as well, it's just you don't feel it as much.
Bill - Sorry, but you shouldn't have picked a Miele as your example vacuum to demonstrate your point. The airflow losses you are proposing just aren't realistic, in this case. Today's canisters, for the most part, have done away with buttonlockers for the hose & wand connections, & they have been replaced with clips like the Miele you show. The only ones that use buttonlockers, to my knowledge, are Kenmore/Panasonic canisters & the Riccar Prima/Simplicity Wonder, amongst residential canisters. The reason for this is twofold: 1. To improve indoor air quality & make the canister a sealed filtration system. Now, most canister vacuums, when they say their HEPA Filtration is part of a certified sealed system, it's not just the canister & filter that is sealed, it's the ENTIRE vacuum. It's not just dirty air that can escape around the filter that is an issue, it's also how much dust & dirt the powerhead kicks back up into the air instead of the airflow picking it up & carrying it to the bag & filter system. In addition to the powerhead needing to be sealed & making efficient use of the vacuum's airflow, the wands & hose connections themselves must be sealed, otherwise it will reduce the efficiency of the powerhead if all the airflow doesn't go to it, & any air that escapes from the wand is also dirty air that will escape unfiltered & pollute the room air. It's a issue all the manufacturers are starting to take seriously. Tacony introduced a hose & wand seal for the Prima & Wonder called "Seal Tite", & Electrolux AB has silicone seals around the hose & wand connections as well. Therefore, unlike your second results claim, it is VERY realistic for a modern canister like a Miele to have 120 CFM at the nozzle, & to clean just as well as a Kirby
And as for waterlift not affecting carpet cleaning & airflow & agitation being more important? Again, I disagree there. If you look at a vacuum motor's performance charts, you will see a direct correlation to vacuum motors that have higher waterlift numbers also having high airflow numbers. When viewed on a chart, it's clear that waterlift & airflow CFM rise & fall in correlation to each other. So, in short, if the motor isn't producing high waterlift, it isn't producing high airflow to properly clean.
Rob
As for the Baird being a good way to measure airflow? No, I don't think it is. One has to remember that the Baird meter was designed for Kirby salesmen to cheat & show off how strong the Kirby's airflow is while giving a demonstration. It is designed to make the Kirby look good & impress a customer, NOT to be accurate. Bill, my apologies if that offends you, I do appreciate you doing your airflow tests & they are interesting. I just feel that a digital airflow meter would be a better way to measure a vacuum's airflow than the Baird meter would be.
Stan - "I don't know of any canister that has a power nozzle that seals to the carpet". Oh really, eh? Well, I do know two canisters that seal to the carpet. Check out this video of the Plush Pro nozzle on the latest Panasonic canisters, you can CLEARLY see the regular Panasonic PN design sealing to the ultra plush carpeting & impossible to move.
And here's another video that shows a Simplicity Gusto sealing to the ultra plush carpet before adding the adapters to convert it to use on ultra plush. And let's not forget the Wessell Werk EBK360 SoftClean powerhead that was designed specifically because they seal to ultra plush carpeting. The reason you feel that "seal" more when using a Kirby or Royal is because the weight of the motor is pushing the powerhead down into the carpeting, but that doesn't mean a canister isn't capable of sealing to a carpet as well, it's just you don't feel it as much.
Bill - Sorry, but you shouldn't have picked a Miele as your example vacuum to demonstrate your point. The airflow losses you are proposing just aren't realistic, in this case. Today's canisters, for the most part, have done away with buttonlockers for the hose & wand connections, & they have been replaced with clips like the Miele you show. The only ones that use buttonlockers, to my knowledge, are Kenmore/Panasonic canisters & the Riccar Prima/Simplicity Wonder, amongst residential canisters. The reason for this is twofold: 1. To improve indoor air quality & make the canister a sealed filtration system. Now, most canister vacuums, when they say their HEPA Filtration is part of a certified sealed system, it's not just the canister & filter that is sealed, it's the ENTIRE vacuum. It's not just dirty air that can escape around the filter that is an issue, it's also how much dust & dirt the powerhead kicks back up into the air instead of the airflow picking it up & carrying it to the bag & filter system. In addition to the powerhead needing to be sealed & making efficient use of the vacuum's airflow, the wands & hose connections themselves must be sealed, otherwise it will reduce the efficiency of the powerhead if all the airflow doesn't go to it, & any air that escapes from the wand is also dirty air that will escape unfiltered & pollute the room air. It's a issue all the manufacturers are starting to take seriously. Tacony introduced a hose & wand seal for the Prima & Wonder called "Seal Tite", & Electrolux AB has silicone seals around the hose & wand connections as well. Therefore, unlike your second results claim, it is VERY realistic for a modern canister like a Miele to have 120 CFM at the nozzle, & to clean just as well as a Kirby
And as for waterlift not affecting carpet cleaning & airflow & agitation being more important? Again, I disagree there. If you look at a vacuum motor's performance charts, you will see a direct correlation to vacuum motors that have higher waterlift numbers also having high airflow numbers. When viewed on a chart, it's clear that waterlift & airflow CFM rise & fall in correlation to each other. So, in short, if the motor isn't producing high waterlift, it isn't producing high airflow to properly clean.
Rob
