briankirbyclass
Well-known member
Awhile back i had a room addition built onto my home, thus creating A huge amount of plaster dust, both in the new room itself, and also thruout the rest of the house.
If you've ever dealth with LARGE amounts of plaster dust, you know how badly it lingers and flys thru the air. Its evidently lighter in weight that regular household dust.
I thought this would be a good test for the different vacuums i own.
(Mind you, my collection is relatively small compared to many)
One particular nasty day of much plaster dust being spread around, i first brought out the Filter Queen,,Mejestic Tripple Crown early 90s (Red model).
Made sure the cannister was empty, and a new Filter Cone and Medipure (charcol) filter was in place.
NOPE,,,clogged and choked almost immediatly. Suction was down to practically NOTHING within seconds.
Sorry to say the Filter Queen was a VERY POOR performer in this test.
Whereas ive always been partial to the Filter Queen for all other types of cleaning,,and always will be. THe FG is an excellent vacuum,its just the cellulous Filter Cones are not meant for picking up large amounts of Plaster Dust evidently.
Next came the Rainbow D2. Made sure there was fresh water in the pan and that the seperator was perfectly clean.
Im sure you can guess what happened.
EVERY SPECK of that plaster dust went right out the exhaust of the Rainbow. Was like a white FOG in the room.
The water in the pan turned white almost immediatly. Woulda been great if you are Lilly Munster. There again, The Rainbow is excellent for picking up most kinds of dust and dirt, just not large amounts of plaster dust,,and ive been told Talcum wont stay in a Rainbow water bath, as it wont stay wet in water, and will fly right out the back of the Rainbow faster than the lovbird of happiness!
Next came the Electrolux Silverado with a brand new bag and Automatic Control set at number 6 (meaning bag will fill completly before motor shuts off and bag door opens)
The Lux did OK,,BUT,,,the suction was very poor after a few minutes. Even with a half full bag, the release button of the bag door was starting to quiver,,like it wanted to pop open. I have always wished the ELectrolux C Bags werent so small,,and/or the Electrolux bag compartment was bigger!
Beam Central Vac came next. Yes, the central vac did OK,,BUT the filtering of the Beam was poor,,,it left ALOT of plaster dust in the exhaust.
Yes, the nice thing about Central Vac is that it removes 100% of dust and debris from the area its being used in. BUT,,just transfers it somewhere else.
The exhaust of the Beam did have alot of plaster dust remaining for several days, even after the dust bin had been emptied and wiped out with a damp rag.
Evidently some plaster dust was remaining in the central vac plumbing and/or hose itself.
Next came the TriStar Compact(late 90s model, gray and black metal speckel tone body).
Made sure the cloth bag and paper bag liner was brand new,,motor filter was brand new, and Hepa exhaust filter was brand new.
Finally,,,THE WINNER!!
The Tristar NEVER lost suction UNTIL the bag was so full, you couldnt cram one more speck of plaster dust in the bag.
HOWEVER, I DID have to stop and turn the bag once or twice so that it would fill evenly,as the machine DID loose suction once the slant of the bag matched the slant of the lid of the Tristar. But once the bag was turned,and there was more bag area on the motor side,,the full suction returned. No big deal.
After filling 3 TriStar bag liners completly full of plaster dust and debris,plus sawdust and wood shavings, i inspected both the motor filter and exhaust filter.
The cloth bag was slightly dusty. Needed to be washed.
The Motor Filter was slightly dusty.
The exhaust filter was completly clean. Not ONE SPECK of plaster dust in ANY part if the filter,(of which there are 4 parts or levels.) NO dust on ANY.
Yes the TriStar filters and bags can be expensive, compaired to some other vacuum cleaners, but not as expensive as others.
I can say tho,, worth every penny.
If you ever do any remodeling where plaster dust is an issue,,test your vacuums for yourself!
IF i owned a cleaning business, or a business where getting up every speck of dust possible is the main goal,,, id use a TRISTAR COMPACT.
Im sure other vacs would have performed well, if not better than any of mine, for what its worth,, this is just what the results were with my vacs, in my small collection.
(Did NOT test a Kirby this way,,being a direct air system, i knew the motor,,fan,fan blades, fill tube and bag would be caked with plaster dust,,couldnt bear the thought of it!)
If you've ever dealth with LARGE amounts of plaster dust, you know how badly it lingers and flys thru the air. Its evidently lighter in weight that regular household dust.
I thought this would be a good test for the different vacuums i own.
(Mind you, my collection is relatively small compared to many)
One particular nasty day of much plaster dust being spread around, i first brought out the Filter Queen,,Mejestic Tripple Crown early 90s (Red model).
Made sure the cannister was empty, and a new Filter Cone and Medipure (charcol) filter was in place.
NOPE,,,clogged and choked almost immediatly. Suction was down to practically NOTHING within seconds.
Sorry to say the Filter Queen was a VERY POOR performer in this test.
Whereas ive always been partial to the Filter Queen for all other types of cleaning,,and always will be. THe FG is an excellent vacuum,its just the cellulous Filter Cones are not meant for picking up large amounts of Plaster Dust evidently.
Next came the Rainbow D2. Made sure there was fresh water in the pan and that the seperator was perfectly clean.
Im sure you can guess what happened.
EVERY SPECK of that plaster dust went right out the exhaust of the Rainbow. Was like a white FOG in the room.
The water in the pan turned white almost immediatly. Woulda been great if you are Lilly Munster. There again, The Rainbow is excellent for picking up most kinds of dust and dirt, just not large amounts of plaster dust,,and ive been told Talcum wont stay in a Rainbow water bath, as it wont stay wet in water, and will fly right out the back of the Rainbow faster than the lovbird of happiness!
Next came the Electrolux Silverado with a brand new bag and Automatic Control set at number 6 (meaning bag will fill completly before motor shuts off and bag door opens)
The Lux did OK,,BUT,,,the suction was very poor after a few minutes. Even with a half full bag, the release button of the bag door was starting to quiver,,like it wanted to pop open. I have always wished the ELectrolux C Bags werent so small,,and/or the Electrolux bag compartment was bigger!
Beam Central Vac came next. Yes, the central vac did OK,,BUT the filtering of the Beam was poor,,,it left ALOT of plaster dust in the exhaust.
Yes, the nice thing about Central Vac is that it removes 100% of dust and debris from the area its being used in. BUT,,just transfers it somewhere else.
The exhaust of the Beam did have alot of plaster dust remaining for several days, even after the dust bin had been emptied and wiped out with a damp rag.
Evidently some plaster dust was remaining in the central vac plumbing and/or hose itself.
Next came the TriStar Compact(late 90s model, gray and black metal speckel tone body).
Made sure the cloth bag and paper bag liner was brand new,,motor filter was brand new, and Hepa exhaust filter was brand new.
Finally,,,THE WINNER!!
The Tristar NEVER lost suction UNTIL the bag was so full, you couldnt cram one more speck of plaster dust in the bag.
HOWEVER, I DID have to stop and turn the bag once or twice so that it would fill evenly,as the machine DID loose suction once the slant of the bag matched the slant of the lid of the Tristar. But once the bag was turned,and there was more bag area on the motor side,,the full suction returned. No big deal.
After filling 3 TriStar bag liners completly full of plaster dust and debris,plus sawdust and wood shavings, i inspected both the motor filter and exhaust filter.
The cloth bag was slightly dusty. Needed to be washed.
The Motor Filter was slightly dusty.
The exhaust filter was completly clean. Not ONE SPECK of plaster dust in ANY part if the filter,(of which there are 4 parts or levels.) NO dust on ANY.
Yes the TriStar filters and bags can be expensive, compaired to some other vacuum cleaners, but not as expensive as others.
I can say tho,, worth every penny.
If you ever do any remodeling where plaster dust is an issue,,test your vacuums for yourself!
IF i owned a cleaning business, or a business where getting up every speck of dust possible is the main goal,,, id use a TRISTAR COMPACT.
Im sure other vacs would have performed well, if not better than any of mine, for what its worth,, this is just what the results were with my vacs, in my small collection.
(Did NOT test a Kirby this way,,being a direct air system, i knew the motor,,fan,fan blades, fill tube and bag would be caked with plaster dust,,couldnt bear the thought of it!)
