Sanitaire upright problems and recommendations

[supa]

Hi. New member here. I work in the commercial and residential rental property business and am in charge of facilities for three moderately large apartment buildings. We have historically used Sanitaire commercial upright vacuums, but in the last few years I have been running into some major problems with them. Mainly, the upper fan chamber gets eaten through during the course of a winter. This is minnesota and we do have harsh winters here but the problem is compounded by management's rediculous sidewalk snow removal expectations. They want lots of traction grit used. This means a lot of it gets tracked into the building, vacuumed up and it eventually destroys our vacuums. I know that the problem has been made worse by switching to crushed granite last year. That stuff has to go as that'll eat through a fan blade and housing in a couple of months of use! But we still had the problem with sand or crushed limestone. I have fixed several vacuums several times by JB welding the holes in the housing shut, I have even coated the entire upper fan housing in a skin of JB weld, but this only lasts for a while. If I don't inspect the vacuums regularly, holes open up, and my caretakers won't let me know till the flying debris takes out the motor.

So I already know I need to change back to sand on our sidewalks, but I would also like to know if anyone makes something like the commercial Sanitaires with with a metal upper fan chamber? Currently we have SC899s and as with all sanitares I have seen the upper chamber that the motor mounts to is just plastic. Otherwise is there another machine out there that could take the abuse? One of my caretakers is using an old Oreck XL 2600 that I found in the trash. I was suprised that that thing actually made it through the winter with no issues, So I'd almost consider switching to commercial Orecks... But I just can't bring myself to believe that that is the best option. Also they don't make oue with a wide path. I have one at home that I am quite satisfied with, and most of our carpet is low pile which is what it's made for. I have used, and was always very impressed with Sebo's Windsor vacuums, but my management can't be convinced that the extra money would be worth it in the end.

Any other suggestions any one has are welcome. Do any other property superintendants in snowy climates have similar problems?

 

[blknblu]

Any upright may not hold up under those conditions. It sounds like you need to use a Shop Vac to get the large particles up first.


 


The Panasonic commercial upright may be one of your options:


Like this:


http://salestores.com/panasonicmcv01.html#.VwPd1PkrLIU

 

[panasonicvac]

Unfortunatly Sanitaires today don't use metal fans on their vacuums. If you are looking into finding something with metal fans, Royal commercial metal models has those you could find anywhere online, they even have a widepath model as well.

With these conditions you have you may consider looking into a by-pass (clean-air) commercial uprights where everything will get into the bag before it ever gets into the motor.
There's several good brands you can look into like Windsor- those are really good. Lindhaus- I've always been impressed by them over the years. Tacony like Simplicity, Riccar, Carpet Pro, Fullerbrush, or Cleanmax has models that are built really well. Panasonic has a few that are also bulit really well. My favorite is Proteam, very easy to use, parts are inexpensive to replace, and everything picks up in like one pass on commercial carpet. I like using Orecks only on low pile carpet as you say, they can still get the job done as long as you do regular maintenance on them.

It really all depends on the person who trys it out so I would just take a look at your nearby vacuum shop to see if there are any you would like try to see if it's best for your business.

 

[ralph123]

Unless you could get by with a suction only backpack vacuum, I don't think you're going to have much luck with any vacuum given the corrosive materials being picked up . You may want to use the lowest priced commercial vacuums available and consider them to be disposable, at least during the winter months.

You could have a sacrificial cheaper vacuum to use in the entryways, and use your better vacuums on upper levels.

http://www.amazon.com/Sanitaire-Com..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1XA4KFZMB8VZNW75RP0G

 

[tolivac]

Go with a suction only backpack to pick up the hard stuff-then finish with the uoright if you want the surface really cleaned.Or as one member says-use a Shop Vac or some other industrial canister type vacuum.The stuff you describe will erode ANY fan it passes thru-even metal fans.At one time when the other vac shop here serviced a fleet of Sanitaires owned by ECU he was able to order steel Sanitaire fancase liners and metal fans for them.Wished I knew the supplier.Unfortunately Bill has died.Don't know who maintains the ECU vacuum fleet at this time.

 

[vintagevaclover]

I would suggest the Sanitaire Quiet-Kleen

It's very durable, has a clean air motor, an onboard hose (with amazing suction!), and it has a suction only mode. I have had one of these for a while now for the maid to use and I've been very impressed with it actually. Another option might be the Sanitaire Contractor Upright, it was made for heavier duty jobs like that.

 

[durango159]

I would suggest a clean Air bypass design from Panasonic, Riccar or Simplicity. The excellent cleaning ability will have your floors spotless while large, harsh materials such as sand go straight to the bag and not through any fan chambers at all! . You'll have far better filtration with a Clean Air design machine, as I'm sure you're well aware that the shake out bags on the Sanitaire SC899 units are very good at blowing out occasional dust clouds!!

The new uprights will also allow for attachment use.

The other option too is use any straight suction machine whether its a Shop Vac, backback vacuum or even just a Kenmore canister vacuum with out a brush roll, and suck up the larger particles of granular salt or even sweep up with a broom some of the masses of the salt before running a vacuum. But the clean air machines above should be able to handle your issue as well along with having no problems with other materials which may get sucked up such as pennies, crayon bits, etc.

 

[supa]

I had wondered why the Windsors I used held up so well.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It sounds like a bypass/clean air vac might be the way to go. I did happen to find an old plastic hepa filtered sanitaire commercial vac hidden under a bunch of junk that I had forgotten about. It looked cheap, and had seen better days so I hadn't thought much about it. I got to thinking that it might be a bypass design so I cleaned it up and took it apart and sure enough it was. Got some bags for it and have one of my caretakers using it now. If it lasts till the next winter and holds up, I will definately kick the sc899 style vacuums to the curb! I never understood why they were so popular, the dust mess it makes with the bag surely undoes any edge it might have in deep cleaning, the paper bag modification kit helps somewhat. I always loved the windsors that I used when I worked a student cleaning job at my university, but I never quite understood how they were able to hold up to minnesota sidewalk grit so well, aside from build quality. Now I understand.

I like the look of the Sanitaire quiet clean, looks a bit more durable than the vac I uncovered. Maybe that could be a decent compromise between it and the windsors I'd really like to outfit my buildings with but can't afford.

 

[sebo_fan]

Oh did someone say grit outside?



The Windsor/SEBO uprights I've used can pick up stones, grit, coins, smashed glass.

 

[vintagevaclover]

The Sanitaire Quiet Clean would definitely be a good choice! I've had mine for almost 2 years now and the only thing I've had to do to it literally is change the bag. It has seen ALOT of use too both in my house and other places. It's a very durable machine. It seems to filter air VERY well too, whenever I change the bag, the inside of the bag chamber is spotless! I think they retail for about $500

 

[sebo_fan]

We had a discussion earlier regarding the Electrolux version which was briefly sold in the UK. They're good as carpet vacuums but the HEPA filter is inclined to clog badly and the hose isn't very long.

 

[supa]

Hmm.. $500

That's Windsor territory. Might need to stick with something cheaper then. Well at least I am armed with the proper facts for the next time this argument comes up with Management.

 

[speedqueen]

Another option

The widetrack Royal with its all metal(cast aluminum) housing and fan would probably hold up to the crushed granite. Also Royal type "B" filter bags are much better than Sanitaire's stock shake out or the aging 65 year old "F&G" type filter bags.

 

[tolivac]

I have a Royal Widepath vacuum that came from the vac shop trade in pile-its fan does indeed it looked like it ingested crushed rocks.Don't recommend this machine for that purpose.The fancase on mine has small outward dents in it-but the machine still works OK.Again ANY direct air vacuum will not stand that sort of abuse.Come to think of it there are widepath attachments for commercial wet-dry vacuums that would work for the purpose described.Use that Royal AFTER you gop over the area with the wide tank type machine.It won't get hurt from the gravel and salt chunks tracked in on peoples shoes.