somebody really hates there henry

[citroenbx]

Blogger With A Cuppa 115
Us Brits like to hang on to outdated technology. This British made vacuum cleaner made by Numatic International needs HUGE updates as this 35 year old thing does NOT cut the mustard anymore. Other manufacturers are running rings round this now and simply making them pink and calling them "Hetty" is not only a lame way to boost sales but eventually these inefficient vacuums will be seen for what they really are.

I like the Hetty even LESS as I see it as a sexist way to sell more to gullable people who will see it as "cute".

Henry is powerful and reliable but that is just the motor. In fact Henry is inefficient as the power is never put down properly thanks to leaky hose and tubes. In particular is that stupid vent bit that everyone sellotapes closed.

The head also is poor. it doesn't stay flat and the hair and bits just get stuck in the brushes. There is no carpet beater in the head and a tiny hole that often gets clogged. It has the perception of being powerful as the small hole sucks up the carpet, but no dirt.

Henry is round, but will still get stuck and wrapped round anything and everything. Thanks to its fixed hard plastic edge it damages furniture and walls. In the work place this is extra annoying as time is money and along with other problems with Henry is COSTING MONEY.

In the video I gave most of the problems and solutions. Henry does have the ability to be a robot Vacuum but the company has probably not even looked at this possibility.

It bugs my how British companies trumpet on about their British credentials yet do very little to move with the times. This vacuum cleaney has bags of potential (pardon the pun) but the inferior changes over the years are going to lead to problems if they aren't already.

 

[cuffs054]

Vacuum Humor! I love it!

 

[citroenbx]

it was very one-sided I thort

but it was funny

 

[vintagerepairer]

I don't know of course, but I expect there is more to this than meets the eye. That is to say this smacks of someone who wants to get known for something and has been told to do a video about something he knows a bit about.

What this one individual thinks about Henry is neither here nor there. These cleaners are one of the best selling vacuum cleaners in the UK. It is not important as to what specific details of the cleaner appeal most to the purchasers, what is important is that the Henry cleaner offers value for money and consumers like them.

Furthermore, Numatic International are far more than their Henry cleaner. Henry and Hetty represent only a small percentage of the cleaning appliances which Numatic turn out.

 

[delaneymeegan]

Looks like the American version of a Silver King, or Filter Queen, but with the bare bones functioning of a typical utility vacuum/shopvac. I doubt Henry/Henrietta can filter dust and noise as well as a Filter Queen.

Either way, all of the above are not practical vacs by todays standards.

Do they have a Eureka Mighty Mite at the local Asda or Tesco in the U.K. ? With a magic marker or peel and stick facial decals, one can put any type cute face on their vacuum, and have a superior vacuum that can kick Henry's round little butt out to the Thymes.

 

[delaneymeegan]

OK, after further research...

Henry, it appears does not live alone in a nameless, faceless retail culture. No, Henry is part of an entourage of vacuums, apparently named after England's former reigning Kings. A concept I find rather enduring.

Didn't find any Henrietta, though. At least not at Asda.

 

[delaneymeegan]

Alternatives to monarchy smiling at you from your hall wardrobe....
An actual Hoover bagless, Vax, or my fav... Zanussi.

I really like the window vac. That is original.
In America, we don't clean windows. When the windows get bad, we just tear down the whole building and build a newer, uglier building. All that tearing down creates dust for other peoples windows, then they tear down their building..... it's just a vicious circle here.

 

[tolivac]

I have a Henry I bought from another VCCC member-LIKE the machine-Its a simple,no nonsense vacuum!Just does the job-and in the US commercial users like them.Like the simple crank cordreel-so springs or other doo-dads to break.And DO NOT MAKE Henry bagless-what a mess!!!!Guess if you really want to-you could use the vacuum without a bag-but you would have to clean the filter frequently.and would need another vacuum for that.The man simply wasn't using the floor tool right-looks like he had the bare floor bristles extended.Simple cure-just get a carpet tool and another hard floor tool.EASIER and better!!!!Have tried my Henry with a turbine carpet tool-works quite well.I use Kirby Filtrete bags in mine.They fit and hold a lot of dust.

 

[suckolux]

Their?

 

[turbo500]

@delaneymeegan...

The "female" version is called Hetty, not Henrietta.

I don't think I can quite express the popularity of these vacuums here in the UK. They are EVERYWHERE. The majority of shops, restaurants, hotels, offices, schools etc usually have some form of Numatic in them. My office has faceless models branded Mitie (which are the contract cleaning company that maintain our building).

On my daily walk from the train station to my office, I walk through the main shopping area of the city centre and can count at least 5 shops that are all out with Numatic's first thing in the morning getting ready to open.

Until the late 90's, Henry et al were pretty much exclusively available for the commercial market and as a builders vac. However, a lot of electrical shops and catalogues like Comet, Currys and Argos started selling them around 97/98. Due to their popularity in the commercial market, Numatic branched into the domestic market for people wanting a very unfussy, reliable, reasonably priced and high performing vacuum. At around £100, they're probably the best you can get for that price here.

My sister has had an AutoSave Hetty for about 5 years or so now and it's the one vacuum she hasn't managed to completely kill in under 2 years.

Some of the alternatives you've suggested are horrendous choices. That Hoover in particular is absolute crap. Those are cheap, low efficiency bagless models with a very short life span. Numatic's are really the only vacuums worth buying under £100.

 

[sebo_fan]

Numatic are also the last of a dying breed truly made in Britain. Hoover's tat is made in China including copy floor heads from Wessel Werk that are not all that well thought out. Not everything Chinese is badly made but it seems to me Hoover aren't paying the Chinese enough to bring something out made of quality plastics and well thought out design.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Hetty = short for Henrietta. In the mid 1990's some of the Numatic cleaners had a cartoon little girl on the box which the cleaners came in. She was known as Henrietta, but it wasn't until the late 2000's that Numatic started building a female version of the Hetty.

Great Universal Stores were one of the first companies to sell Henry cleaners to the domestic market. This was as far back as about 1992. One thing you may not have noticed about Numatic until it is pointed out is that they rarely ever advertise, other than any relativly recent online advertising they have done since the internet was invented. In addition the Henry cleaner did not change for the domestic market nor did Numatic 'branch out' per se into domestic markets; in all it was more a case that more and more domestic customers were buying Henry through commercial cleaning suppliers and indpendent repair shops like mine, so much so that other retailers saw the chance to begin supplying the Henry & other models. It was a bit of a blow for the small retailers as we lost the accidental exclusivity to the Numatic products that we'd always enjoyed, but that's business at the end of the day.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Meant to say female versoin of the Henry, not Hetty.

 

[delaneymeegan]

It looks like Numatic Corp. has really been propagating Henry and associates.

Henrietta or Hetty, is busy entertain kids with toys and stuffed versions, providing office workers with mugs and other memorabilia, in addition to providing a gender appropriate match for users who's sexual identity hang-ups are ever present. In all fairness, if there's going to be a male version of an otherwise ambiguous product, than there should also be a female version.

 

[delaneymeegan]

Does anyone know if the desk vac ACTUALLY works for sucking up stuff?



Here's my American version of a Henry. I'm thinking of getting some peel and stick facial features to match his big nose..... but I realize, he'll never be a Henry.

I call him Frank, I shouldn't but he reminds me of someone I knew named Frank.

I bought this shop vac in like 2004 for about $28, if I remember right. It hasn't been used that much, but it's always worked as it should when needed. The thing is the exhaust air shoots out of 2 small holes at the back and if the holes are aimed at anything that will be blown about, it will make a mess. It would have been better to have the air exit up, or be defused.

I like this, compared to other shop vacs because it is lower to the floor and fatter, so it doesn't tip. Most shop vacs try and be tall and thin. This is roughly 17" wide and the same tall.

Also, if need be one can get the larger diameter shop vac hose and it will fit the intake port for vacuuming larger items.

You can use this with the bag, which I always have, with the filter around the motor (which is messy to clean out), or remove all bags and/or filters and use it to vacuum liquids (which I've done a few times).

Right now, its kind of dirty because I've been using it to clean up some really gross stuff (dead mice, mouse nests, leaves, and dead bugs), but when that's done, I'll clean him/it up with soap, water and a sponge, rinse it both inside and out, let it dry, and put it back together all fresh and ready to be used again.



I would never think to treat my Frank badly for his short comings. Yeah, he's not perfect- he blows things down, won't look me in the face like Henry, doesn't smile, and isn't part of some exclusive group; but I still respect him for the lowly position he holds, and the good deeds he does.

I could be wrong but I think our angry Graham Norton-esque friend who made a video ripping Henry a new one, might want to give Henry a break. After all, Henry knows people ........ there's no telling what could happen if a gang of Henry's teamed up ...... casters spinning dutifully, rubber hoses in a defensive position, and angry frowns replacing the otherwise happy faces....... NO !

It could get ugly in a certain London neighborhood, and I don't want to be there when it happens.[this post was last edited: 12/1/2015-21:11]

 

[sebo_fan]

As in Frank the Tank?

I doubt the Henry vac is anything like your ShopVac other than the fact that it has a black top and a red body with a motor on the top, but good try and a nice name - maybe you should get stickers for the front of it. If I were you, I'd even go as far to adding fake stick on feet!

Henry is different. For starters the filter inside the Henry is a basket that covers the entire surface area in which the dust bag underneath can be found. Castor wheels underneath elevate Henry with two large wheels on the back. Choose the commercial version and you get yourself a big apron.

Henry is versatile; he can be used without a bag even if the mess is a resulting mess which will need to be poured out and of course the basket will have to be brushed clean unless it is a washable type, which is also available from Numatic.

But unlike so many canister tub vacuums, Numatic's Henry and associated models have a bowler hat with a windable hand crank style cable. The James model which is my favourite has none but an open top in which tools can be placed; the cord has to be wound around manually though Numatic have since fitted a removable grid on top.

The desk version only really sucks up a few crumbs; that's really what it is designed for, rather than dust behind a computer keyboard; same with those cute pet animal crumb vacs, of which I have one and it does the job not too badly; the desktop Henry is more of a novelty than anything else.

 

[sensotronic]

Hetty Desk vacuum review

 

[sensotronic]

Here's a few more Numatic reviews.

http://https//www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL8RFLr8EcfTs0ESup941X9-3FgEoGAuJ

 

[turbo500]

nor did Numatic 'branch out' per se into domestic ma

That's not entirely true. In more recent years, the James-Henry-Hetty-Charles-George line up has been advertised online and in brochures as the "homecare" range, whilst the commercial machines are "cleancare". There's definitely a change in marketing to angle Henry et al towards the domestic market, whether it was intentional or not initially.