Straight suction canisters vs powered brush canisters.

[sensotronic]

I have no idea how popular systems 3, 4 and 5 were, but during the time they were on sale, I only saw a system 4 in an independent store in Croydon and can't remember seeing a system 3 on my travels. I saw mostly systems 1, 2 and 5. My very first brand new vacuum cleaner in my collection was a Hoover Sensotronic Total System 5 purchased in 1983 from SEEBOARD (south eastern electricity board) in East Grinstead, Sussex. I was too young to afford to buy it, so my dad signed the HP form for me and I paid for it out of my pocket money.
My version had the earlier power hose which was prone to splitting. It was replaced with the new silver version during the guarantee period.

 

[rutger]

Hi

Today I tried a powerhead/ nozzle attachment with rotating brushes on one of my older Numatics. I've had the attachment a while but apart from just testing it worked hadn't used it.

I've got to say the difference in the appearance of the carpets compared to just using straight suction is very noticeable,(all my vacuums are straight suction canister types) the pile has clearly been lifted.
I did find it a bit of a pain to set up & a bit less manouverable than the standard system but i'll definitely be using it every few weeks just to freshen the carpet up.

I'm converted !

Thanks
Dave

 

[super-sweeper]

In some situations a bare-suction nozzle is still adequate by todays standards,Or at least by my standards,:O)
Anyways,For example,One of my favorite (And most used) Cleaners,Is my 1968 Fair-Fax Home sanitation system,I mainly use it do to the following reasons,
MANY attachments,
EXTREMELY quiet
2-speed
Versatile.
This cleaner,However,Does not come with a power-nozzel,Even though i have pretty much all of the attachements,All i am missing is the floor-polisher,But i will check with that soon,As i am doing a video of it for my re-vamped youtube page
(Vacguy99).
Anyways,I have burber carpeting,and the nozzle does an excellent job of daily cleaning,But for the more fine,Rubbed in grit i bring out the Hoover Floor-Max or Electrolux L.

-Alex.

 

[MikeKLondon]

Miele

My Miele cleans well with the PN but the hose is so short its not good at above floor cleaning, I do wish it was easy to get a good canister with PN's in the UK even Miele have stopped now, I have 2 but when they burn out I'm not sure what I will get. The one make it will not be is SEBO what a waste of money the felix was. Very good design and cleans OK, but such poor build

 

[rutger]

I must admit that now i've used one & seen how good they are, I do wonder why they're not more readily available.
I've used the air-powered heads & whilst they appear to be better than the straight suction heads they're noisy & don't seem as good as the electrically powered ones.
Perhaps manufacturers need to educate people as to the benefits of powered heads on cylinder vacuums.

Dave

 

[uksausage]

i love this debate

every time this kind of thing comes up i always read the whole thing its intresting to see everyones points of view, i personally still prefer an upright but i think thats more psychological we have been told so many times uprights clean better, i do have a few machines with power heads i have a miele cat and dog with optional powerhead also 2 wertheim vacuums both with powerheads the 4412 and the 4430 these are exellent vacuums they pull so much dirt out but are very unreliable as they are more or less tti machines where as before they were made by electrolux the power heads are more like older hoover ones as they are vmetal and have the beater bars and very stiff bristles and do an amazing job on pet hair and embedded grit but i still like my uprights as i get so annoyed having to pull the machine behind me while i clean oh well everyone has their own opinion my sister loves her wertheim and doesnt mind pulling it around, i do wish though that some of these new uk hoover machines had powerheads instead of the air driven turbo heads i just like to have this kind of thing in my collection

 

[sebo_fan]

David - its the brands who are fault in so far as cylinders with P/N' availability in the UK. They want more sales of their uprights and not of their cylinder vacs. Some brands offer both though and don't bother with the fear of snatching sales from either sector.

 

[anthony]

when i was a small boy

back in the early 60s my grandma had an electrolux Z62 [no fitted carpets back then] she never used the floor tool instead she liked to use the upholstery tool on the end of the two wands .I once asked her why .She said that big thing is too clumsy its easier to get under the furiture and behind the telly and any other nooks and cranies she came across with the small tool .She also liked to empty ashtrays with the machine causing it to stink of stale ciggies .The Z62 was still in use in the late 90s when gran died

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

Royal 311

Royal continued making full-size straight suction upright cleaners for commercial use until 1985; their 311 was the last such offering after the Electro-Hygiene 2-230 was replaced in their consumer line in 1955 by the 285 with the revolving brush.

~Ben

 

[electricutopia]

‘She also liked to empty ashtrays with the machine causing it to stink of stale ciggies…’

Reminds me of this image from an Air-Way manual, emptying an ashtray with the hollow handle!

 

[dysonman1]

Some of the best straight suction rug nozzles ever tested by the old VCCC were the Filter Queen, Compact, Rexair, and Kenmore.

 

[human]

Aside from wet/dry shop vacs, the only two straight suction canisters I've ever used were a late '50s vintage Lewyt that looked like a pink and gray fire hydrant, and an Electrolux 1205 with a leaky hose that Dad grabbed from a neighbor's trash pile in the early '80s.

The Lewyt was our only vacuum cleaner when I was little, so I had nothing to compare it with. We had no wall-to-wall carpet, only area rugs, so it seemed pretty satisfactory. We got a Hoover Convertible (tan and green 'Brady Bunch' model) in the early '70s, and wall-to-wall carpeting seemed to systematically follow.

I didn't understand about leaky cloth hoses when I was a teenager, so I just assumed the Electrolux just wasn't a great performer. I finally proved that theory wrong when I rescued it from my parents' attic in 2016 and connected it to a vinyl hose and PN2 for probably the fist time in its existence, and unleashed its true power.

By that time, I was well aware of that a canister with a power nozzle was a formidable cleaning tool, having gotten my grandmother's Eureka Princess power team in about 1996 or '97. I've been a fan of that configuration ever since because of its lighter weight and greater maneuverability in tight spaces. Although these days, I have settled on metal Electroluxes (1205 and newer) as my canisters of choice, I'd still like to get my hands on another Eureka like my grandmother's. I still regret letting that one get away from me when I was married. Believe me, I miss that machine more than I miss my ex-wife.