The NSS Pig: Overkill for a residential setting?

[Sanifan]

Hi!

I almost got a pig today. Great shape, really good price. Unfortunately, my timing was bad and someone else bought it between the time I contacted the seller and when I could make it over there.

Got me to thinking: would I even use this very often? I manage several properties so it's mostly residential type vacuuming I do as well as the hallways in my building. I use a Sanitaire commercial mighty mite type canister to vacuum the small tile entryway to the building, and that seems to work fine. I don't have a shop or work in an industrial environment, so would you say the Pig is something I would rarely use? They sure are cool and I'd sure love to have one someday, but I wonder if it would be more for fun rather than a practical, functional tool for me.

What do you think?

 

[tolivac]

I do use my "Pigs" for home use-thats where they are.They are big and heavy for home use,though-but do get the job done.When I bought my first one from Daycon Janitorial supply in Wash Dc,they did say many customers bought them for home use-and I lived in an apartment at that time!They are cool and fun to use-thats why I have THREE of them!And did use them for "commercial" work-transmitter and studio cleaning jobs at radio stations.And have used mine here at work when one of our transmitters "blew up" leaving a large mess inside the unit and around it-the "Pig" gobbled it right up-and it saved the nuts and bolts,other parts for you!The Sanitaire "Mighty Mite" is a nice little vacuum-did know someone that did radio work that had one.He liked using it like a blower.A secret---you can use the "Pig" as a blower--MAKE SURE THE SNOUT IS EMPTY!!Then remove the bag from the fan discharge.Now attach the hose to the discharge opening--like a Kirby-instant powerful blower!For those BIG messes NOTHING matches the Pig-not even most Shop Vacs-You just can't use the Pig for wet pickup.HAVE FUN WITH YOUR PIG!!!And its a good conversation starter!

 

[twocvbloke]

I'd get one if I could, big commercials will last forever in a residential situation, heck, my Victor 271 is overkill for this house, but it does a damned fine job of cleaning the carpets, and it's pretty much the upright equivalent to the NSS in having a massive fan and a large bag on the back...

 

[tolivac]

Might add-NSS Pigs are easy to work on!I replaced the bearings and brushes in my oldest one in less than an hour!!The unit is user freindly to work on.Just take out several philips head screws,remove the rubber bumper-and you are inside.I am even eyeying one of those grey pigs as shown in the VCCC Convention pictures.Pigs come in two "flavors" one with a "pigtail" connector for a powernozzle,and the other model without.The Pig is AWESOME with the NSS powernozzle!I used to vacuum a freinds house with mine-top to bottom-just becuase I liked doing it.Now he has moved-and when he moved out---vacuumed his house for the last time with the --PIG!!and even did the garage!!-the Pig loved the cobwebs!

 

[tolivac]

Can we see pictures of the Victor 271?Never seen one.Like the Pig-sounds like a beast of a vacuum.

 

[twocvbloke]

There's a link to my Victor pics here in this thread on a Clarke 500 that was on ebay recently:



http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?14231

 

[tolivac]

Thanks for the info on the Victor vacuum-indeed that is a MONSTER of an upright!!Makes any of the others look like toys.Love the HUGE METAL FAN and FANCASE!!-no plastic here!And it has such a deep throaty ROAR!!Bet it does a super job on any flooring.think the fan in that vac is larger than the one in my Tacony 24" wide nozzle vacuum.I want one-who is the dealer-dist for these machines?Are they available in the US?And its bag appears to be usable with the paper inner ones or use it as a dump bag.The motor in this thing sounds for real.A serious vacuum cleaner.King among the Vert motor and other upright vacuums.and with that metal fan and fancase-ANYTHING on the floor this vac finds is in the bag!SUPER KOOL!and the Victor-like the NSS looks EASY to service.so if by any chance you break a fan or fancase-they can be replaced easily,and the fancase-without replacing the base.

 

[twocvbloke]

I think those vacs (sold under many guises, the US got them as the Clarke 500) were 1970s-1980s, though I think I did see a modern version of the vac recently, but can't recall where.... :&#92

Yes, you can use the cloth bag as a shakeout, but with the air pressure generated by that massive fan, it pushes fine dirt right through the fabric, so not recommended, better to use bags inside of it...

And the only plastic is the motor hood, the motor vent channels, the cable hooks and the power button, the rest is pretty much all metal, which is why the vac is still running today, cos metal wins...

Oh, just found the site again with the modern version (search engines are quite handy!!!), you may want to sit down before you see the price they're asking for though... :S



http://www.cleancraft.com/Clarke_560B_Upright_Vacuum_p/vs-c560b.htm

 

[thissucks]

as tim allen would say "more power ho,ho,ho!"

no such thing as over-kill, V-8 in a fiero? why not? 500nitro express round revolver? sure! a 200lb vac for your 10X10 family room? atta-boy!

 

[Sanifan]

How much does the Pig weigh?

I'm in love with the idea of super powerful vac with a massive indestructible fan and a really basic function-first look. No design school grads working on these machines! Just engineers.

Reminds me of Mad Max's V-8 interceptor with the boost switch, or a hacked together Millennium Falcon that can still do light speed.

How heavy is the Pig? Doesn't seem too portable. Still, I want one someday. Everyone who has one seems really tickled. They are really cool, for sure.

 

[Sanifan]

75 cfm???

Hey, twocvbloke.

Those Victors/Clarke's look very cool.

Specs on the website indicate 75cfm. Doesn't that sound low? My Sanitaires are specced at 145cfm, which almost doubles that number. Heck, even the Sanitaire Mighty Mite canister moves 120cfm.

Of course I know there's more to it than that. I was just surprised that the cfm rating was so low for such a monster vac.

 

[twocvbloke]

Well, given that there's a crapload of suction lifting the carpet up to the nozzle (no carpet height adjustment!!! It adjusts the carpet directly!!!), then it doesn't really need a lot of airflow...

They're a crazy machine, that's for sure, a proper rug muncher...

 

[thissucks]

cfm may be low but vacuum force is probly unbelivible.

its like HP and Torque in a cars engine

you can have a 300hp car but it struggles to pull a trailer, then again you could have a 170hp and 500ftlb.torque truck have no issue pulling trailer.

 

[twocvbloke]

Yup, the wattage of the Victor is quite low at 660 Watts, but it's cleaning power is immense, compare that to a modern generic upright with a 1800 Watt motor (at least, in countries with 220-250v at the socket) that can barely sweep up a feather sitting on the surface of the carpet, it's all a case of finding the right balance...

The Victor (or Clarke, or whatever brand they stick on it) is kind of on the opposite side of the spectrum, yes it's a great cleaner and uses little power, but, it's huge, and really does need a large space to work in, whereas something like a Sanitaire fits the gap between modern POS upright and the insanely powerful commercial...

 

[twocvbloke]

After a bit more research into that Clarke 560B I linked to, it doesn't have the same motor setup that the older models like my Victor does, so, it's not as powerful as it's predecessors, it seems it only shares the same bag setup & handle assembly design, but, the motor is vastly different, and weaker hence the 75CFM, so, yeah, might not actually be worth the almost $1k price after all... :&#92

Still, keep scouring ebay and the likes and I'm sure you'll find a proper Clarke 500...

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Is the "pig vacuum"

named "Charlotte"?     Sorry,  it was too good not to................................................................

 

[broomvac]

I was always told...

...CFM ("airflow") did all the work, not "suction" or negative PSI. That was everyone's reasoning behind using direct air machines over bypass vacuums.

I would say, for example, a vacuum pump capable of 1000 negative PSI but only like 10 CFM would make a very poor cleaner vs something like, say, a street sweeper capable of 1000 CFM but only like 10 negative PSI.

Correct?

Kirbys, Sanitaires, Royals, (even PIGS) etc. all have way greater CFM than their modern bypass counterparts, but pull less negative PSI, and yet most of us agree that the direct air vauums are superior than the bypass cleaners for vacuuming "POWER"!

So I would think that the Clarke or Victor vac would need and produce a lot greater CFM than mentioned if it is such a rug ripping vacuum...

 

[twocvbloke]

Well, as I had found that the Clarke 560B I linked to has the 75FCM with the different and weaker motor, the Clarkes & Victors & suchlike before that 560B was brought out produce somewhere between 140-150CFM, I got my info wrong initially, but that's what the internet is for, research and fact finding...

(and also, reading posts properly beforehand vastly helps matters too, hint hint...)

 

[tolivac]

The pig with hose and bag attached would weigh about 40 pounds.Its not really as heavy as it looks.The top of the bag rod can be used like a handle-you can then carry the machine like a suitcase with the hose draped around your neck-thats how I have "portaged" mine into places.esp stairs.Otherwise you can grab the top of the bag support rod and just roll the machine along.
I agree on the CFM for vacuums--its CFM that does most of the work.You need the airflow to remove the dirt and dust from whatever you are cleaning and convey it to the dirt container.I have found CFM based machines beat high suction pressure vacs all of the time.The Pig is NOT a high pressure machine-but VERY high CFM.the bigger the hose(up to 2") the better.with a standard hose it is not that impressive.You choke off its airflow.Will look at the sites featuring the Victor vacuum.Yes,I am sitting down-must be priced like a Kirby.