the rise in popularity of cylinder vacuums in the UK
- Thread starter turbo500
- Start date
Help Support VacuumLand:
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
"That is so backwards, the upright is what would do a better job, would make more sense to use the upright at the weekend".
Good job my mother is not alive to read that. She always used her upright to vacuum the main areas of the carpet on a regular basis, and her cylinder for floors & deep cleaning. She was NOT deep cleaning the carpet, as the upright did that every time she vacuumed. She was deep cleaning the ROOM, using the cylinder to get into every corner of every part & every thing in the room that could be vacuumed.
Good job my mother is not alive to read that. She always used her upright to vacuum the main areas of the carpet on a regular basis, and her cylinder for floors & deep cleaning. She was NOT deep cleaning the carpet, as the upright did that every time she vacuumed. She was deep cleaning the ROOM, using the cylinder to get into every corner of every part & every thing in the room that could be vacuumed.
alexhoovers94
Well-known member
An upright can do all that too...
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
Well that would all come down to how convenient the user found the upright. For anything more than a quick flick about, I do not like the tools on uprights. I find they lack the performance of a cylinder and the expanding hose drives me mad. Furthermore, pulling an upright by the hose is not something I was keen on either.
At the end of the day, uprights were designed to sweep & suck on carpets, and cylinders to suck only, but with increased convenience. Tools on an upright and power heads on a cylinder are a compromise to turn one into the other.
At the end of the day, uprights were designed to sweep & suck on carpets, and cylinders to suck only, but with increased convenience. Tools on an upright and power heads on a cylinder are a compromise to turn one into the other.
alexhoovers94
Well-known member
I wouldn't say modern upright lack the performance of a Cylinder with the tools.
I find cylinders more cumbersome and less convenient to be honest.
Alex.
I find cylinders more cumbersome and less convenient to be honest.
Alex.
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
"I wouldn't say modern upright lack the performance of a Cylinder with the tools."
I know you wouldn't.
I know you wouldn't.
alexhoovers94
Well-known member
Well considering that most uprights are pretty much clean air, they are basically a cylinder design anyway, in an upright form!
vintagerepairer
Well-known member
And that, Alex, is the thought process of many who do not appreciate the difference. The design of an upright is such that the airflow cannot always be maximised, and the motors often smaller, producing less suction power, or I should say suction power than cannot be moved thoroughly over a long distance. Electrolux proved this with their Slimline and Microlite cylinders which had the exact same motor as the uprights. The design of the cleaner did help to a point in maximising suction power, but it was never great.
My mother had an Electrolux 504 with a rigid hose, and that was not too bad at being pulled round, but neither she nor I thought it to be as easier as her cylinder cleaner was.
My mother had an Electrolux 504 with a rigid hose, and that was not too bad at being pulled round, but neither she nor I thought it to be as easier as her cylinder cleaner was.
turbo500
Well-known member
I can't see Alex's comments, but I do the same as your mother, Benny. The upright is my go to for vacuuming the open areas throughout the week and then the cylinder is my deep cleaner for getting in the tight corners of the room and, of course, above floor. Sofa, curtains, stairs etc, as well as dusting down surfaces like windowsills and book cases.
And re: the backwards comment, frankly I'm not taking advice from anyone who can't grasp the idea that vacuuming is not just about carpets and doesn't vacuum their sofa. I'll stick to my system, it's working well for me.
And re: the backwards comment, frankly I'm not taking advice from anyone who can't grasp the idea that vacuuming is not just about carpets and doesn't vacuum their sofa. I'll stick to my system, it's working well for me.
alexhoovers94
Well-known member
Chris, My sofa is leather, it doesn't need to be vacuumed, apart from down the sides.
I use my canister few times per week to vacuum the hard floors + turbo brush for the quick carpet vacuuming. It has long hose and nozzles are light so it's easy and effortless to use. I no longer use the powerhead in it, because canister works best when it has the light nozzles.
Once in a week I take my heavy (9,5 kg) upright to give the carpets thorough clean. In fact I don't use it for anything else than for the carpets. Reason: In my large open area carpet is where the large upright shines. It does has a stretch hose and tools, but I don't like to use them. Hose is quite short and suction constantly tries pull it back.
Once in a week I take my heavy (9,5 kg) upright to give the carpets thorough clean. In fact I don't use it for anything else than for the carpets. Reason: In my large open area carpet is where the large upright shines. It does has a stretch hose and tools, but I don't like to use them. Hose is quite short and suction constantly tries pull it back.
turbo500
Well-known member
The weekly clean in my house involves cleaning all of these areas, which are tricky with an upright. I can't abide having to use 2 vacuums to do a thorough clean, so I'll stick to my system.
I find that an upright can do anything a cylinder can and is more convenient to store
Stair cleaning with cylinders is a pain aswell
Well let's just be specific- I use a Dyson DC41 Mk2 and DC33 Animal (Cos I like both)
Both excellent for hard floors- Large debris channel and active base plate either way. All I need to do is press a button on mine. With cylinders, sometimes the hard floor setting is stubborn to change on certain machines.
You can go from vacuuming the floor to using the wand extended with it's hose ready within 2 seconds.
The tools are all on board. If I want to get into a confined space, just pull the wand out and attach the tangle free turbine head - Much better than straight suction and much smaller! I can shove it behind the sofa and get a deep clean without moving the sofa. Lots of dust accumulates there.
Car cleaning with cylinders?
I can't imagine how much easier it is than an upright. Cylinder vacuums (except Numatic and Dyson) all have a banana handle which is too big and makes it awkward to go in different places when car cleaning. An upright just has a hose cuff which is more simplified and still comfortable to hold in use. A good example of this is a Hoover purepower- Very small and comfortable to hold the hose cuff with.
Why I dont like cylinders:
-They get stuck in door frames and anything they touch
- Long hoses like on the Henry are a pain. The hose flaps about and especially in UK houses with small rooms they are worse- A long hose gets in the way.
-We had a Vax 6140 a few years ago and the hose would get caught by the big handle and tip the vacuum over
- They are a pain to clean stairs with- Imagine a tub vacuum. A Henry can only reach up 10 steps but that's because it has a long hose but still not long enough for stairs.
They are annoying to store regardless of having park feature or not. You can take the main vacuum unit and put it in a different place and have to put the hose and wand away somewhere else and have to assemble it again next time
OR
Have it in the cellar and the wand will just be loose against the wall and fall with the hose taking up a lot of space.
Or you can just wrap the hose around the wand if it has a park feature but that's annoying and time consuming.
Even a Dyson Stowaway requires effort to make it stowed away.
What do I do with an upright? Well it has wheels and I can just push it into the cellar and it doesn't take up much space. Actually I can put it anywhere in my house against the wall or on a corner because it will just thay there. No flappy bird hoses and all that[this post was last edited: 2/13/2016-07:26]
Stair cleaning with cylinders is a pain aswell
Well let's just be specific- I use a Dyson DC41 Mk2 and DC33 Animal (Cos I like both)
Both excellent for hard floors- Large debris channel and active base plate either way. All I need to do is press a button on mine. With cylinders, sometimes the hard floor setting is stubborn to change on certain machines.
You can go from vacuuming the floor to using the wand extended with it's hose ready within 2 seconds.
The tools are all on board. If I want to get into a confined space, just pull the wand out and attach the tangle free turbine head - Much better than straight suction and much smaller! I can shove it behind the sofa and get a deep clean without moving the sofa. Lots of dust accumulates there.
Car cleaning with cylinders?
I can't imagine how much easier it is than an upright. Cylinder vacuums (except Numatic and Dyson) all have a banana handle which is too big and makes it awkward to go in different places when car cleaning. An upright just has a hose cuff which is more simplified and still comfortable to hold in use. A good example of this is a Hoover purepower- Very small and comfortable to hold the hose cuff with.
Why I dont like cylinders:
-They get stuck in door frames and anything they touch
- Long hoses like on the Henry are a pain. The hose flaps about and especially in UK houses with small rooms they are worse- A long hose gets in the way.
-We had a Vax 6140 a few years ago and the hose would get caught by the big handle and tip the vacuum over
- They are a pain to clean stairs with- Imagine a tub vacuum. A Henry can only reach up 10 steps but that's because it has a long hose but still not long enough for stairs.
They are annoying to store regardless of having park feature or not. You can take the main vacuum unit and put it in a different place and have to put the hose and wand away somewhere else and have to assemble it again next time
OR
Have it in the cellar and the wand will just be loose against the wall and fall with the hose taking up a lot of space.
Or you can just wrap the hose around the wand if it has a park feature but that's annoying and time consuming.
Even a Dyson Stowaway requires effort to make it stowed away.
What do I do with an upright? Well it has wheels and I can just push it into the cellar and it doesn't take up much space. Actually I can put it anywhere in my house against the wall or on a corner because it will just thay there. No flappy bird hoses and all that[this post was last edited: 2/13/2016-07:26]
turbo500
Well-known member
Ok, there's a few well made points to address here. Obviously what vacuum is easiest for you depends on your own cleaning regime and the style of your house.
With regards to cylinders on stairs, I find them much easier. Tub vacs like Henry are, granted, more difficult to use. I can either do this as pictured and then go the other way from the top or, my preference, carry the vacuum with one hand and the hose with the other.
Sledge style cylinders like in picture 2 are the easiest I find as they sit perfectly on the step and are considerably lighter than most uprights and tub cylinders, with a few exceptions.
With regards to cylinders on stairs, I find them much easier. Tub vacs like Henry are, granted, more difficult to use. I can either do this as pictured and then go the other way from the top or, my preference, carry the vacuum with one hand and the hose with the other.
Sledge style cylinders like in picture 2 are the easiest I find as they sit perfectly on the step and are considerably lighter than most uprights and tub cylinders, with a few exceptions.
turbo500
Well-known member
In terms of cylinder storage, I have a few options. The most obvious being just to wheel it into the cupboard.
turbo500
Well-known member
However, we also have a storage bracket courtesy of IKEA that works well. Again, sledge cylinders are even easier than tubs due to the smaller footprint. This is how I usually store Henry. Bear in mind, I use the upright as my quick whip round vac throughout the week, so Henry only comes out on a weekend to do the deep clean.
I know but those style of sledge cylinders are oldies not and modern vacuums are much bigger and more "bagless" shaped. They need to be carried and are not designed to be dragged up the stairs. I have two flight of stairs in my house: One if a normal flight of 13 stairs and the second flight of stairs has 14 steps and is curved like yours is. It's quite difficult to vacuum the curved stairs because if you handle a cylinder by carrying it, with the hose in the other hand and the cable hanging out, the curved part of the stairs are very tiny because there's a vanishing point of the step. It's best to use a vacuum with a stretch hose or an extension hose with a crevice tool at this point, or a very narrow stair tool like what Henry's have
That's a pretty nice and big cellar! 
When was your house built?
I live in a Victorian terraced house built in 1894 so it's about 122 years old and the cellar is about a door's width and the length is about 3 metres so it's long and narrow like a hallway
When was your house built?I live in a Victorian terraced house built in 1894 so it's about 122 years old and the cellar is about a door's width and the length is about 3 metres so it's long and narrow like a hallway
turbo500
Well-known member
Re: the bagless design/sledge design...nearly all bagged cylinders are the sledge style and will sit on the stairs. With a bagless cylinder, surely that would be the same process as using the Henry?
We have 2 flights of stairs also - our house is a 3 story town house.
We have 2 flights of stairs also - our house is a 3 story town house.
