The word on Miele Canister Vacuums

[twocvbloke]

"I didnt mean All vacuum portable vacuums are junk! &#3

It's what you're implying though, "Filthy Kirbys & Tristars", if you ever found your central vac needing maintenance, which you will, then you'll find that it too is "filthy", that's the whole reason why vacuum cleaners exist, they pick up dirt and the containers into which the dirt goes ends up dirty...

And central vacs are not "better" than portable vacuums, for example, you can't take a central vac out to the car to clean the carpets, you can't use a central vac as a blower, you can't clean out blocked pipes easily on a central vac without using drain rods, so, central vacs are a flawed idea, and they use a lot more power than a potable vac as they have to deal with the long pipework and hoses, so they help to increase your electricity bill too...

I'd happily take my "filthy" portable vacs over a fixed vac any day...

 

[eurekastar]

I have a Miele Callisto and a Miele Jazz. While I don't have any long-term experience to judge overall durability, I would say they are solidly built. They're also strong performers, being powerful and thorough cleaners. I would, however, echo some of what was said above. The power cord on the canister (Callisto) is too short. Perhaps its length is appropriate for European homes but not for large American Ranch-style homes. Additionally, the bags are small and expensive. With the few drawbacks, I would still recommend either of the ones I have.

 

[r2d2]

The Good , The Bad and the Truth

Pete explained my only complaint with Miele. Its boxy, heavy and has an extremely stretchy hose. It isn't always inclined to come when you call or follow you around corners and when you give it a smart tug it can act like a slingshot and come wheeling to crack your ankles. The Miele is heavy, very quiet, has strong suction and like all vacuums is only as good as the attachment and airflow they create. I am not a fan of the Miele bare floor tool but like the power nozzle. I wish more vacuums slowed motor speeds for reduced suction like the Miele does. I won't live long enough to wear out my Miele. Electrolux has a shorter, stiffer hose and the body of the canister is long and more narrow so it makes a better dance partner for Friday night cleaning parties. Im not sure I agree that Miele housings are less durable. A blow or scrape that would leave a mark on the body of a Miele would dent and scatch the metal bodied Electrolux. The pot metal housing of the Tri-Star doesn't dent but it does crack and scratch. It doesn't take very much attention to be careful when using any tool or appliances and keep it like new. My experience has been that Miele has not capitulated from a position of honor as quickly as the other premium brands and honey ain't nothing as good as it used to be.

 

[r2d2]

Cover Your Fangs

Venson is a new and younger member of our club. He is thinking and speaking from his heart and will learn to temper his enthusiasm and polarizing views. We all start rough and fit in after the edges are brushed down a bit. New blood, new excitement and new experience revitalize our group. Welcome and good luck.

 

[eurekaprince]

Hi RS Sebo-Fan!

You say that Miele "have to get rid of the top exhaust system where you breathe in the motor air". I understand your complaint, but I really think it is a small price to pay to make sure your vac is not blowing loose dirt and dust that is sitting on the surface of a floor. I actually will never buy another canister that does not have the exhaust leaving the machine from the top for that very reason. After playing with a new Hoover/Maytag stainless steel floating Constellation, I was very glad to sell it - the downward exhaust made cleaning so much more of an effort as it blew dirt in every direction.

I vote for top exhausting canister vacs! I also prefer canisters that have the cord exitting from the top - so much easier to pull out and wind in.

But these are just my preferences - too each his or her own...

 

[pr-21]

I like the exhaust on the top of the vacuum as well....

I agree with you Eurekaprince, I much prefer the exhaust coming out of the top. I don't like to blow dust around when I am trying to vacuum it up. Aerus/Electrolux exhausts from the top as well. I have had a Royal pony and I have an Air Way Sani Clean, both exhaust from the back......


 


 


 


Sincerely,


 


Bud Mattingly


PR-21

 

[joshdonnell]

Well

Thats where your wrong twocvbloke , you can clean out your cars bc there in the garge and you clean out a pluged sink , you most not know much central vacs very well. You should do your homework before you bash central vacs. So you can keep your portables k

 

[joshdonnell]

Im

Sorry@ twocvbloke, i got a little heated . Sorry for sounding rude

 

[danemodsandy]

Josh:

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it would help if you were a little more tactful when you present your point of view. We're trying to help you understand that making a statement is something that needs to be done with respect for other points of view, and backed up with whatever supporting facts you happen to have. Just saying, "This is what I like and it's better" is not discussion, it's an unsupported statement. If you know of ways a central vac can be used to clean out a car, or ways that one can be un-clogged easily, it would be helpful if you shared them with us instead of just expecting that everyone will come around to your point of view just on your say-so.

 

[twocvbloke]

"you most not know much central vacs very well."

And you must need to pay more attention in school, that sentence makes no sense...

Not everyone keeps the central vac unit in their garage, some have it in the attic, some in the basement, some in the utility room, etc., and people usually vac cars out while they're parked outside, oh, and over here in the UK, not everyone parks their car in a garage attached to the house, so central vacs would not work...

As for clearing blocked drains, how fun, using an electrical device around water, have fun with that...

 

[joshdonnell]

ok guys

i know it didnt make sense. i was using my phone to type . And there is a central that simultaneously handles wet and dry cleaning situations . Its called the Aqua air . Heres some info about it, its uses Amtek--Lamb motor
: 137" water lift, 202 CFM
its uses The cyclonic separator and cold water spray separate the water, foam and debris from the air flow without restrictive filters or mechanical floats. Large debris is contained in a mesh screen while the liquids automatically dump down the drain.

 

[twocvbloke]

Ah, so it uses up water too, sounds like a very wasteful vac to me, with my "filthy" vacs, I just pop out a bag and throw it out, if I want to use them to unblock drains, I could if I wanted attach the hose to the blower and blast air down the plughole...

The more you over-think the plumbing, the easier it is to plug up the drains...

 

[venson]

Aqua Air . . .

Hi Josh,

There's a similar brand called the Drain Vac. Both sound like great set-ups but are not a possibility for everyone. Thus, portable vacs are going to be with us and in abundance a good while longer. The push for the future will probably be not to do away with the stand-alone vacuum but to make it less a hands-on device. It's over a hundred years since it's invention and the task of vacuuming can still be pretty labor intensive. Whatever their worth, the little robotic gizmos they're developing are the first step in that direction.

Having been a great fan of the Jetsons when I was kid, back in the day I actually had assumed that today -- 2012 -- we'd all be walking around in Spandex suits and there might also be a Rosie the Maid at our avail. We seem to have missed out on that and maybe it's not a bad thing we did.

As it stands, there's a place in the market for both stand-alones and built-ins. Many people across the country live in apartments or rented homes where it would be highly impractical, if allowed, to permanently install the likes of a CVS within someone else's property.

Especially due the economy, many who do own their own homes simply may not see cause for added expense -- not only cost of purchase but installation, possible wiring alterations, etc. -- when a vac that can be moved through the house will suffice for them.

 

[sebo_fan]

"Another thing..top exhausts..."

danemodsandy… what you described perfectly about the selling experience of the high cost Miele mirrors the same selling experience we got when we had a Kirby salesperson visit us back in the 1980's. He didn't get a sale sadly and the upright was far too big to wield around our narrow hallways - one of the very reasons to why we preferred our more basic Hoover Junior models. The Kirby looked and felt wonderful - but its £1000 cost price was far too expensive and when it struggled to get down our narrow hallway, no matter how much dust it picked up compared to our tiny little Junior, it made no sense as a purchase.

I will say this about Miele though - they may produce "selected models" in the U.S by putting names to them and then kitting out the machines with different accessories and attachments and then hiking up the price - but in the UK Miele were perhaps not as clever as they would like to think by offering the same accessories online. This means savvy UK buyers who may not be able to afford the "Cat and Dog" S5 vacuum could easily just buy a basic S5 and a second hand turbo brush with the Active Air Clean filter on board. Hey Presto you've probably saved yourself £40 to £50 in the making.

eurekaprince - Since Miele's 1970's block canisters, they have forever put the exhaust at the top - it is a total nightmare if you don't have the higher cost Active Air Clean or HEPA filter bought before hand to change the old one. I find the Super Clean micro filter useless for airborne dust capture. More noticeable I may add, when you have freshly painted walls and you're trying to vacuum up the carpet - next thing is airborne dust captured on the walls forever unless you add another coat of paint! Now that isn't going to happen EVERY DAY but it is more of a major pain when I don't like ingesting the motor each time I bend down to change the suction anyway as I already said. I also own two Bosch canister vacs - they mirror the Miele on design but the exhaust is also at the top but diffused down the way towards the cable - so when you bend down to change the suction dial setting, you don't get a face full of air. It's a simple design that I'd have thought "the masters of hygiene," Miele would have changed by now - they are after all, the only manufacturer who produce clinical grade cleaning systems - so you'd have thought that a company who pride themselves on containing bacteria would have changed the exhaust so that the owner doesn't get the machine air that pumps out.

I have had budget priced Hoover canisters (the Telios especially) where the exhaust is also located at the top - but it doesn't give you a face full of air either because the exhaust is diffused away from the suction slider.

The best exhaust system I've found so far is offered on the Sebo C, K and newer D series canisters - all contained at the sides within the air belt bumper. Such a handy idea that offers protection to the home, the vacuum and no way near the user! If you look at the pic below you'll see all the arrows of how the diffused air works from the compact K canister. The top arrows from the top filter (in green) indicate the motor air being diffused through the filter and inside the vacuum towards the sides through the Airbelt.

Now if Sebo, a company who have not been making vacs for that long can do that to improve life for the user, why can't Miele?

 

[joshdonnell]

Twocvbloke

How is tht wasteful? There are more benifits to a central vacuum. And venson well thats trueA

 

[twocvbloke]

I think toe comparison between Sebo and Miele is like comparing Mercedes to BMW, the former (Sebo/Merc.) being quality and reliable, the latter (Miele/BMW) being shouty expensive and unreliable junk...

 

[venson]

@danemodsandy

Hi, I'm completely sure our feeling as to what salesmanship should be is exactly the same. Nonetheless, things are indeed changing and not necessarily for the better.

First rule of business being, "Never pay anyone more than you just have to," what's to be done when purveyors of goods don't see it as necessary to offer their salespeople even the incentive of a good/usable base wage?

I don't think that makes for a dishonest employee but someone pressed to hustle to make dollars in volume. That's good for them but not so good for me, the customer.

 

[twocvbloke]

"How is tht wasteful? There are more benifits to a centr

Well, your central vac uses water, my "filthy" vacs don't, your central vac uses more power to do the same job, my "filthy" vacs don't, your central vac is fixed in one place, my "filthy" vacs aren't...

 

[sebo_fan]

Miele/Sebo and Central Vacuums.

Each to their own twocv - but you may have missed my point entirely. When I commented that my older Miele S571 was heavy, it has also gone beyond the expectation of its longevity. 15 years is a long time and it's on the same level of ownership with my old Sebo X1 Auto upright. Different designs, different brands but the older, heavier Miele cylinders/canisters seem to be better built than the newer ones .

As for central vacs - it is clearly abundant that you have never ever seen one in the UK, or if you have you won't be aware of the many types exist. If you have read my previous posts especially about American products, we had a U.S naval base in our town and American housing with American appliances. I got first hand experience of quite a few different central vac systems and I have also been in a few UK homes and company offices where central vacs are also used. The UK market have been slow to the idea of central vacs, because like under floor heating, once it is plumbed in, it's plumbed in for life and not many like the idea of that, let alone waste disposal units that 1980's fitted kitchens had and then the owners realised how troublesome they were, if a knife was accidentally dropped in!

UK company CVC stock several different central vacuums - the highest model offering 1750 watts - compared to an electric hob that has 2400 to 3000 watts, or highly priced portable vacuums that have 2000 watts or more. Central vacuums are not as bad as you make out - because usually in a home that has a central vac fitted, to avoid clogging or "long distance travel" two machines are located on the premises so in effect, you have two bins to empty at the end of the day. Even if Miele are master of most premium vacuums, it is the SEBO floor head that most UK central vacuums use.

Central vacs are a great invention. I'd welcome it - IF I wasn't a collector and fan of traditional vacuums - and for that reason and also for the fact that I'd never consider a Robotic vacuum either - I'll keep buying or repairing my traditional "manual" vacuums.

 

[danemodsandy]

KW:

"Im not sure I agree that Miele housings are less durable. A blow or scrape that would leave a mark on the body of a Miele would dent and scatch the metal bodied Electrolux. The pot metal housing of the Tri-Star doesn't dent but it does crack and scratch."

I can speak from experience that a metal-bodied Electrolux can keep on working perfectly well even after a dent. I have a late, gold-color Model L I keep in the basement for the carpet and appliances down there; it was purchased with the dent. The machine is otherwise in near-mint condition and runs like a champ. A plastic vacuum might have cracked, which would have rendered it useless until repaired, if repair parts were available.

TriStars are not "pot metal." They are an aircraft-grade aluminum-magnesium alloy that is extremely strong in its own right. The other contributing factor in the strength of vintage TriStar/Compact housings is that egg-like shape, purposely chosen because an egg shape is one of the strongest in Nature. Yes, you CAN crack a TriStar. You can also total a Hummer. You usually have to be doing something pretty foolish to accomplish either.