thinking of getting henry

[n0oxy]

So, my birthday is coming up, and was thinking of getting Henry as my 34th vacuum for the collection. I know he's been talked about a lot on this forum, I just had a few questions. Here is the model I'm thinking of getting, not sure if this is a lot different here in the United States as in the U.K.
http://evacuumstore.com/p-14993-numatic-henry-canister-vacuum.aspx
Apparently this model uses a 1200 watt two stage motor, I'm a big fan of the two stage motors, they sound much better than the one stage screamers that are so common now. Do you think Henry cleans well? I will mostly be cleaning hard floors, no carpets. I know some users have not liked the floor tool that is included, but apparently the hose end is 32 MM, so I have plenty of other attachments that will fit. I know Henry is a tub vacuum rather than a regular canister, are their any issues with him following you around when you clean? The reason I ask is, I have a Lindhaus HF6 and sometimes have issues with moving over threshholds and other similar things. I'm assuming that since the U.S. does nnot have the wattage restriction, this version uses a different motor than the U.K. version. Anyway, would love to get everyone's thoughts and opinions. It would be interesting to combine Henry with the new Tacony volt power nozzle and see the results.

 

[sebo_fan]

I have owned the previous 1200/600 watt and the newer EU law "mk1" Henry vacs. Both are powerful and both are great to use.

By the looks of it, the Lindhaus HF6 offers a similar design and has tool storage on board as a bonus which the U.S model does not. There is a single clip where a brush can be slid on board.

However as a quick glance I can't find size dimensions on line where the Lindhaus is concerned. Certainly the Henry vacs in general are stubbier / squat units and you'll find it easy to move over thresholds, especially if you are cleaning hard floors. Henry has two castors and two fixed rubberised wheels on the back, so there's good movement to be had here and at times the wheels should grip the floor rather than the machine constantly sliding around.

Im not sure if the Lindhaus does that but it could do if it has an entire ring of castors.

Provided that you have a good open space to work around with given the amount of hose length you get, you should have no problems with Henry.

 

[n0oxy]

casters and wheels

I actually should check what the Lindhaus HF6 has on the bottom, not sure. The biggest issue is when it needs to roll over the cord, I often have to carry it over myself, it seems that if I pull hard enough to get the wheels to go over the cord, it may tip over. The Lindhaus only has paper bags available, and you can tell, the tub does get a bit dusty, I know Henry uses cloth bags so should not have that issue. Does Henry also have a pre-motor filter and exhaust filter? I'm not really concerned about attachment storage, I keep all of my vacuum attachments in a storage box and just grab what I need. For my floors, I prefer the Wessel Werk rd-285, the Wessel-werk turn and clean or the side winder. It sounds like the floor attachment that is included with Henry is one of those that is supposed to work on carpets and floors, I'm not really a fan of those, I prefer to use a dedicated hard floor tool.

 

[sebo_fan]

Only a fine line of dust can occur with Henry vacs if the synthetic dust bag has had severe dust to pick up with. I think that can happen with most canister vacs to be honest. I know it happens with my Miele vac and that uses a synthetic material bag as you might know. But then.. the HEPA FLO bags with Numatic have a rubber seal on them at the entrance - very little dust is expelled.

The filters on Henry aren't HEPA standard - they're electrostatic and hospital grade. The HEPA Flo dust bag on board seals the dirt in and most odours. I think you can buy a higher grade filter ring, but it all depends on what that U.S seller might sell you and what they might have as options.

 

[sebo_fan]

If you have a 32mm hard floor brush tool already and friction fit, you'll be able to use it with Henry.

When I lived in a student halls of resident and self contained flat, I had a Henry 1200 watt vac that the student company finally furnished me with. Lots of open spaces and plenty of opportunity to move around with. I also had a lot of hard flooring and where a previous tiny little Hoover Ace/Morphy Richards canister vac had been used. The flat had high ceilings and weird shelves away up on top probably meant for house plants - Henry's interchangeable handle with the bent neck came into use mostly all of the time for clearing the dust off that shelving alone.

To me, Numatic vacs are simple, powerful, durable and effective. The dust bag on board is pretty much like most bagged vacs; install and forget until it comes time to empty. There have been times when a single HEPA FLO dust bag hadn't been changed for more than 6 months!

 

[n0oxy]

i ordered Henry

I went ahead and ordered the Henry vacuum using the link in my previous post. According to the description, it's the two stage motor model, so I'm assuming they have left over stock of the model before the current one, apparently for the United States model, they have switched to a 680 watt one stage motor. I actually prefer two stage motors, I think they sound better so if that's the one I get, I'm fine with that, or if I end up getting the newer lower wattage model, I'm fine with that as well, although in that case, the web site I bought it from should update their information. Apparently Numatic makes two sizes of canisters, supposedly there is a larger size that takes a larger bag as well.

 

[sebo_fan]

Great news. I think you'll be happy. Yes the Charles wet and dry and George models both take a 15 litre dust bag capacity versus 7 litres on the Henry.

 

[numatic_boy]

Welcome to the Henry ownership club!

The motor on yours is the lovely 2 stage twinflo motor,they have gone down to the single-fan 620w motor due to the EU regulations.This motor is very similar in design to the single fan 110W motor that was used in the early 2000s.Sebofan is also right about George and Charles being larger.Henry uses the NVM-1CH 9 liter bag,while George and Charles use the NVM-2CH which if I recall correctly,are 15 liters.

 

[n0oxy]

two stage motor

I'm assuming this is left over stock, unless they still make the two stage motor for the U.S. It sounds like other than the motor difference, everything else is the same, same bags, etc. I like the sound of two stage motors much better, most motors that are one stage now have that screaming high pitch sound, the two stage motors sound much more like what a vacuum should sound like. Looking forward to taking that vacuum for a test drive when I get it, it will be vacuum 34 in my collection.

 

[numatic_boy]

Old stock?

Most commercial Numatics still use a 1200W motor so as there still being made and used,no problems should arise regarding the availability of the motor,Numatic play a massive part in the commercial/industrial vacuum market and this covers the building sector were they still use the twin-stage motors.

 

[kenkart]

Icant WAIT!

To hear what you think of it, I think its one of the VERY few new vacuums I would consider.

 

[n0oxy]

got my Henry

So, my Henry is acctually the newest model, with the one stage 620 watt motor, the site I purchased it from should probably update their page with the new specs. Interestingly, it does say numatic on it rather than Nacecare which is the company that imports the Numatic vacuums for the United States.
Henry is what you would call a tub vacuum, looks kind of like a wet dry vac, although it's not as tall as most wet ddry vacs, probably stands about a foot tall. It has a two speed motor that is actually very quiet. To remove the top, you pull out the two side latches and lift off the motor unit. There is a filter that fits on the tub and below that is where the bag attaches. The bags are cloth bags, no paper here and that's a good thing, the cloth bags provide much better filtration.
The hose is around 7 or 8 feet long and is wider at the end that screws in to the vacuum than at the nozzle end, this probably provides better air flow. When using the hose, you can attach a curved metal handle or a small plastic adapter, I much prefer the metal end. The hose end is 32 MM which is a very standard size. Interestingly, these vacuums are made in the U.K. and many vacuums in Europe use 35 MM hose sizes. Most of the attachments I have are 32 MM so this is perfect.
Henry includes a floor attachment for carpet and hard floors, a crevace tool, a dusting brush and apoulstry nozzle. I'm not a big fan of these floor tools, it's the kind that uses a pedal to switch between carpets or hard floors. For hard floors, a dedicated hard floor brush will work much better since the bristles are longer and thicker, and for carpets, you need a spinning brush. Henry has no connector for an electric power nozzle, but if you want to clean carpets, Tacony has just released the Volt, which is a cordless power nozzle that should work quite well.
Ok, on to the power and sound level. As I said, Henry is very quiet, this new motor is about as loud as the Electrolux Ultra One or Riccar Prima, you can easily have a normal conversation while it's running. What I was most interested in was the suction and airflow with the 620 watt motor that Numatic is using now. To test it, I used my rug rat turbo brush. While the speed that a vacuum can spin a turbo bbrush may not be directly related to how well it will clean, it does provide some hints on its power. Henry can spin a turbo brush as fast as other popular canisters such as Miele, Sebo, etc. I think the Electrolux Ultra One is slightly faster but not by much. So, what this demonstrates is that if a motor is designed well, it can do just as well with only 620 watts. I was a bit surprised here, I figured it would spin the brush at a speed similar to the Electrolux 1205, but it spins much faster.
The one issue I notice with Henry is the same issue that I have with my other tub vacuum, the Lindhaus HF6. It has a hard time going over cords and sometimes I have to pick it up and lift it over myself. Henry has two large wheels and two casters, I'm not sure why the tub vacuums have this issue and the flat canisters don't, perhaps someone else can shed some light on that. If you are willing to deal with this shortcoming, Henry is a great vacuum, especially if you combine it with a dedicated hard floor brush. The lower watt motor still provides just as much cleaning power.

 

[sebo_fan]

Good to know! So I take it you are impressed then?

Generally when using the hose, the attached bent handle is the essential component that bridges between the rubberised cuff from the end of the hose to the straight suction tubes.

The plastic adaptor is only for usage at the end of the rubberised cuff if you want to use the smaller cleaning tools as opposed to using the metal bent tube for longer stretch.

I can't understand the problem you are having with the machine toppling over the cord though. I haven't seen it in commercial areas when Henry is used but I suppose it can happen if you are working in tight spaces and pull the machine roughly. Certainly I know my Vax tub vac can fall over all of the time because it solely uses castors as opposed to the fixed wheels on the back of the Henry. The beauty of Henry is that you can pull the machine by the end of the hose over the cord so that the castors leaps over it whilst the back wheels drive over the cord.

Sledge style canister vacs don't topple over because they have a lower centre of gravity towards the floor and generally have smaller wheels.

Pull Henry gently and slowly over a cord and "he" shouldn't topple over but it can also depend on the carpet sponginess if the cord doesn't sit so high! PLUS in most applications, the cord shouldn't really come near the vacuum as most users plant the cord behind the machine.

Ideally you should have enough space between walls so that the cord can sit to the sides if cleaning "on the return" path when the machine comes back with you.

As time goes on dirt will add at least 2kg to the machine's overall weight thus adding more stability weight to the vacuum.

 

[n0oxy]

Henry going over cords

Actually he doesn't tip over, it's just that no matter how hard I pull on the hose, he gets stuck on the cord and can't seem to go over it.

 

[numatic_boy]

Nice

Good to hear what you think of your Henry.Hope he serves you for many years to come.




-Adam