Vacuum cleaner horsepower question

[animasinsulin]

Why is it that in the 80's vacuum makers stopped ratings with horsepower to amps. I had a Fantom that has 12 amps but it is weak....Bill in Az....

 

[tristar]

Because the Horsepower rating was total Bull S&*t. Electrically one Horsepower is equal to 746 watts. You can't get 4.3 HP out of a 115V plug in the US! That would be a 3200W machine!!! In other words, 26 amps.

The manufacturers prey on the ignorance of the buyers thinking that they'll associate amperage with vacuum performance. If it has 12 amps, it MUST be powerful right?

Wrong.....I can think of 4 PRIME examples where amps don't clean better:

1: TriStar CXL (8.7 amp suction motor)
2: Sanitaire (7 amp, 840W motor)
3: Kirby (6 amp classic, 7 amp Generation motor)
4: Royal Upright (Most powerful I own is a 6 amp.....I can't even imagine one of the 9 or 10 amp ones).

And of course the famous argument for amps NOT cleaning: Vintage Hoovers. Take the 700 for example.....1.8 amp motor and it'll probably outclean 90% of the vacuums on the market today.

Amps don't clean. Horsepower doesn't clean. Airflow + agitation cleans.

 

[vintagehoover]

Watts/amps tell you nothing but how much electricity you're wasting on a task which could be achieved using much less!

The machines Eric has given as examples clearly demonstrate the craziness of these high-power vacs - we have cleaners which consume up to 2600w over here! And if you compare their air-watt ratings with those of much lower powered cleaners, you can see how little difference the extra energy consumption makes to the cleaner's ability to perform. Far more important are the simplicity and width of air ducts, design of brush-roll, surface area of bags, resistance of filters etc.

These high-rated motors have been in vogue for a while, but many manufacturers seem to be making a concious effort to lower the energy consumption of their machines now. Perhaps to improve reliability, perhaps as part of an effort to 'be green'.

 

[animasinsulin]

My Royal

Mine and Sara's Royals have the 9 amps. WAY TO STRONG!!! It sticks to the floor like glue and is way TOO loud. But it does clean like a dream....Bill in Az.... PS also use it on mattresses like on the floor instead....Bill in Az...

 

[jdinstl]

This is a subject that always gets me...

...because in the early days, I fell for the more is better numbers as well.

I have 3 Royals of the 6 amp variety. They are not vacuums, they are Urban Dirt Assault Machines. A 9 or 10 amp Royal? That's scary. The government should mandate a license to own and operate one of those. Geeze, that would not only suck up all my cheap carpeting, but the nails out of the subfloor!

And you're right about the sound. But when you need to bring the big guns out on the dirt, there's no better choice.

 

[animasinsulin]

My SK

My new Silver King is 7.5 amps and when empty the machine moves all over bare floor since the exhaust blows straight back.Most powerful vac. I've ever used. Just wish I knew the HP.....Bill in Az....

 

[tristar]

Find the wattage (120v x nameplate amperage) and divide it by 746. As a clue, the most powerful motor you can possibly plug into a 120V household socket is a 2 horse motor on a 15 amp outlet.

So let's do the math: 120v x 7.5A = 900w

900w/746= 1.2 HP

Clear as mud?

 

[animasinsulin]

WOW

Thanks soo much Eric!!! Im not good at math whatsoever, never have been and probably
never will but I have other talents thank gawd!! Thanks again.....Bill in Az.....

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

My 1979 Wards Power II Canister ...

has a 3 peak HP rating, but uses only 10 amps, which translates as 1200 watts on 120V current.

Actual physical horsepower of this unit would be 1.6 HP after dividing the wattage by 745.7. But it would have the equivalent of a 3 HP motor.

~Ben

 

[tristar]

It's a 1.6 HP motor.......HOW is that equivalent to a 3 HP motor? Horsepower is Horsepower. There's not different "levels" of horsepower. Peak horsepower means precisely nothing. It's about like saying your car has 120 horsepower, but it's "equivalent" to a 300 HP car! Yeah right.....

 

[hoover_elite_20]

Heh

My Shop vac claims to have 6.5 hp.
That translates to more than 40 amps!
I smell some bull s***!

 

[hoover_elite_20]

Though it must use alot of power

because sometimes if I don't turn off some extra things in the house I'll blow a curcuit! Thats a lot if power!

 

[animasinsulin]

Kirby Yahoo group

Some guy in this group said that the latest Kirby is a 1.5 HP. How does he know this???.....Bill in Az....

 

[hoover_elite_20]

Another nail in the coffin...

This thing is supposed to have 1 hp. Somehow I don't belive my shop vac or any other vac will have more than six times the horsepower of this massive 6 foot tall woodshop vacuum!

 

[kirbyotronic]

You want horsepower? Here's 507 of it.

~Alex

 

[vintageroyal611]

That is a really nice car.

 

[brandon_w_t]

Here is

around 2x that bmw. 1004 horsepower. 2 keys to start- one at 554 hp- 2nd key under seat to unlesh 1004 hp.

 

[kirbyotronic]

Wow, we just threw this thread off topic.

I still prefer Bavarian Motor Works, or you could say Best Motor Works! After all, it's a full sized family luxury sedan that goes like (you know what) off a shovel. I predict the next generation will be "fugly", just take a look at that new 7 series, talk about gross.

~Alex

 

[brandon_w_t]

lol

I dream of a BMW. My uncle had a 1989 BMW 750il V12, supercharged (!!!) with turbos and what not on it. New exhaust.

Man that thing was a beast. Well until he hit a patch of Ice in (yes) New mexico in April.

That thing would eat any other car on the road. XD I loved it. So fast. He almost considered taking it to germany to drive on the autobahn.


well we should get back to vacuums and HP. Any vacuum with 1 or more HP is a monster.