Vacuums using H2O filtration

[venson]

@Davinator . . .

Hi,

I didn't really forget the Thermax, just decided to pass albeit there is the newer model. I don't see it as a "daily driver" as some of you say. (And I figured someone else would fill in the gaps as it were.) I passed on Hyla's GST as well since I couldn't find a downloadable image.

What I'd be most curious to learn about both brands is where they sell and at what volume. I never see them nor have ever seen either in anyone's home on the east coast. My math has never been great but it's obvious that they are selling somewhere because the companies are still in existence and at least surviving in spite of the high prices it expects for its product. Bagged AirWay unfortunately didn't make the cut despite its many years on the market.

Due to price, current purchases of D-T-D vacuums in general lay an interesting contrast when there's so much talk about the bad economy. Do they remain attractive because their purchase can be achieved by way of financing -- if available -- or by use of credit cards which remains dangerous. I doubt that many of us can reach in a pocket and pull out cash to cover like buys.

 

[gsheen]

If you really want to annoy a thermax dealer call it a vacuum cleaner,,, acording to them its a home sanitizing system IE a vacuum cleaner , boy do they get cross

they are sold here but Im not impressed with them , we get them in allot as there warranty is poor and they always seem to find any excuse not to cover there machines when they break. I think the plastic is cheap the motors on the old units were good lamb ametek motors

 

[trebor]

A Rotho TT...

in my opinion is utterly useless, except in an already immaculate home. The water take is only ONE QUART. I have demoed Kirbys in homes that would clog up, suffocate, and utterly destroy a TT inside of 60 seconds.

 

[gsheen]

we get a lot of rainbows , ( the best selling water vacuum in SA ) as trade inns. the current trend now amongst the well do do is to move out of the city and into the rural more farm like environment. the rainbows just can't handle the amount of dust out there. the water turns to mud, and its all over.especially near the wheat farms during harvest. BIG dust cloud and in SA we like doors open its always nice weather here so that leads to dusty house.
I am not knocking them just sharing what we have found out here in deepest darkest Africa ,,,, were its actually sunny and light most of the time hehe

 

[redgeminipa]

H2O Vac Turbo

The Thane H2O Vac Turbo...

We got a new one from goodwill.com for $15 + shipping. It's ok... it's worth $15

It has decent suction, but the water basin is almost useless, and filtration is another issue. I blew cigarette smoke into it, and, sure enough, the smoke came out the exhaust.

Like I said, it's worth $15, but I wouldn't pay any more than that for one.

I'm still waiting to snag a deal on a Hyla GST...

 

[vacuumfan96]

venson

Sure thing Venson. They should be up on here or I will either make a vid of it on my youtube channel TheVacuumGuy. I will post the link to here to my youtube account when the video is up ok.

 

[venson]

@vacuumfan98 . . .

I'll be a waitin'!

 

[vacuumfan96]

Video

It should be up in about 7 min. I had accedently erased the video off of my hard drive... si I had to re-import it and publish it. that took about 3 min so that should be almost done plus the time it takes youtube.

 

[vacuumfan96]

Vid for VL and venson

there is the vid. Enjoy!

 

[venson]

@vacuumfan96 . . .

Wow! You work fast.

It's a cool idea and very impressive that you put it together and got a demo of it online in such short order. That's the kind of stuff that would take me 'til Xmas 2015 to finish. Keep up the good work.

Just curious -- what's the water level in the capture bucket and do you have any kind of baffle between the water in it and the opening in the top for the exiting air?

 

[vacuumfan96]

Venson

I was actually done with it along time ago! =) The water level is about a quarter of the way in the bucket. the air intake in the bucket it is quite high up so VERY VERY little water get up in to the hose. The second bucket acts as a shroud so the water that will never make it out of the bucket collects the water that wont go in to the bucket, so it won't go in to the motor. Thankyou for the complement!

 

[Davinator1977]

Aura RoboClean

here is the video of my roboclean

 

[venson]

@Davinator . . .

Thanks for the video. I didn't know the water pan on this model had two pieces. I'd thought the top piece was part of the motor unit. What's clean up after use like.

By the way, does does this use a by-pass (separately cooled motor)?

 

[djtaylor]

Wow, I think I'd rather have the Aura RoboClean over the new Rainbow. That demo looks great. Very nice editing.
Justin

 

[venson]

One more for the pile . . .

This is the Euro Pro water type I was trying to find. It preceded the Hyla brand by a good while. HSN used to sell it when it carried a major amount of Euro Pro product (vacuums and vapor steam cleaners). Also, this machine uses baffles and filters but no separator. I do not know if there ever was a version that did.

I recall it because it looks a lot like what is now Hyla making me wonder when and where they got control of the design.

 

[Davinator1977]

re: venson

Thanks, it does have its own cooling fan

 

[floor-a-matic]

Where or how are the other H2O vacs sold? Seems like I haven't seen the rest, other than Thermax, Rainbow or Thane H2O Vac.

 

[venson]

@floor-a-matic . . .

The cheap ones like Aroma and Thane usually sell flavor of the day style via TV spots, infomercials and on the net like the erstwhile Garry Vac. In past I've seen an aired Ocean Blue ad or two as well.

Machines priced up comparably to Rainbow are sold door-to-door usually. Hyla, Delphin, Rotho all have reps here but I too am surprised because I never see the machines in anyone's hand or home. As most have a U.S. sales site and have all been here a while, I guess they must be doing something right because they're still in production whether you see the product much or not.

I assume they must the bulk of their D-T-D business in the suburbs 'cause that kind of selling is not the kind of thing to do in cities of any size any longer.

 

[gsheen]

@ venson

that machines basic design belongs to a Italian vacuum group who sold that machine to various company's. In dry format it was sold as a Delongi , Wap , Ryobi and many others, Wet it was a conti and many other oddball names

 

[billybud21]

So I never have owned ....

a Rainbow or Thermax machine before. I have always had either dirty air or clean air vacuums with tradition bag and filter setups.

In particular, what is the Rainbow like? Is it an OK machine or better than that? It looks like there is a lot of preparation involved in vacuuming, which I like, but is the machine worth all the work.

Also, I noticed the most recent models of the Rainbow hovering around the thousand dollar mark on Ebay, so what are they worth new from the distributor? Here is a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rainbow-E-E...251015057965?pt=US_Vacuum&hash=item3a71a9d22d

Thanks,

Johnathan

 

[venson]

@gsheen . . .

Thanks much for the info. It also being Italian in origin, then this must be what the Hyla evolved from.

 

[mark40511]

It depends. You're either going to LOVE or HATE a Rainbow. Some people swear by them & others say they are no better than a regular bagged vacuum. Personlly, I have had my Rainbow brand new for six yrs and I LOVE IT, but admittedly I do get the bagged vacuum out to use really quickly to run through the house - but on Days when I get everything top to bottom I use My Rainbow. When used properly you're never going to have a bad smell - but only a fresh clean smell coming from the machine. Put a few drops of essential oil in the water and it smells fantastic. I think BRAND new you're talking 1999.00 to as much as 3000.00 depending on the situation and how lucky you are.

They are extremely durable and will last a LONG time. I know that picture above is from an Ebay seller; I think he sells Pro Aqua & sells trade in's on Ebay. I'm not sure if they are reconditioned or not. He also sells LOTS of unneeded extras and makes the listings sort of "tricky" so unless you read it very carefully, you'd almost think you're getting a brand new machine, when really you're getting a few brand new extras and a used machine. He has good feedback though. I'm getting ready to get mine out now and run it around the house. I kind of dread it but I need to get it done it's been a few days since I've dusted and vacuumed.

 

[billybud21]

Mark, thanks for the information!

Johnathan

 

[venson]

@billybud21 . . .

Rainbows are decent performers but -- again -- an acquired taste. The big issue is whether or not users are prepared to give them adequate care. They certainly are not worth the investment if the user only does slapdash maintenance.

A long while back I read in some of its historical material online that the use of water actually came about more by accident than on purpose. However, once it was found to work it's inventor forged ahead.

Back in the early days it appeared us men folk had assumed that all-day homemakers -- quite the usual occupation for women then -- had time for everything. Thus there was presumed to be no problem with the five extra minutes it took to set up and the fifteen minutes or so it takes to dump the water pan and to wash and dry both it and the separator.

Even vacuums with shake-out bags, which was basically all there was, were considered the easier deal by many. Yet compared to current bagless machines the work for maintaining a modern Rainbow may be more or less the same in my opinion.

I've had bagless machines that I liked a lot but couldn't stand to see sitting dirty. Depending on who you are, looking at those clear collection bins cuts both ways. You find yourself not always thinking of how much you picked up but what the glorious machine you bought looks like when its innards are grungy after just a few uses. Thus, I got to be regular about washing filters and collection bins.

Cumulatively, the time spent to clean a bagless machine's bin and filters plus down time for drying if you don't have extra filters on hand adds up to time spent for several after-use clean ups of a Rainbow.

If you're a person who doesn't mind the time involvement for keeping and using what's actually a display of great science and if you're also a little on the fussy side, Rainbow should not prove a problem. If you're someone who's on the fly a lot it will present problems. You can't just yank one out of the closet and toss it back in -- not if you want to keep it.

 

[baglessball]

See I dont mind the extra bit of maintenance the rainbow requires.

It's the machine I do not like, and I really wanted to!!

If it were bagged, I would feel the same way. It feels cheap and plastics to pick up the unit. The numb dolly catches on furniture and door frames. For something so expensive I wasn't expecting super auction, which wasnt there -it's good but doesn't mta h the price. The cord hooks are crap. I find the pump style handle slightly uncomfortable. But the main thin is that big dumb power head. It's big, noisy, floaty, leaks air, there is loads of movement at your wrist, which the head doesn't respond to.

I can't understand why anybody likes th for the power nozzle alone. If that was better designed I may of liked the machine a lot more. I like vacuums to feel solid when I push them!!

Had to say!

 

[gsheen]

The one thing we all have to take under consideration is the house we live in and how that affects our like or dislike of a vacuum due to the house design.Take my house
Its big but very badly designed, it has many levels, steps up steps down, (apparently it was a 70's thing) it has a mixture of carpet then wood flooring , them more carpet then tiles and so on Its a lovely home but using a rainbow in it is a nightmare, you have to constantly switch it off and move to the next level, change the brush for the hard flooring the works and yes smack the dam machine into every door jam.
I realise this when my wife and I went to look after a friends house in a very pretty part of the country for a weekend while they were away. They have a rainbow E and what a wonderful machine it wa to use , there house is carpeted through out with huge open areas on one level upstairs and down stairs. I could vacuum the whole floor ( with a really long extra lead 0 without stopping once.

 

[2007hyundai]

The only problem with Rainbows is that if you vacuum up a lot of fine dust like plaster dust or talcum powder for example, the water can't trap large amounts of that dust so it goes straight into the HEPA filter. They are very powerful vacuums though.

 

[floor-a-matic]

Mark40511 how are U liking your Sirena?


 


Does anyone have the latest Sirena with the new style PN?