Shop Vac to vacuum house???

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;4157500]
Kenmore makes a canister vac with all the bells and whistles and it can suck a bowling ball through a garden hose…that’s what I use in my house. Has a power nozzle for vacuuming carpeted stairs, furniture, etc. LOVE it…and $200 cheaper than the Miele.
Uprights just don’t have the right tools and suction for serious pet hair. :no: Tried pretty much all of them, some damned expensive ones too. None came close to the Sears model canister I use. When I kill one, they rebuild it. If I kill it too dead, I always get another new one. (I’m hard on vacuums, they vacuum the truck, the house, the dog, etc and they get worked almost every day)
Now I do use my small shop vac on the horses. :yes: It’s a wet/dry so if they come in covered with wet caked mud I just suction it right off again. :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]

I think that is the Kenmore I had, before the house vacuum and it worked fine, but you had to change bags often.

With a whole house vacuum, for those that have a house they will be staying in forever, that once every three months emptying that container in the garage and absolutely no dust in the house from sweeping is really great.

I can wash the garage out with a plain garden hose, that is very handy.

[MistyBlue]

Yeah, I have to change the bags often. But after years of trying bagless vacuums on and off I finally figured that the bags work better than the canisters. I just buy a bunch at a time so I don’t freak out about running out.

I could use a central vacuum in this house…it’s smaller and one level. My last house had central vacuuming…and I hated it there. The motor and canister were in the basement. The house was large and 2 floors. On the second floor the motor didn’t have enough suction to remove pet hair from carpets when it was trying to do that from 2 floors away. :no: And they didn’t put enough ports in for the hose…instead they had a 30’ hose that was a PITA to drag around or store. But in this smaller house, it would work a lot better. :yes:

[brokenarrowdj]

Rainbow!

Our new house is unfortunately carpeted (cream colored-eeeks!) in the hall, two BR’s and large living room. With 3 shedding dogs and two cats, the Rainbow REALLY draws the hair out of the carpet, and also sucks it into a bowl of water, so the dust isn’t re-circulating. The Rainbow also has a shampooer attachment that can handle the dog/cat hair well. It doesn’t actually suck up the wet hair, but ‘hacks’ a hairball out every so often.

We also have a central vac system that I haven’t even used. I prefer the Rainbow.

Once this carpet is beyond help, I am going the tile route! We have pergo in the dining area and foyer, and I like the tile better.

brokenarrowdj

[Lori]

I have used a Sebo C3 for years now. Best suction power. I had dogs indoors and have birds still. Expensive, but well worth it for serious animal households. It has both flooring and carpet attachments.

[AnotherRound]

About how much is that kennmore, Misty? Its quite a drive to find a sears around here. I probably could find it online, but your response just might be quicke!! Ballpark…

[MistyBlue]

The heavy duty pet hair sucking ones run between $399 and $499 I think off hand. They have tons of attachments and one is a powered hand tool with beater bar…not a beater bar just run on suction like upright vacuums have. Those just stop when they hit resistance. :winkgrin:
Wait for Sears sales…I got mine for 30% off so it was a good bargain. I returned a Dyson Animal to get it. Works tons better. Look on their website for the higher end Kenmore Blue. They name the vacuums according to their color.

[Tom_King]

We’ve used the Sears cannister vacuums for years. The hoses end up with duct tape around them after a couple of years and the cord returns don’t last a year for us. Finally, when the last one got to be to aggrivating I did some searching online and found out about the Miele. Pam went to a retail store, tried them out, and brought one home. It’s a very well made beast even being lighter, smaller, and quieter.

They are all limited by the UL, or somebody like that, to 12 amp motors so it’s not possible to have a great deal of variation in air moved.

The big plus for us was the “Dog and Cat” named model since it then became a business deduction for us.

[MistyBlue]

The Kenmores tend to last about 5 years with me. But then I beat the heck out of them and they get used almost daily. So nothing else tends to die on them before I blow the motors up…except for a few belt replacements. So far every other vac I’ve used lasts 1-2 years. I think I’m the vacuum version of the Grim Reaper.
I’ve never used a Miele, will have to check that out for the next one. Lighter is always good…how does the Miele do with being dragged behind you while you use it? Does it sometimes tip?

[Tom_King]

No tip. Wheels move in all directions. No flat surfaces on the front to catch furniture legs. Super tough, flexible hose. Cord return works really well with a LONG cord. Quietest real vacuum I’ve ever heard. Place on the back that holds the wand with floor attachment vertically that’s easy to use. It’s like the guys at BMW and Mercedes got together and designed a vacuum cleaner.

I don’t impress easily and I have been impressed by everything about it. Some Comsumer Reports (not The consumer reports) outfit named it a Best Buy and they place a high rating on Value which is very unusual for a high priced item regardless. They’re never on sale but the vacuum store threw in several packages or bags, which aren’t cheap either, to buy from him and not online.

Ours is used almost daily here too. The last Sears model always gets sent out to the tackroom and there are probably 5 or 6 up in the loft because they are “too good to throw away” but so far haven’t needed any parts from any of them to be any good for the next one.

[trubandloki]

The dry shop vac (we have two shop vacs, one set up for dry, one set up for wet) we have a bag in for easy disposal and it works as a filter too. It works great for sucking up dog hair.

[Jim_in_PA]

Unless you invest in a much more expensive premium “shop vac”, you’ll need to wear hearing protection to do your housework. Less expensive shop vacs are typically “screamers” and you really can damage your hearing…even vacs designed for household use are loud and most shop vacs make them sound quiet.

[Moderator_1]

Just a heads up that we deleted a spam post that bumped this thread.

Thanks!

[Bluey]

Reported.

Another spammer bumped old thread.