Low voltage hoovers??

[LadyB]

Anyone have or know of a low power hoover?? Dog hair nightmare.. sweeping just does not do the job! I have 1000w 24v inverter.

[JerryP]

12 Volt car vacum ?

[LadyB]

mmmm.. yeah maybe would they be good enough do you think? There rubbish in cars lol but then there are upholstery.. ive only got hard wood flooring and a leather sofa .. mmmmm scratch..

[Jo_]

We have a handheld Dyson - charges and then hoovers (Dysons?) for 8 minutes. Seems to get everything up. I know it was pricey but, to us, it was worth it because it does a very good job!!

[Athy]

We have one which you charge on 240 volts then it runs/ sucks/ whatever for quite a while before it needs recharging. Alas, it is on the boat and we are not so I can't tell you the make. It cost about £50.

[Circe]

We bought a Dyson DC34. It charges for 3.5 hours then is good to hoover the boat a few times before it needs recharging.

 

Works well for us. Youngest had a nasty asthma attack this summer (which warranted the Dyson's purchase!) and it's great for getting rid of pet hairs.

[LadyB]

ooooo great stuff i will look the Dyson up then! be well worth the pennies i think.

[Keeping Up]

The thread title asks about low voltage hoovers, but your text asks about low power hoovers.

 

Stay away from 12v plug-in car-type hoovers, I have never found one that wasn't completely useless at removing dog hair

 

There are some low power 240v hoovers around and they can be quite good, but they're becoming rare now as "everyone" wants high power. We managed to find a 650 watt one from VAX (a Quicklite) a couple of years ago and it's quite good but they don't make it any more.

[Timleech]

The thread title asks about low voltage hoovers, but your text asks about low power hoovers.

 

Stay away from 12v plug-in car-type hoovers, I have never found one that wasn't completely useless at removing dog hair

 

There are some low power 240v hoovers around and they can be quite good, but they're becoming rare now as "everyone" wants high power. We managed to find a 650 watt one from VAX (a Quicklite) a couple of years ago and it's quite good but they don't make it any more.

 

There are some lightweight upright vacuum cleaners which are mainly aimed at the 'older consumer', the Beldray Stick is one example, ought to run OK from your inverter (they are 600/700W) and are surprisingly effective although not a patch on the 'real thing'.

 

Tim

[Rob99fla]

Anyone have or know of a low power hoover?? Dog hair nightmare.. sweeping just does not do the job! I have 1000w 24v inverter.

 

Have you thought about a Henry. The newest model, http://www.numatic.co.uk/products4.aspx has an energy saving mode of 600W. In fact, it always starts in 600W mode. The power of a Henry is excellent, even in low power 600W mode. I use one with my 1200W Inverter with no problems. I suspect they work great on dog hairs and the build quality is excellent too. You can keep your very expensive Dyson's although I am a great admirer of James Dyson for marketing and selling (what I think) a grossly overpriced vacuum cleaner. Also, whenever I see office cleaners at work, they mostly seem to use Numatic vacuums (Henry's etc) with never a Dyson in site.

[Tod]

Dewalt Tools do a 18volt battery and mains hoover, will also suck up water with the correct filter, looks like a Henry. very good you can also have a spare plug in battery.

 

Rowan

[boathunter]

I mended Mr Dysons industrial unit doors about 25 years ago near Bristol. He was a great bloke. Just him in a small unit inventing away. He'd invented his vortex thing and sold 3 to BA to clean out Concorde fuel tanks for thousands each and was on the up! He got all his drawings out and explained his invention at great length. It was quite embaressing in a way - I had to cut him short to fix his door closer and cover my time. Should have asked him for a job...

 

And his brother taught at the kids primary school in Ely 10 years later. They didn't get on.

 

As you were...

Edited October 10, 2012 by boathunter

[Keeping Up]

From our experience if you want to pick up dog hairs you've got to have a foot with rotating brushes that are properly driven.

 

An alternative line of attack, have you thought of getting an old fashioned manual carpet sweeper? They are surprisingly good at picking up dog hairs - we use ours a lot - and they use no battery power, their main drawback is just their lack of capacity so you have to do it more often than you would with a hoover.

[djs]

Carpet sweepers: many of our friends swear by these things.

 

(edited to add:)

In fact, you've prompted me to get one for the boat. Cheapest I could find is here.

 

Dan

Edited October 10, 2012 by djs

[Lady Muck]

If you fancy really low tech, then you can't beat a rubber brush. Cheap and effective.

 

 

My link

[ditchcrawler]

If you fancy really low tech, then you can't beat a rubber brush. Cheap and effective.

 

 

My link

They do work

[Grace and Favour]

We've a Samsung compact 240v

 

Complete with rotating head 'pet hair' accessory. (as well as all the other necessary tools for cleaning one's cracks, and sucking Boy Scouts out from horses hooves)

 

Can turn down to 300w, or turn up to 2Kw

 

Superb!

 

[rjasmith]

Probably a bit off topic really but I do wonder about all these splendid modern vacuum cleaners with their multi Kw motors.

 

SWMBO insists on doing the house with our fairly ordinary Electrolux thing wearing ear defenders because it is so loud!

 

The trouble is, unlike the old cleaners of the 1940s and 50s, modern machines all have plastic impellers and need to suck clean air after much filtering so there is no danger of the impeller getting damaged by dirt going past it.

 

The old machines used metal impellers and sucked both dirt and air in with no filter at all. Hence, with no filter to block, the motor could be of much lower power (eg 250 - 300W) and the aluminium alloy impeller easily stood up to the "sandblasting" it got from the carpet dirt!

 

I've just looked on eBay and it seems the fabulous old Hoover Junior is still being listed by people who've found one lurking in an attic and at a start price of 99p in one case.

 

It looks like basic parts are still available for them as well!

 

Not for everyone perhaps and perhaps only DIY electrical repair fanatics should go for this but why not get an old Hoover Junior for cleaning the boat if you have a suitable inverter.

 

I think I just might!

 

Richard

[Jamboat]

We have a dirt devil ( safe amazon clicky) Lasts 20 minutes a charge & is great for cat hairs. Currently on special offer, it's ideal when we are cruising or for just a quick vac round. Does make your back ache a bit though bending down.

When on hookup I have one of these safe argos clicky, does a great job but so it should at 1600w

[tillergirl]

I've had a Dyson HEPA for over 10 years here at home and its never been serviced and filters only ever been hand washed. Admit its now seen better days but as my youngest has eczema we invested in one for that purpose and its been worth its weight in gold. Expensive they may be but they do last a long time. I see they have brought a new one out called a Dyson Stick also in a HEPA version. Its cordless and hangs on the wall in a charger. Worth a look in my opinion.

[David Schweizer]

I have never found any purpose designed 12vDC equipment that works particulrly well, however, I have found that some 240v re-chargeable equipment that uses a 12v battery to store the power seem to have better performance.

 

I have never bothered with a vacuum cleaner on the boat, but I do have a Flymo cordless strimmer which I use to keep the grass on our mooring under control. I have removed the (dead) battery and converted it to run directly off the boat batteries and it functions quite well, so maybe locating a second hand 240v/12vDC cordless re-chargeable vacuum cleaner and converting it could be an alternatuive solution.

Edited October 11, 2012 by David Schweizer

[Nightwatch]

Peruvian Hairless Dog?

 

We have an old handraulic carpet sweeper that we bought from a car boot sales years ago. use a stiff brush for the edges and away you go. Surprising how much stuff it picks up. Hairs/grit etc.

 

Martyn

[Radiomariner]

Removing dog hair from carpet.Extremely low tech and low cost.

For years I kept an old sandal with crepe rubber sole. Used like a brush it worked wonders on carpets where the dog hair gets stuck in the pile. Don't see crepe soles any more, but I have found that the sole of an old trainer is almost as good.

We also have a special glove/mitt from a pet shop. Made of rubber the palm has full of rubber spikes, designed for dog grooming, it does a great job removing dog hair from blankets and clothing.

[Zayna]

Carpet sweepers: many of our friends swear by these things.

 

(edited to add:)

In fact, you've prompted me to get one for the boat. Cheapest I could find is here.

 

Dan

 

I got given one of these for our boat and it's ace. It also stores away very well, can't imagine where we'd put a full size hoover.

[Rebotco]

I got given one of these for our boat and it's ace. It also stores away very well, can't imagine where we'd put a full size hoover.

 

We also have one of those rechargeable ones. I believe GTech are based in Worcester. But I certainly would only recommend the 7.2 Volt model, not the lower voltage ones. It does take ages to recharge, and unfortunately the charging light is not designed to go out when fully charged, for some unaccountable reason. Apart from that silly design fault, it is a great little sweeper, and extremely compact.