Strangest request from Wife....

[BigDan]

My wife asked, "Can I have one of those?" and she was pointing at my Festool Dust Collector CT26.  After scooping my chin from the floor  [eek] and a few minutes of wonderment, I realized she was serious.  So, I bought her a CT-Midi I.  To be clear, this is to replace her home vacuum. 

Back Story: I brought my CT-26 in from the shop to do some work sanding, cutting, driling etc... we were doing a kitchen remodel and after a weekend of using it, she realize it was better than any she has owned.  She has had 10-15 vacuums (including a Rainbow ($1200) and a Kirby (1500+) and several other expensive brands over the 37 years we have been married and came to the realization after all these years, she likes the Canister style vacs.  She loved the bluetooth button on the hose and the tool activation as well as the Bag "AND" Filter idea of them and it was also quieter than many she has had and once you got past the "ugly black/green motif" (her words, I think its awesome) they weren't too bad looking.  So stranger yet, I went to FestoolRECON to see if I could get "lucky" and there was a CT36 on sale and I hit the buy button and it came back "not avail" on the next screen so I did the cursory "refresh" and there was a MIDI-i and I selected it and sure enough, I was the proud new owner of a MIDI-I...  Oh wait, ugh, I need attachments for her or it wont be a very good experience so I ordered the $275.00 attachment kit with the "stainless tubes and very nice hose etc...." and away she went... The attachments are excellent quality and filtration is well can anyone say "HEPA." 

Prologue:  So I was pretty proud of myself....  Until I heard her speak the words..."can I have a sander?"  You see the moral of the story is Festool products are usually well made and the "ecosystem" you hear about increases their desirability among all who are looking for a well engineered tool with features most folks need.  So now I have to feed two tool habits as she is also a "handyman" in the house (she does all the painting and finishing and I do the walls, drywall and trim/detail) so I guess the best news is that I dont have to bring in my vac from the shop, and the bad is that she has all the newer model tools...Actually, she doesn't need anything but a drill/impact combo and sander (RTS400 REQ) which I also got the next day on FESTOOLRECON so this is a happy story, just wondering if anyone's wife is also asking for the festool products?

Enjoy the day,
Dan

 

[weekendwarrior]

Amazing!  I honestly never considered buying my wife a Festool CT to get her on the bandwagon!  Unless they specifically ask, we all know we can't buy them vacuum cleaners as gifts.

Do you have any tips on buying a Domino for one's non-woodworking spouse?  [big grin]

 

[Bob D.]

"Do you have any tips on buying a Domino for one's non-woodworking spouse? "

Easy, just buy it from RECON for her. When she says she can't use that say well
I guess I will have to find a use for it in my shop because it can't be returned.

Darn the good luck  [cool]

 

[Coen]

Well, 99% of householdvacs have the same problems;

*Loud
*No anti-static
*Short hose
*Short tube

For household use I have a Miele S8 with the longer 3-part tube that is excellent. Other points still apply..

The next generation Miele's was not available with the 3-part tube in kit (separate purchase @ $$$$) and from what I can tell they now dropped it completely..

 

[mino]

Actually, a CT (or any shop vac from any brand) is not an optimal home/interior vac by a long shot.

But if you wanted to use it still, the CTL Mini would be optimal - details below.

The "problem" is the bags.
In a home vac you WANT to replace the filters with a reasonable frequency regardless if they are full or not.

This is because "organic" residue which a home vac collects (hair, pieces of skin, food etc) includes various oils which decompose over time on air. This means you WANT to replace a dust bag every month at least and even the micro-filter should not stay in place more than a year or so. Otherwise the vac will start to "smell" from the decomposing residue on the filters.

This is further compounded by the output "mufflers" a CT 26/36 uses which are not designed to be replaced but will still "catch" some of the residue which will inevitably get past the filters.

For this reason a CT Mini is the closest to a "practical home vac" as it has the least capacity. But neither are optimal/economical for this role.

This "decomposition" issue is not present in shop use - as most dust collected will not decompose even after a few years being stuck in the filter. Also, in a shop setting one does not mind a bit of an odor getting out of the vac.

ADD:
Above holds in normal countries.

In the EU it is now forbidden to sell powerful home vacs (>700W), so the choice is a powerful shop vac or ... nothing.

IMO interesting can be a Mini in home coupled to a Midi/CT15 in shop and "relegating" home-use main filters for shop use after half a year or so in the "home" vac. For one, the BT remote is gold in general cleaning use ..

 

[Michael Kellough]

Good info mini!

 

[dltflt]

My wife loves the CT for the house. Says it is the best vacuum she’s ever had and she has had them all. She also bought herself a CXS because she liked using mine over her Dewalt.

 

[sancho57]

I caught mines playing with my kapex.

Good thing I caught her before she made the cut she wasnt doing it safely and could of lost her fingers, then id never get a decent meal again....

 

[Coen]

In the EU it is now forbidden to sell powerful home vacs (>700W), so the choice is a powerful shop vac or ... nothing.

To be fair, things became a bit ridiculous with the vacs of 2200W and beyond with tiny hoses and tiny filters...

I used to avoid vacuuming in the summer before I had AC. Now I turn the AC on boost when vacuuming.

 

[bertv]

In the EU it is now forbidden to sell powerful home vacs (>700W), so the choice is a powerful shop vac or ... nothing.

I think that limit is 800W… anyway, after that restriction became the law, I happened to find a EOL Miele with 1100W for the household chores. So that’s been sorted.
Anyway — my late partner owned a Mini and a DTS before we hooked up & before I got a Midi. How about that? Loved her dearly.

 

[weekendwarrior]

...
The "problem" is the bags.
In a home vac you WANT to replace the filters with a reasonable frequency regardless if they are full or not.

This is because "organic" residue which a home vac collects (hair, pieces of skin, food etc) includes various oils which decompose over time on air. This means you WANT to replace a dust bag every month at least and even the micro-filter should not stay in place more than a year or so. Otherwise the vac will start to "smell" from the decomposing residue on the filters.

This is further compounded by the output "mufflers" a CT 26/36 uses which are not designed to be replaced but will still "catch" some of the residue which will inevitably get past the filters.

For this reason a CT Mini is the closest to a "practical home vac" as it has the least capacity. But neither are optimal/economical for this role.

This "decomposition" issue is not present in shop use - as most dust collected will not decompose even after a few years being stuck in the filter. Also, in a shop setting one does not mind a bit of an odor getting out of the vac.
...

Hmm, how do Central Vacuum Systems address organic matter?  They usually have large catch bins.

I haven't in reality considered it, but in my mind I'm tempted to get a Oneida-Air system and use for my workshop & as a central vac.  This organic matter breakdown concept is new to me...

 

[Coen]

By the time you vacuum it up it's all dry already anyway. If you keep bread in an enclosed space (plastic bag) fungus will develop. If you keep it out on a tray it will just dry up without any fungus. People living in smaller apartments can get years out of a single household vac bag.

 

[Paul_HKI]

I bought a Miele S381 about 15 years ago.  Almost daily use at home and the only thing it's ever needed were filters and bags.  A superb machine.  I've never lamented having an 1800W unit either and with the variable suction, blower function (which most don't even know it present on a lot of Miele vacs), HEPA filtration and a compact form factor, it's more than once got the job done when the shop vac wasn't close at hand.

 

[Coen]

The householdvacs have the filter behind the motor... so fine dust still damages it.

 

[DeformedTree]

Funny, I was just looking at this, this weekend.  I have CT26's which are too large to move around the house. I looked at the MINI/MIDI but then remembered they when to those membrane style controls. Ugh.  Really don't get festool doing that.  Put an end to that idea in a hurry.

But yeah, I think these vacs would be good. I have used shop vacs for years around the house just because I had them. They are not very good, and now Shop Vac went out of business last year.  I'm sure someone will buy the assets, but still.

A CT is good.  After having vacuums like Dysons, you realize old bag vacs are the answer.  Having a bagless vacuum means nothing if dumping it makes a horrible mess and you have to clean it out.

Far as not being good from the comment above, as others have pointed out, plenty of folks have bags in vacuums for years without changing them. You don't generally suck up damp material, and any you do will be dried out soon enough.  Don't think anyone is being harmed by their central vacuum having years of material in it.

What was the purpose of this power limit on vacuums?  I would guess it was probably a cord issue?  Or was it more to combat bad marketing. Much like shop vac here calling a vacuum a 5hp vacuum when it's not, not even close.  I can just see the feds putting a power limit on vacuums here, some folks would go insane.  You would have people selling aftermarket kits to put 480VAC motors on their vacuums. Claiming power limits are killing the children.  And of course people converting their vacuums to diesel engines and "removing the filters for safety".

 

[Bob D.]

"Hmm, how do Central Vacuum Systems address organic matter?  They usually have large catch bins."

Our central vac does have a fairly large dust bin, 7 gallons(26.5L) in size.

The manufacturer recommends replacing the filter every couple years. Ours does not use bags, the debris
drops into the bin and the vac is self-cleaning and has a HEPA filter. With the unit mounted out in the garage
you can vacuum in the house with someone watching TV in the next room and not disturb them. But in the
garage it's noisy.

 

[AlexThePalex]

What was the purpose of this power limit on vacuums?  I would guess it was probably a cord issue?

Environmental reasons. They think they save energy and reduce CO2 emissions by limiting the power of a vac to 900W max.

I severely dislike this, I like my vacs powerful. They say 900W vacs are just as good. But it is a lie.

 

[Paul_HKI]

The householdvacs have the filter behind the motor... so fine dust still damages it.

Some cheap crap might, but not on a Miele.

The original 'FJM' dust bag is multilayer filter media effective to 99.9% filtration, then there's a motor filter, then a HEPA filter on the motor exhaust.

Standard fair these days.

 

[DeformedTree]

What was the purpose of this power limit on vacuums?  I would guess it was probably a cord issue?

Environmental reasons. They think they save energy and reduce CO2 emissions by limiting the power of a vac to 900W max.

I severely dislike this, I like my vacs powerful. They say 900W vacs are just as good. But it is a lie.

Such an oddly specific thing to target on energy savings.  Pick something that has one of the lowest usage times of all household appliances.  I get that plug in appliances are easier to get changed/swapped out than say Gas Appliances in a home, but still, there are better things to go for than this.  Put power limits on cars, or fire back up the nuclear plants in Germany and shut back down the coal power plants.  So many better ways to get the tiny savings this one produces.

 

[DeformedTree]

I severely dislike this, I like my vacs powerful. They say 900W vacs are just as good. But it is a lie.

This reminds me of the "low flow"  toilets and shower heads when they came out.  Those items did suck when they came out, but in time, they did make them good, and now say the toilets work way better than any old one ever did. It forced companies to make better designs.  In time, manufactures will adjust their designs to optimize around these new requirements and things will be fine. Usually the big issues is when such rules hit, manufactures just alter the design to meet the law, actually coming up with a design that works takes time.