Strangest request from Wife....

[Cheese]

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.

FWIW...we have 2 Miele canister vacs. A S 514 upstairs at 1100 watts and a S 5981 down stairs at 1200 watts. I wouldn't part with either one. One of the nicest features on them are the motor driven brushes that are in the floor vacuuming head. For vacuuming rugs or carpets there's nothing better to pick up dirt.

The Festool floor vacuuming head is not motor driven.

Miele canister vacs in the US are still rated at 1200 watts.  [cool]

 

[rst]

I bought one of the new Fein IIs on sale when they included the motor driven attachment for free...fantastic tool...lives in my house.

 

[Coen]

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.

FWIW...we have 2 Miele canister vacs. A S 514 upstairs at 1100 watts and a S 5981 down stairs at 1200 watts. I wouldn't part with either one. One of the nicest features on them are the motor driven brushes that are in the floor vacuuming head. For vacuuming rugs or carpets there's nothing better to pick up dirt.

The Festool floor vacuuming head is not motor driven.

Miele canister vacs in the US are still rated at 1200 watts.  [cool]

It's not all a lie. Not everyone used their 2 kW+ vac at full power anyway. And at same suction, the newer vacs are a lot less loud.

The motor is battery-powered, or is there some power connection along the hose / pipe?

 

[Cheese]

1. It's not all a lie. Not everyone used their 2 kW+ vac at full power anyway. And at same suction, the newer vacs are a lot less loud.

2. The motor is battery-powered, or is there some power connection along the hose / pipe?

1. We have 2 Golden's and 3 cats so we use the Miele's at WOT (wide open throttle) all of the time.

2. If you're referring to the floor/carpet/rug vacuum heads, on the older S 514 the cord runs along the connection tube of the vacuum head and plugs into the handle of the vac. On the newer S 5981 the cord is internal and as soon as you plug the vacuum head into the handle of the vacuum, all the connections are made and you're ready to go. 

Here's a photo of the handle. The 2 buttons on the stainless down tube is where the floor vac head plugs in. Remove the floor vac head and normal vacuuming is done with wands, an extension nozzle or brushes. Plug in the down tube and the connections are internal which brings power to the brush motor in the floor head.

[attachimg=1]

I'd love Festool to come up with something like that for use in the shop where there are both smooth surfaces and thin rugs that need to be vacuumed.

 

[DeformedTree]

1. We have 2 Golden's and 3 cats so we use the Miele's at WOT (wide open throttle) all of the time.

The continued presence of the cats tells us the vacuums do not have adequate suction power, or maybe you don't have large enough hose.    [wink]

 

[DeformedTree]

It's not all a lie. Not everyone used their 2 kW+ vac at full power anyway. And at same suction, the newer vacs are a lot less loud.

The motor is battery-powered, or is there some power connection along the hose / pipe?

So do these suc restrictions only apply to corded vacs?  With battery ones more common, can manufactures just go crazy.  Just tweak the cordless leaf blowers.

 

[Cheese]

The continued presence of the cats tells us the vacuums do not have adequate suction power, or maybe you don't have large enough hose.    [wink]

The vacuums are more than adequate...the critical element is the 30 mm diameter hose on a 15# cat.  [popcorn] [popcorn]

 

[Stan Tillinghast]

My wife has 2 S2 Miele canister vacs, both 1200 watts as bought most recently 2014. Good to know the new ones are wimpy; these will last the rest of our lives' and probably our kids' lives.
She also has a keen appreciation for my CT's, for HEPA filters, and unfortunately for my CXS. Her Bosch won't do any more. If I could find an older model with the L-shaped batteries, I would buy it for her.

 

[mino]

It's not all a lie. Not everyone used their 2 kW+ vac at full power anyway. ...

Correct, but the implication is the exact opposite.

When an electric motor is not at full power it does not suck full power, eh, so the argument is moot. No one uses resistor-based power regulation in household appliances in 21st century.

But the argument was that people do use the vacs at 100% power when it is not needed. Implying they are stupid and the Eurocrats need to think for them..

A sensible regulation would be to mandate that all vacs above a certain power level must have power regulation.
But that would require the Eurocrats to have more than one brain cell and to actually care about the impact of the regulation on normal people.
But why would they? At Brussels wages they all can afford cleaning ladies, so it does not concern them. Worst case they can get industrial vacs like the Mini and replace the $30 microfilters every second month. These folks simply are not affected so they do not see the problems they cause. This was the same with forbidding light bulbs a few years back. It also did not affect the well-off as they could switch to LEDs even for use cases where it does not make economic /nor ecologic/ sense.

/end rant

 

[iekoch@comcast.net]

I have many customers who like my quiet Festool vacuums, I use mostly Minis but have a Sys and CT 26.  I use the Mini with a Power Motorized beater head made by Fein that plugs into the outlet on the Vacuum.  The head also shuts off at the head so I don't have to go back to the vac to shut it down. That vacuums the carpet better than most anything I have owned.