FWIW both canisters we have, have motor driven rotating beater bar attachments for carpets.

Contrary to what anyone else says, vaccuum cleaners here are fine and as with everything you get what you pay for. I had a Filter Queen for over 30 years, which was an expensive purchase at the time but boy did it pay for itself! It was quiet and powerful, and easy to manoever. The suction was perfect. But like an idiot I decided to buy a Dyson when my FQ motor finally died. I hate the Dyson, it's too difficult and heavy for me to handle, suction is way too powerful - if you have a loose thread in a rug it'll unweave it! That's it's selling feature and it's definitely over-kill.

Still not keen on the idea of them, but if they are cheaper maybe I could live with the hassle.

Yes, I agree you get what you pay for. We have had 2 cheap vacuums here in 2 years, very cheap so not a waste as it was for area rugs only. They did what they were supposed to but couldnt cope with a whole house of carpet. They both have concertina type paper filters that need unclogging at each use, very dusty and dirty work.

I havent heard of Filter Queen, are they still made?? I'll do a search and see.

You only get what you pay for up to a point. Beyond a few hundred bucks its diminishing returns.

Filter Queen is $2500, more than 3 times a Sebo, how can it be 3 times better??

wow, I am in shock. I take it back about getting what you pay for. For that price I would expect a maid too.

No idea if this is a good deal or not but worth a look I'm thinking.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...d.php?t=637771

I first heard of Filter Queen shortly after arriving in Canada. They called and offered a free set of steak knives if we would watch a demo. We had no knives so we agreed.

The man lugged the machine up to our twelth floor walk up and then went through his stylish pitch. It's well planned, the machine unpacks like a striptease (in a past life Dog the Bounty Hunter was a champion at this game, now he sells religion the same way). He produced a gadget for curtains but we had none. A brush for carpets but we had none. A mattress device, but we had no bed. Eventually we were left sitting at our picnic table, the one piece of furniture in the place, surrounded by plastic bags and cardboard. We pointed out the obvious, that we had no money and couldn't buy the machine. The salesman was ready for that, you could pay weekly, for the rest of your life.

I watched him as he picked up the pieces and shoved them all back in the box, he looked very Willy Loman and I felt mildly sorry for him. My wife was not so kind, "vere are ze steak knives?". Twelve floors down, twelve floors up again to bring them to us. They wanna qualify their leads better, the FK company.

Erhum....

Anyway.... shop vacs look cheap and tough! I'm thinking of getting one to hoover the ash out of the wood-burners. Obviously not when still red hot! I have tried sourcing those fire-place vacs you can get which hoover up hot stuff, but they cost a fortune and have to be specially ordered.

Anyone have any thoughts about using a shop vac for cleaning fire places?

It will work but you'll spend longer cleaning the filter than vacuuming the fireplace. A spade and metal bucket might be a better bet.

I knew someone who vacuumed up the ashes from a coal fire.

I have never done this but I do vacuum the crud in the bottom of the oven, also the mattress (discussed in another thread). the cracks in the dining table where the crumbs gather (it has a sort of inlay pattern in case you wondered), I also vacuum the sofas, especially under the cushions, and once the crumbs off the old man's chest when he's been eating cookies and muffins while watching tv. He wasnt impressed.

whats a shop vac???

Industrial motor, washable filter, dumpable bin, used for cleaning up the shop.


Wouldnt recommend it for cleaning up a fireplace...those filters are not the best, they will catch sawdust and chips, but dust might just get redistributed over everything. In fact vacuuming up a fireplace is going to be the last straw for most vacuum filters. They will handle the dust, but probably be too clogged to be much use afterwards. Dustpan and brush job, at least for starters.

The kind of thing you'd use in your garage to clear up sawdust etc. Like a regular vacuum cleaner but rather bigger. If you remove the filter, you can also suck up liquids. Mine can be reversed, making it a blower.

why thank you, not a vac bought in a shop then!

That thing looks badly designed to me. I'll bet it tips over a lot.

Well, they are bought in shops...

They're like the Vax hoovers from the UK, but much, much cheaper!

Thanks for the fireplace hoovering advice. I'm really not looking forward to that. We did it for years in the UK, but at least most of it collected itself in an ashpan... no such thing on ours here. Rats.