Vintage Vacuum Cleaners: Motor Power Ratings

[julie_m]

With the recent ban on vacuum cleaners over 1600 Watts input, it made me think: How many of those 1600 precious Joules per second -- that we are buying and paying for -- are simply ending up as heat?

Big numbers sell, so it's more in the manufacturers' interest to make a cleaner with a motor that produces 800 W of KE and 800 W of heat, than one that produces 900 W of KE and 300 W of heat. Of course, we have to put money into the meter for the useless heat as well as the useful work done moving air through the vacuum cleaner.

I remember as a child helping my dad field-strip several Hoover Junior motors; none of which looked bigger than about half a horsepower -- so call it 400 W -- but I don't have a definitive power rating for such a machine. I also remember the exhaust from my friend's mother's old Electrolux cylinder cleaner being considerably cooler than the exhaust from my Dyson DC05.

Of course, this is one person's half-remembered anecdotal evidence, not hard data. I'm therefore calling on all vintage vacuum cleaner owners to ask: What is the power consumption of your machine, and how does its cleaning performance compare to a modern one?

[Maarten]

Much depends on the construction of the vacuum cleaner. A 350W classic Nilfisk would have the same vacuum power as a 700W compact model with transverse motor, roughly.

[Glowing Bits!]

I've found a 225 watt pre-war Hoover Junior can clean the dog hairs off the rug just as good as a machine consuming 1KW+.

I can see why a ban is needed on certain home appliances, there is absolutely no need for a floor cleaning device to consume 2KW, most of this power consumed is converted to heat.

[emeritus]

The chapter dealing with repair and overhaul of small domestic appliance motors of my early 1950's edition of Newnes "Radio Television and Electrical Repairs" says that the type of motor fitted to domestic vacuum cleaners was normally about 1/5 HP, series-wound.

The fact that, in the pre-war era, the scarcity of power sockets in most homes meant that most UK homes would have run such appliances from the light socket using a BC adaptor, would have tended to limit the power rating. Our 1938-built house stiil had only its original 3 pin 2A outlets in all rooms except the kitchen and box room, so 500W would have been the limit.

[ThePillenwerfer]

I've just been having a look at mine:-

119/1224 - 225W
612 - 400W
1334/1346 - 250W
U2638 (Turbo Power Mk I) - 450W

- Joe

[Lloyd 1985]

I can't off the top of my head remember what wattage my Dyson uses, but on a cold winters day in the workshop, it's a good incentive to clean up, as it warms the workshop in minutes, unlike the heater that takes hours!

Regards,
Lloyd

[McMurdo]

I'm no expert in law but I suspect we'll just start seeing the high power cleaners marked 'not for domestic use' which will make them legal...like has happened with transformer-power supplies and 100W light bulbs.

[Alan Stepney]

Given the ban, I just bought a 2.2kW Hoover (at a bargain price) and have been comparing it with my Dyson and a Hoover 119 that I use for cleaning the car etc.

Clean a patch of carpet with the Dyson and then go over it with the new Hoover and the latter picks up an appreciable amount of dust.
The suction is noticeably more.

The old Hoover 119, doesnt come close to either.

When I get some time spare I plan to test all three for actual suction / pressure, and from the brief tests so far, suspect that the new Hoover will create the greatest "vacuum".
But, not in proportion to the electrical energy consumed.

Nevertheless, more suction equals greater cleaning power, which might mean that there are some disadvantages to limiting the power consumed.

[paulsherwin]

There's certainly been a trend towards higher powered suction motors over the last 30 years. Domestic cleaners before then were generally about 500W.

Even the big Dysons are only 1600W and I do wonder what the benefit is of even more power. More suction will be applied, but there's a much greater risk of damage to carpets, upholstery, curtains etc.

As my mum used to say, 'cleanliness is a very overrated virtue'

[Phil G4SPZ]

My Dyson is rated at 1,400W and although it's suction performance is impeccable, it chucks out substantial amounts of heat - probably at least 700W.

There's an interesting unit called the Air Watt which is the product of air flow rate in l/s and vacuum in kPa. If you work through the SI units (or even the Imperial ones) you'll see that litres per second times kilopascals does indeed equal Watts. Some manufacturers quote their machines' performance in Air Watts but many don't, as it's not mandatory. It is easy to calculate the overall energy conversion efficiency in "Air Watts Per Watt" (airs?!) but I suspect the majority of machines wouldn't exceed 20%…

Incidentally, I read that the upper power limit will be further reduced to 900W in 2017.

[threeseven]

My early 90's Miele is 'rated' at 900w on full power but thoughtfully has selectable power settings down to 250w and an auto setting which selects the most appropriate power for the surface being cleaned. I typically use it on 400w.
I've always been incredulous at these hyper power cleaners! Using the power of a kettle to clean carpets etc is insane!
I'm looking at one of these new Vax rechargeable cyclonic cleaners with interest, they obviously saw this restriction coming!

[steptoesyard]

Got an Electrolux 345, a good vintage machine of 750W, not huge, but the suction is seriously powerful for a machine built in the 1970`s

[saxmaniac]

The old Hoover Junior and Senior models could probably use less motor power as the agitator had the patent beater bar built in which really threw the dirt around for the vacuum to pick up, I thought these seemed to work really well if only because you could see the carpet shaking with vibration as the cleaner approached! The old 119s and 652s must have been the nearest thing to a last forever appliance that was ever made, but the lack of a paper bag meant that they picked up dust then blew it straight out again past all the leaks! (slight exaggeration)

[Radio Wrangler]

My parents bought an Electrolux 345 (shaped like the submarine in 'Voyage to the bottom of the sea') when they came out. I was given t when I left home. It lasted 20-odd years and its suction was better than a 2300W Bosch cyclone job I bought a few years ago.

The electrolux had a motor driving a multi-stage blower sealed in a can. The vac lived until a bearing seized and spun in its housing. Well over a 20 year lifespan.

The Bosh lasted a year. A bit of plastic moulding bowed and every time you lifted out the dust holder to empty it, its bottom opened and dropped the contents into the casing of the machine, so I needed to get the workshop vac to clean out the indoors vac. This definitely failed an intelligence test! The workshop vac is a big thing used to take wood chippings from my thicknesser-planer. A very heavy-duty job which it does with 900W. The house now has a Henry.

The European legislation seems a bit ham-fisted, but there is a point. I'd rather go for the air watts/electrical watts ratio as a figure of merit. Perhaps we need legislation to put up the life expectancy of household appliances and cut all the waste at source?

David

[PaulR]

I think that Saxmaniac has the right answer. The Hoover "Beats as it sweeps as it cleans" machines do much more than suck the dust by brute force. We have a 652 Senior for downstairs and a Junior from the same era for upstairs and they perform very well on relatively low power motors. We also have an Electrolux Z345 with a 750W motor and that gives perfectly adequate suction. If it had much more I imagine it would try to bring the carpet up with it.

I bought a 1950s Electrolux a few years ago and although it is well built and came in a lovely fitted wooden box it has a very low power motor and is hopeless in general use. I remember a vacuum cleaner salesman coming round in the late 1950s and my mother sending him on his way saying that suction cleaners were not a patch on her 1930s Hoover Senior. If you used the hoze attachments supplied with the this, the suction was actually barely detectable!

Motor power seems to be an advertising gimmick and the design of the machine is much more important within reason.

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Perhaps we need legislation to put up the life expectancy of household appliances and cut all the waste at source? David

Exactly!

[julie_m]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Perhaps we need legislation to put up the life expectancy of household appliances and cut all the waste at source?

Amen to that!

[jay_oldstuff]

I have two main vacume cleaners at home a Henry i found dumped by the bins behind some shops unsticking the stuck motor brushes got that going. and a Lady Ann that dates to the 30's the Lady Ann is a cylinder model and has a 170W motor. now the henry has a powerfull suction but is loud and heavy compaired with the Lady Ann, which cleans very well considering its low power.

Jay

[broadgage]

I've just measured the power used by a Hoover "portapower" hand held vacuum cleaner, about 200/250 watts, can not give an exact figure as it fluctuates too much. I cant remember when I bought it, but think it is just about vintage.

I suspect that some modern vacuum cleaners in fact use LESS power than claimed, that is the figure on the packaging is a marketing claim in Chinese watts rather than the actual loading.
The new rules may simply result in truthful advertising rather than re design in such cases.

[GMB]

A more worrying consequence is that they might just add a restriction to the pipework.

I am pretty sure that vacuum cleaners consume less power when sucking hard than when doing nothing useful (i.e. shifting a lot of air). This is slightly counter-intuitive because they get hotter and we associate that with working hard. You can tell because the motor speeds up if you block the pipe. They usually get hotter due to lack of cooling from the air flow.

[Michael.N.]

Laminate flooring here, natural bristle sweeping brush (no nylon rubbish). I don't know how many Watts I am but with advancing years it's definitely coming in under the new rules.