Looking for some advice as to which is the best type of vacuum cleaner to get and WHY.

(to be used in commercial applications)

Thanks

Emilio,

I have owned many vacuums including Sanitaires, Panasonics, Orecks, Kirbys, a Royal Commercial, and two Certified Pile Lifters. Out of the long list of vacuums I've owned in the past 20+ years four stand out and I feel comfortable recommending them. The following 4 are all vacuums that I've owned and loved.

Bernina Commercial, BacPacVac.com, Windsor Versamatic, Hoover Conquest.

WINDSOR: Possibly one of the best all around commercial vacuums on the market. HEPA filtration. Well built. Good suction.

BACPACVAC.com: This is a small company that sells a PHENOMENAL unit with LOTS of power. HEPA filtration. If a backpack vac fits the bill then I highly recommend checking this vac out.

BERNINA: The Bernina Commercial is a redesign of the old Panasonic Commercial vacuum. EXCELLENT airflow! HEPA filtration. Well built. Reasonably priced. I own 3 of these and would highly recommend for normal commercial vacuuming.

HOOVER CONQUEST: I just purchased our first Hoover Conquest this week. Why a different vacuum? All of the vacuums listed above can remove soil from the carpet very well. But NONE of them can pull apart tight commercial pile to allow the dry soil to be extracted. The Pile Lifter can open up the pile, but their vacuuming ability is very poor. So I went searching for a vacuum that was STRONG on the front end. And that's why I decided to give the Hoover Conquest a try.

Here are the reasons why I chose the Conquest.

1) It's a tank: That may sound funny - but I want this vacuum for digging into commercial carpet pile.
2) Brush roller design: The conquest has the best brush design I've seen in a commercial vacuum. Hoover calls it an "Auger" design.
3) 14" model: A couple of different vacuum dealers recommended the 14" model over the 18" model because it would concentrate the agitation and vacuum performance. The 18" model would have been nice, but digging into the pile is my main concern.
4) Dirt cup: This feature was recommended by most folks familiar with the Conquest.

As I spoke to MANY knowledgeable people about commercial vacuums I learned that what I sought truly doesn't exist (a good pile lifter / vacuum combination). So I went with a unit that could get me as close as possible.

Test run. I ran the Conquest today on an auditorium carpet and it looked as if it pulled up a considerable amount of debris and fuzz in the dirt cup. So I think this is the closest thing that I can find for a deep agitating roller commercial vacuum. Time will tell if the Hoover will really do the trick. So far I'm impressed. But I think that any of the 4 vacuums mentioned above would be excellent choices!




Rick Gelinas

P.S.

Here's a link with a nice description of the Hoover Conquest...

http://www.vacdepot.com/product_info.php?products_id=133




Rick Gelinas

Rick,
Which model of Windsor vacuum have you found the most success with ?

Jeff,

The Windsor Versamatic is the model to consider in the Windsor line. It's manufactured by Sebo vacuum cleaners in Germany. So you can select a Windsor or a Sebo and get the same vac.




Rick Gelinas

Just returned from a job today where the carpet gets vacuumed regularly. But the vacuuming is not adequate for the degree of heavy traffic the carpet receives. So we ran our new Hoover Conquest on this job to do some intensive dry soil removal.

This carpet is a HIGH TRAFFIC dense commercial tight loop carpet. The pile is crushed so there is no way for the impacted dry soil to escape. When you examine the backing of the carpet you find a black-dirt backing.

Today we vacuumed S L O W with the Hoover Conquest. The carpeted area that we cleaned was around 2,500 sq ft. My helper vacuumed slowly as I followed with the Cimex scrubbing slowly. We spent just over two hours. So we were vacuuming and cleaning at a rate of about 1,000 sq ft per hour. That is slow!

When we emptied the dirt cup it was FULL. There was at least a pound or more of fine dry soil. The dirt was like black silt.

This carpet has been a problem in the past. It can turn brown after cleaning due to the high content of trapped dry soil down in the backing. I bought the Conquest especially with this account in mind. Today when we finished cleaning the carpet looked bright and clean.

I would compare the results to other commercial vacuums like this: With other vacuums we could give the carpet a good vacuuming, with the Conquest we can give the carpet a good vacuum CLEANING.

If any of you are looking for a commercial vacuum for VACUUM CLEANING you might want to check out the Conquest.




Rick Gelinas

Rick, how HEAVY is it ? If we compare it to a Sanitaire 16" wide track for example.Why didn't you like the Sanitaires ? I don't like the shake out bags, they release too much dust, but overall it's a good vacuum, just a bit heavy, that's is why a asked.
Thank you.

The Conquest is a lot heavier than a Sanitaire. Like I said above, it's a TANK!!! It's also messy when you empty the dirt cup. It certainly isn't a HEPA vac. And it isn't pretty either. Have I talked you out of it yet?

I bought the Conquest for the front end! Agitation. The roller is designed very well. It's not a Pile Lifter. But it's better than anything else I've seen in any commercial vacuum. Most commercial vacuum rollers look like a household vac. The sanitaire adds the beater bar feature and that's not a bad idea. But I think this design is better. If you get a chance to examine the Conquest I think you'll see what I'm talking about. It's clearly well suited for commercial carpet. I like it.




Rick Gelinas

Hey Rick,
What kind of price is one looking at, and have you tried the 18"?

I went with the 14" model intentionally because it was recommended by some knowledgeable folks in the vacuum industry who told me it would concentrate the vacs performance as compared to the 18" model.

Details here: http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/message?forumid=228309&messageid=1072992845

We paid just under $400 with sales tax and dust cup from a local dealer.




Rick Gelinas

dang...did i miss the chance to tell everyone how i got a 18" hoover off ebay...for $56....works like a charm just had to tell someone who would understand why i was all excited when i won the bid

Way to go Joel!!!

I hate you




Rick Gelinas