Living Smarter...

[SteyrAUG]

So having three German Sheppards I came to the conclusion that I needed something like a canister vacuum for touch up clean ups. Basically my dogs are 30% dog hair and that means when I clean the entire house within two days it looks like nothing has been done and within 4 days it looks like I have carpet rather than floor tile.

I contemplated using a leaf blower but having used one outside I realized that I would simply put dog hair in place never intended and in places I'd truly regret. Also needed a canister vacuum for things that aren't on the floor like cleaning ceiling fans and reaching other things an upright vacuum tool won't reach. Also my upright is bagless so it holds about 5 cups of dog hair and then performance is impaired until it is emptied. Clearly I needed something stronger with greater capacity.

After wading through weak crap on the order of 2 HP with a capacity of maybe 2 gallons selling for $200 I started to get really frustrated. Seems everyone offers crap I don't care about like hepafilters and bagless but power is not an option.

It got so bad I started actually contemplated crap like this for $500.00

http://www.spycor.com/Pullman_Holt_DRY_2HP_10GL_45_p/B160414.htm?gclid=CjwKEAiAxZKmBRD_5cCvs8SbxXsSJADZBCmdHcQTX_-NnkFj_jZT94HUhxsTfvnUtoHlISnYbsyDCxoCHcLw_wcB

And then I remembered the shop vac I had in the shed. Amazing power, great capacity and doesn't cost much. Only problem is the outdoor one is a little dirty to bring inside and it was a 5 gallon capacity.

So yesterday I got this...

http://www.lowes.com/pd_549706-20097-5921011_0__?productId=50159053

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/026282/026282592101.jpg

4 HP, something like 10 feet of reach and a 10 gallon capacity. A quick stroll through the house aiming it at anything that looked like dog hair and I was done in almost 20 minutes.

Twice the power, twice the reach, half the price of even the cheapest canister vacuum I considered. And much cheaper than that $500 hepa filter crap thing.

Todays touch up clean took me less than 10 minutes. Sometimes the right tool for the job is one that was intended for a much bigger job.

[Ed L.]

Interesting post. Do you have carpets or wood or slate floors?

[Ryno12]

Interesting post. Do you have carpets or wood or slate floors?

Although I've never been to his house, I have seen many pics. His floor is white tile. He also mentions it in the OP.

Funny you mention it Steyr, I just bought a new Shop Vac myself yesterday. I needed a smaller one for doing lighter duty stuff inside the house. My 25 gal one is too big (and disgusting) to use inside. We also have 2 Dyson's and in my opinion, the hose option absolutely sucks (NPI) because of the rigid, front, detachable section.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

3 German shepherds? Man I thought it was bad when we had two. Our female was a fur generating machine. I kept telling my wife we needed to start a German shepherd fur dog bed company or something.


Just wait until you move a piece of furniture after a couple of years. There will pounds of the stuff.

[SteyrAUG]

Although I've never been to his house, I have seen many pics. His floor is white tile. He also mentions it in the OP.

Funny you mention it Steyr, I just bought a new Shop Vac myself yesterday. I needed a smaller one for doing lighter duty stuff inside the house. My 25 gal one is too big (and disgusting) to use inside. We also have 2 Dyson's and in my opinion, the hose option absolutely sucks (NPI) because of the rigid, front, detachable section.

Once uprights went bagless and the hose was integral to the performance and power rather than added on at a port, they were weak and useless. And now that is the standard design. I still use my upright for things like area rugs and just doing faster room sweeps but being able to do a 10 minute detail vac of the entire house really helps keep on top of things. Also means you regularly get the things you never before bothered to try and go after like behind book cases, entertainment centers, etc.

[SteyrAUG]

3 German shepherds? Man I thought it was bad when we had two. Our female was a fur generating machine. I kept telling my wife we needed to start a German shepherd fur dog bed company or something.


Just wait until you move a piece of furniture after a couple of years. There will pounds of the stuff.

I just gave two of them a crew cut tonight with the clippers and my lawn looks like shag carpet.

[one]

Not a bad idea.

We use a Dyson Animal vac. It was spendy but I don't have any regrets at all. It's performed extremely well and it's insane what all it picks up with each use.

[7.62WildBill]

Nice. I've gone through quite a few shop vacs in my time. Dollar for dollar, Shop Vac's 5-gallon bucket vac is the best available today. It costs less than $25, clips onto the top of any 5 gallon bucket, plenty of power, and you can buy a 20 foot hose extension. The boat shop is a daily torture test for equipment. I've found the bucket vac will last just as long as the bigger, more expensive models.

[MistWolf]

German Lugers, German HKs, German Shepherds

Japanese Martial Arts, Japanese Swords, Japanese Blood Oaths

American Beer Cans, American TV Shows and American Pop Culture Trivia

MP5 Ninja

If I worked in the comic book industry, I'd rob this shamelessly

[Averageman]

Now make a Dog hair brush that you can attach to it and you'll be in business.

[markm]

Nice. I've gone through quite a few shop vacs in my time. Dollar for dollar, Shop Vac's 5-gallon bucket vac is the best available today. It costs less than $25, clips onto the top of any 5 gallon bucket, plenty of power, and you can buy a 20 foot hose extension. The boat shop is a daily torture test for equipment. I've found the bucket vac will last just as long as the bigger, more expensive models.

Damn. That thing looks great.

[SteyrAUG]

German Lugers, German HKs, German Shepherds

Japanese Martial Arts, Japanese Swords, Japanese Blood Oaths

American Beer Cans, American TV Shows and American Pop Culture Trivia

MP5 Ninja

If I worked in the comic book industry, I'd rob this shamelessly

All while disguised as a mild manner, out of shape, couch potato FFL.

[Bubba FAL]

I got my wife one of those shop Vacs a couple years ago, because I got tired of lugging my big one from the shop to the house and back (approx. 100yds each way) every time she wanted to clean up the fur in the house. Definitely worth the money, especially since one of our dogs at the time was a shepherd/husky mix. Our Great Dane doesn't shed nearly as much!

[Endur]

Yeah, my Lab mix sheds year round and I have the same problem. Couple of months ago I got sick of constantly emptying my vacuum every 5 minutes to dump the hair so I just bought a shop vac. Problem solved. Still annoying though; I hate dog hair on every single thing.

[Moose-Knuckle]

I use a FURminator desheeding tool on my GSD, really cuts down on the shedding.

http://www.furminator.com/

[jmp45]

My son has a cat and toy fox terrier that sheds all the time and hardwood floors up and down. We gave them a Roomba for Christmas. It really does the job well for cat and short hair pups. Initial runs require emptying about every 30 minutes or so. Not so often after a good cleaning. It's programmed to run while they are at work. They really like it and pets aren't bothered by it.h.