Avoid cheap vacuum bags!

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phatboy

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Minor disaster, but a caution for others....

I've had my trusty Numatic (Big Henry) vacuum for about 9 years. Last year I found online some much cheaper bags, that claimed to be the same spec. as the genuine ones - the genuine had been getting a lot more expensive.

I used a few of these new bags when cleaning up sawdust and general vacuuming, and all seemed OK. Until I started cleaning up concrete dust, and briefly connecting up to a wall chaser (Which I've done many times before). The vacuum started whining more loudly sand high pitched after a while, and the suction was poor.

Upon opening up the machine, not only was the base full of dust, but so was the filter, and even the motor housing! After thoroughly cleaning out everything in the garden, and re-assembling, and refitting with a genuine Numatic bag, the vacuum sounded far more healthy. Still a bit whiney, so I'll be following Youtube guides so strip down the top section for a proper clean.

I expect if I had run it without the secondary filter, it would be toast by now.

Cheap bags may look the same, and claim to be the same - THEY AREN'T!
 
I once made the mistake of buying cheap knock off Festool CT Midi bags from Tools4Trade in west London. After two of the cloth bags split within minutes, I took them back for a partial refund. The guy said something to the effect of "what do you expect? They were cheaper". I didn't have the original receipt but pointed out that the bags have their own branding. I didn't ask for full refund, just a refund for the three remaining snide bags . His response was "well, I don't know if we sold them to you at a discounted price- I told him that I don't have an account with them. In the end he haggled me down to a 50% discount.

From memory each tiny bag worked out to about £4 each.
 
Before getting Festool dust extractors, I used to have the George sized machine with the automatic power take off. The original bags were paper bags and if I sanded wall filler they would split pretty quickly. Numatic tried passing the buck and blamed the EU (yeah, seriously...). To be fair though they did send me out a secondary filter which protected the motor.
 
aye - and you have probably being breathing in all the very fine dust that is most damaging to our health, it is the stuff you can't see that does the damage to our lungs. cheap bags may keep the workshop looking clean, but you need hepa grade to filter out the lung destroying stuff.
 
I used to use an old vac to suck out festool bags to get more use out of them. You can convert bags to reusable but festool don't recommend doing either. They recommend using a new bag.
Poor quality cheap bags kills the motor and creates fine dust in the air so never use.
 
Wayners said:
I used to use an old vac to suck out festool bags to get more use out of them. You can convert bags to reusable but festool don't recommend doing either. They recommend using a new bag.
Poor quality cheap bags kills the motor and creates fine dust in the air so never use.
Click to expand...

I find that with the bags for my Festool Midi and CT Sys, after a while the dust gets stuck in the linings of the bags and won't come out. I do have the £100ish reusable long life bag for the Midi but it is only suitable for using with a planer.. or for vacuuming the leaves off the fake grass in my back garden.
 
I use a cartridge filter, as well as the bags to collect most of the stuff and make the cartridge last longer.
 
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