I have a Genie shop vacuum that is more than 25 years old. It has been beat up, dropped, and otherwise abused, and except for the fact that its suction is not phenomenal, it has performed well for years. It has a hose outlet which is great for blowing dust out of stuff, and I've only had to tear it down once to clean and lube the motor. I've connected it to sanders to keep the dust down, balanced it on ladders, and generally banged it around.
About five years ago, I was given a more modern shop vac as a gift. It was a sleek-looking thing, and it had more suction than the Genie, so I relegated the Genie to the back corner. The new vacuum didn't have an attachable outlet so I kept the Genie in service as a blower.
Soon after using the new one, it started making a grinding noise when I shut it off. I decided to check the motor for oil. That’s when I discovered the vacuum’s poor design. The first thing I noticed was that one of the screws had never been installed. This was not a problem as the plastic fit well, but it revealed poor workmanship.
Then I discovered the impeller was a flimsy aluminum thing held onto the shaft with a spring clip that was not very reusable without some hammering. Past that, the motor was indeed dry. I lubed it up, put the vacuum back together, and it worked fine -- for a while at least. Then one of the casters broke off the tank because the plastic boss it pressed into was not reinforced with ribs. I was able to repair that.
A few months later, the noise returned. I again stripped it down to lubricate the motor and I noticed that the motor bearings had no oil storage in the form of felt pads or sintered bronze. That meant tearing down the vacuum would probably be an ongoing chore. Sure enough, about every six months I had to strip it down to relubricate the motor. Each time I also noticed the impeller was looser on the shaft. It was held by a slotted disc on the impeller which engaged a shaft pin on the motor, and as I mentioned earlier, held down by a spring clip.
Finally, after all the disassembly, as well as the torque of starting the motor, I could tell that the impeller was rubbing and there would be no further repair. It unceremoniously ended up in the trash.
After looking for a new shop vac and being underwhelmed by the selection and quality, we decided that the Genie with less suction was still a superior product compared to the new offerings.
This entry was submitted by Dave Nason and edited by Rob Spiegel.
Tell us your experiences with Monkey-designed products. Send stories to Rob Spiegel for Made by Monkeys.
The problem with rebranding chinese product under older, known brand names is that you don't know what you are getting. You may get what you pay for, or you may get a piece of garbage for full price. The effect is to dilute the power of brand names as a badge of quality. The end result for the consumer is that the smart bet to make (when they gamble buying a new product) is to put less money up front (i.e. buy cheap and pray).
Looking for the "Made in USA" branding along with the brand name is the only method left (even that is iffy, since there has certainly been some garbage made here in the USA as well, but at least the money I pay for that garbage stays here).
Regarding the assertion that I want the latest and greatest technology, the truth is NO WAY do I want any of the bug-filled, current fad gimmicks that seem to abound. Almost universally the products di deliver superior performance for a few hours, at which time they wear enough that they only deliver marginaly acceptable performance.
My choice is a product that has been on the market long enough so that I can see if they live well past the warranty period. Of course many of them are obsolete before the short warranty runs out, which is the stated goal of many manufacturers.
When the author sent in this Made by Monkeys posting, he did not capitalize "shop vac," and that's how it ran. I assumed (maybe wrongly) that he was using a generic term and not singling out Shop Vac vacuums.
Ummm, I believe you are misinterpreting the article. The author (or Rob) stated "I was given a more modern shop vac as a gift."
Could be ..... I read through the posts rather quickly, and may have done just that. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
The keyword here is "selling." They may well have been selling some re-logoed Chinese brand that they didn't specify, design, or manufacture because they had marketing channels into Lowe's and Home Depot, and the Chinese manufacturer didn't. All the big manufacturers do this. Dodge Sprinter, Mercedes Sprinter, Fruehauf Sprinter--it's the same truck regardless.
The story that I related occurred some 15 years ago, BEFORE China became the dominant manufacturing force for everything from Q-Tips to rocket shps! And, according to sources at the time, the GENIE brand vacuums were manufactured by a division of the GENIE Garage Door Operator Co. someplace in the U.S.A. I want to say either OH or MI, but don't recall exactly now. I do recall that we made several telephone calls in an attempt to secure more replacement bags, but found only an independent manufacturer who claimed to have equivalent replacement bags. From what we later learned, GENIE completely abandoned that product line. Maybe someone has more additional accurate info, but is it really worth discussing?
There is quality equipment of all types if one looks for it and is willing to pay the price. So often people buy hobby shop duty equipment and expect it to perform commercial duty.
Old Curmudgeon writes "I believe the two manufacturers were mentioned in the original post, GENIE & SHOP*VAC."
Ummm, I believe you are misinterpreting the article. The author (or Rob) stated "I was given a more modern shop vac as a gift."
That is clearly a generic use of the term. We all refer to our workshop vacuum cleaners which do not pull the detritus through the motor as "shop vacs" regardless of the manufacturer. I still use a Montgomery Ward unit I bought on sale in 1971. It's often attached to my table saw to catch the dust.
Old Curmudgeon also writes " My question had been, WHY was a garage door operator company selling vacuum cleaners?"
The keyword here is "selling." They may well have been selling some re-logoed Chinese brand that they didn't specify, design, or manufacture because they had marketing channels into Lowe's and Home Depot, and the Chinese manufacturer didn't. All the big manufacturers do this. Dodge Sprinter, Mercedes Sprinter, Fruehauf Sprinter--it's the same truck regardless.
That's good, Rod. For a lot of the new appliances that break down, the problems seem to be in the added electronics that didn't exist 20 or 30 years ago. Apparently, there are more things that can go wrong with the new appliances.
Even though it was only recently dumped, I cannot with 100% certainty remember who the manufacturer was. I even spent some time looking through the usual stores to see if I could find it before I posted the story.
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