No Need To Cry Over Spilt Milk! (Morphy Richards Spillmaster 70330)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Morphy Richards Spillmaster 70330
Date:	26/11/08 (632 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A novel design, handy to have for quick spills, lightweight, easy to use, DVD, & maintain

Disadvantages: Can't handle liquids with particles, doesn't leave the flooring dry after use, needs Squeegee

If I spill water on a hard floor surface its easy to get a towel to mop it up. Being impenetrable does have its advantages when it comes to lino or sealed laminate. However on carpet if it's a drink of something like wine, tea, coffee or simply water on its own, then I'm pushed to consider old traditional remedies, blotting it, or trying out chemicals to clean the carpet rather than go to the fuss of wheeling out a heavy vacuum cleaner that can cope with water pick up. In an attempt to find something a bit more powerful than my Argos Value/Proaction cordless wet and dry hand vac but just as compact, I've been looking for something that can clear up water from the washing machine when the filter is taken out, literally spilt milk and any other liquid that has fallen onto a floor by accident.


At first the easy answer was a Vax mains powered hand held wet and dry but when felt in John Lewis I wasn't impressed with the quality, noise or the weight. Morphy Richards have answered my prayers in what seems to be a very good device for use with any standard vacuum cleaner and a hose however. It is called the "Spillmaster," and for the moment carries the model number 70330. I'd seen this product at Argos at the end of the summer priced at £39-99 but considered such an attachment to be expensive for what it offers. It has no motor thus relying on the vacuum cleaner of your choice and with a 500ml tank its only purpose is to offer consumers the facility of quick water pick up. Over a cordless system, the power of a mains powered and larger vacuum cleaner cannot be beaten, so how does it fare? ** This is a long review **


For a start the Spillmaster 70330 at Argos has fallen prey to a reduced price from £39-99 to £26-51; a much more palatable option and comprising of just the attachment, a very helpful DVD manual plus a paper user manual, the Spillmaster also comes equipped with 4 adaptors that taper fit to most vacuum cleaner hose sizes from 32mm to 35mm making it a lot more practical for other machines not just Morphy Richards vacuum cleaner models by default - as long as your vacuum cleaner has a hose it can be used and this also means upright or cylinder vacuums. I couldn't wait to get this attachment after the price had fallen. Comprising of no more than a small tapered plastic mouth and a feeder tank below it, the Spillmaster is apt at picking up wet spills on any type of flooring - or so Morphy Richards would have you believe.


The principle of the Spillmaster is an easy one; the gadget holds the wet tank at the bottom whilst the crevice tool and the cyclonic system picks up water, by passing the suction through a sealed unit and then a washable material filter to enable complete sealage of water to a vacuum cleaner that can only pick up dry dirt. If the water tank level reaches over the maximum level the tank will cut the suction as an emergency cut out leaving the owner to switch off the vacuum cleaner before the tank can be emptied; unless the seal is broken when you buy the product the first time (and MR offer a 2 year guarantee with this model) you cannot use the attachment. Quality as a result isn't bad for the price, decked out in dark grey and black unlike the clearer model used in the DVD video.


Having moved to a rented property where there are only a few carpeted mats, I am now living with bare natural wooden floors and a couple of threaded carpet mats that seem to attract dirt and stains much more than the wooden floors themselves. For the job of dry dirt pick up my old Sebo K1 copes admirably and given its price at cost, the last thing I want to get is an electric shock for sucking up water. Sebo models are notorious for having the larger 35mm diameter hose measurements and as such I was delighted to find one out of the four adaptors could easily fit the bottom of the feeder channel located in the top section that looks like a tapered handle. From 32mm diameter measurements (usually made by Hoover, Electrolux, Rowenta and Vax) to 35mm diameter measurements that accommodate models by Bosch, Panasonic, Miele, Sebo and Philips, the four adaptors included simply slide into the bottom of the feeder channel of the Spillmaster and are intended to fit snugly. However, I found that all the adaptors sit in the feeder channel can slip out before use - the suction of the vacuum cleaner bonds the handle to the hose of your machine and in use with a Sebo K1 handle there is an increased easy handle in which the Spillmaster can be angled down towards the floor. In use the adaptors will friction fit by suction only to the Spillmaster but switched off, the handle can slip out easily.


In use the Spillmaster offers a very good pick up nature courtesy of the suction of the vacuum cleaner in question. With 1800 watts from the Sebo K1, the Spillmaster is able to pick up water cleanly and quickly even though on wooden surfaces the Spillmaster fails to dry surfaces after the water has been picked up, leaving the wood slightly wet. What doesn't help is that the Spillmaster may have a viewable channel where water picked up can be seen flowing through to the tank, but in use handling the actual gadget can be a bit off putting - unless you use the handle on your vacuum cleaner. There are two ways of using this gadget - either grasping it by the main feeder channel after the perforations set into the handle that allows the suction of the vacuum cleaner to escape and only allows a little bit of hand onto the plastic surface thanks to its design, or by using the handle of your vacuum cleaner. In both uses, the tank of the Spillmaster has to be angled off the floor, making no sense to drag or push the crevice tool of the Spillmaster in a straight line dragging the tank through the mess you're about to suck up.


On carpet the Spillmaster is actually very good thanks to the fact that the crevice mouth is made of thin plastic. I'm disappointed that unlike my wet and dry cordless hand vac, Morphy Richards haven't fitted an additional rubber squeegee that could, in essence get hard flooring dry once the water has been picked up. Certainly whilst it picks up water or spills with no problems, it can leave floors damp and water is apparent to my eye. On carpet however the results are much better. Constant pulling backwards on a wet patch is a lot better than moving forwards although it makes sense to go with the flow of the carpet fibre rather than against it and at less than 0.52kg it is light enough to control. After the liquid intended has been sucked out of the carpets, the fibres were slightly damp feeling but not as saturated before the Spillmaster was introduced.


One other problem is that the Spillmaster will only be able to pick up thin liquids as opposed to liquids that have particles in them; this is thanks to the long tapered design of the crevice mouth and its narrow suction channel where the water flows upwards into the tank. However for the point of spilt milk, wine, juice or simply just water, the Spillmaster can cope with these kinds of liquids.


In terms of its safety designs however, Morphy Richards have thought wisely - there is a max line fill up logo on the tank itself, but even if you don't see it there are permanently fitted waves of plastic fins set into the tank that can be seen easily to show the maximum level of the water. Once this has been met, the Spillmaster will lock down its suction until the tank has been emptied. Additionally if the Spillmaster is handled to the side, upside down or with the tank base angled towards the floor, it will also automatically close the suction; this is done by the two metal balls that are designed to close and seal immediately to prevent water going into your hose of your vacuum cleaner.


Maintenance is very easy too; the handle of the Spillmaster that incorporates both the lock, seal mechanism and crevice mouth can be unlocked from the tank simply by pushing a spring loaded lock button on the right hand side of the tank. Once this is unlocked the handle can be turned to the side to release the tank. Then all you do is empty the tank down the sink. It can also accept clean water to flush out anything that is left over seen clearly through the acrylic. Whilst the tank is separated from the handle, two white push buttons at the top located by the perforations are also helped by a plastic fin set inside the feeder tube itself where the vacuum cleaner hose goes; the fin is there to help you release the very thin cotton wool type filter that can be washed and must be dried before it can be used again in its own little holder.


To conclude the Spillmaster is good at picking up spills on carpets and hard floors but it doesn't leave all surfaces dry to the touch; an additional rubber squeegee would surely improve its performance here. However it is a fine adaptor of offering consumers something that is reasonably easy to use which is additionally easy to clean out, store away and generally maintain. The fact that its made of sturdy plastic with very few sharp corners and has a smooth feel also adds to the experience; I suspect nurseries could well consider this product for the simple reason it will pick up knocked over liquids on carpets and flooring. Thanks for reading. (c)Nar2 2008

Product video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mDykfeQpFqQ&fmt =18 (make sure there's no space between the "t" and = to get stereo sound)

www.morphyrichards.co.uk
www.argos.co.uk (cat code 405/7451)

Summary: A good design here but badly needs a rubber squeegee for drying the floor after use.

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