Another Blinder from Numatic (Numatic George)

Member Name: beko1987

Product:	Numatic George
Date:	16/03/06 (2902 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sturdy, Powerfull and Well Designed

Disadvantages: No cord rewind, perhaps a tad loud.

Hey hey. This is my second george, the first being bought in 1998. That one had 4 years of use until some bright spark decided to suck up oil in it. This resulted in the entire machine being caked in greasy oil and me throwing it in the skip. After that, I bought a Bissel ProHeat deep cleaner, which I use for carpets. However, the tool suction is pathetic on it, so, on Monday (13/3/2006) I ordered a new George for the paltry sum of £155, which included VAT, delivery and 10 litres of solution. It arrived Wednesday.
This is the new design. This includes features such as a handle that runs from front to back, rather than side to side of the machine. This is a more natural position to hold, especially when full of water. Secondly, the on/off switches are on the top of the machine, rathe than at the back. This makes it easier to use them, as before I had to fumble about at the back of the machine to find the correct one, and often ended up turning the pump on rather than the suction. Thirdly is the inclusion of a shampoo hose. This hose is see-through, to detect blockages and to check if any water is being pulled up. But, this hose also includes the solution pipe, fitted inside the hose, so all you have is one hose, no pipes to clip on, and the great thing is there is a second hose, the standard black one, so switching from wet to dry is very easy, and enables you to have 2 tool kits. I made my own hose for the last george, as it only came with one, and kept it for sole wet use.

The tools that come with it are:

The motor. This is the 'head' of George, and incorporates the motor, handle, switches and solution pump

The recovery bucket. Has the famous face on it, and a carrying handlefor easy emptying. They come in 4 colours, Red Yellow Blue nad Green. I chose Yellow, just for the fun of having something different!

4 metal pipes (2 wet 2 dry)

1 combination floor head. This has been redesigned too, the neck, where the pipe fits into is longer, and makes for a better position to vaccum with. Also the sides are more rounded, and it sticks to the floor better.

2 bent handle ends with suction control via a twist valve (1 wet 1 dry. The Wet bent end has a trigger attachhed to it for turning the spray on and off. This is adjustable via a screw. It clamps onto the bend end.)

1 Wet use hose - Seethrough and incorporating the solution pipe

1 normal hose - for vaccuming = wet use is needed

1 Fishtail shampooingh ead - This is what you use to shampoo the carpets. Feels nice to use and doesnt clog up

1 Small upholstry tool - This is the best attachment I find. The small area makes for very powerfull suction plus the small area means you can concentrate more. This incorporates a trigger for turning the spray on and off.

1 Hard floor tool with rubber Squeegee. This has 2 uses. One is that you can scrub wash hard floors just like washing the carpet. Flip it over and the rubber strips dry the floor very well. One pass and its done. This also has the use of a hard floor dryer, ie for cleaning up spills, broken washing machine etc.

1 Upholstry tool - This is the tool you use for vaccuming the stairs, sofa, car etc. It has a brush strip that slides onto it for more agitated cleaning/medium hard surface cleaner, ie tables, walls etc. It can also be used for wet pickup.

1 Crevice tool. Gets into thin and small spaces. Can also be used for wet pickup.

1 Dusting Brush. I love Numatic dusting brushes, as they have a 50/50 mix of plastic nad horse hair bristles. Very soft and work very well.
1 double tapered short plastic convertor. This fits onto the hose, in place of the bend end, then the small tools fit onto this. This enables the tools to be used without the bent end, in confined spaces.

10 Dustbags

1 Tritex Filter. This filter is very good. It has a carbon middle layer sandwiched between 2 normal filter layers. I have a Hnery Xtra with this filter, been in daily household use for a year and no dust has passed through the filter, the underside of the motor is as clean as it was when it came out of the box.

1 Wet pickup float. This is essential for wet pickup. It has a built in safety device, to stop water entering the motor. It has a light plastic ball, rather like an oversized ping-pong ball, that rises with the water, until it reaches the top, where it blocks the suction hole. This makes the motor pitch change (place you hand over your vaccum cleaners hose and youll hear it) so you know it is full. Also stops the motor sucking all the water out of the bucket and spraying it everywhere!

1 Clean water resevoir. This holds the clean water and sits inside the recovery tank. It is circular, about 2 inches thick and goes round hte outside of the tank, leaving hte middle bit to fill up with dirty water. It has an opening in the top for filling, and also for the pump hose to enter. The pump hose clips to the underside of the motor when not in use. The clean solution tank has a carry handle for easy moving.

Stupidly easy instruction book, all in pictures and very easy to follow.

Well, thats what comes with it, now for using it. I'll start with dry vaccuming.

Place a dustbag in the recovery bucket. The bags fit over the black plastic stump inside the bucket, where the hose screws onto. The bags have a thick plastic membrane, that fits very tightly onto the holder. When fitting, hold by the cardboard with your finger nad thumb, then puck through the paper bit ontop of the flat bit of the cardboard part, and it slides on. This creates a very good seal, which helps the suction.

Then, place the filter ontop. Then, place the black motor top on this. On the sides of the motor, are 2 plastic clips that slide out. Place the motor ontop of the recovery bucket and push these clips home. I find a clenched fist and a sidewards punch clicks them home very easily.

Then, screw the hose onto the faceo f George. This screw means the hose will never come off in use. Then puch the bent end onto the end of the hose, and the 2 pipes onto that. Then attach the floor tool. Plug in.There are 2 switches on George. One is the vaccum motor and one is the solution pump. Only turn on the vaccum motor and start to vaccum.

The rest is simple, I'm sure youve all used a vaccum cleaner before, so I'll leave it there. But here is where George is worth his weight in gold, Shampooing!

Firstly, locate the wet tools. Find the bent end, 2 pipes and shampoo head. You need to fit all this together, but it just clicks in place.

Take off the dry hose, and undo the motor. Find the clips again, but this time put your fingers underneath and pull out. Take the motor off, take the filter out and pull the bag off by the cardboard bit. The bag as a foldout cardboard plug that stops dust escaping. If the bag is full, throw it away, if not then keep it for refitting. Fill the clean water container, then place inside the recovery bucket. It will only go one way round, with the flat inverted bit at the front, so the plastic stumpt he bag fits onto has clearance. Then fit the conical wet filter/overspill valve. This fits on top of the solution tank, with a hole that corresponds with the fill hole in the resevoir. Pick up the motor, and look underneath it. Unclip the small length of plastic pipe, with the filter bit on the end, and place into the clean water tank. This is the feed tube for the solution. Clip the top back on and that part is done.

Locate the wet tools. Screw the hose onto the face as before, and get hold of the little solution tube. Facing George, on the left is a black stump. Push the metal end of the pipe into this. That is the solution pipe connected to the pump. To release, push the pipe into the cleaner slightly, then pull the black plastic collar. The collar is on the machine itself, and is ribbed. The pipe just uncliks and falls off.

Fit the bend end to the hose, but use the bend end with the trigger. You will find the solution pipe connects toi this the same way. The rest of the pipes are already connected, so that is that. Turn the machine on, but turn BOTH switches on. Squeeze the trigger, and water should spray out by the head. This sprays deep into the carpet, and you move the shampooingh ead just like normal vaccuming. It will take a few passes to start working well, when the carpet is damp. Then watch as it sucks up lots of brown liquid. When the water coming out of the carpet is clear, let go of the trigger. Then, move the head over the area again. This is sucking all the water out of the carpet. When no more water comes out move on. Keep doing this until all the area is clean.

The small upholstry attachment works in the same way, only fits the machine differently. Take th bent end off the hose, and unclip the solution pipe. The upholstry tool fits straight onto the hose, with a metal connector for the solution pipe to connect to. The trigger and operation are the same as the large head.

The hard floor attachment. Fit the wet pipes as per carpet cleaning, but remove the cleaning head. The solution pipes are not fitted to the head, merely to the pipes, so just the head comes off. Put the wet floor head on, brush side down. Turn both switches on, and squeeze the trigger. Make a small area wet, then let go of the trigger and scrub the floor. When its cleaned, flip the tool over, and just 'vaccum' the area. The water is sucked away and the floor left dry. Repeat all over the floor, until clean and dry. Use the tool in squeegee mode for just water pickup and drying.

Once all wet operations have been completed, its time to empty. Turn off, and take the hose and solution tube off the main cleaner. Unclip the head, and pull the solution tube out of the tank, and clip back underneath the moto, and lift the whole recovery bucket up by the carry handle nad take outside. Lift the wet filter out and put somewhere to dry. Take the net off nad rinse if covered in hair. Take the solution tank out, and if empty turn upside down and leave to dry. If solution left, pour into a bottle, mark it clearly and store ready for next time, or just leave in the solution wank if its not going to get nocked over. Pour contents of recovery bucket down sink/drain/onto garden, and rinse out. If you dont plan on vaccuming with george then leave to dry, otherwise dry with a towel. Then its ready for dry re-assemble. Take washing tools apart, rinse if needed and leave to dry before storing, otherwise the water goes stangant.

I have had really good results with it. My parents got a seocnd hand mid - eighties Bailey Maestro caravan a few months ago, and I have had George in there, cleaning the 20+ year old carpet nad its like new. The water was like sludge when i emptied him. I dont use the main washing head due to having a specific carpet machine, but I have had good results with the old one.

Well, think thats it. It pulls along nicely with the sturdy rubber wheels, but dont yank it about, otherwise the water slops everywhere. The only niggles I have is that it doesnt have cable rewind, but this is understandable as the solution pump takes up the space where this normally goes in a Henry, as it goes round the motor. The other thing is the motor is loud. It is a bypass motor, meaning that should water get sucked up it wont scrap the motor, indeed the last george did this, the float device got clogged up and it sucked water through. I left it to dry for a few days and it was fine.

So, I hope I have explained everything enough, and I await your feedback!

Summary: What can I say, perfect in every way.

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