Lidl Parkside shop vacs are back...

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The new one has variable suction it seems from those pictures.

My original lasted me 7 years before the whining got worrying (I still have it in the loft for really dirty jobs), the new one I bought last year and is working great so far in combo with a dust deputy.
 
mine has a 240v socket- not 110v. it looks almost the same as the one that i have so i doubt that there is a 110v socket on this version.
 
Why would it have a 110V socket?

European nominal mains voltages vary between 220V and 240V, and it's not intended to be a commercial site tool (at least I don't think so).

On the power tool size thing, it all depends on what part of the system is the reason for the rating, for example the build quality of the fitted mains socket, or the thickness of the supply cable (which, of course, is feeding two appliances, rather than just one).

The blurb says it's 1500W, which only leaves 1620W of power nominally available from a UK domestic socket. And the circuit detects current flow, rather than switches it (at the appliance outlet, that is), so it's probably not very easily damaged.

So I suspect it is thus rated so that it's not legally trying to draw more current from the socket than it should (13A max., continuous).

Of course someone might be fitting a kitchen, where there is usually a socket on the cooker switch plate, directly connected to the cooker circuit. I can understand how mistakes might happen under those circumstances, but it's probably a really, really, really bad idea, causing gross tidal surges in Albania and cattle stampedes in Chile.

E.

PS: AJB: I've used mine with sanders a lot (belt and big orbital) and it does very well. Two things: I use paper bags and change them, in order to keep the motor clean and the whole thing efficient. Mine won't take drum filters, like this one does (it looks like an improved model), Secondly, both my sanders are Makita, and the DX built in is pretty good. I've found the quality of DX provision very variable on the power tools I've had, but Makita has been pretty good generally. Last year I was using it to blow dust out of slots in the wall doing resin stitching of cracks. (it made a heck of a mess but worked brilliantly - lots of air pressure.
 
Do they sell the bags or do you get them from somewhere else? never seen them for sale in Lidl :?
 
I got the last batch from Germany, but you can get slightly smaller ones locally (and they are cheap).

I've presently got a stack of boards in the bottom of the tub, to lift the floor so that it supports the smaller bags properly, otherwise they tear around the inlet hole if full of building rubble and heavy.

That seems to work as a stopgap, but I'll replace them with something lighter weight, such as Celotex or polystyrene insulation sheet as-when, or put in a disc of thin ply on supports. It needs about four inches height, ideally.

It almost certainly wouldn't be as much of an issue for sawdust and shavings.
 
Eric The Viking":2zh21x1c said:
Why would it have a 110V socket?

I just saw the yellow colour and the shape of the plugs on sketch diagram, so thought i'd ask just in case someone knew for sure. Sounds like it's likely to be standard socket/plug then, which is good!
 
It's determined by the 13A fuse in the UK plug.

That permits a continuous 3kW (approx., rounded down). Subtract the power of the motor and what's left over is available for the power tool.

Festool won't (can't) be any different, unless it has a lower power motor or it ignores the 13A limit. It's what I was saying above. You can get far more amperage from a cooker socket, although the kitchen is probably ill-advised for the new workshop...
 
I bought 10 bags and a filter cartridge for my Lidl vacuum last week. About £11 all in from eBay.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
memzey":340g2a8y said:
Do you know what the maximum wattage the take off supports?

The maximum wattage is whatever you can get away with, the circuit its plugged into, the sensitivity of the RCD on that circuit and the surge that the appliance you are trying to power from it, turn one on first and then the other and it may work try the opposite and it may not, too many variables to say, but take note of Eric's earlier comments.

Mike
 
phil.p":2at5dgdn said:
I seem to remember from looking before it's 1400w - it might be different now, of course. I know it was too low for my 1700w router.
I used to run a 3HP (2250w) router powered by the socket on a Nilfisk Alto shop vac without any problems.
Edit: 3.25HP (2500W).
 
Robbo3":15fwoxqz said:
phil.p":15fwoxqz said:
I seem to remember from looking before it's 1400w - it might be different now, of course. I know it was too low for my 1700w router.
I used to run a 3HP (2250w) router powered by the socket on a Nilfisk Alto shop vac without any problems.

You probably can do that in this case, too, but Lidl/Parkside cannot legally tell you that you can (and neither should I!).

Blame the post-war property rebuilding effort, which gave us our ring main system (because it was slightly less demanding of then-scarce copper), which in turn gave us fuses in plugs and the 13A (or 3kW) limitation. At the time the biggest load that was likely to be plugged-in would have been a room heater or portable electric cooking ring (still is, usually). The rectangular pins used in our mains plugs are nowhere near as good connectors as the old round-pin system, and both the pins/receptacles and the fuses heat up a lot if run at 13A continuously, which is why you often find scorched and blistered sockets in kitchens, where kettles have been plugged into the same place for years. It's also why our system has historically been the root of house fires (e.g. heaters left plugged into adapter sockets unattended overnight).

Conventional fuses, as found in UK plugs, are intended to blow at double the rated current, mainly to deal with conditions of sudden. massive overload, but not to blow for small current spikes, as produced by induction motors starting up. I've been careful with my Lidl/Parkside vac, not overloading it, but I must have used it for hours at a time connected to a 4-way socket pattress on the end of an extension cable. This means both the vac and the power tool would have been used together without burning out either of the two fuses in series taking the entire load (one in the 4-way socket block and one in its plug. The vac's plug is irrelevant here).

Honestly, for all but the most powerful tools, it would probably be fine in practice, but, as I said, neither Lidl nor I can recommend you do it because of the 13A official limitation, per plug. It is not a limitation of the vacuum's design as such.

The third-party sensing switches, such as the ones Axminster and others sell, may be arranged so that they avoid this limitation but if so they need to electrically isolate two 13A circuits completely from each other (so that the vac's circuit is independent of the tool's), or be permanently wired into the supply, or use a radio system, or something similar. The vacuum-power-take-off socket arrangement, be it Parkside, Vax, Festool, doesn't need the isolation, so can be cheaper, but with the overall current (or power) constraint.

It might be worth mentioning in passing here, that blue or yellow "Commando" plugs are rated at 16A (in the smallest size). They should be current-limited by the breaker of the circuit they're on (not a ring!), so they don't have fuses included. That would give you nominally 3.84 kW available (again subtract the vac's power to get the power available for the tool).

It then depends on the robustness of the internal voltage- or current-sensing circuit used in the vac's power talke-off socket, which is presently an unknown. Also, obviously, if you then convert back from 16A to a 13A plug to put in the wall, you're back at square one.

And if you do connect a jackhammer and then burn out the vac's electronics or melt the plug or the cable, don't blame me.

Our household currently has two Henries, one old Earlex (workshop) and the older, big Lidl/Parkside (also workshop), and I think the Parkside one is a jolly good 'shop vac for the money. The Earlex was roughly the same price, has a smaller bin, rather less suck, is really noisy, and had to be physically converted to take Nilfisk/Henry hoses (i.e. the standard ones). And it kept falling over as the castors were too small and close together (later ones are better, I believe).

Your mileage, etc.

E.
 
Mark A":296joboy said:
I bought 10 bags and a filter cartridge for my Lidl vacuum last week. About £11 all in from eBay.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Cheers Mark. In my divvery for some reason I'd never thought of actually searching for liddl bags on ebay. The bag I have has been taped up more than a high class Chelsea Brass. And it's showing the same signs of wear round the edges...
 

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