Performance Pro Shop Vac

[RogerS]

I bought a similar item from Travis perkins a while back. It was a bit more expensive and didn't have the soft-start but did have the power take=off. One nice feature was a drain plug for water at the bottom.

 

[ike]

A suitable replacement switch is available from RS for about £1.50. I have replaced one of these switches already. Dust is what kills them. I will have a scratch about for the spare I have in the workshop and get you the RS Part no. I may even have a spare I can send you.

regards,

ike

 

[eggflan]

Righty then , just got back from local B&Q and im a happy man , picked up a macalister wet and dry workshop vac (one with shiny metal drum) ticket price was £49.99 also got a few other bits while there to push it over £50 so i could get the 15% discount on offer , while paying i noticed the price of the vac popped up at £39.99 this was before the discount was taken off , because im nice i waited until i had paid before telling them the price was wrong , the girl just shrugged her shoulders and said its been happening all day and thanks for letting her know :lol: :lol: so for around £34 i got me a new sucky thing for the shop 8) .
Having taken all the bits out i notice there is not as many add on parts as phillys version and the pipe is shorter , it does however have the same auto switch on and off with the delay .. So im off to give the shop a well needed clean up , if i encounter any problems whilst using i will report back

 

[Phil7979]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Ike, thanks for the pointer to RS (who are they?) and hope you can find the part number for me as I'd like to get the vac working fully again as it's proven to be a good little machine.

Yes, B&Q seem to have discontinued the Performance Pro line and have rebranded with McAlister, which makes things confusing.

Regards.
Phil (I'm Phil7979 not Philly)

 

[Philly]

Chaps
A small update - my original review was over three years ago! :lol:
I still have the Vac and use it a lot. The only fault has been the auto-switch on function, which starts the vac when you start an attached powertool. This went a few weeks ago, so can't really moan (the on-board socket still works o.k.).
I use the vac for site work (so handy to be able to clean mess up without clogging up the clients vacuum ) and in the workshop for use cleaning up the swarf from my metal mill and lathe. (I have a built-in extraction system now so don't use the vac for powertool use).
Not sure how availablity is for the PP vac (B+Q do change their range on a regular basis, as the HVLP thread showed) so would be interested to know if its still available. It's certainly worked well for me over the last three years!

Best regards

Philly

 

[eggflan]

Well after the build up to crimbo my workshop took a battering and i was knee deep in sawdust of all manners :roll: I spent a couple of hours spring cleaning it last night and i must say im very impressed , the macalister vac worked perfectly and only blocked once when a large lump of oak lodged itself in the pipe , the only crib i would have is the short hose at 1.5mtr this was fixed by adding an extension of hose from an old dyson i had in the shed , the cartridge filter just needed tapping out a couple of times to remove some fine dust that had stuck to it , for the £36 i paid im happy

 

[ivan]

Having spent all on a Festool 12v drill I couldn't afford their bags let alone their Vac and boom arm. However a spring balancer on the ceiling does just as well for 20 quid. This takes (balances) the weight of the hose and lets it move about with ease. If you want to do 8' routs you might need to hang the balancer from a sliding door track/roller on the ceiling.

 

[mailee]

This looks very similar to the vac that Lidl had for sale a while back. I bought one back then and apart from the colour it looks identical to this one. Even the tools are the same. I have had mine for about a year and it is still working great, (I really excpected the power take off and remote start to give in by now but it still works fine) I did pay more for mine though as they were on offer at the time for about £50.

 

[Phil7979]

Dear All,

A quick update to my earlier post. Ike was kind enough to send me a spare switch. Unfortunately this didn't cure the problem with the power take off, so I dismantled and rebuilt the power take off socket to see if that was at fault: it wasn't. So it looks as if it's something else. The problem is that the only other moving part which I can see is the outside of the power unit but can't work out how to get to it to see if that's at fault. Anybody any ideas...other than junking the vacuum!

Phil

 

[sooty]

I have three of these vac under the Macallister brand two of them are plastic and one is chrome the chrome one although about the same spec as the plastic ones, does not seem to have as much suction as the plastic ones
tried for months at B&Q to get new filters for them but finished up using the wet & dry filters from Wickes which are a perfect push fit.
overall I am very pleased with them

Phil

 

[Phil7979]

Dear All, Just a quick update. A good samaritan sent me a spare circuit board he had lying round - he'd disposed of his vac - and after fitting it my vac is now back to being fully operational. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading my post and taking the time to respond and particularly to send me other bits for the vac.
Regards.
Phil