In-house visit by a "Rainbow vacuum" salesperson

 We had a visit by a saleswoman who was trying to sell us a $2,000
"Rainbow cleaning system". For just listening, we received a gift of
some bed sheet and also a "gift travel certificate" from a company
called "Certs, Inc". (which is a florida based travel gifts company
that does not make me very excited)

     http://www.rainbowsystem.com/

What this thing is, it seems, is a 25k RPM impeller sitting on top of
a Lexan bowl filled with water. The impeller sucks air in, makes it
whirl in a way that it makes contact with water and sheds the dust and
other stuff into water.

There is no filter, like on conventional vacuums that trap particles
into a filter. Water acts as a filter.

The machine was supposedly "1.9 HP", however, when measured with my
Kill-A-Watt power meter, it registered only 850 watts consumed from
the wall outlet, so it could not be more than 1 HP. OK, we all know
that everyone is lying about HP these days. No biggie. If it was 1.9
HP, it would trip the breakers all the time.

As a side comment, what we have now is a Sears Kenmore upright vacuum
that is a real beast, it uses about 13 amps and has a HEPA filter.

Then the saleswoman proceeded to make various points, which I may not
remember all or in correct order, but I will mention a few.

1. Vacuum cleaners do not pick up sand from carpets/rugs, well.
No comment on my part.

2. After just 15 minutes of use, due to dust getting into the fine
mesh of the vacuum's filter, the "air flow" diminishes due to dust
blocking the little pores. So a vacuum cleaner is not usable.

This was a total lie, as was easy to demonstrate with my vacuum which
has its bag 2/3 full already. It still sucked well and produced a lot
of suction and air flow.

3. Vacuums blow dust around and increase amount of dust.

I cannot say that it is false, for sure, but the 2.3 full bag in our
vacuum attests that it traps at least some dust. Plus, it does have a
HEPA filter.

She did some acrobatics by taking out the HEPA filter, which had some
dust on the back, kind of mashed it in her hands a little and put
back, -- then when the vacuum turned on, a lot of dust was indeed
blown out.

4. Then there were some demonstrations that Rainbow would still pick
up dust after vacuuming with a Sears vacuum, which could possibly be
true but I think that she cheated a bit by going outside the area that
I actually vacuumed, a bit -- it is kind of hard to tell, I think so
but my spouse is not so sure.

5. She made some claims about infections that her system prevented,
which went somewhat over my head but overall I was not sure if it was
not complete bunk.

We did not purchase this system in the end, but I wanted to hear some
opinions on this stuff.

i

  Ignoramus32056 wrote:

I sold them briefly over 25 years ago. they are a good product that is
overpriced with a scam of a marketing system. I starved for a few weeks
then got a job



Lessee.

I want to talk to you today about air pollution, not outdoor air
pollution, but indoor air pollution......

 Ignoramus32056 wrote:

A "cult" vacuum cleaner like a Kirby.
They've been around for ages.

Some people love them.  I had a housemate
years ago.  She was a professional janitor/
housecleaner and she swore by them.  I
couldn't imagine dealing with the water
bowl everytime I'd use it.

Like the Kirby, if you want one, you can
usually pick one up on ebay for about 1/3
the door-to-door price.

 I've gotten 3 Kirbys for free out of the trash. They work but weigh a
ton. No Rainbows so far. I like the free Eurekas and Hoovers from the
trash. You put on a new belt or orient it correctly and a new bag and
your good to go.
Karl

 

On of my part time jobs in college was rebuilding these puppies. THe
guy would by up all of the old ones he could find, make the minor
repairs they usually needed, ( more often than not a new impeller, due
to pennies or other metal being sucked in) send the bodies out to be
polished, and slap new plastic trim from Kirby on.

jk