Numatic George Carpet Cleaner Review

Numatic George The Vacuum That Does it all

What Does a George Vacuum do?

In short, almost everything! He cleans carpets, upholstery, dry vacuuming, wet vacuuming, scrubbing, and drying hard floors, he does it all. George the carpet cleaner offers many features not found on Henry.

His key selling point is that he can carry out wet carpet cleaning. He does this by what is known as “injection extraction” cleaning. The process involves spraying cleaning solution into carpet or upholstery fibres and then sucking it back out again, taking away dirt at the same time. This makes George a great stain buster for carpets.

Those with pets will really find him handy. There is so much more that George can do, we will cover this further on in the review as we take a look at what he does in more depth.

George Hoover Performance Rating

As George is not a standard vacuum cleaner he does not get an energy rating label like other machines in the Henry range. What we can say though is he is fitted with a 1060W wet and dry motor, has suction of 2400mm H2O and 49 litres a second of airflow. This is very similar to the performance of a standard Henry.

As George is capable of many tasks we have broken our performance rating down into four sub categories. These categories are, Wet Carpet Cleaning, Dry “normal” vacuuming, Wet Tile Cleaning (and drying after) and finally upholstery cleaning.

Wet Carpet Cleaning

In this test we found that George performed very well, bringing out stains such as tea and coffee with relative ease. We used the standard solution that comes supplied with him which gave good results (and is low foaming). After carrying out an extensive clean we were surprised just how much dirt was pulled from our carpets. The waste water was more chocolate brown than clear, even from patches we thought were clean.

We have used some of the “industrial” carpet cleaners in the past, and surprisingly he near enough matched the performance. He shares many of his components with the industrial range so it makes sense that this should be the case.

We have him 90 out of 100 for wet carpet cleaning.

Dry Carpet cleaning

We tested George with the standard combination floor tool supplied. He performed much the same as Henry did, removing almost all visible dirt within two-3 passes. As with the “Henry Xtra” version we found George had far improved cleaning performance with the Airo floor tool. It boosted cleaning performance to a point where it removed all visible dirt in one to two passes.

We gave George a score of 85/100 for dry carpet cleaning performance with this in mind.

Wet Tile Cleaning

George is capable of cleaning hard floors in the same way that he wet cleans carpet. He can be fitted with a combination scrubbing brush and squeegee blade suction head. This head is used to spray cleaning solution down onto the tiles, it is then scrubbed with the bristles. Once all the dirt has been scrubbed off the floor and is in solution you then use the other side of the head to suck up the waste water. This is collected into the George leaving your floors dry, and George full of dirty water.

We compared it to an area of flooring that we mopped, and the difference was impressive. The mopped floor just looked like we pushed the dirt around, whereas the area that we used George on looked clean and dirt free.

For hard floor performance we give George a 92 out of 100.

Upholstery Cleaning

The upholstery hand tool is also an injection extraction setup. It is very much a smaller more compact version of the fishtail tool that the George “wand” features. It works really well on car interior carpet and seats. We pulled a very surprising amount of grime out of our seats which otherwise looked very clean!

For upholstery cleaning we give George a 97 out of 100.

Overall Performance

Overall George manages a really strong 91 out of 100. We calculated this by adding together the four above scores then dividing them by four to give an average. He is only held back by not being supplied as standard with an Airo brush. You could boost his dry carpet performance by buying one of these separately.

Ease Of Use

Like all other Numatic machines this all in one vacuum cleaner is very simple to use. He is made and fits together in a similar way to Henry. He has three key components, the base drum, head and filter system.

As we have covered some of the ease of use already above, we will focus on the accessory assembly, changing bags and switching between wet and dry modes of cleaning.

Accessory Assembly

The accessories go together really easily, with all tubes being a push fit together. The tubes are stainless steel so slide together nicely but have enough friction to stay together once assembled. There is one thing we would say to watch out for during spray cleaning. This is ensuring that the bend tube is around the right way as shown below. If this tube is not rotated correctly it makes fitting the trigger unit difficult.

Other than that the accessories are a doodle to put together. For dry use you simply don’t use the trigger, and change the floor tool which is brilliant.

Changing Cleaning Modes

Changing between cleaning tasks could not be simpler. After unclipping the spray hose connector, the head can be lifted away. Once the head is removed the float and inner tank can be taken out. Once everything is dried down you simply need to put a dust bag in, drop in a dry filter and pp the head back on. This takes all of 2-3 minutes (if that).

Changing dust bags

Changing bags takes less than a minute. Simply unclip the head, lift out the filter basket, and pull the old bag away from the hose nozzle. The new bag can then be inserted, and filter dropped back on top along with the vacuum power head. When changing the bags Numatic advise giving the secondary filter a brush off too, the nice thing is there is no washing to do, so you are not left waiting for filters to dry (as seen on some other machines).

Ease of Use – We gave George a positive 96 out of 100 for ease of use. Although he does so much he still maintains a simple and logical operating method.

George Carpet Cleaner Durability

George shares 99% of his components with machines from the industrial and commercial lines. This makes him very hard wearing. The vacuum motor is a bypass type motor that diverts incoming air around the motor rather than through it. This prolongs the lifespan of the motor by keeping water as far away from the motor as possible.

It is not uncommon to see these machines working in a commercial environment at a ripe age of 15 and still going strong. So long as they are used correctly and well maintained they last very well. On that note we will go over some things that are very important to do to make sure you get the best out of your George.

• Always use a bag and the cloth filter when using the vacuum dry – Using the wet filter whilst sucking up dry waste and dirt will damage the motors over time as they do not offer the same type of filtration.
• Never suck up water with a dry filter in place – The dry filter does not have any float to prevent water accessing the motors. If water gets in the motors the motor will rust and George will stop working. You will also invalidate your warranty.
• Always use NON foaming or low foaming shampoo – Some carpet cleaners cause lots of bubbles, this is not good for George as they can make their way into the motor and cause damage. Low foaming shampoos will keep this under control.
• Never use water that is hotter than you can tolerate putting your hand into. – There are some items in George that are fitted under heat. By using water that is too hot they may come apart.
• Always run clean water through the machine after wet work – This will flush soap from the solution pump, ensuring scale does not build up causing a blockage.
• Always rinse out your accessories, drum, float, and tank with clean tap water. – This is more to stop your George from becoming smelly.
• Stop using George IMMEDIATELY if you see any water appearing from the exhaust vent – This generally means that water has made it past the float somehow. If this happens unplug him and consult the manual immediately.

By following these simple steps you will ensure that you get the best possible lifespan and performance from George.

Reliability – We give George a strong and dependable 97/100 for reliability. Through our own experience and through people we have talked to we know he is well built and lasts well.

Accessories

Out of all the machines Numatic make (including the industrial machines) George the carpet cleaner has one of the largest kits. He comes with so much equipment, all there to make keeping your home clean easier.

We have covered what each part of the kit does in the list below;

1. Dry Filter Basket – This is the secondary filter; it acts as a backup filter to the bags that collect the majority of the waste. You use this only when you are doing “normal” vacuum duties (dusting etc.).
2. Dry Hose – This is the hose that you use when carrying out dry cleaning duties.
3. The Wet Hose – This hose has an additional high pressure solution side on the outside of the main hose. This is where cleaning solution is fed through to the floor tool, or upholstery tool.
4. The fish Tail Tool – This is your main wet carpet cleaning tool. It works with components 7 and 5 to allow carpets to be cleaned with ease.
5. The wand – This is the stainless steel wand, the bend tube incorporates a “volume” adjuster so that suction can be altered depending on the job you are carrying out. It can also be rotated (when cleaning dry) to adjust for a shorter or taller person.
6. Tile and hard floor cleaning tool – This is used in wet mode and is double sided, with brushes one side and a squeegee blade on the other. It makes cleaning and drying floors easy.
7. Wand Solution Hose & Trigger – This is what feeds the cleaning solution to both wet floor tools (4 & 6)
8. Wet Upholstery Tool – This is great for use on stairs, car carpets, sofas and soft furnishings. It hooks straight up to the wet hose (3)
9. Soft Dusting Brush – This is ideal for dusting off ledges and cleaning down picture frames and shelves.
10. Crevice tool – The best tool in the world for cleaning the creases in car seats!
11. Double hose connector – Allows for the hand tools (9, 12,10) to be fitted directly to the end of the dry hose (2)
12. Upholstery tool – There is no better tool for getting pet hair out of car carpets. This tool is brilliant thanks to its slide on stiff bristle brush.
13. Wet Float – This is what the dry filter basket is changed for when using the vacuum in wet mode. It prevents water from getting through to the motors.
14. Shampoo bottle – This is not shown in the image above, but does come with him. It is a small starter bottle of shampoo to get you going.

Overall we found that the accessories included with George are very well made, nothing felt flimsy or weak. This is not surprising though as they are all used for commercial applications and are built to take commercial use.

Accessories – For accessory selection we think a 98/100 is well deserved.

Value For Money

George normally sells for around the £200 mark including delivery. Considering he effectively does the work of four machines (normal vacuum, carpet cleaner, upholstery cleaner, wet vacuum) you are getting really very good value for money.

His accessories and consumables are very fairly priced. You do not necessarily need to use Numatic cleaning solution and cheaper alternatives can be picked up on amazon with ease.

His bags are very reasonably priced and larger in capacity than a Henry bag. You should get around 4 – 6 weeks out of a bag in the average home if cleaning regularly.

Value for Money – With George offering so much in one package he gets a superb 99/100.

Conclusion

The Numatic george is a feat of engineering, he has so many features within such a small package. He is easy to use, and offers some of the best value for money out of any of the vacuum cleaners currently on the market. If you have the extra money he is certainly worth considering.

There is only one thing that we found to be frustrating is that you have to find somewhere to store the wet float and solution tank whilst they are not in use (if you are using the vacuum for dry use).

We really do think that if buying this vacuum, you will struggle to find a fault with his build and abilities. He has certainly earned his score of 96 out of 100.

Further Reading