Disappointing Festool interaction. No More ??

[mike stenson]

The OP's problem is s symptom of our times. "Bells and whistles, features, ease of use, smart", all buzz words to describe in this case a vacuum that needs a circuit board to operate as... a vacuum! If this thing was used by a site crew professionally for 10 years I'd say thanks for the memories but the OP's description of it's easy life is anything but meritorious service. I have a very dumbed down Craftsman shop vac that has an on off switch and a variable slider, I've stripped the motor down twice and lubed it, it's 28 years old and the best vac I've ever owned. I used it as my shop DC when I started out! It will not turn on and off when I use it on my ROS and it doesn't let me know how many hours of run time are on it or how many pounds of crap it's sucked up. It does let me know about upcoming maintenance intervals by squeeling like a pig.

These things do a bit more than off/on, if that's what you want and need (an on/off vac) buy that (I have those too). It's a pretty simple board, having looked at mine. I'd be interested to see if it was a cap that went out, which would be an easy repair. To be honest my ct22 is about the same age, and the plastic is getting brittle.. meaning I'll likely have to replace mine soon enough. Maybe I should part it out on the bay.

[Frank Pratt]

People should not be afraid to try having a board repaired. I had a Maytag washer that crapped out it's main control board & a new one was close to $300. After a little internet sleuthing, I was able to repair the board for less than $3 in parts and about 15 minutes for the actual board repair.

[Mark Carlson]

I also have the CT22E. 13 years old sounds about right. Has worked flawlessly in that time and it gets used a lot. I'd be disappointed if it broke and couldn't be fixed but I'd replace it with a new CT vac in a heartbeat. If it broke and wasn't fixable after 3 or 5 years I'd feel differently. I have a lot of tools that have no support if they break. Company has gone under, changed owners or are too old. 10 years is probably a reasonable number of years for parts availability.

[Bob Hinden]

I too have a CT22, must be about the same age. Sill working and the bags are available.

The auto control stopped working (the off part, the on was fine) around five years ago, I talked to Festool Service and they told me it wasn't clear what the problem was. I decided not to ship it to them.

I lived with it until I got a good price on an iVac controller. It's now controlled by an iVac sensor and a separate remote. I plan to keep it going as long as the motor runs.

[Rod Sheridan]

That makes no sense. The electronics are just a sophisticated switch that could just be replaced by a simple switch. About $4 worth of parts + labor. Or one of those aftermarket router speed controls if you needed the variable speed. So you've thrown out a many hundreds of dollars worth of vacuum to save $60?

But I do agree that not having parts for it is just something that will piss off customers. It can't be that big a hardship to stock those parts longer.

The issue with modifying the vacuum, or any electrical device is that it loses it's approval if modified by a non certified facility.

Electrical equipment is often modified, such as circuit breakers, they're done by an approved shop, tested and certified by the shop.

A vacuum isn't worth the cost...............Regards, Rod.

[Dave Sabo]

The issue with modifying the vacuum, or any electrical device is that it loses it's approval if modified by a non certified facility.

Electrical equipment is often modified, such as circuit breakers, they're done by an approved shop, tested and certified by the shop.

A vacuum isn't worth the cost...............Regards, Rod.

Must be different up North.

No repair shop or service for electronics, food service machines, or woodworking equipment that I've dealt with is "certified" to convey regulatory certification on anything they work on. They may be an "authorized" facility, but that comes from the manufacturer.

Would any of you guys feel different about Calvin's lightly used vac if the board failure were cause by an electrical surge, brownout, or static pulse cause by an unapproved accessory ? Surely you wouldn't think this to be the manuf.'s fault ?

All durable goods are designed for failure. It's a myth that any are built for a lifetime, whether designed and built last year or the middle of the last century. You know - they heyday of when they made em like they used to. It's part of the reason spare parts and netWorks exist in the first place.

[Doug Dawson]

The issue with modifying the vacuum, or any electrical device is that it loses it's approval if modified by a non certified facility.

Electrical equipment is often modified, such as circuit breakers, they're done by an approved shop, tested and certified by the shop.

A vacuum isn't worth the cost.

A repaired device doesn’t have to be sent back to Underwriters Laboratories to be recertified. Although John Deere might aggressively disagree! (Google “right to repair”.)

This reminds me of those old Star Trek episodes where the Enterprise would get hit by an alien ship and sparks would fly out of the consoles. You’d think nobody had ever thought of circuit breakers. Then again, that was the sixties, what was the future would have appeared to be magic and therefore implausible. ;^)

[Carroll Courtney]

For what you paid for that I would at least expect parts to be available.I thought that their claim to fame was quality,will no better than some of the less expensive.Sometime I guess you don't get what you pay for. Here's another example,just replace my ac system that was over 30yrs old more like 35 but can't remember. Had new installed with all that fancy electronics,it won't make it half as long as other. Heck my Maytag dryer went out bout 5yrs ago,to let you know that it was finish a bell would ding. Now this new with all the fancy electronics has been repaired twice,still don't think its right. Ahhhh progress,don't ya love it.

[Jim Becker]

I will note in fairness that for electronics, it can indeed become problematic for any manufacturer to create new replacement parts after that many years simply because the components originally used become obsolete and unavailable. This is not a unique Festool issue...it's unfortunately common across many kinds of products. At some point, replacement parts get used up because they can no longer be manufactured. I do agree that it would be nice if there was some small incentive to upgrade when something like this happens, however. I run a CT-22, but until the last few years, its use was mostly occasional. If it eventually dies, I'll buy another, current product to replace it. I'm not unhappy in any way with the performance or the longevity of the extractor.

[mike stenson]

I will note in fairness that for electronics, it can indeed become problematic for any manufacturer to create new replacement parts after that many years simply because the components originally used become obsolete and unavailable. This is not a unique Festool issue..

It is not. Very often, when we can no longer provide parts it is because we can not source subcomponents.

I do not work for Festool, but I deal with this decision (end of support) on a regular basis professionally.

[Larry Frank]

My CT26 has run for years with no problems. I would replace it with a new one in a second.

I replaced my heat and air conditioning with a new fancy one with electronics two years ago. Will it last 30 years...probably not. However, the higher efficiency is paying for it. A 30 year old furnace or AC does not have the efficiency of the new ones.

[Sam Puhalovich]

2020-06-SwAsm.jpg
I have 4 Rigid's that range in age ... 2000 to 2018 ... total investment about $260 ... all are still operational without a 'hitch'. 2 are dedicated: 1 to the drill-press ... the other to the router table. The drill press, router and shop-vacs are turned on-off by home-assembled switch assemblies. I pre-drill pretty-much everything ... the switch in the picture has been on the drill-press for 14 years and has had a 'gazzilion' on-off cyles.

[Rod Sheridan]

Dave, you’re correct that an electronics repair company can’t recertifications anything however electrical repair companies are often capable of that.

That’s why if the part isn’t available in some cases you can’t get the device repaired......Rod

P.S. In Canada it’s illegal to use non approved equipment.

Strangely enough, 10 years ago I bought a Midi vacuum which was then recalled because it didn’t have a Canadian electrical approval, Festool shipped us all a CT26 and picked up the old Midi.

I don’t like the CT26 and eventually bought a new approved Midi.....Regards, Rod.

[Derek Arita]

Geez! 13 year old broken vac? What a shocker! Take it to a vac repair shop or buy another. And where did it say, "We'll keep all the parts you need, in stock, for as long as you need them."? If you buy another vac, spend less and expect less. That way, you won't be disappointed.

[Jim Becker]

It is not. Very often, when we can no longer provide parts it is because we can not source subcomponents.

I do not work for Festool, but I deal with this decision (end of support) on a regular basis professionally.

Exactly my point...coming from 38 years in IT and telecom. And yet, there's a lot of old gear out there despite having no "insurance policy", AKA, replacement parts available, including in some of the carriers we all depend upon.