Festool Fail

[john lawson]

I have lusted after a Festool vac since I used a CT-22 vacuum when I attended a woodworking school several years ago. Well, I found one on sale for a good price and bought it, a CT Midi.

I used it for 10 minutes, with only the upholstery tool on it and it stopped working (virtually no load on the machine). I waited 30 minutes, turned it back on and it ran for 5 minutes and stopped again. I read the manual. The manual states that it has a temperature overload sensor that shuts the motor down if it overheats. I felt the housing of the motor and it did feel rather warm/hot. I returned it. Thought about sending it back for warranty but didn't want to go through the hassle and then have them tell me it was normal.

Kinda disappointed but I still have my Fein mini turbo, 6 years old and has never failed me.

[Peter Kuhlman]

Was it a used unit? Sounds like it has a plugged hose, plugged inlet port, plugged bag or plugged HEPA filter. Even then it would not overheat the motor as the motor has a bypass air system to provide cooling so it is not using the dust laden air for motor cooling. If it was a new unit then Festool would have exchanged it no problem. I have a CT-22 and a Midi and they work fantastic.

[John Schweikert]

Anything on this planet can fail regardless of price or maker. Why not just try another?

[Julie Moriarty]

You said you found one on sale. Festool does not discount their tool prices and they do not let any of their authorized sellers discount their tools either. If you bought a new vacuum for less than the price you can find on the Festool website, whoever sold it to you is violating Festool's pricing policy and may be selling tools they did not get directly from Festool. And if they didn't get it from Festool, where did they get it?

[john lawson]

It was not a used unit, it was brand new. The first time it stopped I checked the bag and connection where it sits down into the bag, everything was clear. The suction was good, nothing appeared to be wrong. Just overheated. I would never have thought that would happen, but it did. That's why I checked the manual. Funny they mentioned that very thing in the manual.

The reason I did not mess with it is I tend not to have a lot of faith in products that fail that way, they seem to be problematic over time. It may not have been but I was not willing to spend that much money and worry about it down the road.

I have a Festool sander that has served me well.

[john lawson]

I bought from a retailer, that does not worry about Festool's policy. It came with the manual and warranty card. I have no idea where they got it from.

[Frank Trinkle]

Repost this on festoolownersgroup.com and I guarantee you'll get a response from Shane of Festool. There are NO authorized retailers who don't worry about Festool's policy. They run the extreme risk of having their dealership authorizations cancelled. Festool doesn't play games. They have a no-question 30-day return policy which is available from EVERY Festool authorized dealer.

You got a warranty card to fill out which means it probably did NOT come from an authorized dealer. The only dealer in the country that doesn't automatically register your product and you with Festool, is Amazon.... and even they DO follow Festools policies to the letter. There are NO discounts in the USA or Canada on Festool products. The only way you can get a 10% discount on the CT's or MFT/3's is if it is purchased with another qualifying product.

Festool is unbelievably on top of customer service and support. You allude that since your CT failed, they would all seem to be problematic. Nothing could be further from the reality regarding Festool products. Something ain't kosher here.... You mention "the" upholstery tool. There is NO upholstery tool that comes WITH the unit. For that matter, the only thing that comes with a new CT is the hose, the CT itself, instructions, and a bag. If you were using a tool not designed for the CT, that may have been part of the issue. Just saying....

[Sam Murdoch]

I had a problem with my Midi after a month or so similar to your experience. When I asked about it on the FOG I was told that they had a problem with the some of the outlets on the Midis (probably others too). I was sent a new outlet - FREE - with directions for a few minutes of changing it out. Problem solved. Lots and lots of use since with no issues.

[Steve Baumgartner]

As you can probably surmise from this thread, those who drink the green koolaid tend to become a bit fanatical !

The only time Festools are discounted is in package deals or when dealers are allowed to sell off demo units of discontinued models. If you got a discount under other circumstances, it seems very likely that this is one that "fell off the truck" during shipment to a legitimate dealer.

[Jeff Duncan]

I recently bought a Festool ROS and was greatly disappointed! I went online and found a few threads here and there and it seemed like while most were happy with theirs, there were a couple complaints similar to mine. I brought it back to the store planning on upgrading to a Mirka Ceros. Well they didn't have the Ciros in stock, but they looked at my sander and determined it was defective. Set me up with another new one and it was like night and day! I've only got a couple weeks into it but it's a huge improvement over the crappy DeWalts and Bosch sanders I've been using for the last 20 years! Also bought a PC trim router a couple years back and after moderate use the cord went Now I've got about a dozen routers that get much heavier use with the oldest being bought over 20 years ago! So I was less than happy having to replace the cord on what's the newest router in my shop. But I bit the bullet and spent time to rewire it and now it's running fine again.

Point being is sometimes you just get a bad one. It's a bummer when it happens, but it does happen.

good luck,
JeffD

[Frank Trinkle]

As you can probably surmise from this thread, those who drink the green koolaid tend to become a bit fanatical !

Errr.... more like Obsessive Compulsive! We Festoolians have to be really careful not to catch the disease called "GIDS".....(Green Induced Divorce Syndrome)

[Harvey Miller]

You said you found one on sale. Festool does not discount their tool prices and they do not let any of their authorized sellers discount their tools either. If you bought a new vacuum for less than the price you can find on the Festool website, whoever sold it to you is violating Festool's pricing policy and may be selling tools they did not get directly from Festool. And if they didn't get it from Festool, where did they get it?

The Midi was recently on close-out sale. Sorry to hear of the OP's problems, I haven't had problem with my Festools (track saw & sander), but reading (mainly the FOG forum) they do occasionally let a bad one out. To their credit their after-sales service is super, especially if you comment/complain on the FOG forum.

[Mike Heidrick]

no question 30 day return policy. Take it back. Get CT26.

[john lawson]

Frank:

I had an upholstery tool because I bought the Festool accessory kit that comes with the systainer from another retailer. I am returning that as well because I have no use for it without the vacuum. As for me "alluding" anything about other Festools, I did not. I did say that if they fail they seem to be problematic over time, meaning that tool. I did not say or imply anything about other tools. In fact I did say that my Festool sander had given me good service.

One other thing, and I say this only because some of you seem skeptical, I paid less than half the retail price for it. I was only willing to buy the systainer and kit because I got such a good deal on the vacuum. It was returned with no problem. I would do it again, not worth the premium price IMHO.

Even if I were using an non-Festool upholstery tool and that caused a problem for the vacuum that would say more about Festool quality than anything else - just saying.............

[glenn bradley]

Just because they're imported and expensive doesn't make them immune to human error. The same daydream that effects some guy at Boeing in Long Beach, CA can effect someone at a factory in Neidlingen, DE.