Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemajan-san

Commercial Vacuum Attributes

Commercial vacuums are the dry-recovery floor equipment jan-san distributors sell to building service contractors and to in-house housekeeping at hospitals, hotels, schools and offices. The category spans single- and dual-motor uprights, backpacks, canisters, wide-area machines, wet/dry tanks, HEPA dust extractors, and a growing cordless tier.

The data is hard for a specific reason: suppliers publish power, not performance. Line cards lead with amps, watts, or peak horsepower — a stalled-motor figure no 15 A circuit can sustain — while the numbers that actually predict cleaning, airflow in CFM and sealed suction in inches of water lift per ASTM F558, sit in a PDF table or nowhere at all.

The fields that decide contracts fare worse. A CRI Seal of Approval rating and a sound level under 70 dB(A) gate every Green Seal GS-42 and LEED green-cleaning spec, yet both usually arrive as a badge image and a footnote. "HEPA" is used for at least three different things. Capacity switches between quarts, litres and gallons inside one brand's own catalog.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Vacuum Type
enum
Backpack

First facet on every jan-san filter rail. Decides the whole downstream spec set — a backpack and a wet/dry tank share almost no comparable fields.

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN)
identifier
107329

The only key that survives across supplier price files, the PIM, and the customer's contract catalog. Bags and filters are cross-referenced from it.

GTIN (UPC-A)
identifier
086876107329

Required to list on Amazon Business and to publish through GDSN. Missing or reused GTINs are the most common item-setup rejection.

Power Source
enum
Corded electric, 120 VAC

Splits corded, cordless and pneumatic SKUs that otherwise look identical, and drives which electrical fields are even applicable.

Rated Current
number · A
9.8 A

The honest power number. Caps near 12 A on a 15 A branch circuit, so it tells the buyer how many machines can run on one circuit at once.

Cleaning Path Width
number · in
12 in

Drives the productivity math the BSC quotes on — square feet per hour — and whether the machine clears an aisle or needs a wide-area unit.

Capacity (Bag or Tank)
number · qt
3.25 qt

How often the crew stops to empty. Buyers filter it directly. Wet/dry SKUs need gallons and often carry separate wet and dry ratings.

Cord Length
number · ft
50 ft

50 ft is the commercial default and 30 ft is the trap. Sets how many outlet changes per room — a direct labour cost the BSC prices in.

Weight, Ready to Use
number · lb
15.4 lb

Backpack crews wear the machine for hours; uprights get carried up stairs. Ergonomics objections kill the sale before price does.

Country of Origin
identifier
United States

Required for GDSN and Amazon Business item setup, for customs, and for GSA and state contracts carrying domestic-preference clauses.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Airflow
number · CFM
100 CFM

Moves debris once agitation loosens it. 100 CFM or better on a canister or backpack; a strong upright starts near 60 CFM. Compare ASTM F558 figures only.

Sealed Suction (Water Lift)
number · in H2O
105 in

Sealed-motor lift. Predicts pickup out of carpet pile and wet recovery. Amps and peak HP are not substitutes for it.

Sound Level
number · dB(A)
66 dB(A)

Gates daytime cleaning in occupied buildings and every Green Seal GS-42 spec, which requires operation below 70 dB(A).

Filtration Configuration
text
Four-level, sealed HEPA final filter

Stage count and what the final stage is. A four-level system with a sealed HEPA final filter is a different product from a bag plus HEPA-media.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

CRI Seal of Approval Rating
enum
Silver

Gold/Silver/Bronze from CRI's soil-removal, dust-containment and fiber-retention tests. Named directly in GS-42 and green-cleaning bids.

Safety Listing
enum
UL Listed to UL 1017

UL 1017 / CSA C22.2 No. 243 is the vacuum-cleaner safety standard. Facility and insurance specs reject unlisted electrical equipment.

HEPA Filter Efficiency
enum
99.97% at 0.3 µm, sealed system

OSHA and EPA RRP both define HEPA as 99.97% at 0.3 µm, as the last stage, with no air bypassing it. This field is the claim you can defend.

Dust Class (IEC/EN 60335-2-69)
enum
M

L, M or H rating on dust-extractor SKUs. H-class is mandatory for the most hazardous dusts; an M-class machine may not be substituted for it.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most commercial vacuums catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Competitor signal
+ Sealed Suction (Water Lift, in H2O)

Every 'how to choose a vacuum' guide jan-san distributors publish tells buyers to compare CFM and water lift. The SKU pages those guides link to expose amps and capacity — no water lift field.

Buyers can't separate a strong machine from a weak one on the listing, so they sort by price. Extractor and wet/dry RFQs naming a minimum water lift can't be answered.

Competitor signal
+ Sound Level (dB(A))

Grainger exposes Sound Level dBA as a filter facet with discrete values like 73 dBA. Most jan-san catalogs carry no sound field at all, though GS-42 gates vacuums at 70 dB(A).

GS-42 and daytime-cleaning accounts filter under 70 dB(A) first. With no field, your quiet machines never surface in that filter and lose to whoever published a number.

Supplier signal
+ CRI Seal of Approval Rating (Gold/Silver/Bronze)

Manufacturers put the tier in the product name itself — 'ProGen 12 ... CRI Silver'. Distributor records flatten it to a 'CRI Approved' checkbox, a badge image, or nothing.

Green Seal GS-42 and state green-cleaning contracts name the program, and some specs call a tier. A boolean can't answer the bid, so the line gets substituted out.

Supplier signal
+ Filtration Configuration (sealed HEPA vs HEPA media)

Supplier copy uses 'HEPA', 'True HEPA', 'HEPA-type' and 'Sealed HEPA' for four different things. Catalogs collapse all four into a single 'HEPA: Yes' flag.

EPA RRP requires HEPA as the last stage with no air bypassing it. A 'HEPA: Yes' flag on a HEPA-media machine ships the wrong vacuum to a lead or silica job.

Search signal
+ Battery Voltage, Capacity and Runtime (cordless)

Cordless models get loaded on the corded template: cord length blank, no voltage, no Ah, no runtime. Buyers searching 'cordless backpack vacuum runtime' land on a spec table with none of it.

Amazon Business rejects lithium SKUs without a battery declaration, and buyers standardising on one battery platform can't confirm the pack fits before ordering.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way jan-san suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Sound Level
66 dBA66 dB(A) @ 1 m< 70 dBUltra Quiet Operation66/69/72 dBA62 dB at 1 metre
66 dB(A)

IEC 60704-2-1 fixes the test code; suppliers still vary distance, floor and speed. Store the condition with the number or GS-42 filters lie.

Motor Rating
6.5 Peak HP2 HP1188 watts9.8 amps1200 W max111 Air Watts
9.8 A @ 120 VAC

Peak HP is a stalled-motor burst; a 15 A circuit sustains about 12 A. Normalise to rated amps; keep air watts only when ASTM F558 is cited.

Capacity
3.25 qt3 quart3.5 L6 Gal6 gallon poly tank1 Gal. bag
3.25 qt

Quarts, litres and gallons appear inside one brand's own line card. Bag capacity and tank capacity are different fields — don't merge them.

Filtration
HEPATrue HEPAHEPA-typeHEPA mediaSealed HEPA99.97% @ 0.3 micron
Sealed HEPA — 99.97% @ 0.3 µm

Only a sealed system with HEPA as the final stage meets the EPA RRP and OSHA definition. 'HEPA-type' is a media claim, not a system claim.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Is it CRI Seal of Approval, and what tier? Our GS-42 spec calls for it.
  • Is that sealed HEPA or HEPA-type? I need it for RRP lead cleanup.
  • What's the actual water lift? Amps and peak HP tell me nothing.
  • Does it run under 70 dB(A)? We vacuum daytime in occupied offices.
  • Is the 50 ft cord standard on this SKU, or is that the upgrade?
  • How heavy is the backpack loaded? My crew wears it four hours a shift.
  • What's the cordless runtime, and does the pack fit our existing platform?
  • Is the path 12 in or 15 in? I'm quoting square feet per hour.

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Amazon Business
GTIN (UPC/EAN) or approved GTIN exemptionBrand + Manufacturer Part NumberCountry of OriginPackage dimensions and shipping weightLithium battery declaration for cordless SKUsMain image on pure white background
GDSN data pool (1WorldSync / Syndigo)
GTIN + GLN + target marketGPC brick codeNet content with unit of measureBrand nameCountry of OriginPackaging hierarchy: each / case / pallet
Industrial MRO item setup (Grainger, Fastenal)
MPN + GTIN + Country of OriginVacuum TypeSound Level in dB(A)Airflow (CFM) and Cord LengthUL/ETL listing markFiltration type and HEPA efficiency
Distributor's own faceted catalog
Vacuum TypeAirflow (CFM)Sealed Suction (in H2O)Sound Level dB(A)CRI Seal of Approval RatingCleaning Path Width (in)

Commercial Vacuums data, in practice

Why aren't amps and peak horsepower enough to spec a commercial vacuum?

Peak horsepower is measured by stalling the motor and recording output in the first fraction of a second. It isn't sustainable: a 15 A, 120 V branch circuit yields about 1,440 W, and most commercial machines draw 9-12 A continuous. UL testing cited in a US class action found a wet/dry vac marketed at 5.5 Peak HP had a total possible electrical input of 1,200 W. Amps is at least honest, but it measures what goes in, not what reaches the nozzle. The figures that predict cleaning are airflow (CFM) and sealed suction (inches of water lift) per ASTM F558. Air watts combines both, but only compare it across suppliers citing F558 and the same measurement point.

What does the CRI Seal of Approval actually test?

The Carpet & Rug Institute's Seal of Approval vacuum program tests three things. Soil removal: the machine must lift a satisfactory quantity of soil from standard test carpet in four passes, measured by X-ray fluorescence rather than gravimetric weighing. Dust containment: total dust released by brushrolls, bag, filters and any air leaks must stay at or below 100 micrograms per cubic metre. Carpet fiber retention: 900 passes must not change commercial cut-pile texture by more than one step. Machines are rated Gold, Silver or Bronze. Green Seal GS-42 requires vacuums that meet the program and operate below 70 dB(A) — which is why the rating and the sound level travel together in bids.

'HEPA', 'HEPA-type', 'sealed HEPA' — which can I put in the catalog?

Only the one you can defend. OSHA defines a HEPA filter as at least 99.97% efficient at removing 0.3 µm particles. EPA's RRP rule goes further for lead work: the HEPA filter must be the last filtration stage, and the machine must be built so all air drawn in is expelled through it with none leaking past. That is a system claim, not a media claim. 'HEPA-type' and 'HEPA media' describe filter material in a machine that may bypass it. If your record says 'HEPA: Yes' for both, an RRP or OSHA silica housekeeping buyer ends up with a machine that doesn't comply. Carry efficiency, particle size, and whether the system is sealed as separate values.

How do I compare dB(A) numbers when every supplier tests differently?

IEC 60704-2-1 is the airborne-noise test code for dry vacuum cleaners, and it permits sound power or sound pressure, measured on carpet or on hard floor. Suppliers report at different distances (1 m is common), at different speed settings, and some report at the operator's ear. A 62 dB(A) sound-pressure figure at 1 m and a 72 dB(A) sound-power figure can describe the same machine. Store the test condition beside the number: level, method, distance, floor, speed. GS-42's 70 dB(A) threshold only means something if the values you filter on were taken the same way — normalising a mixed set without recording conditions produces a filter that quietly lies.

More jan-san schemas

DisinfectantsFloor CleanersMops & BroomsPaper Towels & TissueTrash Can Liners

Run this against your own commercial vacuums.

Bring the category. We'll show you which of these attributes your catalog is missing — and the ones we find that aren't on this page yet.

Book a demo