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In Chicago there are "Bissell" and "Kenmore" streets, possibly others! And there's the Rush song "Turn the Page" where both the words "vacuum" and "Windtunnel" are included in the lyrics.

The condensation occurs anytime the air you're sucking through the pipe is a lot warmer than the pipe itself. The dirt then sticks to the wet inside of the pipe, which gradually clogs and needs to be cut out and replaced. Dirt + water = concrete! I see it all the time around here with piping...

Nice, that looks like a knockoff of the Rug Rat for central vacuums. Half the price of one too. Do you think it performs as well as one?

Can't just be a converted Royal hand cleaner...motor shell, fan chamber are different. Looks like the only part shared with a Royal Prince is the nozzle housing. Too many custom parts to be something just "cobbled together" -- this appears to be a production item. Is it possible that Royal, in...

Sometimes when I suspect the brushes have worn all the way down, I'll turn the unit on and twist or jar it sharply -- if it starts, it's likely your carbon brushes are worn down to nothing and need to be replaced. This takes many, many hours of use, so if the thing has been gently used, that's...

P.S. I think your best bet would be to try and find a used Vacuflo 560 or 566Q unit (the whole thing), which would turn up from time to time in Portland on eBay or Craigslist (there's tons of Vacuflos in your area, thanks to Gary Phillips!). Better than trying to hack a different motor into...

I bet, if anything, they were going to use one of the high-performance two stage motors from the newer Vacuflo units. Either a 117549-12 (like the 560 and 960 had) or a 119792-07 (used in the current 566Q models). Either one would be a big performance upgrade, though the latter one is the best...

Thank goodness you finally got your money, Charles. Even though they took their sweet time. My experience with UPS (their freight division) has lately been underwhelming, to say the least. Two deliveries that didn't come for days after their scheduled date and time. A third with some major...

Am not! I just "mentioned it"! The pulley is very interesting. Would the missing part of it (that the belt actually rides on) be secured with a small screw into the shaft protruding out of the center? I can't tell if that's threaded inside or not. I suppose a new piece will need to be made on...

Must be the battery-powered version ;) Incredible finds. I haven't ever seen a picture of the polished hood Dirtmaster, besides in the manual. The very few DMs out there to my knowledge all have the black painted hood. And that Kirby is so cool! Talk about something NOBODY else will ever find.

Very cool, Fred! I figured you wouldn't make it too long without a system for your new place. Glad it worked out well for you to be able to take your SilentMaster with -- the S5 model is up to about $1,100 nowadays, and worth every penny. Looks right at home there. Tens of thousands of...

Greg - I love that manual. Never knew it came from you! That must have been a neat system. Wonder how long it took those units to start rusting...can't imagine they ever really dried out. I got your email, btw...you're right, I am quite overdue for a new blog post! I keep waiting until I'm...

Thank you! For sharing this. That's a cool old system. The hose and tools (minus that dusting brush) look early nineties. I run into these every once in a while here in Chicago, in houses from the sixties. Fred is right, they were really big in CA. The manufacturer used to be on Olympic Blvd...

Absolutely beautiful! You do incredible work. Thank you for the paint suggestion also; I need to machine buff my 800 to hopefully look something like yours, and the bottom needs a re spray. How do you get things like the cord protector spring to shine? I would think that would be tough to do...

I do believe that's the model from Mrs. Doubtfire! It always drove me crazy seeing it being used as an upright, with the hose plugged in. Anyone else remember?

Does anyone know why the 29 had a longer handle than the 62/63? Was it something to do with the cloth shake-out bag rather than disposable bags? I never realized there was a difference,

I'm glad you like my videos :) I found my newer portable Spencers (the gray 1 1/2 HP machine and the green 5 HP one) on eBay, where you can occasionally find a "good deal" on one for less than $1,000 plus shipping via truck freight (a few hundred dollars, typically). "Newer" is relative...they...

Very cool!! I'm jealous of both those buffers. The big one certainly deserves some respect if you want to have all your limbs remaining! Is that a Windtunnel brushroll I see inside your bag cleaner?

If you wanted the unit to run a little cleaner (assuming you're going to use it often), you could probably put a Convertible bellows and fill tube on that bag, so you could use a Type C (or maybe Eureka F & G) bag inside the cloth. You'd just have to change it through the top bag clamp, like the...

Kurt, I saw a photo of your machine from the recent mini-meet in Ohio and wondered whose store it was in! Yours looks like a later version of mine shown in the attached photo, between it's less-effective competitors. Mine fortunately has the original 1 1/2 horsepower Century motor, but there...