1979 Electrolux 502 "High Suction"

[jmurray01]

Well quite frankly we don't get many surges here in Scotland, in fact the last one was over a year ago, so if the fuse blew because of the occasional power surge but was fine under normal conditions, I'd still use the lowest possible.

On the brush roll bearing subject, can you correlate what Ric said about not oiling them Benny ?

 

[jmurray01]

On a side note, my previous reply was posted at 09:29 forum time, EXACTLY the same time Benny posted his reply yesterday... Spooky!

 

[vintagerepairer]

I don't know what to say about the lubrication as I have always used a drop of 3-in-1 with no known problems. Each to their own. Incidentally, the surge talked about here is not a power surge from a spike in the mains, it is a surge of power drawn when an appliance starts up.

 

[jmurray01]

Oh I see, well in that case surely it would have happened by now ?

With all due respect to Ric and his beliefs, I think I'll continue to lubricate my brush roll bearings with 3-In-1 oil with every belt change.

 

[vintagerepairer]

AS you wish Jamie. They shouldn't need much attention if you don't use the heavily.

 

[jmurray01]

Well that's the good thing about having a collection of vacuums, it means none of them are used repeatedly and thus maintenance is few and far between, giving me an easy life.

 

[jmurray01]

OK, the Electrolux 502 is now removed from my list of Vacuum Cleaners for a reason I shall explain...

A couple of days ago (which leads me onto apologising for my absence) I decided to have another look at the 502.

So I did and what did I discover ? The noise WAS the belt rubbing against some plastic! I'd never have thought that could make such a noise.

I then realised that could be down to one of two things. The brush roll belt guide or the motor pulley.

To check the brush roll I took the original one out and put the one from my 502S in. Guess what ? No change.

Upon closer inspection, the motor pulley is very worn and is most certainly what caused the belt to drift into the plastic.

So, the 502 would need a new motor. But, I'm not too disappointed as there are plenty parts on the 502 which I will be able to use at some point on my 502S, plus the beater brush roll which I have already swapped over (my 502S had a Twin Turbo brush roll prior to this).

For £2.99, it wasn't bad even for parts.

 

[ryry_87]

Jamie, I had the same problem as you with my mums Twinturbo a few years back. Intermittently it would screech then settle down again. After running it without the brush roll, i found it was a motor bearing issue.

When it comes to motor bearings on 500's, i've always had really good results with a few drops of 3in1 on both the bottom and top ones. the motors are really easy to take apart and a few drops of 3in1 usually loosens up the old grease slightly and completely rejuvenates them. I did it to my mums Twinturbo and it worked fantastically, really quietened the motor down. It still sounds quiet several years later. It also works well if they've not been used for a while and the bearings have started to sound dry.

I've got a video coming up on my youtube channel shortly of a 525 that belongs to Ric. When he gave it to me, it was almost seized and it sounded terrible (he can vouch for that because he was here when we plugged it in for the first time lol) I took the motor out, gave it a bit of a clean, put a few drops of 3in1 in it and hey presto! sounds like new now. When the video's posted (hopefully tonight) have a listen and see for yourself.

Ryan

 

[ryry_87]

jamie, just saw your last message. apologies! lol well, if it ever happens again at least you've got an idea of what it could be. In the mean time, enjoy this vid i've uploaded of Rics Twinturbo 521 Special!