1994 Electrolux Contour ESP

[jmurray01]

Well guys it arrived today! My £10 eBay win.

It's a 1994 Electrolux Contour Extra Suction Power Twin Fan 900W Varipower (that's a mouthful!) and after a little light maintenance (greased brush roll bearings and changed the belt) and a good clean she was good to go.

Being new to me I didn't know what it was going to sound like, perform like or anything so it was a pleasant surprise when I turned it on and it was super quiet! To give you an idea of the noise, on minimum power it is about the same as a Hoover Turbopower 2/1000/3 Autosense on the lowest power.

That is actually a good comparison to use as on maximum power it is about the same as a TP2/1000/3 Autosense on boost, or a regular TP2/1000/3 running.

I decided to do a thorough clean of the living room and kitchen so I did that and after over 2 hours of constant use it didn't miss a beat.

I used it on a mixture of short pile carpet, medium pile and shag pile plus used the tools extensively.

It excelled in all aspects and I cannot find a single fault with it.

Even the hard flooring setting on the height adjuster actually does a decent job when used on hard flooring despite my personal hatred of that feature on most upright vacuums.

I have to say, I think it may take over the duties of daily cleaning from my 1999 Hoover Turbopower 2.

I'm a Hoover fan but there is no doubting Electrolux gives damn good competition.

And to top things off, the seller even included 4 spare bags (3 ElecTruePart & 1 genuine), two genuine belts and a pack of genuine filters.

I'm a happy bunny today.

Here are some pictures and as always, more information on this model would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jmurray01]

The back, notice the nozzle has a repair with tape, as it got broken at one point when something was sucked up and the previous owner had to break it off to remove the foreign body.

It does not impede the performance at all however.

 

[madabouthoovers]

Its a very bonny wee cleaner Jamie - pleased you are happy with it - but its not as good as a ......


..... Hoover Senior Ranger though! lol

 

[jmurray01]

The power button and Varipower control "wheel" and the Royal Stamp.

 

[jmurray01]

The floor head.

 

[jmurray01]

And the undercarriage with the brush roll which I believe is the same as in the 600 with the V shaped layout of brushes.

 

[turbo500]

Great vac Jamie, although the brushroll is considerably more naff than that on the 600 series. Difference can be seen on this vid

 

[jmurray01]

Thanks for the link Chris, I see the difference.

It still does a good job on carpet though. Not as good as the Activator but still good.

 

[baglessball]

I used this model regularly as a kid

It was my neighbours. They loved me, I used to go to their houses and vac everywhere. Everyone was a winner!

I pretty sure it was the same machine. Although the one I used had a looped handle? I remember the ESP on the front of it though. And the it having two filters for a pre motor filter, and the same type of filter for the exhaust.

 

[jmurray01]

Yep it uses the same filter for the exhaust as it does for the pre-motor, but there aren't two pre-motor filters, just one.

 

[turbo500]

Shaun, I think the one you're thinking of was the Contour 2? Top left

 

[jmurray01]

I really don't see a point in the looped handle.

I much prefer the more streamlined handle of my Contour.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The looped handles require a good deal less gripping by the user. On the back stroke, one only has the hold the handle loosely and guide the cleaner backwards. On an ordinary handle, the user has to grip much more firmly so as to avoid the handle slipping out of the hand.

 

[jmurray01]

You have a point Benny but there is a notch in the standard handle to wrap your index finger around to do that, or some variation of it anyway.

I found that the Contour didn't bog down at all and I could easily operate it with only a loose grip on the handle, just like my Turbopower 2 which is one of the things I love about it.

My Electrolux 502S also has a notch (this time at the end of the handle) which I wrap my index finger around on the back stroke and just pull it back with one finger easily.

 

[bagintheback]

I'm not too well versed in UK Electrolux history, but is this vacuum's ESP feature the same as Eureka's from the 1970-1990s? By 1994 Electrolux had already bought Eureka here in the USA, so I'm thinking it's the same trademark/copyright?

 

[vintagerepairer]

To be fair, it was just a name, not a feature. The ESP 'extra suction power' was some kind of unsupported tag which they gave the cleaners, that is to say they ever said what the 'extra' was based against. They were cashing in on the whole "Twin Fan" motor, but it was rather late in the day to be doing such, as by 1994 almost all uprights sold in the UK were clean-air style with a good deal having two fans as well. The twin fan idea on electrolux clean-air motors was really a selling point in the 1970's and 1980's, but you know they never seemed to make much of a fuss about it back then. It was little more than a few sentences and a diagram on a sales brochure.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Also, Jamie, there are two pre motor filters. You have to sit one on top of the other.

 

[jmurray01]

So I should put two of the same filter in instead of just one?

I didn't know that.

 

[sebo_fan]

Is it easy to push?