dating Hoover SteamVac Deluxe

[vap0rtranz]

How do I date this Hoover StreamVac Deluxe?

This is USA made Hoover I'm not a fan of plastic but after seeing folks here talk about these, it's the vintage I wanted.

The manual and TV ads I found are mid- to late-1990's. Serial # ends in 6520 ...

A retiree was having a garage sale, I saw a Kirby Heritage 2 hiding with canister vacs, said he fixes vacuums, and would sell this Hoover for $35. We agreed on $30. It ain't $0 curb find but Hoovers & Bissells around here are newer with bad hoses or broke triggers, even more $$, etc. No vacuum he was selling looked badly broken. (The guy walked me through the time it took with a new canister vac for simple fix, like split hoses, which I already knew of course!) The only broken bits on this machine are 2 holding clips for the hose and a chip on the front -- neither a functional issue. As I walked out, the guy threw in a 2nd clean canister from his stash so I could swap cleaning + rinsing. Nice guy. So in the pic, the Plus canister is loaded while my dog stands in front of the matched Deluxe canister. My dog must give all vacs the sniff test! LOL

I already carpet cleaned with it. The motor still takes 5+ seconds to spin down And both high pile & low pile rugs were dry after just a few hours.

So it's probably late 90s or early 2000s?

 

[kirbyklekter]

Spinscrub/Steamvac

I noticed on your sticker that there was an absence of a "dot.com" address. 1995 was the year that saw the majority of businesses adding that as a part of their address. Hoover.com for example. Hoover also switched their motors up to 12 amp not long after your model came out. So I'm guessing yours is an early model, pre-'95!

I have a late nineties model F5899-910 12amp. The sticker has two bar codes, one has 2606 as the last four digits and the other has 9740 under the bar code which I think denotes 1997 as the year of mfr. Mine was given to me. The owner passed and his wife said he had only used it once.

Had this machine for over 20 years and have used it at least 2 or 3 times a year. Never thought it would last this long! I always run clear water through the trigger release and also suck up clear water through the nozzle after every use. I have also added a little CLR, calcium/lime/rust remover or white vinegar to clean water and sprayed it through the system for good measure. Not every time of course! Hope you get some good use from your cleaner. They're very dependable. Billy

 

[vap0rtranz]

12amp vs 8amp

Yea, I'd preferred 12amp just to get every ounce of water lift but it's nice to repurpose a local machine.

I did take a look at both of model's motors on eBay. They're similar -- they have what looks like a single stage blower fan, like what was used in later Electrolux motors. Your 12A model has "Ametek" sticker out of Kent, OH; while my 8A model's sticker says "GS Electric". Never heard of GS but Google says they're a magneto-electric maker out of Hudson, WI. Eitherway, these motors are American made and that is great to see.

Nice method with CLR. I have hard water run through a water softener at home but will still give CLR a try. Ty.

 

[fan-of-fans]

On Hoovers made after 1988 the first four numbers of the serial number is the date. The first two are the month and the second two are the year.

So this was made in the 09th month (September) of 96 (1996).

 

[vap0rtranz]

'96

OK, so a '96. Ty Cole!

So this thread is in the right forum: Vintage. 20+ yrs is vintage? I'm vintage. LOL. Ah well.