A face only a mother could love...

[vintagerepairer]

Hello again. Yes of course, I understand that completely, how it is viewed by a collector. As has been discussed here many times, the UK homes are often small, with fitted carpets and lots of furniture. Small and medium sized upright cleaners have always been a popular choice here, for those reasons. Therefore when Vax became popular, I was surprised to see just how many dedicated upright users jumped-ship and went for the canister style that was Vax. Despite high sales, in the 1990's Vax tried to cash-in on the upright sector by making a 3-in-1 upright, but it was truly lost from the start as it was an enormous appliance, with half as much equipment having to be stored on one side and used only when washing carpets. They never sold well and of those that did, Vax had a dreadful time as the cleaners kept breaking down.

Dyson came into the market at a time when Vax sales were dropping. He timed it well, as consumers were eagerly looking for their next bit of excitement in the vacuum cleaner arena. By starting out with an upright cleaner first, Dyson was able to secure sales from upright users, many of whom had, I'm sure, owned a Vax canister at some point.

 

[ilikeoddvacuums]

vacuum with more ugly than anything else

i am surprised nobody has talked about the dirt devil cruiser

 

[compamac]

Dirt Devil

I totally forgot about those. Yeah they are heavy and ugly too

 

[stricklybojack]

Vax is in the Haus!

Oh yeah baby got the orange Vax today,$10, Shazaam! Bought it along with the Filter Queen (shown) & a Panasonic (not shown) i'll be posting about in a different thread.

This Vax has a cloth shack out bag inside, are paper bags available too?
Made for the US market & our different power system.

Need to find the hoses & attachments for the Vax, would Electrolux work? Seems i read that somewhere. I have a line on a Lux Renaissance with a pile of hoses & attachments included & if i could use them on this Vax i'll snap up that Renny ASAP.

 

[compamac]

Nice

Nice find you got there! Enjoy the machines!

 

[vintagerepairer]

That Vax

is one which sold in the UK as model 111 and 121, from 1983 onwards. The hose end on it was the same as our Electrolux fitting, but the inner section was longer so as to fit the dustbag. I have seen a good deal of Vax cleaners used with an Electrolux hose, the dust of course going everywhere but into the bag as the Electrolux hose did not sit into the bag. Strictly speaking, the cloth bag was imperative, as if the owner had been wet cleaning carpets and then wanted to resume dry vacuuming, excess water in the suction hose would soak a paper dust bag. Paper bags were avaliable, and attached to the plastic collar with a rubber ring, just like the Hoover Junior and Senior cleaners. However, in later years (starting with the model 2000) the plastic membrane became part of the cloth bag, and paper bags now came with a cardboard membrane, dispensing with the need for the collar & ring set up.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well said VR.

However, the variable suction models in my experience are better as they don't rip the paper dust bags with the full force of fixed suction like current models - and there's a normal "half way" dry cleaning mode setting on the dial. Its a pity that Vax haven't offered the current models with the variable control dial - they are plenty of second hand ones on Gumtree and sometimes the old black 6151 models that came with the dial.

When I look back at it, my parents adored the Vax in our large home - cue having a long cord - the Vax came with 10 to 12 metres as I think back. It was fine for dry vacuuming helped along by its massive dust bag and the Vax's 5 castors on the base for ease of movement. We had a Vax branded turbo brush head that came with the Powa 1200 too. (sorry, it wasn't 1400 as I said previously) I've only seen a few other Wessel Werk floor heads like it since, but the one that came with the Vax had a dial at the side (vented) as well as four rather hopeless metal gliders on the base.

Fine for carpets but no use for hard floors since the whole thing lacked wheels - had a similar turbo brush many years ago for Miele, in a horrible light toffee beige with wheels. It was however one of the first better made air driven turbo brushes on the market that had a flip down door on the base to clean the grilled air turbine impeller.

For all intents and purposes, despite the "bulk", the old Vax was the precursor of Henry in homes, nowadays. I've used the Vax's original floor head on my old Numatic James and its a far easier floor head to use - may even have an original replacement floor head that has seen very little use, 32 mm. That was the beauty of Vax models thereafter the originals - they all use 32mm tools and sizings and the tubes that came with the model are crush proof.

Before handing our old Vax to a shop who needed a 3 in 1 due to the ice machine they had (and thus the floor kept getting wet and also gave them the AutoMop head) I used to use the fabric bag for clearing up dry garden waste and the recovery tank for clearing up the damp soil and mud created from pressure washing. Now I just use an old Sebo Felix ET-1 power head to clear up the dry soil after leaving it for a day when I've pressure washed the garden patio.

 

[myles_v]

This is the vacuum that I think is ugly. I despise this vacuum cleaner. It is heavy, huge, bulky, (my machine) smells like dog, and the automatic cleaning HEPA filter is crap. My machine's electronic surface control is broken, and the HEPA filter doesn't spin and clean itself anymore (it didn't clean itself very well anyways). The bottom plate is being held down with tape since some of the screw holes disintegrated. I just used this to clean upstairs (I took it out of the garage to take a picture for this thread, and it kind of needed to be vacuumed anyways. If I wasn't already getting it out then I would have used the central vac), and I had forgotten how bad it smells until I turned it on. I took it all apart to clean it all out really well almost a year ago. I've only used it a few times since then and it already smells bad again. I think this machine was Hoover's response to Dyson's no loss of suction vacuum, due to the fact that it has the "self cleaning" filter.
I wonder if the bagged version of this machine was any better. I'm sure it was just as heavy and bulky as the bagless version, but I'm sure the filtration was much better. I think they used cloth bags.

 

[myles_v]

Here's an image of it running.

 

[compamac]

Hoover W2

I think the Windtunnel 2. They are very bulky and the self clean filter does not do its job. I heard many complaints about it. Now if Hoover made a bagged version of it they must have knew that the bagless one isn't that good. Or else just about every Hoover would have a bagged or bagless option although some others did.

 

[myles_v]

They made a bagless and a bagged version. I think they introduced them both around the same time. Mine was purchased by my grandmother in 2006 or 2007. The bagged version was almost exactly the same, only it had a bag compartment where the dust container and filter are t on the bagless version. They made one that was green instead of orange/red which had a dirt detect light on the cleaner head.

 

[vacuumfreeeke]

Hey! That is my Cruiser picture! I think the Cruiser is one of Dirt Devils more attractive models actually! That's why I got it! I used it just the other day and it really is quite powerful.

For ugly, I'd have to go with the plastic bagless vacs from all manufacturers that line the shelves of Wal-mart... The first Electrolux upright was pretty ugly, that square, boxy frankenstein looking thing...

 

[compamac]

What about...

These units are really ugly and CHEAP!! My aunt had one of these and it literally fell apart after a few years. The are very loud too. I cant use these Dirt Devil uprights like this one. They hurt my ears big time. After I would use them though my ears would have like a ringing in it.

 

[dysondestijl]

We have them as the vax swift in the UK. Horrible cheap pieces of flimsy plastic!

 

[sarasvacshack]

Am I..

the only one that thinks so? Or is everyone else drinking the koolaid?

 

[compamac]

Vax Swift

These units arent swift at all. Just ear ruiner cheap vacs. I wouldnt even buy this vac for $10! The filters are another thing. NOT WASHABLE HERE! You have to purchase a washable one, they get so dirty and clogged the vacuum has barely and airflow

 

[stricklybojack]

Kenmore DuraPower & his Bissell buddy

A friggin' beast if there ever was one... just got back from the junk auction with about 6 units including these two, a red Dirt Devil bagless, a yellow Eureka screaming bagless wonders (no pics of those necessary right? ), & two vacuums which were the reason for bidding/buying the lot... 2 Kenmore canisters, one vintage one contemporary, both complete.
But this Kenmore 'DuraPower' is to me a bit of a prize as i have never seen one like it before & it weighs a ton, so maybe at least she's got some cleaning ability. BTW the missing handle for the Kenmore upright is in a box of parts & hoses out of frame. What takes off magic marker? Have to remember to ask the auctioneer to mark something else than the top of one of my purchases...

DD Cruiser=want ;-)

 

[sebo_fan]

Well I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As for those Swift vacs, they may be a nuisance but the neighbour behind me has had one for about 10 years - careful maintenance is all that has been required to keep it ticking over. I can't stand the noise or the weight of it, but it does a good job regardless. 

 

[compamac]

Swift

I still dont think even if you maintain it still doesnt cut it. Your neighbor might think that it is working but it is not getting top performance. The weight isn't that bad though.

 

[alexhoovers94]

We, used to have a Vax Swift...

They are loud, cheap and nasty but they are not THAT bad, they don't clog that quickly, not like a Turbopower Freedom, sweet Jesus those things!! Excellent carpet cleaners but TERRIBLE at maintaining dust and suction.