A few reasons why vacs come to me

[gmerkt]

Here are a few photo examples of why dead vacs come to me for refurbishment:

Very typical blockage of pick-up tube in nozzle. This material was stacked in there like cut, layed discs of tack board. Lots of dead vacs right after Christmas. Reason? Dry fir needles packed inside the hose. As part of their design, many plasti-vacs have a length of hose between the nozzle and the inlet port of the bag/dirt bin. Loops and curves in the hose restrict some objects which get caught, then the snow-ball effect sets in.

 

[gmerkt]

PC board from the nozzle of a Fantom Cyclone. The inside of the nozzle was packed with lint, including all around the components of the board. Result: fire.

 

[gmerkt]

What you see here is a mini tennis ball jammed behind the brush roll of a Hoover Windtunnel upright (Hoover Windtunnel tennis ball launcher that failed to launch). Additionally, the pick-up tube was completely packed.

 

[gmerkt]

Lady brought over a Kenmore canister of fairly recent vintage. She said "it has a bad connection" and left it. Then she called back later and said, "We bought a new machine; you can keep the Kenmore."

The bad connection was between the hose and telescoping wand. Both connectors were badly burned. The connector on the wand side Kenmore calls a "card" but I don't know where that comes from. I bought a new card and cannibalized a bad hose for replacement hose nozzle parts so now the machine is back in order, cleaned, and will go on sale soon.

Hose connection on left, wand card on right.

 

[thevacuumman]

Thats how the original owner of my fantom cylcone burned up the the same board except it wasn't that severe and it didn't damage the vacuum

 

[jmurray01]

Yep - At this time of year plenty Vacuum Cleaners will be getting left out for the bin men because they have sucked up needles from Christmas trees that people are taking out of their houses.

I remember when we bought a real tree back in 2007 and the trouble our poor 2004 Hitachi Upright cleaner had getting the needles up.

The hose must have clogged up about four times!

Needless to say the year after that we bought a fake tree!

The worst we ever get now when taking the tree down is a few of those plastic needles which the Turbopower can pick up with ease.

 

[kirby519]

These kind of reasons are why we die hard kirby fans love the ancient technology of the Heritage series and earlier models.

None of those fancy computer boards to fail, Short air paths that have less chance of clogging up. Yes you can knock off fan blades however you have a well constructed machine that is worth repairing.

How many indicator lights, switches and hoses does it really take to effectively vacuum a surface? I can clean any surface I have at home or on any job site with 1 pre Generation model KIRBY.

 

[jmurray01]

What you said Steve got me thinking...

If I did have a real tree that left my carpets covered in needles, I would use the 1977 HOOVER Ranger to clean it up, reason being:

It is a dirty fan cleaner, with no hose, and a short journey for the dirt to travel from being picked up to going into the bag.

I wouldn't trust using a cleaner with a hose, seeing as they clog up so easily.

 

[goadie12]

Yes I notice those plasti vacs clog up somthing terrible and that's one of the reasons those vacuums don't last so long. It people would take a little time to maintain them they should have no problem getting five plus years out of their machines thanks. Zach

 

[danemodsandy]

FIVE YEARS????

I should HOPE that even in this day and age, people would get five years out of a vacuum cleaner even with average-to-poor maintenance.

My newest Lux (a Diamond Jubilee) is nearly 30 years old. My 1205 is forty years old. My other vacuums are of similar vintage, and all have survived indifferent care to reach a hale and hearty old age, still capable of vacuuming merrily away after only minor repair or replacement of consumable parts such as hoses and tool brush inserts.

What have we come to that consumers can expect only five years even if they take very good care of their machines?

I don't think it's a coincidence that all my machines are basically a can, a fan and a motor - no circuit boards, no electronics.

 

[danemodsandy]

FIVE YEARS????

I should HOPE that even in this day and age, people would get five years out of a vacuum cleaner even with average-to-poor maintenance.

My newest Lux (a Diamond Jubilee) is nearly 30 years old. My 1205 is forty years old. My other vacuums are of similar vintage, and all have survived indifferent care to reach a hale and hearty old age, still capable of vacuuming merrily away after only minor repair or replacement of consumable parts such as hoses and tool brush inserts.

What have we come to that consumers can expect only five years even if they take very good care of their machines?

I don't think it's a coincidence that all my machines are basically a can, a fan and a motor - no circuit boards, no electronics.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Real trees

Use a "dirty-fan" vacuum cleaner and admire the fresh pine air that emanates from the cleaner.

Cylinder machines clog. Sister-in-law's Dyson DC05 did.

 

[jmurray01]

That reminds me - I did see somewhere on the internet that the "average life expectancy" of a Vacuum Cleaner is 5-7 years...

5-7 years!?

My 1994 Turbopower 1000 is 17 years old and makes light work of any task you throw at it.

If that life expectancy were to be correct, it would have died by 2001 at the latest... Well it has outlived that by 10 years and will probably outlive it by another 10 years, and another after that.

Not to mention my 1993 Philips U800, 1982 Electrolux 502S, or 1977 HOOVER Ranger.

My youngest cleaner is my 2008 JMB SC1056 cylinder, and I expect that to last far more than 7 years.

The simple reason why you shouldn't expect long out of a modern Vacuum Cleaner is 50% because the parts just simply aren't up to scratch, and 50% because the average consumer doesn't have a clue how to maintain it.

Back in the 60's, 70's, 80's and even 90's people were much more aware of how to keep something going and knew a lot more about what they were using rather than today when people don't even know how a Vacuum Cleaner works.

That point is proved when you see Vacuum Cleaner after Vacuum Cleaner sitting on the roadside waiting to be collected by the bin men when it has stopped sucking after cleaning up lots of Christmas tree needles.

 

[alexhoovers94]

"My 1994 Turbopower 1000 is 17 years old and makes light work of any task you throw at it.

If that life expectancy were to be correct, it would have died by 2001 at the latest... Well it has outlived that by 10 years and will probably outlive it by another 10 years"


 


Well, that didn't quite work out the way you planned it to, did it, Jamie? Haha!!

 

[jmurray01]

Why not Alex?

 

[alexhoovers94]

...............................................It burnt out last year.

 

[turbo500]

was there really any need to bring this thread back up again? This is why I wish the archives were left archived.

 

[alexhoovers94]

Well if you can bring them back, they are not really archived!


I must say, Chris...Get over it.

 

[turbo500]

I just think it was pointless bringing a thread back up that had no relevance. You only brought it up so you could argue the toss with Jamie, and the rest of us aren't interested.