Are there any advantages to round belts ?

[jmurray01]

I was just sitting here wondering, are there any advantages to round belts opposed to flat belts on Dirty Fan Vacuum Cleaners ?

As far as I can gather from thinking about it round belts SHOULD last longer and therefore be better, but I could be wrong.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Actually..

In my experience the flat belts like in a Kirby or Royal far outlast the round belts used by Eureka and Hoover. Those round belts are forever stretching and cracking.

 

[jmurray01]

That's true, I took the Genuine Hoover belt off my 1977 Hoover Senior a week ago to replace it just for good measure and it was cracked, stretched and just looked plain worn!

Then again, it WAS 7 months old, but still.

I think Hoovers have the belt tolerances set too tight at the off-set which is why they wear prematurely. Perhaps Kirbys and the like have looser tolerances so there isn't as much tension on the belt.

 

[vacuumfreak]

I have to agree. My Kirby Heritage II's belt lasted way longer that my Eureka round belts, and I use them both everyday. Im not sure why this happens, but the Kirby's belt seems to last longer :S

Daniel

 

[gsheen]

One of the reasons that the genuine kirby belts last so long is the ribbing in the inside of the belt, This ribbing allows the belt to cool down much like a tothed belt. The cooler a belt stays during operation the longer it will last. 


 


However judging belts in various cleaners longevity in your collection is not very accurate.


 


belt that stand stretched in place for months at a time will distort and fail premature. Have you ever bought a santaire or hoover convertible/senior and heard that thump thump that seems out of place, its caused by a belt that has been distorted from standing in the same position for long periods of time.

 

[jmurray01]

I haven't had that but did know about belts molding in one position if left for extensive periods of time.

This is why I run all of my upright Vacuum Cleaners AT LEAST once a month, but in reality they all get used way more than that.

It is the same idea with car tyres. If you have a car which is sitting stagnant for months, when you drive it you may find the steering wheel is vibrating or the car just feels shaky. That is due to the rubber of the tyre sagging and molding where it was pressed against the ground. It is the same idea with the belts of vacuums molding into the position of the two pulleys where they bend.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Ribbed Belts on Kirby

Thing is, the older style belts were smooth, not ribbed, yet still lasted longer. My maternal grandmother and her daughter had Eurekas with the round belts, My paternal grandmother and her daughter both had Kirbys. The vacs all got daily use, yet the Kirby belts still far outlasted the eureka ones.

As for Hoover, their belts seem to be the shortest lived. If you feel them, they seem to be of a harder rubber than Eureka, which may explain part of the difference.

 

[jmurray01]

"As far as I can gather from thinking about it round belts SHOULD last longer and therefore be better, but I could be wrong." Did I really write that!?

I have NO CLUE why I would have because that is WRONG! Flat belts last longer...

I'm not making excuses I genuinely don't remember typing that and certainly wouldn't because it does not correlate with what I believe (flat belts lasting longer).

That is worrying...

 

[madabouthoovers]

Well I just bought 3 non genuine belts (Qualtex) for my U4002 off Ebay, and they set me back £7.17. Seems that although they dont last very long, they are getting hard to obtain now, and also getting expensive.
The first company I ordered from (Buyspares) sent the wrong belts - they sent me junior belts instead, then took 3 days to reply to my complaint saying they would refund within 5 days and I could keep the junior belts - wasnt happy, so I had to buy off Ebay - even here they are hard to find, but LM Electrical do them for £2.39 each for Qualtex brand - look ok when they arrived today - remains to be seen how long they last. - link below.
I do hope that we arent gonna be in a situation soon where we cant use vintage cleaners like this that use these round style belts due to lack of even aftermarket supplies.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390173301302?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649