Brittle ABS Plastic

[gregvacs28]

I have two Eletrolox Ultralux series vacuums as well. I have an 87 Marquis and an 93 Classic.
Both are in very good shape however,
the top plastic frame, the top handle, and the two rear wheels are discolored on both machines. Much like yours no doubt.

The exhaust port door is fine. Everything else appears fine on the machine but the wand sheath seems to have discolored as well.

Where it really is becoming obvious with this discoloring is the white on white appliances from the 1990s.

On washers, dryers, dishwashers that were white painted metal cabinets the control panel and handles were supposed to match. Now those panels and handles are turning, or have turned, almost Almond color and it doesn't look right.

Same for refrigerators. The white handles were supposed to match the white painted metal doors but now they've discolored and it's..... weird. It makes it look dirty.

Even the actual Almond on almond appliances from the 90s, when the panel discolors it turns a darker shade and it still doesn't look like it's matching, though it isn't as bad.

---
That Eldorado I think it was the Biaritz. Back then it was the pinnacle of driving luxury. Lincoln's 1981 Continental Mark VI was a similar type car. A nice quiet, cushy ride. Get in, relax and let your troubles be forgotten.

 

[vacuumdevil]

@desiredname it really depends on the manufacturer. Jason seemed to use their own mix of special plastic they called "liquid Steel" witch did seem to be some sort of cheaper ABS. I have several old Miele canisters that have not gotten gotten ridiculously brittle. I also have an old 1970s Electrolux upright where the plastic isn't particularly brittle and is of a mystery formulation.

 

[madman]

Plumbing

Personally, when I'm plumbing, I'll use all pvc for drains and copper for hot/cold supply lines. The pvc pipe is never under pressure. However, some water supplies are better off with non-metallic pipes. Depends on your local water. If it's acidic, it'll leech the metal from the pipes, and your drinking water will have copper in it.

Polybutelyne deteriorates over time. I've heard the hot side goes faster, which makes sense.

 

[gregvacs28]

They all deteriorate over time, it's just a matter of which type deterioration you'll put up with.

 

[oreck_xl]

Give me copper every time!!!

I had a bathroom renovated about ten years ago, they used that pex for the water lines. Wouldn't you know within six months I had a flood in the bathroom because one of the lines failed. For a drain line PVC is fine but if it's pressurized I want copper!

 

[huskyvacs]

My house was built in 1949 and has copper plumbing with lead solder. The toilet and sewage pipes going vertical are solid cast iron. Everything is all perfectly intact and no signs of deterioration after 70 years. I only had one tiny pinhole leak on a random elbow in a random pipe in the basement 2 years ago. The original plumber forgot some solder on one 2mm section of the elbow and after 68 years it corroded and spring a leak. Had a plumber come out and it was fixed in 25 minutes.

The kitchen sink that had plumbing replaced in the late 1970's is black PVS or ABS - I forget how you tell - and I have to re-do it soon because they built it wrong and it's got about 150lbs (exaggerated) of buildup in the suspended pipe and I have to catch that before it breaks itself or it will be a stinky mess.

 

[gregvacs28]

There are a couple of unrelated issues.
One is product material and it's characteristics.
Another is the faulty installation of ANY product.
Another issue is product lifespan

If you have plumbing that wasn't installed correctly, it's going to give problems but that isn't the plumbing materials fault.

All plumbing materials have characteristics you need to be aware of.

Old copper water lines that were installed prior to about 1980 most likely were put together with solder that has lead in it and that lead will leach into your water. That's why you don't want to drink water from copper water pipes without purging them first.

Plastic water pipes I've found are very inexpensive and if you should need to do a change or repair is very easy to do.
Copper is quite expensive and I've seen copper waterline joint fail and literally blow apart.
Metal plumbing also tends to be heavier requiring structural supports and it's often rigid and thus more difficult to install.

Pex comes on rolls and you can easily do a long run with no joints to make so fewer chances of a leak.

There are many reasons plastic is taking over.

 

[madman]

If you have old copper pipes with lead joints, DO NOT purge the lines. Calcium buildup is the only thing preventing you from getting lead poisoning. For that matter, really, copper poisoning either. The same reason the ancient Romans weren't poisoned by lead pipes, and the same reason I don't have lead poisoning. A lead pipe connects me to the water main.

 

[huskyvacs]

I have a water softener for hard water and it's all fine. The lead in solder is very negligible and mainly on the outside of the pipe between the joints, very little of it actually is on the inside of the pipe.

When I was in elementary school in the 1990s, it was a 1910's school, and all the drinking fountains were porcelain and still had the old signs installed from the days of segregation. All lead pipes and fixtures. Everyone was fine and it stayed that way until when the school was renovated in 2010 after being declared historical.

PEX piping has been around residentally since the later half of the 2000's, nothing new. It is only feesable if you are building a new house from the ground up - it is not at all suitable for retrofitting due to the extensive drilling and damage required to run it through floors and behind walls, and the cost outweighs any benefits of it. Also because PEX is a new trade - most plumbers do not know anything at all how to run it properly to get the proper pressurization and to tune the manifold properly, so finding someone that can install PEX that is not a scammer and can do it properly is going to be very costly.

Also if you have high chlorination in your city water (most municipalities do) PEX is not at all suitable. The chlorine will eat away the pipes (in retrospect I think this is why the cheap garden hoses I buy keep failing and tearing apart - the water is weakening the hose)

https://www.repipeyourhouse.com/pex-plumbing-failures/

PS: The old lead pipe trick is to not run hot water before running cold water, as the heat expands the joints in the pipes and can expose the joint to backflow from the steamy hot water. That's why they go clankety clank when running hot water and then switching over to cold. If the pipes are not used on a daily basis and water stagnates, that's the only time you might get high lead levels (like a basement sink for example). Any other time it's no danger because as the pipes age and naturally oxidize from water exposure, the corrosion will coat the inside of the pipes and protect the water from the lead. If the local treatment plant of your city and the infrastructure is old and uses lead pipes and lead solder in their treatment facility, or if you get water from a well or cistern, there isn't much you can do about that. So even if you replaced all your plumbing with PEX, you could still be getting leaded water from the municipality.