gmerkt
New member
This post is regarding a couple of models of the Chinese-made Fantoms, not the original Canadian-made machines. The Chinese Fantoms are made by Euro-Pro LLC. You cannot find out much about the company online except that in addition to Fantom, they make Euro-Pro, Shark and a couple of other brands. What you can see online are tons of complaints about marketing shenanigans and product quality issues.
I've worked on Euro-Pro to my frustration; I've examined many more as well as Shark and since my initial experience, have passed on them all. Both have issues with design and build quality in my own opinion.
So it was with some reluctance that I agreed to take a Chinese Fantom from a customer who bought a reconditioned Hoover from me. I told them that it wasn't my regular line of country and I couldn't give them anything for it but they said it made them feel better to give it to me rather than throw it in the garbage bin.
What they left with me was more interesting than most Chinese Fantoms. It is a Model FM 788 HG, and on the front it says, "Commercially Rated." It has a heavy, grounded cord and a 15 inch wide brushroll. The date of manufacture says 29/06. The original owners were getting rid of it because it had no power function.
Well, it sat around here for a while before I looked at it. When I got around to it, I opened up the area where the power switch and the cord are housed. Right away, I could see a burned fuse in the circuit. I didn't have any 12 amp 125 v fuses, so I left it as-is until I could get one. In the meantime, I came across a Model FM 741B Chinese Fantom, which is a similar, non-commercial model. The price on it was so low as to be almost free. Besides color differences, the floor nozzle is different (13 inch brushroll) and there are a few cosmetic differences. Also, the FM 788 HG has a rheostat on the power control panel to vary the induction motor speed, which the FM 741 B lacks. However, the plastic housing for the power switch also has a cord hook combined into the plastic housing and this was broken on the FM 788 HG. So, I used the plastic housing and the fuse assembly from the 741 B to make the repairs to the 788 HG.
I don't usually see in-line fuses like this near the power switch. If present, they might be near the motor or there might be a thermal breaker switch down there instead of a fuse.
Parts for Chinese Fantom, Euro-Pro and Shark are a kind of closely-held deal. Anything more complex than a belt or filter is hard to get. Finding contact info for the company is limited to an email address. One thing I was able to find for the 788 HG was a PDF doc of the owner's manual and there was a Plattsburgh, NY address contained in that. The ID decal on the machines makes no mention of who makes them.
So with the donor machine, I was able to get the so-called "Commercially Rated" Chinese Fantom back in action. I must admit that this 788 HG is of higher quality than the Euro-Pro and Shark that I've examined.
The burned fuse I believe was caused by high resistance in the power cord or one of the connections in that line. I replaced all the bad wire but who knows how long it's good for. On Chinese machines, I don't think the quality of wire is always the best. I've repaired similar product where there were obvious signs of excessive heat from high resistance and even broken strands at the strain relief fitting.
I've worked on Euro-Pro to my frustration; I've examined many more as well as Shark and since my initial experience, have passed on them all. Both have issues with design and build quality in my own opinion.
So it was with some reluctance that I agreed to take a Chinese Fantom from a customer who bought a reconditioned Hoover from me. I told them that it wasn't my regular line of country and I couldn't give them anything for it but they said it made them feel better to give it to me rather than throw it in the garbage bin.
What they left with me was more interesting than most Chinese Fantoms. It is a Model FM 788 HG, and on the front it says, "Commercially Rated." It has a heavy, grounded cord and a 15 inch wide brushroll. The date of manufacture says 29/06. The original owners were getting rid of it because it had no power function.
Well, it sat around here for a while before I looked at it. When I got around to it, I opened up the area where the power switch and the cord are housed. Right away, I could see a burned fuse in the circuit. I didn't have any 12 amp 125 v fuses, so I left it as-is until I could get one. In the meantime, I came across a Model FM 741B Chinese Fantom, which is a similar, non-commercial model. The price on it was so low as to be almost free. Besides color differences, the floor nozzle is different (13 inch brushroll) and there are a few cosmetic differences. Also, the FM 788 HG has a rheostat on the power control panel to vary the induction motor speed, which the FM 741 B lacks. However, the plastic housing for the power switch also has a cord hook combined into the plastic housing and this was broken on the FM 788 HG. So, I used the plastic housing and the fuse assembly from the 741 B to make the repairs to the 788 HG.
I don't usually see in-line fuses like this near the power switch. If present, they might be near the motor or there might be a thermal breaker switch down there instead of a fuse.
Parts for Chinese Fantom, Euro-Pro and Shark are a kind of closely-held deal. Anything more complex than a belt or filter is hard to get. Finding contact info for the company is limited to an email address. One thing I was able to find for the 788 HG was a PDF doc of the owner's manual and there was a Plattsburgh, NY address contained in that. The ID decal on the machines makes no mention of who makes them.
So with the donor machine, I was able to get the so-called "Commercially Rated" Chinese Fantom back in action. I must admit that this 788 HG is of higher quality than the Euro-Pro and Shark that I've examined.
The burned fuse I believe was caused by high resistance in the power cord or one of the connections in that line. I replaced all the bad wire but who knows how long it's good for. On Chinese machines, I don't think the quality of wire is always the best. I've repaired similar product where there were obvious signs of excessive heat from high resistance and even broken strands at the strain relief fitting.
