Dirt Devil Brand in UK Now Dead

[keiththomas]

Hi I have sold a HAndy Zip Dirt Devil what a waste of time, but decided to get rid as what not used. It appears this brand was used a lot until about 9 years ago. I know Power Devil was popular and part of Alba in the UK. Now that is owned as part of Argos

 

[sebo_fan]

Don't knock the Handy Zip - its a good one!

The Dirt Devil brand in the UK was owned by ALBA who are now owned by Argos - that part is correct.

However in the 1980s Dirt Devil was as the original U.S brand who sent over the Broomy upright, a larger upright vac, the Room-Mate electric sweeper (I have one) and the Handy Zip bagged hand corded vacuum. Most Handy corded vacs carried the additional name (Royal) as that was the home company who owned Dirt Devil.

Thus as soon as Dirt Devil US ceased the original line up of vacuums they had in the 1980s designed to be put on sale in Europe, the brand "died" back then with ALBA rebadging quite a few of budget "trader" appliances as their own and using other brand names such as BUSH and GOODMANS to flood the market.

Even when Dirt Devil UK was established through ownership by Alba PLC, the U.S produced Handy Zip continued to be sold - it was a popular hand held corded vacuum and still is, these days as it can be used with or without a paper dust bag. I adored mine and owned one for about 10 years - they don't break easy even if they do have plastic fans - unless you purposefully pick up grit all the time.

A separate box of tools was also available including a stretch hose but you'd have to remove the drive belt if you wanted to use the hose alone.

You should be able to get a good price if you give yours a good clean and market it well. Many people who have stairs in their home have a Dirt Devil Handy Zip - they're perfect for cleaning stairs - one of the design functions that went with the product when it was sold.

Check previous threads on here:

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?6266

and a green one:

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?22960

BTW don't go thinking that just because the Bush and Alba name are produced by Argos, that every appliance is thus original - the Bush upright bagged vacuum that appeared a few years ago was the same as the Argos Value bagged upright (blue and then in yellow) and was a Vax design.

 

[turbo500]

Ry, we didn't just get the handy and broomy cleaners over here. There have been hundreds of Dirt Devil cleaners (infact, the later Goblin Ace, JMB Compact, Hoover Studio etc were all made by Dirt Devil). I actually got to use an old 90's Dirt Devil Eclipse upright at the weekend, though I believe these were made by Royal.

 

[sebo_fan]

Eh, we did! The Broomy upright was sold in the UK as well as the other red upright they had with a headlight. Upright Deluxe 1000...(7250 model number)

Dirt Devil did not produce the Ace or Studio - it came in the form of the Goblin ACE first and then Morphy Richards before Dirt Devil produced the Lady Bug and countless other Chinese built variations thereafter.

Hoover brought out the "Compact" that came free with certain washing machines to begin with years after the original Goblin black and yellow Ace was out. Thereafter the Studio version came alongside the Compact after, perhaps Hoover realised there would be a market for it after the U.S designed Microspace cylinder vac (a model I always wanted but bought the Arrianne instead).
[this post was last edited: 1/20/2014-11:21]

 

[turbo500]

Ry, you're miss-reading what I said. We didn't JUST get the handy and broomy, which is why I then followed this up with the other models mentioned.

Although the name came from MR, the Goblin Ace 1300 was made by Dirt Devil - it has a DD model number and the number given in the manual to contact for spares is Dirt Devil's customer services. The same cleaner was also branded Hoover Studio, JMB Compact, Morphy Richards Jazz and Goblin Iota.

 

[turbo500]

Speaking of Dirt Devil, I got to play with this at the weekend. What a fab cleaner! Shame the plastics are so brittle on it as it cleans brilliantly. 900w dirty fan with very impressive hose suction.

 

[sebo_fan]

Chris, we can go backwards and forwards with this issue, but ALBA derived home owner Dirt Devil vacuums weren't sold until the 1990s when they appeared at Poundstretchers FIRST before Argos and other companies like Index.

I had an Ace by Goblin and it was probably bought at the time when I couldn't get my hands on the Microspace by Hoover. Carried the model number 73132.

End of the day, they were made in bloody China. As a sales person in the 1990s I can relay only what I know from my experience and as a shopper. At no time was I under the impression that MR/Goblin made their own vacuums though - and lets not forget the Jazz, which was similar to the Ace with a variable suction control dial and available in different colours including a funky purple and black.

The bag code is E67 which also made it into the Electrolux Minimite and MiniLite cylinder vacs, possibly the same vacuum cleaner with a few changes.

 

[sebo_fan]

The more important issue that you are totally MISSING is that Dirt Devil in the UK came direct from Royal vacuums, the ORIGINAL SERIES. Thereafter when Dirt Devil in the U.S split from European sales, that's when those tiny little bagged cylinder vacs appeared - and thereafter bagged uprights based on the Electrolux Contour and other variations.

The two companies are totally not the same! Only the fact that the Handy Zip and Room-Mate continued to be sold until the Room-Mate was stopped. Dirt Devil in the UK then produced their own stick vac version much later with auto cord rewind but no beater brush bar.

Don't forget I also had a Dirt Devil UK upright in the form of the Hoover Turbopower 2 based model. There's a photo somewhere on here showing that.

 

[matt8808]

OMG I had an Eclipse YEARS ago!

Not sure if there was something wrong with it because it sounded like a fighter jet taking off, however it did clean very well!

The bags seemed to split very easily even though I was using genuine bags in it.

Did they make more models of the Eclipse? The one I had seemed to have more hose visible and I think it had a headlight? Although that may just be my memory playing tricks on me...

 

[hi-loswitch98]

Is that a Hotpoint Vacuum I see in reply #5 Chris?

 

[sebo_fan]

Well spotted HiLO! And a Goblin Commander/XTC

 

[turbo500]

Yes to both. We were testing out the new Hotpoint cylinders at a meet this weekend. The Goblin Commander is 1 of only 2 known left to exist.

 

[hi-loswitch98]

How good are the Hotpoints & also do you own one then?

 

[turbo500]

They're not mine. I'll let the owner do a thread on them in his own time.