Electro Hygiene

[tyson]

Hi I just started to collect Vacuums and I just found this at an antique mall and purchased it cheap.It's an odd looking vac but I love the colors on the bag and it's cord,plug and switch are all original and the finish is great.I haven't cleaned it yet.I want to clean it up the best I can.I wanted to try to find out more about these Vacs.When they were made? How many were made and are they collectible.I don't plan on selling it as I think it might be a rare find.Do they have attachments?I could find little information about it.It runs great and picks up awesome.How would I clean the bag or polish the chrome? I'm pretty fascinated by it's looks.I wanted to see what you guys thought and if you could help me with any information.

 

[jmurray01]

That is a great find!

I do believe they are rare.

For the body of the machine, I think some silver polish or something like that would get it looking nice and shiny again.

You can clean the bag in the washing machine I think, but on a low temperature wash probably without spin.

I'd be really interested to see it in action, so if you have a Youtube account could you make a video of it powered up and give us the link ?

Oh, and I look forward to seeing your future finds!

A true collector can never say no to "just another cleaner"!

 

[tyson]

Thanks,It looks as it come straight out of the closet where it's sat for years.I know very little about it but that I paid twenty five bucks for it and it's a really clean and looks well preserved with it's brass tag and bold colored print on the black bag witch seems flawless.I looked on you tube and all over the internet and couldn't find much about it.I'll do a you tube video on it soon and post it because there were none at all when I looked.The lighting in my picture doesn't do it justice.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

hygiene903 May Help You Here

@tyson

I wonder what Jeff Schroff, Sr. has to say about your Electro-Hygiene discovery? He is an avid fan of the brand that ceased to exist in 1983.

~Ben

 

[tyson]

I took a couple of other pics of it and posted them.I didn't find many pics on it and wanted to help others try to find out more about them as well.I had a couple of spots on my lens though.Maybe someone can tell me how to read it's serial number to find out it's year out of curiosity?

 

[tyson]

Here's the bag that I think is probably original too.It's not the best picture as the little black spots are on my lens but as for the bag I think it's a pretty cool looking print.I am going to do a you tube and post it in operation for others that might find one and be curious to see it work.I'll have to do a demonstration because I was shocked how it still picks up.

 

[tyson]

It seems like there were many companies that used the height adjustment like this one too.

 

[hygiene903]

Model 230 Electro-Hygiene

That is a beautiful 230 you have there. And yes, that is the original bag. The 230 and 2-230 were the last straight suction Electro-Hygienes, built from 1945 to 1954. You are lucky that the printing on the bag is still intact, although it appears to be cracked a little. For this reason, I would not wash the bag--although it wouldn't harm the bag itself, it could cause some of the printing to flake off, and I wouldn't want to chance it. If you feel you absolutely must wash it, hand wash it gently with a little Woolite.
There were attachments available for the 230 that included a hose, curved wands, upholstery nozzle, floor brush, dust brush, crevice tool, sprayer, hose connectors for suction and exhaust, and a short handle, small bag, and cord with inline switch to convert it to a hand vac. You raise the lever next to the nozzle to remove the nozzle and the hose connector attaches where the nozzle comes off.
Other than the handle, most of the Electro-Hygiene is cast aluminum, and Mother's Mag has always worked well for me for polishing it up.
There is a lot more I could tell you about Electro-Hygiene, but think this will suffice for now. You can email me at [email protected] if you like.
Jeff

 

[tyson]

Wow!Thank's Jeff.I'm new to collecting vacuums. When I was little I had this thing for the Kirby because it too had the polished metal.I didn't know it was that new though.All I could find were a few in a picture that were similar dating to the early thirties.In Ben's post he said that the company went out of business in the early 1980's that's too bad because this machine astounds me as to how it picks up.It has great suction yet and is in really good condition.I'll do as you say and not wash it in the washer and if I do wash it I'll use Woolite but I doubt I will because the bag is still a deep black with bright colors on the bag.Here is my Email too. [email protected] I'd like to hear from you sometime. Tyson

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

@tyson
Jeff did say a couple of years ago that Electro-Hygiene was shut down in 1983 since the brand had violated certain trade practices among door-to-door vacuum cleaner dealers. The few remaining Electro-Hygiene models that existed in '83, following the shutdown, were transferred to the Royal brand, including the 903 upright.

~Ben

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

A Vintage Link

@tyson
You may have an interest in this thread (scroll down to post #11991).

~Ben

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?1169

 

[tyson]

Thanks Ben that was interesting.I read the thread and wow! That was very interesting to me as well as educational.I didn't know that Royal took those Models over when Electro Hygiene closed shop.

 

[tyson]

Here's my Email too Ben [email protected] free to drop me an email anytime.

 

[tyson]

I was able to find some attachements pictured on line.YAY!!Now I just have to watch for them for sale.