Electrolux 4000

[air-waycharlie]

Does anyone know if the Electrolux 4000 took an electrified hose utilizing the Sidekick and other attachments or was it straight suction only?

When did Electrolux start using a electrified hose on their uprights? I know it was for straight suction in the beginning so what model was the first to use the adapter plug and then later which model introduced the direct connect?

Thanks!

 

[vacuumlad1650]

Charlie


I think the Sidekick was added with the Discovery 3 Upright, which came after the Discovery II and Discovery Plus. Im not certain. They started with a non electric hose with a wire strapped on, then added an Electric hose.


Andy

 

[ctvacman]

The lux 4,000 & 6,000 had separate electric hoses. It was direct connect on the top of the bag door and the end that attached to the machine looked similar to the end of a renaissance hose. I see those hoses and sidekick on eBay frequently.

 

[ronni]

The Sidekick 1562 was introduced for the Marquise 1521 tank cleaner in 1987. However, it was not until 1991 with the debut of the Genesis LX 1572F and Genesis LXe 1717 that the power cord was hard-wired to the handle (first at the top, and later to the back due to the potential of shorting) to allow the receptacle in the bulkhead to be used for the hose cord.

The Lux 4000 and Lux 6000 would have used the Sidekick II K107U (made for direct connection).

The Xtreme Plus U139A upright was the indirect sales commercial version of the Lux 4000 and Lux 6000 with the onboard tools, but the manual does not mention an electric hose or the Sidekick option. As for Electrolux Corp.'s other commercial uprights the Prolux 1572E and Prolux 2000 U136B had the detachable 40' power cord (plugged into the bulkhead receptacle), but the Prolux 1572C and Prolux Plus 1572G, 1717C, 1747, and U111A had the hard-wired 40' power cord. The Xtreme, Commercials & Lux Commercials (U120A & U129-series) have all been equipped with detachable 50' grounded power cord (note: the U129S and currently-manufactured U129U were equipped with 35' grounded power cords).

I am unfamiliar with Aerus's rebranded lightweight upright cleaners. I also have no knowledge of the Veridian and Veridian w/OBTs but would take for granted that they were equipped with the detachable cords along with Aerus's concurrently-sold regular line of uprights.

 

[ronni]

I neglected to mention that Electrolux made a Dual Sidekick and Power Plug Port adapter (part # 7150-1) that could be used on the Discovery series, Genesis, and commercial uprights with the detachable cords. This was reminiscent of the earlier days of Electrolux when tank cleaners made prior to 1959 could be retrofitted with a power nozzle receptacle.

 

[ronni]

Just to clarify ... the Lux 4000 U140A & Lux 6000 U140B, U140C, & U156A were Aerus's only uprights equipped with an electric hose. All others had non-electric ones with the attached cord as a customer option. The Lux 4000's hose was detachable, and the Lux 6000's was not.

 

[air-waycharlie]

Thank you Ronni, Andy and Colby. The above responses have pretty much cleared up my questions.

Let me ask further: It is my assumption that the 4000 came with the, "onboard", non-electric hose, but, an electrified one as an option could be attached with the plug going into a port on the back of the vacuum. Then you could direct connect a Sidekick.

I am very familiar with the Luxes canisters from the XXX to present and have owned nearly every one at some point over the years. What is the collective option(s) of the performance of the 4000/6000 models? I had a Discovery years ago and liked it. I may acquire one of the newer and last of the Lux uprights and would appreciate thoughts on these as I am not that familiar with them.

Were there significant changes to motor amperage or performance? Change in weight? The rug nozzle seems unchanged for the whole run as does the brush roll and use of the U disposable bag----am I mistaken?

Thanks in advance!
Charlie

 

[ronni]

You're welcome for the information.

First, let me state my error in saying that the Lux 4000 came with a non-electric hose. That's what an Aerus representative in the main office told me when I inquired (that's why I prefer to email). I even asked if they could send me a spec sheet, but they don't keep them in their archives--or at least they wouldn't access them. I've been given misinformation by Aerus associates before, but not from the headquarters--how sad that they don't have accurate information (maybe that's why the company is going south)! Anyway, in looking through the instruction booklet, it shows both an electric hose and Sidekick in the diagram.

Here are links to ...

Lux 4000 manual:

http://www.aerushome.com/Warranty/Manual?category=Surface&manual=Lux4000.pdf

Lux 6000 manual:

http://www.aerushome.com/Warranty/Manual?category=Surface&manual=Lux6000.pdf

I believe both the Lux 4000 and Lux 6000 motors were 10 amp, but the latter had the VM3 motor. You can tell which upright cleaners had the VM3 motors, because the motor casing juts out at the front, and that's where the exhaust vent is located. Beyond that, I don't recall any differences between the two. I'm guessing that the Lux 6000's VM3 motor provided better airflow but am not sure.

You are correct that the nozzles, brush rolls, and Style U filter bags have been the same for all the Aerus/Electrolux L-shaped uprights (excluding the lightweight rebrands and the current Lux Commercial which has a 15" length nozzle instead of the standard 13" length nozzle).

Hope this helps.

 

[ronni]

Fyi ...

Here are the models of the Lux 4000 and Lux 6000 labels:

Lux 4000 - U140A

Lux 6000 - U140B, U140C, U156A

It may be that the U156A was the only one with the VM3 motor. Another difference may have been that one came with the green HPO brush roll.

 

[ronni]

Fyi ...

Here are the models of the Lux 4000 and Lux 6000 labels:

Lux 4000 - U140A

Lux 6000 - U140B, U140C, U156A

It may be that the U156A was the only one with the VM3 motor. Another difference could be that one may have come with the green HPO brush roll.

 

[ctvacman]

The lux 6000 had a separate electric hose just like the 4,000 I know because I had one. Also they were just the regular sidekick not the sidekick II like the ones found on the current legacy canister and the one introduced on the epic 6500 sr.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

Chas
They always used the same floor nozzle and. The differences include a Headlight, the power nozzle motor, brushroll style, and location of the Reset button. I recommend using these bags in them as well as upgrading to a post motor HEPA filter
Andy

 

[ctvacman]

The nozzles have changed, the discovery II through the genesis used a a style that was like the bottom of a pn5 -6a, then they went to a bottom like the 1692-93 PN with the tiny little brush strips at the corners. Then came the style with the air velocity slots in front. At some point when aerus came about they closed off the big channel on the side where the edge cleaning slots are, leaving just the ones in the corner to do the job. For awhile now the commercial models have a completely different bottom plate than the regular model.

 

[ronni]

My bad about the Sidekick II (which is made to fit the wider pin span of the hose end for the electric wands).

The Sidekick K119L in the white & capri color scheme matches the Lux 4000 and Lux 6000.

Regarding the nozzle with the brush strip, that was only the PN6. I've never seen an upright with that kind of nozzle, but I'd be interested in knowing if one or more actually did have it.

Here are engineering traits I observed of the Omni-Flo power nozzles (5s, 6s, & 7s) and the succeeding 1684, 1690s, 1720s, & 1750s (those used with more than one model typically had different ID tags and sometimes different colors; and occasionally tank cleaners were factory-paired with more than one successive pn model--likely as upgrades):


PN5 (1505/Silverado; gray 1453; 1521/DJ; Hi-Tech 2100; 1623/L-E): spring-loaded rear wheels, customary reset button, detachable power cord, metal brush roll guards, wide side channels

PN6 (1521/DJ; sand & jade 1453): spring-loaded rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, brush strip, metal brush roll guards

PN6A (1521/M & GM; sand & taupe 1453; Hi-Tech 2100; 2100/Special Edition; 1623/L-E & Regency Series 1000; 2100/Regency Series 2000) : spring-loaded rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, metal brush roll guards, wide side channels, corner channels

6B: (1623/L-E, Model 90, Special Edition, Regency Series 1000) spring-loaded rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, rear channel, corner channels

7B: (2100/Special Edition, Regency Series 2000; Hi-Tech 2100) stationary rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, rear channel, narrow side channels, corner channels

1622: (1521/L & U; 1623/Ambassador) spring-loaded rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, rear channel, corner channels

1684: (1762/Epic 6500SR; 1561 & 1569/Centralux?) spring-loaded rear wheels, customary reset button, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, rear channel, wide side channels, corner channels, front channels, headlight, electric elbow

1692 (sand cover--1521/U-LX) & 1693 (navy cover--1521/U-Cl; 1718/Epic 6000SR; black cover--1521/U-CE): spring-loaded rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, rear channel, narrow side channels, corner channels, headlight

1722--Regency Series 1500; 1723--1676/Ambassador II; 1724--1676/Ambassador III, 1725--1625/AdvantageSeries: stationary wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, narrow side channels, corner channels

1750 & 1752--Centralux ??; 1751--1676/Ambassador III; CB2000??: spring-loaded rear wheels, 3-way switch, hard-wired cord, plastic brush roll guards, rear channel, narrow side channels, front channels, headlight (1750 & 1752), no headlight (1751)


I'm pretty sure that I left out some details such as if any of the front rollers were designed to float as well as omitting commercial models PN5C, 6BC, & 7BC (and possibly others). Also, I'm not positive that the PN5 was the only nozzle to have a detachable cord--I'd heard that it was deemed problematic; so took for granted that it was only used on that model. In addition, I'm unsure of which power nozzles were used with the Centraluxes, whether some were factory-equipped with double-helix brush rolls, and if they all had the same motor (all were rated at 1.8 amps). In any event, it's obvious that there have been a variety of power nozzle engineering designs. I wonder just how many were used in the uprights (to my knowledge they weren't stamped with model IDs, but they were probably marked with part #s).

Btw, here's an estimated timeline of the models: Omni-Flos--1983-89; 1600s--1989-93; 1700s--1991-95 (the current alphanumeric model IDs were introduced in 1994 with the Renaissance C104A tank cleaner).

eBay Photos:

1)PN5
2)PN6
3)PN6A
4)6B
5)7B
6)1622
7)1684
8)1692
9)1725
10)1751

 

[air-waycharlie]

Ronni...............

A couple things went through my mind in reading your last post. It is interesting to note that Lux changed from metal rug guards to plastic. Perhaps a cost cutting thing? I have seen many P/N's on ebay selling with machines, (upright & canisters), with missing metal or plastic rug guards. IMO, not having them there does not allow the P/N to work properly.

I have a feeling the plastic ones snapped off from rough use and the maybe the same for the metal ones. Another thing, the brush rolls that were genuine Lux, (made exclusively for Lux), have a unique brush pattern/design in that it is a sweeping chevron of tufted bristles and the grooves line up perfectly with the rug guards. (I have never found this type of brush roll available anywhere except through an authorized Lux service center and they are EXPENSIVE.) The replacement brush rolls available through the major wholesale suppliers work very well but they are the ones with the helix brush design and usually at least one of the grooves does not align with the rug guards.

IMHO, the P/N 6, 6A and 1684 were among the best of the bunch. They all are very similar so it is a personal thing. I have found some far more, "whiney", than others. The use of the vents on the front and side really improved performance over the early ones.

One last thing, at some point, Lux stopped even embossing the model number on the bottom plate. Why, I have no idea.

Thanks for all your info and supporting pics. That had to have taken quite a bit of time. Again, many thanks!

Charlie

 

[ronni]

Charlie,

You're welcome for the info. I enjoy comparing and contrasting details along with researching and compiling data. A caveat is that I'm not an Aerus associate, so some of my observations may be inaccurate. Still, it makes for interesting conversation. I had wondered why Electrolux didn't stick with one design after it found one that was superior. However, your preference for the PN6, PN6A, & 1684 gives credence to that along with the possibility that some styles work better on certain naps than others. It would be interesting to view some vacuuming tests among the different designs to see if some outperform others and how they perform on different types of carpeting.

It bothers me when eBay sellers--especially those that claim to be in the vacuum cleaner business--lump all the models together as if there were no differences; that is, they list a bunch of model IDs in their titles and/or descriptions. I would never buy from such a seller unless the price were low, as s/he is either ignorant by choice (I have contacted some and gotten indifferent responses) or is purposely trying to delude potential buyers just to make sales with little or no regard for customer needs and satisfaction. Even if I have done my research, I dislike the idea of supporting their businesses.

As for the plastic brush roll guards, I agree that it was probably a cost-saving measure.

There must be a good explanation of why the aftermarket brush roll grooves don't always align with the Aerus/Electrolux guards--could it be that the spacing varied among different models or that they were designed as Perfect brand replacements (which are presumably different than Aerus products)?

As for the model being stamped on the bottom the OEMs still bear the ID but aftermarket replacements do not. I also saw an Omni-Flo power nozzle with the Concordia label (for the offshore market) that was not ID'd (unless that had been replaced with an aftermarket base).

Let us know when you decide on purchasing a Lux 4000, Lux 6000, or something else.

 

[ronni]

Upright Model Clarification

Aerus uprights have always been marked with model IDs for the entire unit, but unlike the tanks do not have different ones for the power nozzles. It stands to reason, because they are only removed from the unit for maintenance--not cleaning.

I wish Aerus/Electrolux would have done what Electrolux Canada did with its tank power nozzle model IDs--making them identical to the tanks'; or it would have been advantageous for collectors and enthusiasts for it to have done something like C100A and N100A. It makes me wonder if it uses a methodical way of choosing model IDs, or if it's just random.

 

[ctvacman]

Look carefully at the edges of a PN 1692-93 and you will see what I said about tiny brush strips, not the whole length like a pn6, hence why I said tiny. Naturally the upright versions that were around for the 1692/93 had them too, those models were the genesis lx and genesis LXe. The wire guards are spaced further apart than the plastic ones, which is presumably why some generic ones I've run into don't fit well with the plastic. A current genuine oem brush will fit the models with metal guards fine, they are so small that they just fit between the tufts. Actually the guard closest to the belt is in the same spot on the plastic ones as it is on the metal ones, for what're reason when they made the switch to plastic the positioned it closer to the other one by about a1/2".

 

[air-waycharlie]

Colby,

I just looked over my 1693 and see exactly what you are talking about. I mistakenly said I liked the 1684 but it was, indeed, the 1693 that I was referring too. It is on my Ultralux.

IMHO, the Ultralux teamed with the 1683 P/N was the best Lux since the Silverado/Olympia family.

I bought a new P/N from Lux that has no model number on the bottom. It has a dove gray cover with no headlight, on/off switch, reset button and black power cord. It does not have the brush strips mentioned above found on the 1693. It does have suction relief chevrons across the front, (7), and at the front/rear of the brush roll. I got a great deal on it and use it on the Ultralux or turquoise G occasionally. It is much louder than the 1693.

The gray one has a genuine brush roll and the 1693 has a replacement brush roll. Both work wonderfully on my berber carpet. I also have a N137S that does a great job as well.

Thanks for your informative comments!

Charlie