Electrolux CB and CB2000

[collector2]

Been working on the Electrolux CB's in my collection today so I thought I'd post some pictures. Still need pieces for some of them as you can see but they are in pretty decent shape.

First up is the blue and silver CB - I believe the dates of manufacture were 1969-1973 (Please correct me if any of these dates are wrong)at which point the motor housing was changed slightly to accommodate the new, larger, (Super J) motor and the power nozzle connection was changed.

 

[collector2]

Next up is the modified version of the blue/silver CB (1975-1977) featuring the larger motor housing which accommodated the new motor and the new power nozzle connection.

 

[collector2]

Next the CB in Gold/silver 1977-1979

 

[collector2]

The Brown CB (1979-1982)

 

[collector2]

And Last but not least the 1985-1987 version of the C2000

 

[collector2]

As you can see I am missing quite a few pieces for them but they are a work in progress and will eventually be complete. 2 more CB's to find and 3 more CB2000's.

 

[briankirbyclass]

Thanks for posting these pics,,i have never seen the gold/silver model before,,very cool. Thank you!

 

[kirbyvertibles]

I love when people post pictures of these. Thank you so much for all the pictures you share.


(Hey Brian, I called and chatted with your neighbors the other day. Did they tell you? lol)

 

[briankirbyclass]

Philip, yes, they sure did! I happned to see them outside in their yard awhile back, and told them you were engaged, soon to be married,,they did not know and were thrilled to hear it!
Glad you talked to them, they enjoy hearing from you.
They are Very good neighbors and nice people.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Yep I really enjoyed them when they lived here.

 

[kevin]

Doug,

You've done a remarkable job on restoring the CBs and CB2000! That gold one is especially cool since it's so rare. I'm guessing that the aqua and tan versions are equally rare.

I am still curious to know, if your power nozzles are original with the tanks, what the model ids of them are. Ever since I found that PN-4C I've been curious if there was a PN-1C, PN-2C, etc.

By the way, what's the deal with the white receptacles?

Also, I just happened to be looking at some eBay listings and noticed that the serial ids of two CBs do not follow the familiar pattern of 2 letters with 5 numbers in between. Check it out ...

 

[tig21er]

Picture #3

has the first hook up for the P/N3 and Picture # 1 & 2 is the wire hook up for P/N 4C. The P/N 3 was the commercial version of the P/N 2.

 

[kevin]

Oh, thanks, John. I'd heard about a PN-3 before but have never seen one--or at least I don't think I have. I'm wondering if that is the one in Doug's first pic above?

What power nozzle model would the aqua and tan CBs used?

 

[collector2]

Afraid the powernozzles have all been rebuilt so it isn't the original bases on them and, therefor, not the original numbers. The first one is a PN1 and the second, third and fourth are PN4's and the CB2000 has a PN5

Everything up to the Blue/Silver CB used the PN1 but with a metal elbow and wands instead of the plastic wand. They also used a standard outlet for the power nozzle up until the motor cover was changed in 1975 to accommodate the new, larger, Super J style motor.

The PN2 (PN3??) was available with both the standard plug and the new 3 pin plug on cords as options. After that an adapter was available to change the new plug to the standard plug for older machines.

Doug

 

[tig21er]

I made

a slight error. The P/N 1 had the first hookup as well as the P/N 3 which is what some would refer to as a P/N 2 but had the 3 wire hookup. The first hookup is what Electrolux found that people started using the wrong kind of cord and some people had problems that led to change in hookup. OSHA had a hand in some changes there and I don't know why. The next two hookups for the power nozzles were on the last of the Blue CBs and the CB 2000.

 

[collector2]

If I remember correctly, what caused the change in cords was that people were replacing them with normal, two prong extension cords, leaving the power nozzle ungrounded. It was a simple case of "Why would I pay Electrolux $40+ for a cord when I can get one at the store that fits for $5.

 

[tig21er]

Well

Doug the cord for the CB in 1968 only cost $10.50 and not $40.00. The complete Powerhead and cord was $69.75. The CB cost $169.75 for the Galvanized body. The Vinyl hose was 17.50, wet pick up unit was $49.95 and the painted body was $149.75.

 

[kevin]

Paper Filters for the Model CB from a current eBay listing:

 

[tig21er]

CB

filters are still sold. They are also for the CB 2000 and are being sold for the Central Vac.

 

[collector2]

Thanks for the info John.

Doug

 

[kevin]

What motors did each of the CB and CB 2000 versions have? I've heard that the early ones had the Model G motors, and sometime later the Model L motors were used. I wonder why Model L motors were used instead of the standard models' ones? As for the larger motors, they must have been used prior to the Super J motors, because some of the teal ones had the larger motor housings (unless they were retrofitted at a later time). Would the 1205 motors required a larger housing?

I'm also wondering what color hoses each CB and CB 2000 version originally had. It seems from pics I've seen that the aqua CBs had ivory-colored hoses, the teal ones had gray hoses, and the brown ones had brown hoses Is this correct? Were they called accordion-style hoses? Were they vinyl or another material?

Were the Model CWs and CBWs manufactured in the USA or Canada, and when were they manufactured? How were they alike and different? One of the differences I've noted on John's pics are that one (if not both) had a tall handle on it.

 

[tig21er]

Kevin ,

the hose were vinyl and 10 ft. long. Most all the hoses were grey. And to give you a heads up on the CB 2000 here is a cutaway of one. The motor used Super J armature, the motor mount was similar to L and that's it.

 

[purdeekleen]

Bring back the CB2000

Aerus needs to reconsider to bring these back with new and added features such as HEPA filtration like what's on the Guardian Platinum, 10ft.electric crushproof hose, on-board tool caddy with sidekick option along with power nozzle storage on the machine. It may sound overkill but they also from what I've seen on here made a wet/dry option. Why not have that again? I know that cost and supply and demand was the reason why they were discontinued but I've always felt these were better vacuums than the household versions. However, my favorite canisters they did make that are my favorites is the model G, and the Super J which I have one of those as well as my CB2000. Just haven't been too impressed with the current models that are currently out there. The only three I would consider would be the Lux Classic or the Guardian Platinum as well as the Centralux. Just not a big fan of the plastic wand setup. Metal wand setup on the Classic is so much better.

 

[kevin]

Good idea, but Aerus's franchise system and training program need to be overhauled or restored--as the case may be--before it can be successful in being a leader in the industry as it used to be.

As it is, franchises are few and far between and vary greatly in the quality of customer service as a result of a weak training program. In many situations the customer's needs and wants are secondary to the salesperson's pocketbook. Manipulative tactics are used instead of promotional tactics that show the advantages that Aerus products have over the competition (perhaps because they are lacking or non-existent). In addition, Aerus machines are over-priced in many situations along with being diverse from one home to another based on the customer's ability to negotiate a deal.

I might add that Aerus hasn't even included the commercial canisters on its product history charts, so one wonders if they have even kept any of their schematics or molds for them; they'd likely have to start from scratch instead of merely revising which would increase production costs.

Moreover, there are many other machines in the market that are equally effective at cleaning or superior to the cleaning of Aerus products, so customer familiarity and/or loyalty to the Aerus brand name in the North American market is meager. That is why I don't perceive Aerus would have enough capital to even manufacture--let alone sell in profit-making quantities--the machine that you described.

That's unfortunate, because such a canister would have the potential to help put Aerus on the map.