Electrolux Power Nozzles

[sireluxomatic]

Canadian PNs

The Holy Grail items for me are the cream and red PN I with the long wand, and the detachable cream and red PN I with the red electric telescopic wand that were offered with the red and white 80 series machines. If I could find those, I'd almost consider my collection complete.

Anyway, here are the three power nozzles that came out with the 87 and 89...the PN II (back), PN III (left), and PN IV (right), with the telescopic wand. The only difference I can see between the light green PN II and the U.S. PN I is the elbow...the Canadian one has a push button latch instead of the friction ring.

 

[sireluxomatic]

More Canadian PNs

Bottoms. The PN III and IV have plastic brush rolls.

 

[sireluxomatic]

Some differences between the PN III and IV

Here's a closeup of the PN III brush adjustment button. Mine is completely stuck, and I might get around one of these days to opening it up and fixing it. The PN IV got rid of this adjustment.

 

[sireluxomatic]

More differences

The PN IV has two screws in the bottom plate; the PN III doesn't.

 

[sireluxomatic]

Still more differences

The PN III doesn't have any cooling vents on the side, whereas the PN IV does.

I have no clue as to the production dates for the PN II, III, and IV. My PN III has a serial number beginning with 0, indicating it was made in 1970, and the PN IV has a serial number beginning with 3, indicating 1973. Beyond that, I'm not sure of the dates of production.

 

[sireluxomatic]

Later PNs

There was a PN V offered with the early AP 100 which was, I think, identical to the PN IV except for color.

Here are the three AP series power nozzles I have...PN 100 (back), PN 200 (left) and PN 280 (right). These are identical to the U.S. PN II except for the color-matched finish, logo strip, and, as Vernon pointed out, the top has to come off before the cord can be removed. Why they did this I'll never know...its a fiddly process to get the cord plugged in properly while trying to put the cover on.

These are noticeably quieter than the PN II, even though they (presumably) share the same motor. They have sound dampening insulation around the motor.

 

[sireluxomatic]

Bottoms

Again, these are pretty much identical to the PN II, except there's no information on the metal brush roll plate. Actually, the PN 280 on the right has the bottom of a PN II...presumably, it should be either chocolate brown or white. All of these connected to the familiar sheath, either with a latch, or the friction ring.

Excuse the wall in the background; it had to be torn out to get at the water main valve, and its still in the process of being replaced.

 

[mercuryman]

Nice!

The Canadian PNs are quite nice. I like the fact that even though they're different from the American PNs, they're unmistakably Electrolux products.

Bob, with regard to your PN-1...have you found that the plastic housing/sheath has become more brittle over time? I did notice a tiny hairline crack at the very top of the sheath on mine, where the power cord goes into the wand. I'm thinking about attempting to Krazy Glue it, just to prevent it from getting worse.

 

[eurekastar]

So do the Canadian and U.S. power nozzles use the same brush rolls and motors?

 

[sireluxomatic]

Brittle-brattle

Yes indeed, Brian, I do find the whole PN I very fragile. Its a pity, because its arguably the nicest looking power nozzle Electrolux made. I'd say a small amount of glue wouldn't hurt.

I know nothing about the aging effect on various materials, but considering these power nozzles are between 40-50 years old, they must be considerably weakened by now.

I'm not sure how effective this is, but every so often I give all the plastic and rubber parts of my collection an Armor-All treatment. At least it keeps them shiny.

 

[sireluxomatic]

Brush rolls and motors

The Canadian PN I and PN II were imported from the States (only the colors were different), so the brushes and motors would be the same.

The PNs 100, 200, and 280 were made in Canada, but I assume they shared the brush roll and motor of the U.S. PN II.

The PN III and IV were totally Canadian in design.

(If anyone out there can correct me in these details, please do; I'm far from an expert)

 

[mercuryman]

And While We're Discussing Power Nozzles in Such Depth..

Is there any way to adjust the height of the brushroll in a PN-2? I've noticed that the PN-1 is actually better at "sweeping" up debris on my low-pile carpets than the PN-2 is.

I am considering just replacing the brush roll in the PN-2...although the bristles don't look mangled, they appear a little shorter in length than on the PN-1, and I assume it's due to wear.

 

[elux89]

adjusting PN 2 brushroll height.

Mercuryman

To adjust the brush height to compensate for wear, the sleeve bearing ends can be rotated. It you look at the bearing end, as you rotate the bearing, you will see a flat piece on the frame, if it's still the oem bearing, it will probably say used, this should be facing towards the lid. By having it facing towards the lid, the brushes will be lower to the floor.

 

[collector2]

Ok - here goes:

Canadian Power Nozzles

The red and cream Pn 1 was brought out around 1963 to match the 86/88. The same as its US counterpart it had the one piece plastic wand and a separate cord for the hose.

Around 1966/67 it was changed to the short red elbow and a telescopic wand but the cord was still clipped to the outside of the wand.

In 1967 the model PN II was introduced (lime green / dk green bumper) to match the models 87/89. It also had the telescopic wand but this wand had the power cord built in. At this time red and cream PN I's were still being produced to retrofit the old machines but now with the electric telescopic wand.

Around 1969/70 the first wholly Canadian design PN III (Lime green with dk green bumper)came out. The cord now came out of the elbow and the new roller bearing brush could be adjusted down as it wore. They were short lived, however, as the contacts in the elbow gave alot of problems and the roller bearing brush was extremely noisy. As well the brush adjustment gave alot of problems and the method of attaching the top cover (3 rivits) proved impractical for repairs.

By 1971 the PN IV had been introduced (dark green with lime bumper). The problems of the previous model were solved by using a direct connect cord (still in the elbow) and a brass bushing brush similar to those used on the PN 1 or later models) as well as removing the brush adjustment. As noted the hood was now kept on by screw rather than rivits.

In 1973 the AP100 was introduced with the PN V which was basically the same Power Head as the PN IV just in tan instead of green. This was also the last use of the telescopic wands in Canada

In 1974 Electrolux brought in PN 2's and solid wands from the US and added a tan cover to match the AP100 as an experiment to see if they would go over well here. Stickers were placed over the PN2 number renaming them the PN 100. These still had the dark blue base however. They went over well so Electrolux Canada began producing them with only minor changes - the biggest one being a change in the moulding of the hood to make the cord non removable as it had a tendancy to come off on the PN2's (Incidentally the 3 prong style plug on the PN2 was made so the cord could easily be changed to the 3 prong cord used for the commercial model CB)

The PN200 and PN280 were just colour changes of the PN100 to match the AP200 (1976) and AP280 (1978)

In 1982 the E2000 came out with the PN2000 which is a Canadianized version of the US PN4. The only differences are the almond and tan colour and the elbow which used a button clip that was unique to that model.

In 1985 The Jadestone model 2100 came out with the PN5 (light grey with jadestone bumper). It featured the new L shaped body and a removable cord as well as actual bearings on the brush instead of bushings.

It was replaced in 1986 by the PN6 (Jadestone with light grey bumper) which now had a non removable cord and a better holder system for the brush bearings. The PN 6 would continue with both the system 90 (Grey with Taupe bumper) and the special edition (grey with wine bumper) models till 1989 at which time the Canadian factory was closed, production was moved to the US and quality fell drastically.

 

[sireluxomatic]

Thanks a ton for all that info, Doug. Its good to have those exact dates.

 

[1926700]

hey...

the model l manual from 1962 featuring the new power nozzel....

page 1

 

[1926700]

page 8

the new power nozzel

 

[1926700]

and..

the accessory page

 

[1926700]

now...

the receipt.....this came from Phillip Mullers grandmother L that she bought new in 1962 as the paperwork states....she supposedly traded a model 30 in for her new machine..and the manual scans are from the original manual from that very machne

 

[kloveland]

Thanks

Thanks Jason,

I'm a sucker for manuals/ads.