Electrolux Renaissance

[compactelectra]

With all this talk about Electroluxes I dug out my Renaissance. This is the newest Lux I have owned. It was a gift from my partner for Christmas in 1994. I remember seeing it advertised in a magazine which Lux generally never did due to its marketing model of door-to-door sales and, of course, I had to have one. It was the last high end model made while the company was still owned by Consolidated Foods. It was completely redesigned from top to bottom and ushered in the end of the metal bodied machines. I own a metal bodied Ultralux which I’ll post about as well which I believe was the model that was just before the Renaissance. I dusted it off and fired it up today and am still impressed with this machine. It’s light and very powerful. I found a bunch of germ grabber bags I had for it and with the after filter is probably as good as it gets for filtration. It didn’t come with the flip over rug and floor tool but I might get one for it.

These machines were problematic. I can’t remember whether it was the control board or the hose end controls but I remember reading that they had to replace these hoses and control boards quite a bit. Mine is unusual since it is all original and still works well. As I recall the controls were a problem if the customer left it plugged in. Here’s a post I dug up about the Renaissance. If anyone has anymore information about these machines, let’s hear about it.

The Rennaisance....

was problematic from the outset. The Guardian had a 25 yr warranty to give the salse force confidence in selling it.

I was branch manager from 1998 until 2002. When one of these babies came in the following parts were replaced just to make sure all the bases were covered and it could be fixed in one go.

Hose, wands, P/N elbow, light socket, circuit board. canister circuit board, switch, and cord winder. Not all were necessary in every case, but it was easier to replace it all, send the old parts to Bristol and make the customer happy.

In any event mine is complete and original. My vacuums were very lightly used if at all since the housekeeper used the central vac. The last picture is of me at Christmas with my new gift.

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

 

[keither]

Fred I was working for Electrolux ( St Paul Mn ) part time when the Renaissance was first introduced. A brand new unit was stolen from my car - Talk about a gut wrenching experience - I've always admired the Renaissance in its color, style and performance, despite having trouble adapting to the new lexan bodied machines that replaced the metal canisters.[this post was last edited: 4/8/2020-23:43]

 

[electrolux137]

~
~


When I first saw a Renaissance, I thought to myself, "If a designer sat down in 1937 and drafted what he thought an Electrolux vacuum cleaner would look like in the 1990s, this is what he would have come up with." It has such a great, retro look to it.

 

[jo]

It does take direct cues from the Lurelle Guild designed XXX

Yes, my friend had one of these renaissance’s and also my previous bf bought one new for his parents when we were together. I needed bags and we went to the Electrolux store and he seemed very interested in the machine. This was in 1996.

My friend’s started intermittent operation which we were told was the control boards that needed replacement and a whole new hose. Quoted $289.99 plus tax. Gave up on the unit and parted it out.

They are wonderfully quiet machines. I always thought the carry handle was interestingly different. These were my first experience with the new plastic wand system and swivel neck for the power nozzle. I personally did not care for the elimination of the flip over rug and floor tool or the change to two separate attachments for the dusting brush and upholstery tool as these combination tools are my favorite things about Electrolux. Also did not like that they changed the bag shape, all canisters previous used the C bag so for those of us who had multiple Electrolux’s we only ever had to stock one package of bags that fit all our canister machines but now on this they changed the shape...perhaps to avoid customers from buying non genuine bags as the patent had long run out on the C bag and DVC and other manufacturers were now copying the 4 ply bags legally.

I always loved the speed control feature and how quiet the machine is and how subtly the exhaust air blows out.

 

[bikerray]

Nothing like mixing control boards with heat and dust.

 

[titaniciscool]

Parted out mine

I unfortunately had to part out my Renaissance as the motor in my Epic 8000 went kaput. As the whole machine was in rougher shape than my 8000 I figured I would keep the one that was in pristine condition and scrapped the Renaissance. I do believe that the Style R machines along with my Super J are my favorite Lux's.

 

[human]

Self-Destruct Devices...

Jo wrote:
(W)e were told was the control boards that needed replacement and a whole new hose. Quoted $289.99 plus tax. Gave up on the unit and parted it out.

I reply:
That's exactly what they designed it to do. The circuit boards self-destruct, effectively killing an otherwise perfectly good machine. Then they price the replacement parts (which will also eventually self-destruct) so ridiculously high—if they're even available at all—that you just scrap the machine and they hopefully can sell you a new one. Welcome to the twenty-first century.

The only flaw in their logic is that for $289.99, you could buy a helluva nice second hand machine that's old enough not to have those damned self-destructing circuit boards and thus will outlast their latest offerings by several decades and you could well have a few bucks left over in your pocket when it's all said and done.

 

[jo]

Yep that’s exactly what I did

Yes, I decided to look on eBay and found a package deal of 2 Canisters for sale, one was a Silverado and another an Ultralux. I bought a generic hose for the Silverado and she still had the attachments and aluminum wands from a 1205 she had before the renaissance and so with those and I modified the power nozzle neck and added the cord and wands and sheath I must have bought off eBay too and she had a complete Silverado for about $150. I found a Marquise for parts locally on eBay, avoided shipping, by picking it up from the seller...got a great deal on it because the motor was bad but the body was spotless and perfect and I put the renaissance motor in it and it works beautifully. The renaissance motor is nearly identical to the motor that was in the Marquise so it worked. I did have to change the mounting bracket on the motor if I recall correctly. Eventually the used Silverado’s motor died. Began to smell like something was burning so she bought a Shark rocket. I did replace the Silverado's motor with a motor from a grand a Marquise I got off eBay who’s outer body was in rough shape but it came with a good genuine rubber hose which my Mother needed somthe Grand Marquise got parted out to give that Silverado a new life which I gave to a friend who moved here with nothing and needed a vacuum and had little money as he is a student. Also I provided a decent hose for my Mom’s Silverado. So there’s been lots of “finding something and putting together” based on needs I’ve done.

Jon

 

[human]

Exactly. That's how it's done.

And that's why I have six Electrolux canisters, three Electrolux uprights, seven Kirbys and a Sanitaire without a single circuit board to be found in the lot. They're all super easy to fix and they'll probably all outlast me.

 

[jo]

I try to keep my appliances circuit board free

After circuit board issues in GE fridges. I try to buy circuit board free appliances but it’s hard. My 1985 Maytag washer is still going strong...no circuit boards and I obtained a spare timer and set of switches in case any of those go out. I think my Aerus Lux Legacy has a circuit board in it for the lights on top. Boo. But I have enough other models with no circuit boards. I wonder if the current Aerus Lux Classic is circuit board free. It’s so simple it may be.

Jon