Eureka powersweep industrial shop vac E405 info

[stagedemon]

Hello everyone. I hope you're all having a good day. I inherited/stole (haha) this vacuum from my parents. I haven't been able to find much info about it online except for a previous post on this website 4 years ago.

How do I maintain this vacuum? What year was it made? More importantly, do bag refills still exist? We have been using the same bag for at least 20 years the suction power is still really good!

 

[rugsucker]

Power Sweep

There are 2 here. Lighter has older hose connector, darker is newer. These were good for cars,offices, churches and more. I think they were made into the late 80s with the last being red/white with outlet for power nozzle. I haven't seen bags in years but you might find a central vac bag that would fit. Others will know more.

 

[paul]

Your Power Sweep looks like it's been well-preserved either through minimal use or good care.

Until Rugsucker posted his photos, I was only aware of the one design. The U.S. counterpart to yours was the Model 405; in the '70s Canadian models had an 'E' prefix of the same model number used in the U.S. There may be another model number for one of Rugsuckers, or it may just have another Type as indicated on the manufacturer's label. Yours is Type D, and so is. The letter type indicated an initial design (A), or a change or upgrade; there were often 3 or 4 over the entire course of a model's production. So the Type D may have been mid-70s, but unless the motor or canister has a date stamp one can only speculate.

The motor likely needs a good cleaning and inspection and possibly some lubrication. The bag should be emptied if needed, shaken outside and vacuumed off with another cleaner. The casters may also need some lubrication. Rugsucker and others can provide more details due to their more extensive knowledge and shop experience.

Here's a 1972 newspaper ad I located for the Power Sweep and photos of a Model-Type 405-D (not mine):

 

[centralvacs1928]

Interesting to see the ad touting "Especially Built for Home Use" when it says "Industrial Vacuum Cleaner" right on the thing.

Also strange that they were advertising it as "the answer to shag carpet problems"...!

Imagine.

 

[paul]

Good points, Owen.

It seems, though, back in the day (and possibly now) the cleaning industry made a design distinction between 'industrial'—heavy duty for home cleaning companies; and 'commercial'—heavy duty with longer 3-wire cords for commercial businesses.

Take, for example, Electrolux Corporation's Prolux uprights. Most of them had a longer cord than the regular household uprights (I think 35-feet) and onboard tools, while the Prolux heavy-duty Commercial was equipped with (I recall) 40-foot cord with no onboard tools. Other upgrades may have existed of which I'm unaware. The later Prolux Plus (in both versions) had the 9.5-amp motor. The company then made a Commercial version with a 50-foot 3-wire cord, a different base and hood design and ergonomic handle.

Photos:

1-3. Prolux Heavy—Duty front, back, and hood text

4-6. Prolux Heavy-Duty Commercial—front, back and hood text (I've not figured out what "by Electrolux" means, except that maybe manufacturing was outsourced.)

7. Commercial specs sheet—originally posted on VL by tig21er

 

[collector2]

I have a 405C-B in my collection as well.

According to the Eureka repair book I have there were 5 versions of the Commercial -

405A, 405B, 405D, 405E, 405F.

While mine has had the Blue Eureka parts added to it according to the repair book the only parts they came with was the hose, wands and rug nozzle. On the first three the rug nozzle used was metal (The same one used on Switson, Fairfax and other machines) then the last two had the more familiar plastic Eureka rug nozzle. Also the black and white pictures of the first two machines show them with the same hose connection as mine but the colour scheme reversed - blue top white body. I am assuming that, as mine has a B-C designation it was out between the B and D - having the colour scheme of the D but hose connection of the B