FUBAR

[DesertTortoise]

If you served in the military, and maybe if you didn't, you know what it stands for. Putting an electric motor into water is FUBAR, but if that is what it takes to get rid of the stench coming from my $25 Starvation Army Electrolux shop vac ( ! ) then soak it in water is what I will do. It's not like it hasn't already been wet before as my images show you.

I took the vac apart again (getting easy to do now), removed the motor and took the big black prophylactic it's hidden under off it. The brush housing came off surprisingly easy releasing the fields, and I very much like how Electrolux uses little coil springs to effect contact between the field and the brush. But it appears to my untrained eye that brushes are not replaceable on these motors? Is this true?

I was careful not to immerse the armature, though the bottom bearing got wet, and the armature got a little wet when I blew the thing out with compressed air. I think the fan no longer has any smell but I can still smell something from the armature.

It is sitting on the back wall in the hot desert sun to dry out and hopefully air out.

I also figured out how to remove the bag compartment. It releases by pressing down hard on two tabs accessed from under the belly of the main body. That also frees the door and all the wiring for removal. You can see the splatter on the circuit card. This poor vac was really abused, and judging from how much brush it has left, it doesn't have a lot of hours on it. What a shame to ruin something so expensive and well made through such thoughtless abuse. Anyway, it'll live again but this one is going to make me work hard for it. No simple morning in the sink like most of the Kenmores have been.

The summer of electroluv continues .....................

 

[DesertTortoise]

Here are the images of the bag compartment removed from the main body, allowing more detailed cleaning of the main body (how come this old Navy guy keeps wanting to call it the hull and the upper half the superstructure?).

Look at the mess on the circuit card!

Some black marks will never come out but it is now scrubbed clean and the parts organized in a box awaiting a dried out and aired out motor.

 

[suckolux]

Nice work! That poor thing, someone should be shot and have to use a broom for life. I hope the smell is ok when its back together.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

you could have gotten the armature wet.. it would survive the experience. Not like you're leaving it there to rust... but it will smell much better when next fired up. You are correct, the brushes are no longer replaceable. The motor won't live through a second set in all probability, it may not make it through one. Nothing is built like it used to be. That motor runs at such a high RPM that life expectancy is 10-15 years of moderate use, 20 if very, very lucky. Unlike it's predecessors with their 2 stage motors running at half or less the speed and producing as much or nearly as much suction.

 

[DesertTortoise]

A week outdoors in the desert heat and fresh air ought to do it some good.

Do you think running it for a half hour before I install it will help blow out any residual stink? Or just install it and run it outdoors for half an hour at low or medium speed?

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

it will have some residual odor, maybe forever, depending on what the composition of the contamination actually is. It may 'burn off' once the motor runs a bit a gets good and warm. I will get warmer more quickly and closer to hot, inside the vacuum.

 

[tig21er]

I

like the looks of the cleaner after cleaning with the exception of the motor. You should have Removed the cover for the fans and used a 1/2 inch wrench to remove the armature and taken the fans out to clean them. There are a total of four stages on that motor. Two of the fans are moveable and two stationary. A proper cleaning of these would assure you of no odor. That is the best and only way you can clean a motor and not worry about problems with rust. When the fans are all apart the stationary fan with the front bearing could be protected from damage by water. Not like you did it.
As long as you are satisfied with it fine but a complete tear down of the motor was the best way to go.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Tig21er, I know. I have a Lamb motor apart right now. I didn't want to go through all that agony again. For me with my level of experience it is a long and tedious task to get those covers off. Moreover I left quite a few small tooth marks in the upper stage housing of that Lamb when I tap-tap-tapped it off. Seems unavoidable. It really fought me, one side would start to move and the thing would cock a bit, loosing ground on the opposite side, even tapping around the perimeter in a circular pattern.

I also don't have the necessary tools to remove the bearings (which might not be removable anyway on that motor) which means I have no way to remove the armature from the base. So I took the easy way out, soaking the whole thing, and am hoping for the best. It's 108 outside right now and the motor is sitting out in the sun. Sunshine and fresh air are the best disinfactants. It's getting a prescription dose of these right now.