has any one heard of the air-tec vacuum cleaner BK 2000

[hoover28]

They look like a good vacuum cleaner, made in the U.S.A. all medel, looks like a new verson of the old handy way vacuum made from 1976 to earley 90's. I was thinking of getting one to try out for selling in my vac shop.


Chris

http://www.air-tec.com

 

[vinvac]

Air-Tec

Yes,

I have heard of the Air-Tec vacuum cleaner. They now use what was formely Air-Way's tooling. The tools are what Air-Way used to include with every machine, the bags that the Air-Tec machine uses will work perfectly in the Air-Way machine.

Perhaps Charlie or Tania could shed some light on this for us.

Morgan

 

[aeoliandave]

Oh, this is very exciting to me.

Thank you so much for posting this link, Chris. I hadn't heard of this but clearly it is a metal exterior Air-Way re-jiggered as an enhanced horizontal cylinder with what appears to be quality plastic interior fittings. Luv the green color and I must have one!!!

Just look at those attachments! AIR-WAY all the way right down to the flange clip and an available 9 foot hose.

The only feature missing is a cord retractor. I'm sure that'll be in the future when it becomes a success - of course by then they'll have changed the color..so get your green ones now, folks.

First brand new vacuum I've seen that embodies the superior engineering of vintage vacs, without all the silly trumped up hype over useless features.

We can hope it has a fairly quiet motor but this may be impossible given the motors available these days. None the less, I really want one of these.

In any event IMHO this the the future American collectible we've been waiting for...as is ther Stainless Steel new Constellation, from a design standpoint regardless of performance. That little detail we can 'hot-rod'.

So...who in the club knows of a distributer in the Great Lakes areas? That a Canadian could order one and drive down to get it. Seriously.

Old Davy

 

[aeoliandave]

The Cut-a-way shot.

 

[kirbykid63]

Looks like a Royal

That Vacuum looks like a early nineties royal canister,I wounder if it has a Lamb motor in it.

 

[arh1953]

Wow!! I do like that too! I'd love to see one.

 

[myvacsrock]

My local vacuum shop sells a few used ones with the Wesel Work power heads, and he wants WAY too much for them for my taste!

I think he is asking like: $299.99 ish??

 

[kirbykid63]

Works like a tristar

After watching the video,I determined this machine works like a tristar.I think this design was taken from the royal classic canister of the nineties.

Richard

 

[air-waycharlie]

George Lovely, Jr., once worked for Air-Way as did his father. They were extremely successful distributors on the level of Don Clark and Mr. ? Light.

In the 70's, when Air-Way, "Inc.", was starting to fall apart on some level, many high level distributors left the company due to lack of support from corporate and started their own vac shops or vac companies.

George Lovely, Jr., did just that patenting the, "Black Knight" and "Air-Tec" vacuums which are really just a reworked Air-Way Sani-Clean, later known as the New Century.

Like Air-Way, George makes the vacuum, (he has his own plant), and has the hose and power nozzle out sourced. In the 1980's, (I believe), Steve Tomberlin, owner of Air-Way, sold him the dies/molds for the Air-Way tools. For a while, George sold his vacuums with tools that had the Air-Way name!

When threatened by a lawsuit, he continued using the all metal tools but changed the dies so the Air-Way name no longer appeared. The bags he uses fit all cannister Air-Way models and they are a filtrete, HEPA bag.

I sold them to my customers including many posters here and club members. I also sold several tool sets to members as well . I did buy them from Mr. Lovely at a dealer price. However, I did not like the way he conducted business with me.

He wanted me to become a BK, Air-Tec distributor but I was not interested in that. Interestingly, he was going to be in touch with Steve Tomberlin and perhaps purchase the "remains" of Air-Way. The name has been sold to VitaVac/VitaMix, but George could still make the vacuums with another name since he has a working plant.

I'm going to wait and watch and see what develops. Who knows, I may be an Air-Tec/BK distributor some day! For now it's Bosch, Sanitaire/Eureka and Panasonic.

Charlie W.

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Actually--

From what I understand, those machines are basically the same thing as the Air Way Sani-Clean... different color, different bags. ((I think he has a Filtrete bag)). The Sani-Clean is something that Air-Way made for years and years and years. The design is very similar to the very basic Royal tank that has been around since the beginning of time--but this has what all Air Ways have-- the "evacuator" (the cage around the bag with all of the holes in it). So, although they are similar, they are quite different. And the designs of both machines go waaaay back. I know the owner of this company did buy the tooling from Air Way (for all of the attachments) quite a few years ago, and produces all of the original Air Way attachments and includes them with these cleaners. Rumor has it, I believe, that the owner of Air-Tec may also be buying the tooling from what now was Air Way -- for the actual Air-Way machines. So we may be seeing those again after all.

They are great machines, I had an older version of one--it was all black, called the "Black Knight". I gave it to Tania when I moved. They are a bit on the noisy side, but nothing that you can't handle. It's just a regular ol' Lamb motor - same thing that's in an Air Way or TriStar.

I know Jeff has a Sani-Clean - he purchased through Charlie a few years ago. He loves the machine... and what makes it so fabulous is indeed its simplicity. It's a tube with a motor in it. The cord is obnoxiously long... but... I like the fact that there is no cord winder. I feel it just exemplifies the machine's simplicity.

The Air-Tec company has been around for a while, too. I remember we carried the green one at the vacuum store I worked at from about 1998-2001. I also remember the cleaner carrying a price tag of 600 or 700 dollars. Kind of steep--but most definitely a simple, reliable, metal machine that will have very few problems.

You can see the Black Knight that I had in the far left of this picture. Along with my Air Ways.

~Fred

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Ugh, but that Douglas power nozzle HAS to go! I forgot to say that in my above message. That's the only thing keeping it from being an absolutely stellar machine!

~Fred

 

[logan]

Douglas Power Nozzle

I agree Fred. The Douglas Power Nozzle is very poorly built. A Filter Queen Power Nozzle cleans better than the Douglas (and that is saying a lot)! :~)

 

[louvac]

Air-Tec

I had been talking with George for quite some time two years ago and he sent me quite a bit of info on the machine. Unfortunately, he will only sell the Air-Tec in a two-pack which is one reason why I will not carry that machine. Anyone knows that carrying inventory costs money. Sorry George--at least for now.

The machine is a decent unit and I am open for further discussion with George. Perhaps one vac shop could partner with another vac shop and purchase a two-pack and tehn sell one to the other vac shop to make it cost effective.

The former Air-Way tools alone make the machine a worthwhile investment!

 

[hoover28]

They do offer difernt power nozzles for the BK2000 on ther web site. The man I talked to sed I could order one but they do ship 2 at a time.

P.S. I just took in a handy-way sani-clean all in crome finsh for service today. It belongs to a good frand of the older man that I new for a few years who had a vac shop for over 47 years. He did sell handy-ways and was big on hoovers. he just pasted a way 4 monts ago. I mis him a lot. I have a painted handy-way that I found wen we cleaned out his vacuums. I will rebild it soon for my self. I will try to take some pic's of them wen I get them searviced.


Chris

 

[chuffle]

Thanks...

Thanks for the info on the Air-Way / Air Tec connection. I have been wondering about the Air Tec tools on their website that looked to be from Air-Way.

Now I feel comfortable in knowing that I can use Air Tec bags in my machine.

Joe

 

[pr-21]

Is Air Tec out of business now?


PR-21

 

[vacerator]

Is air tech?

A Metro?

 

[pr-21]

Air-Tec bought Air-Ways tool and dies, so it would be a sani-clean. They also sold the bags, with the clear see through tops, that were hepa like bags. Luckily I have some left, but after that.....


PR-21

 

[dysonman1]

Air-Tec is also known as "A to Z Vacuum" in Boston. They have Air-Tec (Black Knight) hepa bags, but if you ask for bags for an "air-way" they won't sell them to you. Ask for Black Knight bags. They come in an 8 pack. Plus they also have the filters that fit the Air-Way as well.