Help! I bought yet another Kirby!!!

[davevac]

Thrift stores

I see Kirbys all the time in my area....Goodwill and Volunteers of America
have one every 2 months or so...I don't collect post war models so I pass them by.
I would buy them for all of you but shipping makes it cost prohibitive....
I never see the ones I collect because if they ever get one, they throw it out !
They are worried about old wiring around here.
Great, huh ?

 

[kirbyklekter]

Some of the collectors

here and elsewhere will buy a vacuum at the good will and take it home to refurbish and then re-donate the machine back to either the same or another thrift shop. I think that is one of the nicest gestures I've ever heard about. It says a lot about the person and their integrity. I hope good karma comes their way often.

 

[human]

The difference is in the nozzle...

In reply #10, Kirbyklekter asked about the difference in sound between the Heritage II Legend with its new Amodel fan and the Legend II with its (presumably original) Lexan fan. Things have been a little hectic of late but I finally had the opportunity a little while ago to do a side-by-side comparison. It's actually the first time I've had the opportunity to run the Heritage II Legend since I put the new cord on it. Neither machine is appreciably louder than the other but they do sound quite different. The Legend II has a bit of a low growl to it while the Heritage II Legend is a bit higher-pitched but also more melodic, if that makes sense. Of course, then I stuck the hose on the Heritage II Legend and used a Zip Brush to get some dried cat barf off of the sofa and it turned into a real screamer.

Then, as I was taking he hose off to put things back together, I decided to be semi-scientific about the whole thing and swapped the nozzles to account for other variables. Lo and behold, the difference in sound was from the nozzles, not the fans!!! While it's possible the two brush rolls have differing amounts of wear, I think the more likely explanation is that the Legend II nozzle has a moderate amount of crud in it, which served to deaden the resonance, while the Heritage II Legend nozzle is almost completely crud-free, thus maximizing the resonance. To completely eliminate nozzle variations, I made one final test, running each for about three seconds with a bare hose instead of a nozzle. Unlike the previous tests, I had to swap my one hose over from one machine to the other but I could discern no major difference between the two.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Thanks for that human

I know you've been busy these last few weeks with school. As you mentioned, I'm sure there are a lot of variables that would affect the tone of a vacuum cleaner. The shape and size of the nozzle and the type of brush roll, the size of the motor etc etc. I'm working on a Hoover Foldaway that desperately needs a new brush roll. It's so loud, it rattles and screeches, so I thought what the heck and took the bearings off both ends and packed them with a good grease and voila! It sounds like a new vacuum cleaner,. no rattles or any noise from the brush roll. Temporary but effective. I'd like to replace the brush rolls in a couple Kirby's over to the ball bearing type with the extra rows of brushes, I hear that makes a noticeable improvement.Thanks again for the update!

 

[lesinutah]

Nice

I mean in ten years if you hear up your fan which only happens if you burn up the belt.
If grey fan got cracks there are epoxiies that could could seal and be stroñger than before..m your going to lose 1-1.5 percent less effecient.
Les

 

[rivstg1]

Fixing cracks

It seems to me that the larger problem/risk to fixing the cracks and being stronger from that ....is, that any glue might disrupt the balance(unequal weight).