Help! What is happening to my Rainbow

[lux_luthor]

I’m glad they got back to you and it was something repairable. $225 is better than $2250 for a new one! Hopefully he can get it fixed and back to you quickly!

Awesome job taking such immaculate care of yours. I’m going to try and do the same with mine as best as I can.

 

[mark40511]

Yep

blows my mind to but in a way I can sort of understand it. I think the demo's may not really touch much on the maintenance of the machine because they are trying to sell one. Even though they state in the manual to clean separator often, change water before getting too dirty....I think maybe most users think "fill with water, vacuum until done, dump the crud...done." In fact,when my grandma had her Rainbow from the 80s and we used it, that's what we did. Filled with water and I remember taking the basin out and dumping the dirt in the ditch and it was thick. I mean, we took care of it but didn't realize the water needed to be changed much more often than we were. God knows what the inside of that thing looked like. We were abusing it without realizing it. That's why I would be paranoid to buy a used one unless you KNOW it's been totally serviced inside and out. They can look so CLEAN outside but be filthy inside.

 

[lesinutah]

Clean

If you keep yours clean that explains the fans. If you don't clean the seperator the buildup starts there.
The gold 2 speeds didn't have foam batting. The silvers had batting. I have replaced parts on the silver and there's 2 versions. One was pre 2009. The other board was after 2009.
I had help fixing them. I must say if you have a rainbow with no build up on the fan that's awesome. You use and maintain it like it is meant to be.
Les

 

[mark40511]

Thanks

my gold 2 speed actually does have the foam insulation. I remember talking to someone on here a LONG time ago who had a slightly earlier gold 2 speed than mine and there's didn't. Additionally, my gold 2 speed doesn't have the separator wrench/brush. (LOL) Why? From my understanding, there was a brief run where they didn't include them. Mine must have been one of them. Here's a picture of the inside take a while back.

 

[lesinutah]

Nice

I see good to know. Your vac is way clean.
Les

 

[madman]

Sounds like your repair guy confirmed what everyone here said was wrong.

 

[rdwdcp]

Hi madman

 

[mark40511]

Got my rainbow back

I also got to see the new SRX in person. Such a cool machine.
Anyway - he replaced the controller. I asked him to clean the fans since he had it but he didn't. I think he thought there was no use to clean them. He said they didn't need it. But I figured he could at least clean them since he had it apart. They charged $260 total and there is a 1 year warranty on the new controller...Hopefully it won't be needed. As soon as I got it back I wiped everything down with bleach water (just to be safe)

 

[lesinutah]

Fans

If he took apart fans to clean you could bend them. Typically if you do anything to the fans there worse off than when you began.
Id leave the fans alone. Looking at part of your vacuum you showed your fans are excellent and best left alone.
Les

 

[lux_luthor]

Is it working good as new now?

The Rainbow SRX was what I really wanted—maybe after I pay off my car—if I financially survive COVID19.

 

[mark40511]

Yep

sounds like it always has from day one. I want the SRX too (LOL). I mean, I even wanted the E3 Black or E2 Black.....But I made it through not getting the black one......and I can make it through not getting the SRX (I think). It's just so hard to justify it when I have a perfectly nice rainbow that will probably outlast me.

I was surprised he didn't give me hell about using a generic HEPA filter. It's so hard to tell the difference I don't think he even noticed.

Have you seen the size of the HEPA filters on the SRX?? They are Massive. I wonder what a replacement cost would be for one of those?

 

[lux_luthor]

I hope mine will last a long time, as it will be a good long while before I can upgrade.

I was surprised the filter on mine is as big as a car cabin filter. The new one looks like it’s twice as big, almost HVAC size.

 

[juju93]

When I purchased my SRX system a few months back I ask about the life expectancy of the filter and the distributor told me that it’ll last 10 years, 7 if you have pets. Now I’m not sure how true that is but I can justify paying whatever the price is.

 

[mark40511]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's true

They are huge. I went 5 years before changing my first HEPA that came with mine. Cut into it, and it was barely dirty. Didn't even need changing.

I can't find any of those filter replacements online I was wondering what their pricing was. The current E series HEPA's can be as much as $50. I wouldn't not be surprised if these are close to $100. I also noticed they are a dark color which is odd.

 

[mark40511]

One thing I forgot to mention

Since this rainbow of mine has the updated board.......when starting it, it ramps up much faster than it did before.

 

[huskyvacs]

Glad to know the correct diagnosis was given. I'm sure it runs a lot better now and probably even has stronger suction too. It sounds like the way the board failed, it was not transferring the AC line voltage to the motor properly. Kind of like when you have a cheapo crappy battery in your car and the starter can't get going to turn the engine over I guess?

That's cool he gave you a massive discount when he seen that you were someone that cared for your equipment and this problem was totally the fault of Rainbow and not the user. That does not happen every day, he sounds like a good guy. He probably didn't clean the fan because there was not enough there to be worth it to disturb the rest of the vacuum assembly or he had a lot more services to do and was pressed for time, I don't think he did it just to ignore you.

Also Chinese parts have gotten a lot better in quality - a lot of the knockoff Dyson filters, even going over with a magnifying glass you can hardly see the difference both by sight and feel. I have to use china knockoff box filters in my furnace now because the filter media size that it takes (20x20x5) is obsolete, and the manufacturer as well as 2nd party makers quit selling them, which left it open to 3rd party makers to start selling them.

 

[lux_luthor]

That’s cool that it fires up quicker. I need to get mine out and go ham. I’ve not used it this week yet.

 

[redgeminipa]

I just bought 2 E2 Golds, hoping to clean them up, and make at least 2 good extra machine. After tearing the first one down, thinking it only needed a switch, it won't turn on. I pulled my E2 Blue apart, trying the power and basin safety switches, hoping one of those were the problem. Nope. Dead.

When I had it apart for cleaning, I pulled the controller out of the housing. It was dusty, but not horrible. While holding (I thought) along the edges, I got shocked. I tried blowing it off as much as I could, and reassembled. Nothing.

When I tested the good switch on the other one, it does nothing in low, and keeps cutting out when trying to spool up. I didn't rip into that one, yet, but I'm afraid the board is on its way out, too.

I'd LOVE to get these both up and running, but they're not worth spending $300 each for new controllers. Luckily, I only paid $50 for both, and there are a lot of good attachments and extras with them, including a new 4 qt basin, and some other things I wanted to get for my Blue.

 

[madman]

You know you could just replace the electronic components yourself. You probably won't spend more than $5 on components. I don't know exactly what they need, but probably some thermistors, maybe a thyristor.

 

[lesinutah]

Part

If you go to rainvac the part is 32.50.
I'll give you advice.
I bought a e2 type 12 rainbow for $30 cleaned it sold for $350.
I got an e2 gold for $75. I sold it for $350. I bought a platinum for $75. I sold for $850. I bought 2 silvers for $350 sold one for $600 and one for $500. I still have 2 silvers and two single speed gold's.
I'd suggest learning to fix and repair. They do sale for huge profits.
Les