HOOVER 160 model ( UK ) instructions booklet and service manual : anyone can help ?

[guido]

Sorry for the delay .........

Thanks Gary !
Thanks AL !
The instruction booklet for the HOOVER 262 is also super nice, and I had never seen it also ! I think I will try to reprint it and use a copy for display !
Well ...my HOOVER 262 bag is not the orginal ....but I love it the same: it belongs to its "personal history", let's say ! And anyway its a very old replacement which fits with colour and all so...I'm not unhappy about it, but I wanted to know that for "collecting" reasons .
Now, I will wait to find the HOOVER 160 or 262 service manual which will be a precious help for some future repairs on a 160 defect machine I have ( hopefully the 160 and 262 should have the same motor and electric scheme...i hope ! ). Unfortunately in Italy HOOVER machines are quite rare to find ( for unknown cultural reasons, we seldom used carpets in our homes in Italy: the first Hoover to be seen around was the 652 series but prior models a really a rare-to-find down here ).
Curiously enough, Italy always had- from 1950 onwards - an enormous request of vacuum-floor-cleaners/ scrubbers for our marble/stone/wooden/ceramic floors. It's quite unusual and an exclusive italian phenomenon ! The english made floor scrubbers were not what the italian market required so HOOVER Ltd launched a special FLOOR CLEANER with vacuum suction and bag just for the italian market. The original machine had 3 brushes instead of two, it was pink/white and quite similar to the first 652 ( you collectors for sure have already seen the model I'm talking about ) and underwent some remodeling through the 1970's but kept the same chassis for almost 30 years. Not many know that this HOOVER machines were produced in Italy- as the label confirms - even if i have not discovered by who, maybe by the same firm wich also produced the germany based VORWERK-Folletto floor cleaners ( both Hoover and Vorwerk dìd not have a real plant here in Italy : this were special re-badged machines only ).
I will try to investigate this in the next days also !!!
So,thanks everyone by now and thanks again AL for te beautiful images sent ! guido

 

[uksausage]

wow

what a machine ive been after 262 for many many years but no such luck just yet
oh well there is still time
congratulations on your find
david
x

 

[guido]

Hi David !

Hi David ! Happy to hear from another UK collector ! Thanks for your kind comment, I love this 262 ! I even didn't really want one ( and I bought it for 10 pounds only on internet ) but I changed my mind when i saw it, a great machine ! I see anyway some cheap HOOVER 262 sometimes on ebay or other internet sales...sometimes complete, sometimes with some parts to repair but there are still spares around as the 262 was more popular - i suppose - then other Hoover models from the same period like 160 or 612 ( usually the rubber handle and bumper tend to perish and disintegrate but I found a spare NOS handle for my HOOVER 160 anyway! ).So I think you will soon find a wonderful HOOVER 262 too !!!!

And now here is what I got today for only 6 pounds...I bought it for spare parts for my other cleaners but...... I don't want to dismantle it anymore and I prefer to keep this old scruffy marvel just for display and exactly "as is", just some light polishing...................
"FROM PERIVALE - GREENFORD - MIDLESEX" :
AN EX-HOOVER 160 CLEANING ENSEMBLE...the "ensemble" is gone but the "heart" still goes strong !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[guido]

A QUESTION ABOUT THE HOOVER 262......

A QUESTION ABOUT THE HOOVER 262......

Maybe AL knows something about it : Looking at AL's 262, I was noticing that the paint of the 2 chassis look different : AL's seems the same hammer paint (not really hammer paint but anyway rough at touch, difficult to polish and almost impossible to restore ) used in the HOOVER 160 model, while mine looks translucent ....my machine does not seem to have undergone a repaint as the under of the machine has the same paint type ( the 612 also has no "rogh paint" effect ).
Anyone has more info about this ?

 

[uksausage]

hi guido

thats a bargain for £6 im quite envious ive had a love affair with 262 since i was old enough to know what a vacuum is one day i will find a half decent one but untill then ill make do with what ive got
enjoy the 262
would love to see more pics

 

[vacbear58]

Paint

Guido

It is possible that the two are different as both the 160 and the 262 were both produced either side of WW2 so it could be perfectly possible that they used different paints. Also, if yours should be a late model it is possible that they adopted the finish of the 612 on the last model 262s as the back is similar to that used on the 612

 

[guido]

RESTORATION COMPLETE !

Here I'm back for what probably is going to be the end of this thread ...unfortunately no service manual for my 262 and 160 cleaners, but I got already lots of material from AL for the ìnstruction manual so I am very happy already !
I wanted to share my satifaction for a good work i have done on my latest HOOVER 160 ( see image at the top of this page ! so it was when it arrived home ), which- after hours of careful polishing ( cotton discs de-make-up type and a common non aggressive de-greaser did the hard work and warm water and tooth brush removed the rest of the dirt !! ) has been renovated to very satisfying conditions. The motor runs smoothly, the brushes are perfect and the beating bar turns freely; just needed a new light for the "dirtfinder" ( unfortunately I found the 15 watts light bulb instead of 25watts but they are so difficult to find here ).
The bakelite hood was lightly polished with MIRAGE paste to cancel most of scratches then re-washed and finally made "glittering" with 2 drops of sewing machine mineral oil. As soon as I can get DURAGLIT-BRASSO again, I think I will re-do it better ...unfortnately BRASSO is now illegal in ITALY because inflammable ( idiots ) so I have now ordered it on ebay...
The rubber bumper has been washed with warm water and soap and then oiled with Arexon's OIL for PNEUS , its sticky but very good for old rubbers ...I will remove the excess in few days, just let the dry rubber "drink" the necessary quantity to avoid further drying.
Finally: the aluminium band with the HOOVER logo was all smashed and bent so I brought it to a car repair who did it for free with a special hammer, in few minutes.
COMMENTS AND SUGESTIONS ALWAYS WELCOME !!!!!
Wish I had posted the image before...but unforunately I lost my camera AT HOME ( ! ) for alst 1 week so ....here it is the NEW Hoover 160 :

 

[guido]

another view

another view

 

[vintagerepairer]

Sir, what a fine reconstruction has taken place. You should be very proud of yourself.

I read with interest the wording on the card which explained how to wire up a 262. The fact that Hoover adopted a 'take it or leave it' approach to the earthing of their cleaner did send a shiver down my spine, especially the part about ensuring the earth wire did not come into contact with either the L or N terminal. The prospect of this happening inside a 2-pin was probably great as those plugs were shambolic by later day standards. Just the thought of the whole cleaner becoming live during use is rather worrying. It would have been far safer for Hoover to insist that the cleaner was permanently wired to a 3-pin plug and where necessary to run it from a 2-pin socket they should have had an adapter for such, though of course my comments 'far safer' do not mean that the cleaner would be 'safe', just 'safer'.

It does of course go without saying that if the cleaner needed earthing, then it should have been so at all times, even though I remember only too well that not all houses had earthed sockets. But really, either an appliance needs to be earthed, or it doesn't. It's rather simple. The arrival of the Electricity Council in the 1960's did so much to improve electrical safety in this country, but sadly I see in recent years that with cheap imported appliances, safety is going by the board.

 

[guido]

THANKS ! HERE's THE 160 at work

THANKS ! HERE's THE 160 at work

 

[guido]

VINTAGEREPAIRER

VINTAGEREPAIRER, that's true, but consider - as you notice - that in those years not all houses had earthed socks. In Italy it was even worse : in the 1970's only th new houses had earthed plugs and tried to adopt a terrible new sistem called "MAGIC" which avoided children to be fried with their tiny little fingers inhe electric plugs...it was a disaster and after few years the new system was abadoned. But I collect vintage appliances and I can grant you that most of italian producers ( with few exeptions like REM floor cleaners from Milano or QUICK MILL mixers and grinders in MONZA )did not produce earthed products till the late 1970's ( !!!! ) as all old houses in Italy had not the system yet ! Until 1960 we had 160 volts in many italian regions and many appliaces could be chosen from catalgues choosing 110-125-160-220 volts or otherwise had universal voltage ( some electric fans, shavers, etc ) or had a voltage selector ( reel recorders, turntables, etc ).In 1960 they went to 220 volts but no earthed sockets until 1984 when it was made compulsory for a CEE law: many producers closed down or canceled many products from their catalogue as a production change was not convenient : quick-batter mixers were for example discontinued because of the iron lever-switches and other dangerous features...