Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

[beko1987]

I saw this looking lonley on ebay in cornwall, so messaged the seller, who agreed to box it up and look what happened...

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Very filthy, but, as should become clear later, a prime candidate for saving!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

the bag was fairly empty and clean, so I shook it out and will reuse it

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

It came off well with a good vac, and I'l wash it and see what happens but it may not be going back in...

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Top 2 screws out

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Managed to break this tab, so will glue it back on once everythings washed

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Same mouldings for the cord rewind option

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I vacced this out, it was well gone! Will have to dig deep into the garage tomorrow to find something suitable to replace it!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

The rear foam was fragile but peeled off ok enough. Will not touch this and just put it back!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I wondered why the motor sound deadening wouldnt move until I saw this
From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Again, not even attempting to clean this!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Up out the way

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

sorry, refrence shots!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Done!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Plastics were stamped out in 1984

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Love the rear wheel assemblies

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

And it was apart! I've never had my blue parts box so empty!

I then moved on to the tools. They came in this box

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

It was listed on ebay as a U1912, which is probably why no one else bid. The seller has had this from new, and said they came in that box, so maybe the Hoover dealer had some spares?

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Oooh paperwork!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Mintola tools

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Well, nearly

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Aha!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

There were 3 bags, but I nicked one for the S3708!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

SAme moulded hose though as the 1995 S3708!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Poles were fine, didnt touch those!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

No countour head here!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

29 years of fluff!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I couldn't get the pipe end off sadly, anyone know a way on these?

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Was too late to fire up the shower and wash the plastic by the time I was done, so I stayed in the garage and had a look at the motor

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Carbons look good. Not gen Hoover though, although I dont think this is a Hoover motor

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Squirt of plusgas in the top and bottom bearings had it freespinning sweet as a nut.

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Odd damage to the casing though

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I then had a closer look at the paperwork

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Perfect match!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

'Dear Sirs. I would like to...' Oh!

That probably wouldn't work nowadays would it!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I've got a couple of these now

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Well done love, you've bought a poverty spec vacuum! (cheers!)

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

There was a loose leaf in the book that replaced the page with the cord rewind bits on. The slip of paper contained the whole manual again

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

How to replace the cable - brilliant!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

So, a nice addition to the old collection! 1.5 out of 4 compacts down!

 

[suckolux]

Nice little machine.

 

[super-sweeper]

Be a dear and define,

the ".5" part for us!

 


Also, that filter looks just like the ones used on the U.S Celebrity! Oh, HOOVER!

 

[seamusuk]

That foam....

Hi Sam
My NIB S3005 Celebrity had that material as a motor filter, as it had been sat in the box since 1975 it crumbled to dust when I touched it so it now has a cut to fit universal one- not that I intend to use it!!.
Seamus

 

[beko1987]

He he the .5 refers to I have 4 of them, 1 is done, this is half done and I have 2 more to go!

 

[beko1987]

I carried this on tonight

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Wheels greased and re-fitted

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Motor seal back in

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Reading the service manual, it advises that the easier way to handle the motor is to fit it to the bulkhead and slide the whole thing in. They were right!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Due to forgetting something I took the motor out again, and did the wiring. Was easier to do with the bulkhead out anyway

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I then needed to look for filters. So found these

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Little trim across the top and it fitted perfectly. Even the corners were the same profile!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

A nice upgrade to the crap that was in there before

The original filter washed out ok so I re-used that

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Contour grip next. Was very fiddly!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Then the floorhead

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

It was so cold in the garage that the rubber wouldnt bend to slip the brush in, so I had to put it on the radiator for half an hour, where it then worked fine!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I then took it upstairs. Floor performance was a little underwhelming, but it seemed ok with small tools



However, after about 20 minutes use all in (was tidying) the suction dropped off but the motor pitch remained the same. I then realised that the room stank of hot plastic. Unplugged the compact and took it outside.

The whole motor end was hot. The screws holding the sound chamber in were red hot. It all stank of burning foam...



Oh dear!

I dont think the carbons liked being disturbed after 29 years! Or that this is the most amount the Compact has seen use in 10 years or so. So, should I clean up the commutator and get new carbons, or is it toast?

Here it is sitting in the corner in discrace as I tried to get rid of the smell!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

This is the state of a carbon

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I reckon their profiles were not both the same, and I've put them in the wrong way round. There's a click click click as I turn the motor by hand and they move over the comm segments...

Does make a very pretty picture though!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

 

[suckolux]

darn! It does LOOK GREAT!

 

[beko1987]

Back from the dead!

I bought some comm cleaning sticks. Well, I bought them ages ago, but whilst waiting at mums for someone the other night I gave the motor from this a tickle with them.

Wow, it cured it! Was a bit chicken and used them with the motor clamped to the machine, and there's a little spark that sits at the end of the carbon on one side, but overall its much improved, and the motor runs MUCH faster and better.

So I re-assembled it and bought it home!

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Eva dusted her stairgate

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

and I ran it round downstairs, which I did video but my phone keeps crashing the youtube app, so I'll upload that tomorrow from work

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

Wonder if all 3 would fit on here?

From Hoover Compact S3396 June 1985

I did brielfy ponder using it as a daily for a while, but the lack of cord rewind is an issue, so it can lead a quiet retirement!

 

[madabouthoovers]

Well done Beko - another nice restore.


I bet you were peed off when you saw the motor arcing after all that attention it received - ungrateful vac!


 


It must have got its act together in the end though after you secretly told it that it would be the dump if it didn't improve its ways!


Very nice considering its from the second term of Margaret Thatchers Government!

 

[beko1987]

The comm stick is great! Just a quick press either side of the brushes so the material passes underneath and it suddenly freed itself up and ran like a beaut!

I had a lady collect a Dyson whilst I was doing it and even she seemed impressed!

 

[beko1987]

Video finally uploaded! And yes, I do feel bad for letting the poles clatter to the floor like that!

Hoover Compact S3396 motor fixed:

 

[spiraclean]

Great job on the restore, these cleaners are so easy to take apart and service with that removable centre bulkhead. As long as the motor works there isn't much that can go wrong on them. Really I didn't think they were bad machines at all, it's just Hoover's choice in floor heads over the years that was a bit iffy - but that can easily be solved by sticking something better on for actual use, and keeping the original for display purposes.

My parents had this model back in the day, theirs was a couple of years earlier though. Identical save for a cream/brown toolkit, which came with the basic "edge cleaning" type floor head as found on the Portapowers of the time, and an all purpose brush in lieu of the separate upholstery and dusting tools. There might have been a version with brown tools after that unless my memory is playing tricks on me, and the one you have with black accessories and the Contour style handgrip was the final revision.

The lack of cord winder is a bit of a let down, and probably explains why virtually every one of these I've seen over the years has had a kinked or spiralled cable. Maybe that's why Hoover went to the somewhat unusual step of including cord replacement instructions in the user manual, something that would never happen nowadays. Of course, it was all done to persuade the buyer to step up to the Compact Super. Hoover were always very big on creating a clear good/better/best distinction in their lineup, which they then confused by offering yet another choice of cleaners in a different style that did exactly the same thing!

 

[beko1987]

I wondered where the super bit came from! I quite like them. Wish I hadn't sold my NIB one now!

I have a darker green one with a properly broken motor, and the blue super and a beige one with lots of repairs made. This one is the most complete, wins on paperwork!