How much carpet, upholstery, and draperies can YOUR vacuum handle?

[gregvacs28]

In the 70s and 80s, carpet, rich upholstery, and draperies, was not only a requirement, it was art.  It was awesome. It was everywhere and.... it needed to be vacuumed.


 


But, how did we survive back then considering how meager our Beater bar equipped vacuum cleaners were.  

 

[gregvacs28]

Carpeting was on walls, in bathrooms, in kitchens.

 

[gregvacs28]

Could your vacuum cleaner handle the demands of this many thick ounces of plush luxury? 


 


I seriously doubt it. 


 


I mean consider that the Electrolux Sidekick and the Kenmore equivalent didn't come out until the mid 80s.

 

[gregvacs28]

Kirby was in it's heydey.  When equipped with a snap on shag rake, it could handle the floor, though it had nothing of the walls or stairs. 

 

[gregvacs28]

Even central vacuums, which are certainly superior today in terms of suction and expelling dust and odors outdoors, back then many did not have the best suction nor did they have power nozzles.

[this post was last edited: 5/30/2020-06:58]

 

[gregvacs28]

For those of us who love our vacuums, it would seem a shame to waste them on some sparsely decorated, ceramic tiled echo chamber, wouldn't it?

 

[tolivac]

For some of that shag carpet-your vacuum needs a MOWER attachment!

 

[gregvacs28]

Yeah, like the carpet in #3, I wouldn't even want to try putting my Wessel-werks EBK-360 or really ANY power nozzle on that.  


 


The only thing I could think might work (if it were on a floor) would have been a Kirby, but I have no idea how.


 


Even adjustable power nozzles of the time, would a Kenmore work on it's highest setting?


 


And Eureka power nozzles weren't even adjustable.  

 

[jo]

Hence the popularity of the Electrolux canister!

The Electrolux canister could handle it all and switched from floor cleaning to attachment cleaning in seconds compared to the more cumbersome Kirby, hence it continued its widely popular sales. The combination dusting brush upholstery tool was very gentle on drapes and a suction control was on the hose handle. The standard power nozzle was becoming more common and they even had a shag rug tool available.

Jon

 

[gregvacs28]

True and Electrolux Golden Jubilee, for example, can do step carpet.  .... or walls...... even some upholstery.  Kirby or any upright can't do that.


 


I don't even know how that Kirby rake thing is supposed to work.  My aunt had an Kirby with the snap on rake back in the 70s to vacuum her various shades of shag.  The beater bar in that is probably not much different from any other power nozzle.

 

[gregvacs28]

But the Kirby was more effective than her straight suction Nutone Central vacuum with no power nozzle.  I know they did have a turbine brush but...... we know those are so limited.  As soon as you set it on the shag it would stop. 


 


I don't know who did this video. They did a nice job of showing how that works.

 

[thevacomaticiec]

id say

I will say having use a Kenmore Evo (fell appart in 5 years bye bye ), a Bissels (bagless pos ) , and a hoover celebrit yIV powermatic whe ni wass young lad and now a Compact electra C9 new to my fleet mention on a nother post.
My Compact Tristar along whit my lux discovery are beast at rug upolstry cleaning nothing seem to beat em .

.
Out of all the vacs i tried Filter&Queen , Electrolux(before Aerus ),Compact ,Tristar are #1 in my book good power heads long hsoe and cords no loss of suciton if any .
Kirby are good if you havea seperate for above floor cleaning but i find FQ ,Panasonic Compact Tristar , Eureka Montgomery wards are good all rounder .As some of you know i am bias to IEC machine Owning 2 .

 

[lesinutah]

DTD

The DTD vacuum from 60s-80s are probably your best bet tackling both jobs. Compacts, luxes, eureka, hoover, rainbow and filter queen canister vacuums would clean the draperies far better than upright vacuums.
Kirby, royal, eureka,Hoover uprights in general deep cleaned carpets better. The reason being size of brush roll and the entire vacuum was made to clean flooring areas.
Im not saying a Kirby or royal in cannister mode or compact or electrolux with a power nozzle wasn't just as good. Im generalizing the most effective.
My Kirby tradition, royal 880, IEC C9 , electrolux super j are good at both.
My rainbow silver with wessell werk ebk 360 and my sanitaire s667b are both great.
Canisters have longer hoses making ideal with reach. Uprights with full vacuum motor propelling brush,
If your vacuum sucks it's perfect.
Les

 

[thevacomaticiec]

Ya got it right Les

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Well, my Hoovers

can handle every and anything I give them. They were built to do that.
Of course, my house has no pink shag, like our late Miss Jayne Mansfield. However, my carpets are wool Chinese , or Karistan area rugs, and the ever popular red Karistan on the "staircase" and the white Karistan in my room. Never a vacuum issue. All the dirt, all the grit, Hoover gets it every bit......"