How to Clean Inside Dirty/Rusty Hoses/Wands

[wyaple]

So I've acquired some wands and hoses that need mucho reconditioning. After polishing the outside of the aluminum wands, I noticed that the insides are very rusty. I'm imagining buying a cheap auger and attaching a small wire brush to scrape off the rust. Also, I was thinking about using the same auger with a rag or paper towel to clean out the inside of the plastic hoses that have caked on dirt.

Specifically, I'm restoring a Rainbow SE from 1998 and its myriad of attachments. I need to be careful of the hoses that need not to get appreciably wet, versus those that can be soaked in a tub with disinfectant.

What have you all done to clean up and restore the insides of well worn/abused hoses and wands?

Bill

 

[human]

With all due respect, if the wands are indeed shiny aluminum, they wouldn't rust in the first place since aluminum is a non-ferrous metal. While the tool/procedure you describe would likely work well on metal wands, I would proceed with great caution on hoses, especially the woven fabric kind like Electrolux used for so long.

 

[wyaple]

Maybe Rainbow Uses Poor Quality Aluminum Then?

Human,

The rusty wands are from a 1998 Rainbow SE setup. I suppose if you leave urine/feces and other liquids in these pieces, various smells and eventually rust forms on the inside. The outside of the metal wands are near perfect after high-speed polishing, but the insides need some help. The plastic Rainbow hoses are also quite frightful inside, but it's the smell that gets me the most.

I have a 1980 Lux Olympia One and the woven hose lost all appreciable performance around 1997, so I had to buy an aftermarket one that doesn't match color-wise, but the performance is better than original.

Bill

 

[bikerray]

The Rainbow wands are steel not aluminum. I just take an SOS pad and a wooden dowel and push the SOS pad through the wand, if the wand is curved I use a metal rod that will bend.

As for cleaning the non electric hoses I just run water into the hose and slosh it back and forth to clean out the hose. Then hook it up to the exhaust of the vacuum to blow it dry. Sometimes I'll take a section of paper towel and blow that through the hose as well to help clean it out.

If it's an electric hose I take the handle end off then clean the hose and dry it then reconnect the wires and put the handle back on. The machine end with the pig tail is pretty well sealed.

 

[wyaple]

Tried the SOS Pad And...

It worked fairly well on 1 of 3 steel tubes. One of the 3 tubes I have has a beautiful exterior but the rust and gunk inside is fairly thick. It will have to be wire brushed off I suppose.

Bill

 

[sanitaire]

try those things for polish out engine blocks were the pistons go....