I did not set out to rescue a free curbside vacuum today...

[normvac]

Just a reminder from my service days experience. That some homes do have childern, relatives and other D--- B--- people
that have been part of the household at one point or another that don't know or care how the machine works. For that matter, I just recently had a friend tell me they could not get bags for the recent Kirby Diamond and they were picking out the dust and debree. Trying to keep the vacuum going in the middle of an upcoming move! So when I arrived to visit and brought a new package of bags. I went ahead to change it, to be sure there were no cloggs in the bag hose/neck. Here was an orginal Kirby filer bag full, with the 1 800 number all over it ! I pointed out on the new bags that the number was on there and be sure to phone cleveland and order. I pointed out that I have received orders on the second day.
Norm

 

[vacuumfreeeke]

Awesome find, Dave. That lady didn't deserve the Kirby... you are right! I know that it will have a happy home with you. The G5 is my favorite Kirby and I just used mine a couple days ago. The one I found at the Good Will that was TRASHED came with a video as well, and I was curious about how good the video is. I didn't buy it, which is a good thing since I don't have a VCR anyway.

Congrats! I paid 200 dollars for my G5 3 years ago!

Seeing your pics makes me realize that I need a new brushroll for my G5.

 

[jdinstl]

Dave, you are the

...Guardian Angel of the Vacuum Gods. Bless you for the good work you do!

Beer can tabs, hairpins...nothing like a hillbilly with a Kirby!

"Right down to the emptor" reminded me of my Ultimate G. The lady I bought it from absolutely hated it. BEFORE taking my money, she launched into the tirade of everything she hated about it, including "it has totally lost suction."

I nodded, thoughfully (and cast a wink at the 4 short hair shedding like mo-fo's dogs scampering about my feet).

Got it home, pulled off the disposable bag -- so full it was practically solid -- then popped off the emptor. Dug out more dog hair and gook. With the emptor off, I fired up the vac...

...a *thump* and out shoots a hyooooge clump of gook, missing my head by a fraction of an inch. With a thud, it hit the ceiling, raining dust and dog hair everywhere. 4th Of July, Kirby-style!

(and that double-tapping fingernail drove me nuts!)

 

[thunderhexed]

Kirby G5

Every G Model Kirby I buy for myself, I end up gifting to someone in my family cuz they all love the way they are designed. My brother got the G4 when his new home was built, dad got a g3 cuz he hates moms dyson, and granny got the other g3. My family has always used Kirbys and probably always will. After graduation, I decided that I wanted to buy what I have always wanted - a G5. I found one on ebay, rebuilt with basic attachment set for $100.00. I absolutely love it. The color scheme, the way it grooms the carpet, the way it doesn't have a layer of dust all over it after use like my Sanitronics and Classics do. It's just an amazing all around vacuum. I will be getting many years of use out of it. I think it would be fun to find a curbside find like that some day though. I have yet to find a diamond in the rough like that. Congrats!

 

[aeoliandave]

Another free curbside vacuum shaped object...

Well, it was free and I did load it into the car at curbside after work...

A gal at work told me she had a vacuum in her trunk that if I wanted it it was mine, or she would drop it off at Sally Ann. Said it was a Fantom something or other with an extra dirt jug that she bought gnu years ago for her allergic son. This weekend she bought the white Miele S7 at CanTire.

Good for her!!! See, they can be edjumacated!

 

[aeoliandave]

I gotta say, not a bad vacuum cleaner for a bagless. It's fairly quiet, motor spins down like a turboprop, headlights are fantasticly illuminative, it pulls 95" plus with the hose/wand extended, which seals tight when docked as an upright handle.

It has all the tools in the bin and really is quite clean throughout.

So now I don't have to get a modern Dyson?

 

[petek]

Wow,, that is birthmother of the Dyson, the vacuum of which all soon after to be manufactured Dysons were fashioned after. I'll just bet it gotta be worth a kajillion smackeroo's

Why is there a waffle iron lurking in your trunk?

 

[jdinstl]

It's good luck...

to travel with a vintage appliance.

I've an old beat up Electrolux shell in the back of my Jimmy.

 

[aeoliandave]

Fantom Cyclone XT

Quite a sexy shape, really.

Barely any scuffs, no cracks or scratches. She said she preferred it or any upright over the central vac and figured it was time for a newer model. When she saw, played with in-store and researched the Miele S7 she was sold. BECAUSE OF THE BAGS!!!

I can't find any maker's plate on it, yet. What year did these hit the market? I do remember the TV commercials.

1999? 2000?

Dave

Oh, the hose to intake coupling on the Kirby G5 has the switch depressing prong broken off, not the arm, just the prong. Another reason it 'didn't work'. LOL Easy enough to screw on a 1/2" shaped scrap of something to press those switches - I want to get a gauge reading.

(The hose coupler from my G has a slightly thicker gasket rim and will not swing up enough to close, by about 1/2".}

 

[petek]

Those Fantoms came out in the early 80's didn't they. They were made by Fantom Industries here in Canada, Fanton Ind. used to be Iona Appliances iirc

 

[aeoliandave]

KIRBY G5 on low speed

29"

 

[aeoliandave]

KIRBY G5 on high speed

36".

Of course with a Kirby it's not about the suck-tive force, it's the airflow past the brushroll.

Which speed should it be using with the hose on?

 

[aeoliandave]

Five Kirbys

Dual Santronic 80, Heritage II, Tradition, G3, G4, Felix.

My fondest favorite is the Santronic 80, followed by the Tradition with it's streamlined head. But they are not self-propelled...I luvs power-assisted anything!

 

[aeoliandave]

G5 joins the Parade.

I'd have to say all these Kirby models deep clean and groom the carpet equally. You know you have a solid piece of serious heavy metal in your hands and between your...ankles.

 

[aeoliandave]

Part two - Friday March 20

On the way home from the Grocery store I stopped at Goodwill.

Found this nice one speed Black & Decker short handle drill. $5.
Runs fine, should come in handy. One can never have too many power tools.

 

[aeoliandave]

Never too many power tools - Woo Hoo!

Rooting around in the toy department looking for Serta Sheep I couldn't believe what I was seeing buried under the stuffed animals!!!

Complete and pristine in the original box with an un-used sticker sheet for 'atomic-izing' the tall cylinders, missing only one blue ball. $10. YES!!!

Put in two D batteries and started picking things up & rotating them in all sortsa crazy positions.

 

[aeoliandave]

I so wanted one of these as a young mad scientist. Oc course, I wouldn't hang out with nerdy dorks like those be-specticled knobs.

Yeah, like I didn't look exactly like that myself at the Hobby Fair...

Radio Shack Armatron 2364 - The Armatron, manufactured and sold by Radio Shack in the late 70's and early 80's, is completely mechanical. There is a single motor that drives a transmission of sorts and the joysticks manipulate the transmission to rotate shafts that use more gears to extend the length of the arm.
The controls consist of two joysticks, the timer and an on-off switch. Two "D" cell batteries go in the bottom and the timer is just used for some games that came with the set when it was new. It gives you about 8 minutes to run. With the two joysticks you can: open and close the hand , rotate the hand, raise and lower the wrist, move the elbow side to side, raise and lower the arm, rotate the whole arm around the base.The grippers are spring loaded so you can grab things with varying degrees of pressure which is useful for heavier objects. There are rubber fingertips on the gripper so they're a little sticky for picking stuff up.

 

[aeoliandave]

Kicked almost to the curb and definitely abandoned to the Wh

On the way back home along a side street there's a small factory that closed up a few weeks ago. Somehow I spotted this from a moving car, among the garbage cans 100 feet away at the side of the building by the empty employee parking lot. Building dark and locked up tight, no one to ask, so...

Nothing wrong with it that I could detect other than major scratching on top of the base. So home it came.

The Type Z bag is full to bursting. Runs great. I like the black body with the orange graphics and cord. And godammit, it's a HOOVER, eh!

Gotta find me some Type Z bags now.

Dave

 

[petek]

Commercial Hoover

A Bags should work in that I think. To think what that cost new,, I don't think they were cheap when sold at Acklands Grainger etc.

 

[electroluxxxx]

Hi Dave
I have that same fantom. I think that the Cyclone XT came out in the early months of 2000. I paid about $20 for shipping but the vacuum was free and I love it. I also was wondering about what it pulled on the suction meter and I thank you for letting us know. 95" WOW I knew that it was powerful but not that powerful.

Mike