I hate plastic rant (Electrolux SuperJ failure)

[vap0rtranz]

Plastic bits failing will be the death of these old machines, like my Electrolux. Begin rant

The hose backing on the bag door of the SuperJ crumbled apart on me. Pics of my terrible JB Weld fix below.

I was removing the bag door to do regular maintenance & cleaning. New, big brushes that these 10Amp motors take were going in. On inspection I saw a wire from the bag door had frayed, so I removed the tab from the fitting. Things fell apart fast.

Just looking at this plastic fitting made it crumble apart. I decided to attempt a repair with JB Weld Plastic, but I needed to unscrew the fitting from the front metal shield. Well, both plastic retainers for the metal contacts of the wires collasped. They just crumbled into plastic bits. Then the mountpoints for the screws cracked too.

I've had my Electrolux for 5 years, and I get that these machines are now 45 years old. But it's always been indoors, and this fitting isn't exposed to sunlight because its inside the bag door.

An eBay seller has this plastic fitting for $10, or I can grab a whole SuperJ cannister for $20. Usually its cold/hot temps and UV that breaks plastic down. This plastic will simply fail again. After feeling defeated, I rolled out my old, metal Kirby from 1950 to vacuum the kitchen.




This awful plastic that creeped into machines will be the death of them. It should never have been used.

 

[cheesewonton]

If it is any consolation I am trying to save an extraordinarily rare Kenmore Ultravac. The canister bag lid is cracked. I was able to find another Whispertone canister in the same color so that will be ok. But, the bottom half with the model number is broken in one place and cracked in another. I can patch it with plastic cut from a used food container glued in from behind with Epoxy and it won't be too noticeable ( the Epoxy matches the color of the body and there are no missing pieces ), but still.

 

[paul]

Plastic bits failing will be the death of these old machines, like my Electrolux. Begin rant

The hose backing on the bag door of the SuperJ crumbled apart on me. Pics of my terrible JB Weld fix below.

I was removing the bag door to do regular maintenance & cleaning. New, big brushes that these 10Amp motors take were going in. On inspection I saw a wire from the bag door had frayed, so I removed the tab from the fitting. Things fell apart fast.

Just looking at this plastic fitting made it crumble apart. I decided to attempt a repair with JB Weld Plastic, but I needed to unscrew the fitting from the front metal shield. Well, both plastic retainers for the metal contacts of the wires collasped. They just crumbled into plastic bits. Then the mountpoints for the screws cracked too.

I've had my Electrolux for 5 years, and I get that these machines are now 45 years old. But it's always been indoors, and this fitting isn't exposed to sunlight because its inside the bag door.

An eBay seller has this plastic fitting for $10, or I can grab a whole SuperJ cannister for $20. Usually its cold/hot temps and UV that breaks plastic down. This plastic will simply fail again. After feeling defeated, I rolled out my old, metal Kirby from 1950 to vacuum the kitchen.

View attachment 168978
View attachment 168977

This awful plastic that creeped into machines will be the death of them. It should never have been used.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I'm glad, though, that it seems to be the exception rather than the rule. This was not the case, though, with the PN-1 wands that were made for the Model Gs from c.1966 to c.1967. Most of them cracked within several years of use.

Companies regularly search for ways to increase their profits as well as keeping products affordable for a majority of their clientele; which is likely why Electrolux went with plastic parts. Most of the time it's a win-win (many customers also appreciate the back-saving use of lighter-weight vacuum cleaners). And, let's face it, most vacuum cleaner owners replace them well before they reach the half-century mark.

Incidentally, the Super J 1401 was mass-marketed from October 1975 to April 1979, so yours could be 50 years old.

It's a good thing you had your Kirby handy.

 

[cheesewonton]

You don't know brittle plastic until you have owned some Ryobi made Singer or Kenmore brand vacuums : / They are for display only now. While moving to our new home one of their power nozzles slid off the end of the wand and fell maybe 2 1/2 feet onto deep pile plush carpeting. The bottom half shattered like glass into over a dozen pieces ! Fortunately the upper cover is all right and I found a replacement bottom half on eBay but that kind of focused how fragile those old Ryobi built machines are.

Plastics can be an excellent choice of material for vacuum cleaners. Just remember that engineers 50 years ago did not know as much as they do now about formulating plastics to withstand heat, sunlight and aging. There would be no easy way to implement some of the parts used in vacuums in metal like motor housings for sealed HEPA systems or the parts in an Electrolux bag door in metal.

 

[abobotek]

Some plastics last and others fail. Even within a type of plastic (e.g., ABS), longevity and brittleness with age are dependent on the specific formulation and additives. I've had a pair of Clark shoes on which the left sole crumbled in less than 3 years while the right sole had like-new elasticity. There's plenty of 70-year-old Lego (ABS) that remains strong.

Epoxy is only one way to repair plastic, and often not the best. Solvent welding works well with many. Cracked wands and handles can often be repaired with acetone or other solvent-based cements. And weak point can often be reinforced by applying a solvent/plastic slurry or putty.

Where spares are not available and repair is not practical, many printed parts are available for download or can be designed if you have the skills and energy. My Hoover Futura canister's combined power switch pedal and cord winding hook (Hoover PN 38422162) is a good example of a 3D printed replacement. This is a widely-used part that breaks frequently and for which molded replacements are extremely difficult to find. This one would take a more work on details to closely match the molded original, but it is quite functional and free.

 

[vap0rtranz]

Companies regularly search for ways to increase their profits as well as keeping products affordable for a majority of their clientele; which is likely why Electrolux went with plastic parts. Most of the time it's a win-win (many customers also appreciate the back-saving use of lighter-weight vacuum cleaners). And, let's face it, most vacuum cleaner owners replace them well before they reach the half-century mark.

Incidentally, the Super J 1401 was mass-marketed from October 1975 to April 1979, so yours could be 50 years old.

It's a good thing you had your Kirby handy.

Yes the old trusty backup vac came in handy. It's still got a cloth shake-out bag because I never converted it to HEPA.

And lighter vacs with these plastics do sell. I tried to convince my mother-in-law about older vacs. But she said they're all too heavy. I just watched a YT vid where a tester was weighing vacs. These things do matter ... for most consumers.

Give me the metal anyday. Maybe I'll change my mind when as old as Mom, hehe.

 

[vap0rtranz]

Some plastics last and others fail. Even within a type of plastic (e.g., ABS), longevity and brittleness with age are dependent on the specific formulation and additives. I've had a pair of Clark shoes on which the left sole crumbled in less than 3 years while the right sole had like-new elasticity. There's plenty of 70-year-old Lego (ABS) that remains strong.

Epoxy is only one way to repair plastic, and often not the best. Solvent welding works well with many. Cracked wands and handles can often be repaired with acetone or other solvent-based cements. And weak point can often be reinforced by applying a solvent/plastic slurry or putty.

Where spares are not available and repair is not practical, many printed parts are available for download or can be designed if you have the skills and energy. My Hoover Futura canister's combined power switch pedal and cord winding hook (Hoover PN 38422162) is a good example of a 3D printed replacement. This is a widely-used part that breaks frequently and for which molded replacements are extremely difficult to find. This one would take a more work on details to closely match the molded original, but it is quite functional and free.

In my frustration, I didn't stop to think about which repairs to consider.

The epoxy I used was the 2-mix slurry type. The SDS/safety sheet from JBWeld says that it is p-tert-butylphenyl 1-(2,3-epoxy) propyl ether ... whatever that is.

The 3D printing option is a great idea. My nephew has a 3D printer and has created a few things for me. So I may need to reach out to him if I decide to repair the Electrolux. On inspection, I saw that the rear plastic motor shield also has 2 cracks in it! Ugh.

For now, this fiasco gave me a reason to pull out the Heritage 84 from storage and restore it. It'll be my daily vac until I decide about the Electrolux.

 

[joevacman1]

Plastic bits failing will be the death of these old machines, like my Electrolux. Begin rant

The hose backing on the bag door of the SuperJ crumbled apart on me. Pics of my terrible JB Weld fix below.

I was removing the bag door to do regular maintenance & cleaning. New, big brushes that these 10Amp motors take were going in. On inspection I saw a wire from the bag door had frayed, so I removed the tab from the fitting. Things fell apart fast.

Just looking at this plastic fitting made it crumble apart. I decided to attempt a repair with JB Weld Plastic, but I needed to unscrew the fitting from the front metal shield. Well, both plastic retainers for the metal contacts of the wires collasped. They just crumbled into plastic bits. Then the mountpoints for the screws cracked too.

I've had my Electrolux for 5 years, and I get that these machines are now 45 years old. But it's always been indoors, and this fitting isn't exposed to sunlight because its inside the bag door.

An eBay seller has this plastic fitting for $10, or I can grab a whole SuperJ cannister for $20. Usually its cold/hot temps and UV that breaks plastic down. This plastic will simply fail again. After feeling defeated, I rolled out my old, metal Kirby from 1950 to vacuum the kitchen.

View attachment 168978
View attachment 168977

This awful plastic that creeped into machines will be the death of them. It should never have been used.

 

[joevacman1]

If you notice the part in your picture overheated. These parts are not usually prone to failure and have only replaced them very seldom in my over 50 years in repairing Lux vacuums.