I have lived with a Kirby for a year.

[shag]

I found Kirby sitting beside the road with free on him with extra bags and belts. He had a cracked fill tube but in perfect working order.
I played with him a couple of times till his switch went in November. In January I sent him in for repairs and got him out about the second week. I use him maybe 3 times a month.

 

[shag]

I have lived with a Kirby for a year.

The Kenmore is the beast of burden with a full bag always, so after almost 6 months I was wondering what the Kirby had picked up.The bag seemed pretty full, almost to the line where it says to change it.

 

[shag]

I have lived with a Kirby for a year.

I was suprised to see so much sand and fine dirt. It is like a beach in there. Not much hair or popcorn, the Kenmore gets that. I was just amazed at all the grit that must have been down deep in the carpet. The Kenmore works great but for deep down clean, I gotta go with the Kirby.

 

[kirbfan94]

if

i zip-tie a sock to the fan housing out-put and vacuum the house the sock is complety filled with super fine sand and grit. kirby's are intense deep cleaners.

 

[retardturtle]

just have got my kirby back in workng order and i agree....kirby does a great job at deep cleaning...i wonder if my sanitaire 684 can compete with the kirby....i vac the house twice a day,kirby in the day...the 684 at night but b4 the kirby i would use my riccar or panasonic for the day vac...but never thought to look in the bags to see what i missed....i shoulda done that.

 

[tristar]

retardturtle...

What amperage is your sanitiare?

I had that very same question a little over a month ago and did a 2-week test where I put the machines up against each other. In my results, the Sanitaire clearly did a better job.

I made a pretty controversial thread about it.....got a lot of Kirby people hot under the collar.....

But click the link below if you want to see photographic evidence of my results.

http://www.vacuumland.org/TD/ARCHIVE/MODERN/2009/6053x60.htm

 

[retardturtle]

tristar.....i have the 7amp sc684...xcept that on the 2 row brushroll,ive replaced the brushes with some trim to fit riccar com. brushes and i gotta say it really does a great job... better than the orng/blu set up...i wonder if they make a mtl fan for it?not sure if i read or heard that they do...or did....ill check at the shop when i get some down time...as of now its wide open and no end in sight on repairs, only there twice a week so i gotta wait on my projects...getting a met fan for my hrtg2 is now on my list also....WELL DONE on your challenge. i gotta say it was a great read,,,answered alot of questions...and yes id say you ruffled alot of feathers...and made one or two faint at your findings...hahaha...keep up the good work...hey TRISTAR you ever try to re-design a b-roll to wrk with a kirby ..smthg agsv that will get deep ..addressing the issues of the hrtg2 roller and fan....

 

[tristar]

I have generic bristles in my Sanitaire brushroll. The orange and blue ones were toast when I got it, so the generic orange and black ones have been working great since I replaced them. The orange/blue ones were a lot stiffer though....one day I will replace it with the right thing.

They DO make a metal fan for the Sanitaires. I have one in mine. There is absolutely no benefit over the plastic long-blade fan though. The geometry and dimensions are exactly the same for the long blade lexan fan and the metal fan. If this metal fan ever goes boom and doesn't destroy the vacuum in the process, I'll replace it with a lexan since they're cheaper and easier to obtain. The metal fan does make the vacuum a LOT louder though.....it gets a whiney overtone to it.

I have a metal fan in both my Heritage II Legend and the Generation 3. The Heritage II didn't see much improvement over it's stock Lexan fan, but the Generation 3 saw a tremendous improvement over the Kevlar fan it had in it. I wish Kirby would release the old style Lexan fans for the older Kirbys so they could retain their power when the fan is replaced. The Kevlar fan just doesn't cut the mustard in the older style machines due to the shape of the fan housing. They're not designed for the tapered blades.

I've thought about redesigning a brushroll for a Kirby, but I'm entirely too lazy, and besides......if I want something with a good brushroll, I just reach for one of my Hoovers or the Sanitaire! It really is that easy....... Boy I'm lazy.....

 

[retardturtle]

TRISTAR..i guess its more of a duribility thing,metal over plastic..and with no loss of perf..ill just make sure i keep extra of each..just in case...but your input kept me grounded,i was ready for some big results across the board..a little more noise and a little more durability..i can live with that...on the brushes iv found those riccars to be the bomb on on my VG 2row-2btr bar set up..but working on a VG 4row brush [riccar com type]...just gotta mod the ends to fit the hex ends...then i guess ill get to work on the kirby brush roll project..then its off to try and turn a panasonic clean air motor into a direct air motor......i also thought about the kirby G-bag being better than the current F&G used in my 684,i been playing with a mod where i can use it instead..have u or anyone else ever tried it....?