Information on the Turbopower 1000/2/3 please!

[jmurray01]

I was just wondering if anybody here could tell me any information they know on the HOOVER Turbopower 1000/2/3 models ?

I'm just interested, and I'm sure one or two of you knowledgeable people on here will have a wealth of information for me.

Thanks!

 

[vintagerepairer]

Hello. Well as I've said on your other thread (it's no longer listed so you may not have seen so) the turbopower 2 and turbopower 1000 went on sale in 1992. It was Hoover's first clean-fan upright since the UK Convertible. I cannot tell you hand on heart how many cleaners there were initially in each range, other than to mention the three which i first saw. These were Turbopower 2 in navy blue, and Turbopower 2 with autosense. Both cleaners were 800 watts.

The Turbopower 1000 I know of was a dark colour, be it green or blue, I forget, and had autosense and the permabag system2 dust box. There were more models though. This cleaner was advertised widely on TV. It will always be a source of iterest to me as to why Hoover put both the 2 and 1000 on sale together as I can see no point. The first change to the Turbopower 2 (and I cannot say whether or not this change applied to the Turbopower 1000 as I have seen so very few of them) was when Hoover fitted a long crevice tool inside the extention tube, as well as keeping the small crevice tool, so in effect the cleaners had a 5-piece tool kit including the tube. Also some models had a piston bag-full indicator in the bag door, but that was taken off as well.

The second change was when the Turbopower 1000 was superseeded by the Turbopower 3 in late 1994/early 1995. The Turbopower 3 had a 1000 watt motor, and had a wide diameter hose. Previous cleaners had used the narrow hose off the Turbopower/Turbomaster total cleaners and were forever blocking up. In fact the narrow hose was totally unsuitable for a clean-fan system that relied on the on-board hose as part of the upright cleaning function. As well as this, the hose on the Turbopower 3 was longer and hooked to the handle of the machine. As this would have interfered with the flex as it entered the cleaner, the entry point for all cleaners -Turbopower 2 and 3- was moved to the top of the cleaner instead of the rear. At some point the small crevice tool was taken of the machine but I cannot tell you when.

The Turbopower 3 went on until early 1997, when the PurePower went on sale. But the Turbopower 2 carried on well into the early 2000s, where Hoover reverted to the narrow hose for some reason that I don't know about.

 

[jmurray01]

That was very informative - Thanks!

I always thought it was a bit strange having the small crevice tool and the large one which coupled up as an extension tube, but I suppose there are some situations where the small tool could only fit for example.

I did notice that the hose on the Turbopower was very narrow, but I've never actually had a problem with it blocking though.

 

[vintagerepairer]

I have no idea why Hoover put two crevice tools on the back, unless it was because they were prehaps hell-bent on having the long scabbard crevice tool and didn't want a gap where the small one had been. Note, they stopped fitting the small one when the tool caddy was redsigned and made to look like the small tool had never existed.

The narrow tube was far too short for a clean fan machine and must have put strain on the motor. It blocks because not only is it very narrow, but the chambers in the cleaning head are wider and as such debris passed through the head but couldn't get through the hose.

 

[jmurray01]

I suppose you're right, but as I said, I've never had it clog, and it has been in regular use since I got it in February 2010.

Correction, it did clog once, but that was because I was vacuuming up LOTS of wood shavings, and brought it on myself really!

As for putting a strain on the motor, I'm not sure, but maybe you're right.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Well, it's like this. The hose was narrow and the motor was constantly pulling air through it. So, it would be like any cleaner with a wide hose where the end gets a bit clogged or whatever. There's just less space to get the air through. Now, when you say yours has regular use, you've already made it clear that you take good care of your cleaners and check them and so on, but the reality is that people who bought the cleaners soley as a functional item would just switch on & go. Those narrow hoses kept me in business, so to speak, as I unblocked many of them in their day. Of course the cleaners came with 5 year parts guarentee, but one had to pay Hoover for the labour, and even under a an extra guarentee policy a blockage would not be covered. So they came to the local repair shops for attention.

 

[jmurray01]

People took Vacuum Cleaners to repair shops for blocked hoses!? Wow...

 

[vintagerepairer]

Hello. Yes, that's right. When a cleaner failed to work correctly, people got them mended. What we have to remember is that something is only obvious if one knows about it. Don't get me wrong, people who bought in upright cleaners for blockages knew that the machine wasn't picking up, but it was knowing why that mattered. Some knew why but physically couldn't get the machine apart, due to ill health maybe, or lack of confidence, or in so many cases, due to time. A lot of people also thought they'd got the blockages out, but had only part succeeded in doing so and the machine blocked again.

Blockages and belt faliures on upright cleaners were and probably still are the reason for a breakdown. If I got bought in a cylinder cleaner it was mostly to have the lead changed, or because the motor had blown. Cylinders were effectivley mantainence free in that respect. If someone needed a new hose or a floor tool, they just came in and bought the part. Uprights are what I made my money repairing.

 

[sebo_fan]

IMHO, the Turbopower 2 and 3 were the best of the last upright bagged vacuums made by Hoover. When the horrible, heavy and noisy Purepower appeared to replace them, it was the end of a good design.

I had two models - the Autosense TP2 with electronic LED bag indicator and a limited edition yellow TP2 - the yellow one is in my photo album. The yellow one was fairly basic and didn't even come with a bag indicator - I eventually turfed the yellow bin door and found a replacement blue one with a mechanical bag indicator. I always wanted the TP3 1000 watt model as it was in dark burgundy and Argos sold it for a long time before being replaced.

If you seek on EBAY UK you can sometimes find the bagless Permabag box that will fit into ANY of the TP2 and TP3 vacuums, giving it a bagless design as the bin door will just fit in front instead of a bag. No need to take anything off as the Permabox will use the existing dirt channel inside the cavity. For all that Hoover UK dabbled with the design, the Permabox had a tendency to leak dust rather than carry it to full term.

ALSO Big tip - About the only use the bagless Purepower - the Dustmanager has - is the possibility of sourcing a bag holder (usually yellow) from a Purepower, screwing it into the bin cavity by two retaining bolts and turning it into a bagged vacuum, giving that model, at last the possibility of real suction.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

I..

Hi. I always liked the early Hoover TP 1000,2,3 before they was made more basic when the purepowers appeared.
Some goes for the Hoover Purepowers. I like the early ones with the bag indicator light,autosence,Via power etc but same thing happened again new models came out and there then relegated to the BOL range in general.

James)

 

[hoovermanmick]

hoover turbopower 2

heres my turbopower 2 i got last year for 15 pound

http://[email protected]

 

[jmurray01]

The yellow Turbopower 2's were rare!?

I wish I'd bought them when there was two at my local recycling store for £5 each...

Damn...

I've never really been fond of the TP2's with just the power button and no lights, because in comparison to my TP1000 which has lots of lights and a Turbo button, it is basic, and I hate basic!

That isn't to say they are a bad cleaner though - They are fantastic.

I did think you could probably make the Dust Manager bagged, as it was a simple non-cyclonic bagless machine, but to be honest, it had so many other faults that even if I could have made it suck better, it wouldn't have lived long enough to tell the tale anyway!

On a random note - I just took the floor tool of my '07 Henry apart to clean it, and by Jove, the whole thing was crammed full of dust!

I'd recommend anybody who owns a Numatic, or any cylinder cleaner for that matter, to take the floor tool apart soon (if it has been used for more than a year or so) and clean it out.

I'm still in shock from seeing how much dust was stuck between the metal sole plate and the body of it.

When I first got Henry from eBay a couple of months ago, because the body looked almost immaculate, I thought it had barely been used, but after today I now know it must have been used a lot, but just used carefully.

 

[hoovermanmick]

hoovers

i got my henry brand new out my cat i never ues the carpet flool tool i hav got the henry turbo brush use that all the time they good cleaners

http://[email protected]

 

[jmurray01]

Yes, they are very good cleaners!

I was thinking of buying a Turbo brush for mine, but the standard floor tool works well enough for me to not bother spending the money on it.

 

[turbo500]

The yellow Turbopower 2's were rare!?

They're not that rare. They crop up on ebay a fair bit and I've seen a good handfull still in use.

The blue TP2 pictured about that belongs to hoovermanmick is one of the very last TP2's from about 1999 - 2001. The final series of TP's was the yellow 900w model, the blue 1000w model and a red 1200w model. There was also a Turbopower Junior from around this time that was a co-op exclusive and the very last of the original Turbopower design.

Also, the TP1000 was not part of the original line-up - it was launched in 1994 to replace the T2 Autosense and (I believe) the last of the Turbomasters

 

[jmurray01]

I did think, from the styling, the Blue TP2 was the later model.

Also - There was a 1200W version in red ? That's the first I've heard of it!

Did it have Autosense, or was it a fixed wattage motor ?

 

[jmurray01]

Oh, and the Turbopower 1000 was a spur of the moment thing for HOOVER, am I right ?

The TP1, TP2, and TP3 were the planned ones.

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Hi Jamie.

Here are a few pictures of the machines that myself and Rob have managed to acquire over the last few years.

Should put things into a bit of perspective, though there are a handful of uber rare versions still to find.

In 1992 the Turbopower 2 range consisted of:


U2462 Turbopower 2 - the basic machine - you turn it on and push it around and have to play with paper bags....

 

[turbopowerpaul]

Here is its rating sticker, with this machine being dated to January 1994 ...