Just another Day in Sarnia/Port Huron

[aeoliandave]

It started like this, quite innocently. I've been looking for a large open wire shelving unit like I see in some people's collections. Easy enough to find and source in canada but outrageously expensive. So I did an online good ol' U.S.A search and located them at Target, Lowes and Walmart.

Next, I won an 1955 Electrolux LXI on eBay that was located in Port Huron. pre-emailed the nice Lady if I won, could I do a pick-up? Certainly, says she.

So, with one more week of work to go before vacationtime and Monday off and cylinder vacuums all over the floor way below eye candy level I called Pete and said I'd drop off the Decade 80 on the way to or from.

First, the shelf unit. Compared the 3 stores wares and decided on Lowes as they have extra single shelves also, which will maximize the cylinders I can rack up. And they seemed made of a heavier gauge chromes steel.

74" H 48" W 18" D, 5 shelves - $74.97
48" W 18" D single shelf - $14.88

Best price I found in canada would cost twice as much + 14% tax!!! No contest.

P.S. It's the tall one in the back.

 

[aeoliandave]

Mother & child?

When I picked up the LXI the lady was charmed by my telling here why the LXI was highly coveted. Thanks, Charles Richard.

As I was leaving she said, I have another old vacuum in the garage if you want it. I was gonna use it and then I found a shop vac and put it away in a corner a few years ago.

Sure, says I, haul it out and let me see.

And she comes out with this cute as a basket of kittens baby Premier VAC-KIT model PR70...with the hose!!! (Electric Vacuum Cleaner Co., Inc. - Cleveland USA)

Unbeknownest to me, Pete had set aside a Premier Model PR80 with no hose.(Premier Vacuum Cleaner Co., Ltd - Toronto Canada)

So here's both of them after brushing off some dust & dirt.

Both these vacs have that cone shaped cloth bag with a mushroom headed pole up the center hounted to the motor that effectivly doubles the bag on itself and keeps it away from the canister sides.

Must be a Premier feature. Kyle posted about this earlier.

 

[aeoliandave]

OK, the suspense is over.

Here's the group shot of what came home today. Consider this the before picture as they are quite literally dumped on the carpet with lots of other stuff scattered about for your perusal, as the cats insist I be in bed with book by 11:45. Thankfully I have every night off this week...

Honest, all I started out to do was drop off a vac, pick up a LXI and maybe get a nice tall wide open wire shelving unit.

Giddier than a boy at the circus...

Pete gifted me the Compact C6, the Premier PR80, The Eureka E1273 with Powerhead and perfect power hose and, having introduced me to the effortless joy of Power Drive last time, This lovely Hoover Concept 1.


The 1955 LXI in in superb condition and has the two polished aluminum wands. Also two hoses both light gray with blue arrows. BUT...one is vinyl (?) weave absolutely airtight - pictured - and the other is cloth woven!!!. Leaks, of couirse. Perhaps because of color fade, the cloth woven one appears a much lighter blue, but definitly not turquoise. One of these must be original. Charles?

 

[aeoliandave]

Oh hewck, both hoses are Electrolux originals; the vinyl weave one is simply a color matched replacement and the original cloth hose was not thrown away. Yippee!

btw, the open wire shelf unit at Target is also 5 tier, 18" D 48" W but only 72" H. also, they have no extra single shelves available and the wire is a smaller gauge. I notoiced the shelves flexed in the center when pressed - not good for several 25 lb vacuums at once, methinks. But, the unit is only $59.99 complete.

The Walmart version is cheap & cheesy at $41.56 and is only 36" W 16" D and 72" H. Half the number of wire spokes across the shelves and sages noticably.

IMHO, the METRO.com brand restaurant comnmercial units are the best and should be at their price. But, you can get them 74" H 60" W and 24" deep. Perfect for 24" cylinders but out of my budget at this time.

Also, check out these at TigerDirect.com or .ca

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=713529&CatId=1443

 

[charles~richard]

That's really a beautiful LXI!! And you got two hoses with it?!

 

[arh1953]

Pete almost spoiled the surprise in another link, about the Premier, but what a haul!! Dance for joy, and keep up the successful hunting!

 

[aeoliandave]

Yup, 2 hoses. Bright blue chevrons on gray. As I said, I think cotton color fade and dense impervious vinyl account for the color values. This is a flash picture, I'll try for a daylight pic when I get home from work at 5.

No fascinating story from the seller; she's a picker mostly of gew gaws & bric-abrac she resells on eBay and uses upright's exclusively in her home because of the dogs. This is her first vacuum sell. Says she got it at a Detroit area estate sale because it looked like the one her Mom had...and in this case I believe her as she knew about the ejecting bag.

It was all in one box and I surmise the original owner simply didn't throw the old hose out.

 

[aeoliandave]

I have turquoise hoses - I swear the cloth one is NOT Turquoise.

Interesting that the vinyl weaving strips are imbossed with a surface mimicing parallel threads.

Something else I notice is that the cast aluminum floor tools are highly mirror polished, almost new looking, unlike how these are usually found dull and much scuffed. The rubber bumpers have mostly crumbled off - I will replace them with donor bumpers from spare tools in the parts bin.

btw, I latexed my first thead weave hose off an Air-Way 55. Did it just as I discribed. removed both hose couplings, used film cans as plugs, filled the hose with latex, hung the hose vertical and removed the plugs draining back into the pail. Had the hose from the Lux E up in the basement rafters and blew warm air through it for about 30 minutes to set the latex. Then laid the hose straight out on the floor and continued the blow for another 2 hours. Had a test puddle of latex on the floor to monitor the latex cure rate.

There was naturally some liquid latex leakage through the hose core cracks to the weave on first fill. After draining I soaked it up with paper towels. Since latex drys clear it didn't really change the color of the weave threads. If it was a vinyl woven hose it would easily rub off afterwards with a brisk toweling.

Once I determined that the latex was drying I shook in a cup of Baby Powder, shook it all throughout the hose, saved what fell out and blew the remainder out onto the street.

Pete can attest to the air tightness of this resurrected Air-Way hose.

 

[charles~richard]

Beautiful. Yes, the vinyl-weave is a replacement, from the AE era. Does the handle end have a silver bleed valve to reduce suction?

If you want to see what the colors of the cloth hose looked like before they faded, see the background pattern on the link below. The tiled background is a scan of an actual segment of cloth LX/E hose that I pulled out from inside the metal coupler, where it had been protected from sunlight all the years. (The hose was otherwise ruined.)

Congrats on your successful latex treatment - it confirms for me that my technique does work so maybe I'll try it again sometime.



http://www.137.com/sweepers/

 

[chestermikeuk]

Wow

Congratulations Dave on your new & latest additions , they look fab, Love the mini vac, almost looks like you could use it like a Z5 , sling it over your shoulder and walk around with it...The Lux is a picture, and, fancy those hoses as well, it looks a solid machine as well...

The description of renovating your hose with Latex is very clear...IT WORKS, i followed charlies thoughts with that one, and now we know it can work, you make it sound simple as well..

I think this "Handy Hint" should be placed on one of those links on the home page for reference, its stuff like that that needs to be accessible for all to see and view etc.

Well done, & Happy hunting, Mike

 

[aeoliandave]

One important preparatory step I left out.

You'll want to be sure the hose is clear of all debris from end to end. On those really stiff crunchy hoses where the inner rubber cloth layer has hardened, frequently there are strips of the cloth that have delaminated and stand away from the hose walls & wire coil.

I have two bottle brushes, one is stiff bristles and the other is brass wire bristles (I use them in several sizes to clean out organ pipes). The nylon brush is fine for most hoses but if the hose is really delaminating the wire brush really reams it clean of clog potential. The goal is to remove loose bits and accumulated dirt & dust, not strip it down to the wire coil.

Got an 8 foot 3/8" steel rod from home depot and attached a drill chuck to one end. This holds the brush. The other end I put in the electric drill. However you manage to attach or bolt the brush to the rod...BE SURE THE DRILL IS TURNING IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE METAL TWIST OF THE BRUSH BRISTLES.

On the basement floor or outside in the laneway, lay the hose out straight, have a friend (or a heavy vise) hold the hose and run the brush up & down the full hose length a few times. You'll be amazed at what's caked along the hose walls.

Now blow it all out with your trusty vac and carry on.

 

[aeoliandave]

Suction valve.

No, sorry, neither handle has any sort of suction control. Both are the plain chrome curved piece.

 

[electrogirl]

I never cease to be impressed with what you and Pete manage to find! Everything you have there is simply amazing. This was well worth the suspense you put us through. What a nice bonus receiving the Premier from the lady you got the Electrolux from. Another example in favor of letting people know you collect. I definitely won't keep my mouth shut anymore in regards to my collecting.

Good luck with the vacuum shelving. I would love to see pictures once you have it assembled and set up. I eventually would like to do that myself. It would be great to get at least the canisters up off the floor and the hoses organized.

 

[polkanut69]

Thanks to Robert for allowing us to resurrect old threads such as this one.  This afternoon I rescued a Premier similar to the one Davey posted above only mine has the gray and maroon reversed.  This vacuum was my dad's parents first vacuum and was apparently purchased 2nd hand by them.  It has the hose (in rough shape but no leaks), upholstery attachment, and carpet attachment.  It had sat in my grandma's basement for quite a few years, but I brought it home and plugged it in and it has great suction.  I first had to empty out quite a bit of old accumulation in the bag.  A nice and sturdy vacuum that has withstood the test of time quite well. A nice survivor!  How old would this canister vac be?

[this post was last edited: 6/14/2013-19:49]

 

[polkanut69]

Thanks to Robert for allowing us to resurrect old threads such as this one.  This afternoon I rescued a Premier similar to the one Davey posted above only mine has the gray and maroon reversed.  This vacuum was my dad's parents first vacuum and was apparently purchased 2nd hand by them.  It has the hose (in rough shape but no leaks), upholstery attachment, and carpet attachment.  It had sat in my grandma's basement for quite a few years, but I brought it home and plugged it in and it has great suction.  I first had to empty out quite a bit of old accumulation in the bag.  A nice and sturdy vacuum that has withstood the test of time quite well. A nice survivor!