Kenmore vac - not for commercial use

[blknblu]

came from a house cleaning company.


Kenmore would be on the bottom of my list for that use.


They just don't hold up well.


this is only some of them.


 wonder how much they spent before realizing this was  a poor choice.


I think I can find that part for my Intuition (tossed my Progressive, busted plastics)


 


 

 

[durango159]

I actually disagree with you in some ways.

With exception to the red Kenmore Progressive 25512 or 25513 model that is in the front, the others are older, original generation Progressive. Also there is one rectangular unit which have been very old. The motors on all of these units would be reliable for years.

House cleaning companies like the versatility of a canister vacuum for easy attachment usage and long hose reach that doesn't retract and restrain during use the way most upright hoses do. The bare floor brush and sturdy metal wands on canisters are great for thoroughly cleaning hardwood floors. The Kenmore power nozzles have their ups and downs, usually the wheels go but that is a cheap fix. A good cleaning company will go through the vacs on a regular basis or even after each home to clean the brush roll, so hair ruining the endcaps shouldn't be an issue.

A power nozzle equipped canister vacuum is a hard hard find but still desired by some in the commercial market!! I've done house cleaning as a side job for years and I use Hoover canisters. I've taken my own PowerMax, Windtunnel and sometimes Dimension 1000 canisters on many many jobs. I even had one job that I brought my Hoover Celebrity to.

Yes in a business they could invest $700 or so into Riccars or Meiles but again employee abuse is gonna be the end of the machines deaths before motor issues. Especially on the Riccars and Mieles with the electronic speeds available I wouldn't be surprised if employees ruined the electronics on the machine bodies or hose handles quick. A Rainbow would get ruined by not using proper water amount plus they're a bulky machine. A Filter Queen is poor at maintaining good airflow once the cone gets a layer of dust. Kenmore, Hoover and Riccar bagged canisters, etc. maintain their power much longer over a Filter Queen!! Not to mention to that the box style machines like Riccar and Kenmore above is just easier to work with than a taller round body like the Filter Queen. This in terms of for doing stairs and general quick maneuvering. All of the attachments on the Kenmores are under the lid so their not awkwardly place on top of the unit exposed for bashing into things or falling off like on a Rainbow or Filter Queen would have!

None of the Kenmore models in the pictures above are TOL. None of them would even have variable speeds. All of those models were middle of the line with strictly the convenience of finger tip on/off for brush roll and entire unit. Also these machines have the brush roll overload sensor which is something that none of my Hoovers have. So if an employee sucks up a sock in a Hoover they may not shut the brush roll off as quick as I can. But the Kenmores have that protective function built in.

My guess is that employees would abuse these machines to death quicker than motor failures and other severe issues would occur.

A smart business owner using these would have separate wand sets with a large bare floor brush. That would be a larger and better performing brush over what comes standard on Kenmores and would keep the power nozzle wand attached at all times so that the quick release isn't getting abused.

 

[durango159]

Your Kenmore Intuition:

Unless that business had an Intuition and I sincerely hope they did not have one, you may not find what you're looking for!! Most everything exterior on the Intuition build is different from a Progressive. The hose, attachment body, power head even main attachments on board with exception to PowerMate Jr. are all different.

The Intuitions have a nice suction unit that is powerful and hose handle controls are nice.

The power nozzle on the original blue intuition canister was horrible in my opinion!!! Very high durability issues. The teeny weeny wheels on the rear of the detachable bare floor brush would break along with other components and then the brush wouldn't seat back into the power head well. The power head was far bulkier and awkward to manuever than other Kenmore/ Panasonic power heads. The bristle setup on the bare floor brush for those was extremely lacking, combined with that awkward setup and the teeeny wheeny wheels, I've seen floors scratched from those! Also a normal Kenmore power nozzle brush roll starts to lift off the ground when the hose handle is around 3" from the floor. The Intuition starts to lift off the floor when the handle is around 13" from the floor.

In my opinion, I assume the parts you need are for the power nozzle. I would completely bag that power nozzle for the Intuition. Use for scrapping parts. Instead eBay or contact your local shop shop for a refurbished standard power nozzle and wand set from any other Kenmore canister-- or just use one of the ones you're gaining from this house cleaning company that you just received machines from!!! You'll have a better time vacuuming with a standard Kenmore nozzles and all of yours surfaces will bet better cleaned plus you'll have a far better headlight! Basically you can gut the parts from the Intuition nozzle then reatttach the top housing, so that for your collection you have style of the vacuum represented if you want.

 

[tolivac]

If I were to do commerccial cleaning -would go with my NSS M1 as the "canister" and a Royal metal upright for the carpet.I also have a powernozzle to use with the M1.Other choices would be my ProTeam backpacks.Home type machines like those Kenmores just as the picture shows-won't hold up to day to day commercial use.They aren't designed nor warranted for such work.The commercial cleaners I know of use backpacks and Royal or Sanitiare uprights.

 

[magic-clean]

Interesting

conversation. I know of two cleaning services that use Kenmore canisters for the reasons cited by Durango/Rob. Plus, the ladies say the cleaners are:

*lightweight
*clean thoroughly
*easy to use for floors, carpets and above the floor requirements
*bags are large, inexpensive and readily available
*up front purchase cost of the vacuum is modest
*durability is good
*it is what they use in their own home

and most important:

*their customers are satisfied

 

[durango159]

Magic- Clean-- exactly!!

I've heard of a few house cleaning services that use Kenmores and Panasonics. Panasonics are close enough to the Kenmore design! They like that the machines are:
-- lightweight
-- tools are onboard
--power nozzles are a good size
-- filtration is HEPA with the bags,
-- bags are large capacity
-- durability is good enough
-- airflow through the hose is very powerful
-- Stand up well on stairs
-- long hoses

When you don't buy the fancy gimmick stuff the baseline models and standard machine is good!! You have to know to turn power off to the power nozzle before detaching the wand from hose!

 

[durango159]

In a commercial cleaning setting such as a church, school or office there are wide open areas and other moving trash cans and computer desk chairs, not much gets moved. You can do pretty much everything standing up. So a backpack machine works very well for those settings.

When cleaning a home, it is tighter quartered than a commercial building. You often find yourself backed up against a wall or tight doorway and don't want anything bulky on your back to bump into things. You have to stop often to a move kids toy, pet food bowls, the ottoman for the rocking chair, etc. You stoop down low to push the power nozzle or a bare floor brush, depending on flooring type, underneath a bed or low lying furniture such as a night stand. You get on your hands and knees and switch to an upholstery nozzle for the knitted bathroom mats. Then there is the couch to vacuum that requires bending over and the coffee table with all the fancy decorations is close proximity to the couch. A back pack vacuum for this application just doesn't work good. You're not gonna walk around the house tripping over a dragging wand with a vacuum on your back while trying to put chairs and totes full of kids toys or pet beds back into place before vacuuming another section of a room. It just doesn't make sense. The other alternative is bend down to resettle a vacuum on and off your back each time you move a few things???? A users back would be shot after a single week of cleaning homes and the whole next week would be spent at a chiropractor and physical therapy!!

A Sanitaire SC886 doesn't have the filtration a house deserves with the shake out bag. A SC888 with ST HEPA bag is a much better choice but you're still only limited to carpets with that. For small door mats that's not even a good vacuum because they tend to eat the rug rather than clean it well. A Kenmore canister or similar power nozzle vacuum with rug guards on the nozzle to help restrict the size of a rug from being eaten by a vacuum, a height adjuster and a suction relief valve is perfect for various throw rugs which is common in households of the current times.

Also a power nozzle makes quick work of carpeted steps and all one has to do is zip over the edges and along the back of the step with an onboard crevice tool! I purposely mean a full sized power nozzle on the steps too, not the PowerMate Jr. Time is money and the game is efficiency. The largest tool but the tool that makes sense for the application. A 16" bare floor nozzle is great for schools, for homes a 10-11" bare floor brush still allows for decent manuevering behind toilets and other other appliances depending on the setup of a customers home!

Maybe this is a hint to vacuum manufacturers that a power nozzle canister of this style is desirable in a commercial warranted and manufactured machine![this post was last edited: 5/30/2016-16:05]

 

[tolivac]

I think if I were to do commercial cleaning-would do commercial places ONLY-not homes.As outlined in Durango159's post cleaning homes for hire is just too much trouble.An exception could be made when the home is empty-like for move out or move in cleanings.Can agree on uprights using dump bags in homes-would use the disposable bags only-and use a new bag for each place if possible-esp if the place you cleaned before say has a stinky dog-you don't want to bring those smells to the next site you are doing.And think as this problem indicates-you may run into more stinky problems from home cleaning than commercial place cleaning.And yes,would agree backpacks are awkward in homes-have tried it with mine-they work but you get "bump into tradgedies"For me my back prevents doing hands&knees work-save that for younger guys with more limber backs-and you should not have to do that anyway.And if you have to stoop to use the powernozzle or bare floor tool-the vacuum is poorly designed for you.like the wands are too short for your height,or the hose-wand handle is poorly designed.Floor powernozzles can be too heavy to use as a handheld tool for some.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I have used Kenmore canister to vaccum the church. Was great for getting under the pews, but having to back out of each row was difficult. Was suggested to set the canister on the pews. Maybe a backpack would work better.

Also used one of my Kenmore canister to vaccum a friends house with mostly older hardwoods but some tile, area rugs and carpet mixed in, as well as wooden stairs. It did a good job.

My mother also used a Kenmore canister when she used to cleaned clubhouse in a retirement community with mostly commercial carpet and vinyl tile. When she cleaned client's homes mostly used their machines. She disliked the Rainbow -filling it each time and flushing contents down the toilet.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Also friend's house I cleaned had a bagless Kenmore Progressive Direct Drive I used to vacuum out the windows. It had a good length hose - not springy and didn't fall over. Also it had a bare floor brush but I did not use it. Gentlesweep function was neat.

 

[human]

Flimsy plastic POS!!!

I agree with blknblu. The build quality on those Kenmores is atrociously bad--too flimsy even for basic domestic use, much less commercial. I've ranted more than once about the one my (now ex-) wife insisted I shell out the ungodly sum of $375 for about 15 years ago. The plastics on those sorry machines is so flimsy it won't stand up to thrice weekly use. The weakest point is the elbow that connects the power nozzle to the wand. That broke three times on ours in less than two years. The Sears service center replaced it once under warranty, I bought the part and replaced it again myself six months later, and when I left my wife and that sorry vacuum cleaner a few months after that, it was once again held together with zip ties.

When it comes to vacuums, give me HEAVY METAL, YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

[tolivac]

Has anyone here experienced this problem with Kenmore/Panasonic vacuums-esp the later models with the plastic base pans-the part where the front wheel is would break or crack if the vacuum was dropped on this wheel.There was a rash of these here at both vac shops.The broken Sears vacuums were replaced with Riccar 1500 canisters or Meile canisters.Agree on later models of these machines-the plastic was flimsy and no seals between the body sections-the machines would leak air or dust.the Sears vacuums from the 70's were much better quality.