Kirby suction fans

[kirby519]

Sanitaire and Hoover commercial uprights (Convertable style hoover) do have a small flaw which could be remedied. The fan opening opeing exposes more of the edge of the fan blades unlike with kirby you just see the very tip of the begining of the bade. objects hit the edge of the spinning blades and bounce back down in those models. a smaller fan opening would solve that. How ever the horizontal position of the fan could cause jams. It is also hard to draw heaver objects into these machines because there is a "back wash" of air coming out of the fan opening. Hard as that is to believe. Take the bag off the sanitaire and the bottom plate and turn on the machine. you will find that it has good air flow all of it going in. Replace the bag preferably one that has had some use. So there is back pressure and run the machine again. You will notice a back flow of air around the outer edge of the opening and rushing air going from the middle of the opening. The back flow of air also inhibits the heaver objects from entering the fan in conjuction with the exposed blades makes it difficult to put those things in the bag every time. Some things to make it to the exaust side of the fan. Usually with a few missing blades along the way depending on what did make it into the fan. Try it. I would like to hear if you notice the same thing.

With the kirby and royal metal upright objects first enter thru the troat on the cleaning head by that time it is caught in the high velocity air flow combinded with the vortex going on in that chamber the object only has one place to go and that is into the fan. It is why both those machines can inhale objects others spit out.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Plastic fans

I had a Hoover Junior U1104 that had a plastic fan and I thought it had less suction power than its metal fan predecessors. It certainly wasn't good at picking up grit of the size of sea salt granules. Very disappointing.

Talking of plastic fans, what if they were made of PEEK plastic? PolyEtherEtherKetone is used in the aerospace industry, and used in the Dyson digital motor.

 

[kirby519]

I'm not familar with P.E.E.K. How does it differ from todays kevlar?

 

[twocvbloke]

My plastic-fanned Junior U1104 was pretty weak too, that's why I got rid of it, that and I hated the dual-purpose footswitch/handle release pedal, very irritating...

That said, my Junior that the above fan came from also has a plastic fan, same type as the U1104, and that does pretty well at cleaning, which is just confusing, maybe the U1104 was just crap...

 

[tolivac]

Looks like the Hoover Jr fan in the picture was used to clean up after the rock crusher?Some SERIOUS vacuuming done with that fan.Like lots of pebbles must have gone thru it.I always thought Hoover metal fans were pretty tough.

 

[twocvbloke]

Yeah, it had a hard life, it's in a box somewhere now, never to be used again, but despite it's rebuild date of '97 by a Hoover authorised service dealer, I doubt whoever did it (using cheap aftermarket parts) bothered to strip the motor down and clean it out or replace the fan, cos the motor was packed with fluff, the original hoover made metal fan as you can see was chewed more than a dog's bone with a fractured blade, the cable had been run over several times, and the front bearing was shot, so was quite a task to fix up, but I got there, and replaced the bag with a deeper blue generic "State the obvious" bag...

It does make me wonder how they didn't kill the motor picking up stuff that caused that much damage, but, it just goes to show how tough the metal fans are...

 

[thevacuumman]

I know my Kirby 510 has a metal fan that looks like it had been barely used
my Kirby Classic has a Lexan fan in a kirby that i know has been used roughly my grandparents garage had carpet and they would use it to pick up rocks, bolts, etc.
the Heritage Legend II has a Kevlar fan and the one that was in it when i got it all of the blades were worn off of the fan

 

[kirby519]

vacuumman

Wonder if that Heritage two was used in an area with sandy soil or if it was used in a foundry or metal shop type office environment? And how long it has been on the machine as a way to gage how long the new fans will last in rough environments. Were the blades worn down or broken off?

 

[thevacuumman]

most of them were broken off and i found six of them in the Mini-Emptor one of the blades had a nail drove through it. but it was used in a home that my dad's friend owned

 

[thevacuumman]

i do know one of the lexan fans that was on the Classic(my grandpa had 5 or 6 fans in a drawer) was worn down because their back yard was mostly sand

 

[kirby519]

How long did he get out of each of those fans. Next time I go to our get away I'm going to check out the fan on the classic we have there. The fan has been on it since about 1992 to 1994. All sand up there as well.

 

[thevacuumman]

about 2-3 years if he didnt pick up a nail or a rock or something like that

 

[richardc1983]

I want to get a curved bladed fan for my Sanitaire. It has the plastic straight blade version in at the moment and I find this makes it spit things out.

Does anyone know where I can get one with curved blades from that are more like the kirby blades?

 

[richardc1983]

Reason I ask is the straight blades of the clear lexan fan in the vacuum seem to bounce small bits of grit and small stones back off it and then it spits them back out, a bit like the hoover juniors used to do...

I was thinking the curved blades which are shaped more like the kirby fan would be better as the grit should follow the curves of the blade and up into the bag?

Its so annoying as when I vacuum my door mat it spits half the small bits of grit and stones that have been trodden in back out.

Kirby doesnt do this though and never spits back out, I know the fan is not upside down though on Kirby but the blades are curved also.

I have the ZC-880.

 

[richardc1983]

This is the type of fan I mean.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Eureka-Sanitair...022?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item22f618d6ae

 

[kirby519]

curved fan blades

It isn't so much about the curviture of the fan blades as it is about the exposure of the blades themselves. Look at exposure of the fan blades on the kirby and compare it to how much of the acutal blades you see exposed thru the fan opening on the eureka. You will see the difference. That is what is causing the bounce back. Objects are striking the edge of the blade(s) as it tries to enter the fan opening.

 

[richardc1983]

I need to develop something that reduces the opening to the fan so the blades are not as exposed.

 

[kirby519]

Curved fan blades

You will have to use something thin like sheet tin. You will also have to find some kind of cement that will bond the tin in place or other materials. You will not be able to screw or rivit anything tru the fan case other wise the Fan will hang up on the screws or rivits. At the back of the fan opening there isn't much to attach anything to. It is something that eureka would really need to "fix" with new molds that have a smaller fan openings on the quick clean out fan cases or the machines that the fan case is molded as part of the main body.

 

[richardc1983]

I guess Eureka say its a feature of the vacuum that it will spit out anything to large to suck up but what is actually happening is it is hitting the blades and coming back out.

Has the size of the opening changed much on models through the years?

 

[kirby519]

Eureka fan opening

No the fan opening has remained the same for decades. Chances are there won't be any changes to it's design. As that has been what has worked for them for years.