My project of the day - a Bosch upright

[gmerkt]

It does say Robert Bosch on it, but it also says "China." This scatter of parts is a Bosch BUH11700UC. It's a pretty weird vac, with a strange duct system and lots of little levers and such on it; billed as a bagless, this one has an accessory set-up for disposable bags. It has the superficial exterior appearance of German Bosch quality, but inside the wires are pinched in many places and the weird design makes for a lot places for potential leaks.

So, I bought this spacey thing for $4 and it wouldn't run. Meaning, flip the switch, nothing happened. I like to start at the plug and work my back to see where the problem might be. This has a retractable cord, housed in the base, so you have to take the whole bottom end apart to get to the reel. I had power coming out of the reel, so then decided to go up to the switch to see if it was feeding back down to the motors (one for the blower, a separate one for the brush roll). Checking out the switch revealed a defect. Can't blame China for that one; the switch is clearly marked "Italy" on the underside. Of course, everything is soldered together like all the other throw-away electrical stuff these days. The little rocker switch is a $2.70 item with $5.00-something shipping so I think I'll go to Radio Shack (are they still in biz?) and see if they have something that will work.

Of course, if I'd started at the power switch to begin with, I'd only have had to take the handle off. Well, it's not quite that simple. To get the handle off, you must take a back panel off to clip a little plastic tie that holds one end of the handle on. Sigh.

So where to start? Use logic and go from power source on back, or try to guess at most likely fault? Right, some Bosch tech will say, "Oh yeah, those switches all went bad; you shoulda started there." If only I knew a Bosch tech.

 

[tolivac]

there is a place on the side of the vacuums lower housing-where the motor is-where the cord is forced in a tight radius inside the housing-That is a good place to look for the failure.One of these was brought into a vac shop with the "no run" problem-both me and Mike(Vac shop owner) saw the place where the cord was forced into the tight bend-burnt spot on the wires.when Mike called the customer-he didn't want the machine repaired-was like the one in your picture-except black instead of red.

 

[gmerkt]

Well, there were no problems with the black power input cord and I had power right up to the inside of the cord reel. Like I said, my on/off switch was pure-oldee bad. But like I also said, there are many places in this rig where the wires are pinched, mainly where they are crowded through too-small apertures in the plastic components. I found a couple where pinches had caused the bare wire to be exposed, never a good thing in electricals.


These vacs are not like just taking the hood off and having a look around. You have to take down a lot of stuff to get in to check things out. Then there are some electronic chips here and there and I haven't been to tech school to figure these out.

 

[turbo500]

these were sold as both Bosch and Vax in the UK.

 

[gmerkt]

The goofy Bosch is back together and back in action

I went out to Radio Shack yesterday and bought a $2.99 little rocker switch of appropriate rating. It didn't fit the original opening, so I found a suitable place in the side of the handle and drilled a new hole for the replacement switch. I got the Bosch all back together and it runs like a scalded ape. Now it's sitting in "extra vac row" downstairs.

 

[gmerkt]

another pic

A little closer view of the lower part of the Bosch. Suction from the motor is provided to the debris container via the curved vertical support on the vacuum's right hand side. Reassembly after being taken apart requires resealing of some joints with silicone.

 

[gmerkt]

new switch

This is a close-up of the new power switch. There is another switch further up the handle, and this is to turn the brush roll on or off. There is a micro switch in the nozzle that automatically turns the brush roll off when the handle is moved to the fully upright position.

 

[aeoliandave]

Liv it's peculiar looks, Gary. Nice Save!

A Very nice, almost 'insectoid' inspired design I would add when I find one, to my Contemporary Quirky Upright Section . Bag-less but convertible to bags? Cool. I particularly like the direct path central takeoff from the power nozzle foot to the detachable wand that runs up the front of the machine.
Same concept and execution was used for the LG Kenmore Premalite bagless (which should have and easily could have had a cordwinder in the base like your Bosch).

Dave

 

[gmerkt]

Yes, they advertised the Bosch as a bagless but the one I've got has a short inlet tube entering the dirt bin which the collar of a disposable bag will fit over. It has a bag installed; it is a Robert Bosch number and is rather long and narrow like the circular bin.

 

[tazcatsdad]

I recognize that machine!

Not only did Bosch and Vax sell this model, but Siemens had a version of it as well! IIRC Bosch and Siemens are related to each other somehow. Anyway, it came out in 2002 (if I'm reading this right) and -- as I suspected -- it's a TTI product.

Here's a quote from a website about the "Good Design" awards -- one of which this machine apparently won in 2004:

"Siemens CycleTech™ Bagless Vacuum, 2002
Designers: Helmut Kaiser, AVC Team and BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, Munich, Germany
Manufacturer: Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd., Tsuen Vam, Hong Kong"

A link to the web page that I found this on is below. Click on the link at the left which says "Household Products" to get to the above text quickly.

BTW I almost want to say that Panasonic had a version of this machine as well ... but I think I'm mistaken there! (Or at least, I HOPE I am ... )

Bill W.,
aka tazcatsdad

http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/gdesign/winners04.htm

 

[kenmore81]

And Dirt Devil, Don't forget the DD version. I always wanted one. There were quite a fer at Big Lots one year in both the Vax ans Siemens label for 100.00 refurbished, I should'a grabbed one but it didn't appeal to me much in the black or orange. I liked the purple one Sears had.
I like it in red also
Good luck with that, it looks like a time consuming yet simple fix.

 

[gmerkt]

All interesting information; many thanks for the background.