Silverado Stress Test...
Well, after all the work I've done the past few weeks bringing the Silverado back from death's door, I finally decided it was time to put it through its paces by vacuuming my bedroom, which is one of two fully carpeted rooms in my house. Two others have Persian rugs on top of hardwood floors. For its inaugural run (can't exactly call it a 'maiden voyage'), I rigged it up with the hose that came with it, which I had repaired with JB Weld, and the wand and gray PN4A power nozzle I had bought separately for it. Not surprisingly, the handle on the hose lasted for all of two or three pushes before it broke apart again. Fortunately, I have more Electrolux hoses than I do Electrolux canisters to put them on, so I was back in business in about a minute. Once I got going again, the machine turned out to be every bit the beast I had expected it to be.
To my mind, one of the best tests for a power nozzle is getting cat fur off of a Persian rug and this one handled it with ease. Running the Silverado and its power nozzle for about 15 minutes, there were no disconcerting noises or odors so while it may not be the prettiest machine in my collection, I am taking it off the parts donor list and declaring it fully fit for duty. The only thing still irritates me about the machine itself is the cord winder won't take up the last four or five feet of cord but that can be a project for another day. The hose, I'm not so sure about. It's got a split just aft of the handle, which I repaired with RTV silicone, but the handle itself is toast. I'm just wondering whether it's even worth trying to source a replacement handle when I have so many other better hoses on hand. Certainly, it's not a priority. For now, I'm removing what's left of the handle, tossing it in the trash and the rest of the hose into the barn in the event another handle comes my way sometime in the future.