New finds from last two months!

[fantomfan]

To start:
Two new Kirbys- 513 and 561. (515 in middle I already had, but it got re-vamped with original Kirby parts.) They came from a guy in the city whom I bought two dozen Kirbys from. These two I'm keeping, the others are sold, or waiting to be sold/donated. They work well.

Air-Way 88- found this a month ago at an estate sale for $40. It came with the original tool caddy and bags. It smelled a little musty so I put in some laundry beads to get rid of the smell. The hose is in good condition. The cord obviously was replaced but everything else is original.

Eureka BOL canister- my mom found this two days ago at an estate sale nearby for me for $25. The motor appears to have been replaced at some point. Most of the original tools are missing and it has some minor surface rust, but it runs fine.

Kenmore Drytech- found this lucky find at a thrift store a month ago for $20. It works perfectly. Now I have two Drytechs!

 

[constellation86]

Nice finds! I like the cute little Eureka. I had to swap the motor in mine because the bearings were bad. I wonder if this was a common problem.
Nicholas

 

[electroluxxxx]

Bearings over years of use or sitting idle for a long period of time tend to dry out causing the grease to either solidify or exit through the seals. this is easily fixed by doing a bearing wash and repack or replace the bearings on the armature which isn't all that hard to do depending on what kind of tools you have I like to use a press to remove bearings.

a bearing wash is when I remove the seals of the bearing, spray it out with WD-40 which loosens the old grease and then use 90% rubbing alcohol to rinse it out. once that is done I apply heat and dry out the remaining alcohol and proceed to pack the bearings with a silicone High temp brake and wheel bearing grease.

 

[delaneymeegan]

Is this the "canned ham" Eureka?

 

[eurekaprince]

No...the original little Princess as shown on this thread is more "turtle" shaped.

When a cleanerphile says "canned-ham" Eureka, they are referring to a flatter, triangular canister like the Mobile-Aire, or the 1800 Series Empress or Empress II FastVac. Here is a pic of a Mobile-Aire:



http://https//www.google.ca/search?...hWEaD4KHc78BqAQ_AUICSgC#imgrc=I3dWlEDeyyP_HM:

 

[delaneymeegan]

Thank-you.
One of my first vacuums was a "canned ham" vibra-groomer, and if I remember right, had a JCPenny badge on it, very similar to the first picture here. I got it in a trade with the neighbor when I was like 13-14.

It had a woven hose that leaked air so much the vibra-groomer didn't work. They also gave me a Eureka upright with attachments. I took the unused plastic hose from the accessory set and easily switched it out with the woven hose. The vibra groomer worked very well after that.



So what are we calling these Turtle vacs? And yes, they do look like a turtle.

Here's pics of my basically new, mid to late 1970s "turtle vac". It was apparently used a few times and that was it. They used the dusting and definitely the crevice tool as that's the only part I really needed to clean. It doesn't look like the floor nozzles or wands were ever used. It's model 3220.

 

[delaneymeegan]

What is the colloquial name for this Eureka? It's a 621A, from the early to mid 80s.
It takes the same bags as the princess/"turtle vac". lol I like that name.

It's been lightly used.

 

[eurekaprince]

Haha...yes, indeed those small Princesses were shaped like a turtle.

The original Princess (I think Model 700) was turtle shaped. These debuted in the early 1960's. By the late 1960's the Boxy Princess came on the market and kind of became more prevalent...with all sorts of variations in colours and features. So for at least 15 years, Eureka offered both the smaller Turtle Princess and the larger Box Princess.

Both shapes take Style "H" bags.

Your blue Princess is definitely from the mid 1970's: the company name is listed as The Eureka Company which is post 1974, but the vac still has a separate curved wand for the carpet nozzle. Your boxier gold Princess is from a few years later, maybe even 1980, because it has the newer plastic carpet nozzle with integrated neck.

 

[eurekaprince]

Actually, the easiest way to define these groups of Eureka canisters is to just use the Model Series for each shape designated by the company that created them: the Eureka Williams company originated these shapes and gave them the following Model Series Numbers...

Series 500 for the small "turtle" Princesses
Series 700 for the larger, boxier Princesses (and Princes)
Series 1000 for the Mobile-Aire and Empress "canned ham" canisters
Series 1800 for the Empress II FastVac canned ham canisters
Series 1600 for the boxy Sweet Sixteen canisters
Series 1200 for any of the above upgraded to a Power Team with a motorized power nozzle.

After Sweden's Electrolux bought Eureka Williams in 1974, and changed the name to The Eureka Company, much of these numbering conventions changed.

 

[delaneymeegan]

That's a HUGE help, Brian.

It is interesting "turtle" vacs, I haven't seen too many variations, yet. It's usually in the handle material and style.

The square princess however, there is quite a few different variations. different colors for starters, tool holders, different types of handles, different switch arrangements, retractable cords, and what I find most interesting is the change in hinge location.

I have another early to mid 70s in orange, with a pn, all original. It must have been a floor model because it still has the yellowed price sticker with store name on and I'm keeping it. The rear portion of the top is indented a bit. Obviously just to make it look different.

One thing I noticed on some of the newer pn models (probably 80s and 90s) where a crush proof hose is used. Did they simply run 2 wires INSIDE the hose to power the PN? By inside, I mean, if you were to look inside the hose you would see 2 loose wires running lengthwise from end to end, but they come through the hose near the ends and connect to the plugs.

 

[eurekaprince]

That IS an interesting observation! I never thought about it, but the electrified white/beige hoses for pre-1985 Eureka Power Teams are VERY different from the lighter, silver coloured electrified hoses included with the 1985 Express Power Teams and onward. I always thought that all of them embedded the wiring in the hose material itself.....you learn something new everyday! Wonder if having the wires exposed to the dirt rushing through the hose causes more damage and failures and repairs....hmmmm.....

Do the silver Miele electrified hoses work that way too?

 

[delaneymeegan]

Don't get me wrong, I should have clarified better. I'm wondering if this is the case.

I've not dealt with many plastic hoses which are electrified. I'm used to dealing with the vynil hoses that have the 2-3 stiff wires that act to both support the hose structure, and provide the electric. Kenmore, 70s Eureka, newer Electrolux, etc.

I looked at a grayish Eureka hose I saw at a goodwill, a while back, and it appeared to be crush proof, but it was electrified. When one shook the hose, I could hear something on the inside. It seemed logical that it would be wires. I thought maybe you could confirm that.

It would seem like a good idea, but it seems one would need to have slack in the wires in case the hose were stretched.

I'm thinking of adding a Nutone PN I have, to the beige princess shown above. I was thinking of stringing 2 18 gauge wires on the inside of the hose and putting the typical bi-pin ends on to plug into the pn and a receptacle on the vac.

I'm not familiar with Miele vacs.

 

[eurekaprince]

Oh....hopefully a hose expert here at VLand can answer the question: where are the wires in the silver electrified hoses sold by Eureka in the 1990's? Embedded in the plastic or "on the loose" in the hose?