Power Nozzle Question

[michvacguy]

Hello everyone. I am completely baffled at the moment and am hoping some light can be shed on this. It started a few months ago when I purchased a gorgeous early 1980s Eureka Rotomatic Power Team Canister on eBay. I was looking forward to using it as a daily driver. However when turned on the power nozzle, which had auto height adjustment, would bear down so hard on my Berber carpet that it was a workout to push it. I even opened the suction control all the way and reduced the suction by use of the dial on the canister itself... still vert difficult to push. Then just this week I got a pristine Kenmore late 1970s baby blue Powermate canister vacuum. Same issue with power nozzle being very hard to push and sounding like struggling to rotate. As soon as I lift off the carpet it rotates fine. This power nozzle even has height adjustment and even at highest setting it still bears down on carpet. Im stumped because modern power nozzles such as Panasonic and even newest Filter Queen models glude over Berber with ease. The only visible difference is the newer ones only have brush strips while the older ones had beater bars as well. I was really looking forward to daily using these old vacs. What gives?

 

[bnsd60m9200]

power nozzles or machines shouldnt just "glide with ease" over carpet. if there isnt *some* resistance* it isnt doing its job. those old pn's have better airflow and the resistance on multi pile carpet or shag is normal. also those old pn's have flat belts and require changing at least once a year. on the kenmore pn, it has a height setting adjustment. 2 works on most medium pile carpets. if the height adjsuter is broken. let me know and i can tell you how to fix it.

 

[michvacguy]

Thanks for the info!

My "glides with ease" comment was a figure of speech. Compared to the old power nozzles I'm having issues with, the modern ones do not require me to break into a sweat involving an arm workout trying to push and pull them across the carpet. The height adjustment on the Kenmore 1970s power nozzle is definitely functioning correctly. I will certainly try a new belt and if that doesn't work I'm stumped. Thanks again!

 

[durango159]

How is the condition of the baseplate?

A newer machines baseplate may be in better shape and glide over it better.

I've acquired machines that had a black gunk that had built up on the base plate before and after the opening. Also beater bars get gunked and metal plates get scratched. Need to make sure the base plate around the opening is fairly smooth and in clean, decent shape. Try to scrub up rust from metal plates.

The Eureka Rotomatic nozzles have no front wheels. They will stick to carpet more than other nozzles with a good seal. Make sure rear wheels are rotating properly. You can grease the wheel axle.

I've noticed some of the newer Kenmore nozzles may not get as close to the rug as some nozzles such as the Eureka Rotomatic and Hoover Quadraflex.