Regina Housekeeper 2500

[michvacguy]

Hello everyone! Well I had to do it... purchase the Regina Housekeeper 2500 off ebay. This was a childhood dream machine. Always asked Santa for one but to no avail. My dream kinda came true in 1988 when my friend's mom bought a blue Housekeeper Plus and I just had to schedule a visit to see it. With its 16" nozzle as a kid it looked like a commercial vac to me lol. That's where the joy ended. The belt would stay on for no more than a minute of carpet vacuuming. It was soon returned for a true machine... Hoover Concept One. Back to my recent on the spur purchase. The body is remarkably clean and in decent shape. However my kid's Dirt Devil toy vacuum is better built!

The brushroll would not turn freely at all until I removed about 20 feet of carpet threads wrapped around the end cap and doused it in Liquid Wrench. One problem solved.

However the strange flywheel clutch mechanism that stops the brush from rotating when in the upright position is another story. Everything there rotated freely before vac was powered on. However when lowering the handle the motor shaft literally chewed up the rubber lining in the wheel and no brush rotation.

Im guessing the chances are slim to none finding a replacement clutch assembly? How about belts?

Thank you in advance. I have a feeling this will be around just to look at and what could have been a revolutionary vac if of better quality.

 

[jimjimmunster]

That Liquid Wrench Penetrent Rots and Eats the Rubber...

The problem was created when you used oil near rubber. When oil comes in contact with rubber it eats it away and weakens it. I suggest next time, fully disassemble the area frozen and knock the parts free with a hammer, and sparingly grease the area. Or if you oil it, protect the rubber with tape or something.

 

[rugsucker]

"problem was created when you used oil"

Good advice above but in this case the problem was created when the Regina Housekeeper was created.As the friends mom found out when new these should have been in the toy department.But today I do feel they have a place in a collection as what might have been.Regina seems to have had engineers that could build a quality vac but management that would not pay for quality.And some managers were charged with fraud involving how(MANY)returned vacs were counted as new.The early HKs had a separate attachment kit.The belt system was reworked fairly soon.There were actually 'deluxe'versions adding a carry handle and more.From a distance the HK and Elux Discovery look similar and are up to a point but one might last for 2 days and the other might work well for 2 decades!
Again this does have a place in a collection and is RARE as most went in the nearest dumpster years ago.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

on mine I took the falling apart rubber coating on the clutch off and found (I believe) a dirt devil can vac belt will fit on the clutch just fine making a good friction fit. As for the belt to run the brush roll? Well I can't remember but I hope Scott M or Kenny L can shed more light on this.

 

[kloveland]

I think I just put a dirt devil hand vac belt on the pulley (big disc) remove the rest of the rubber coating first. Scott M has both of my early Regina Housekeepers now

 

[kloveland]

Dirt Devil style 4/5 belts should work

 

[cajunvac]

Regina Bankruptcy

Is this vacuum that led to the Regina Corporation filing for bankruptcy? Wonder if the govt would help them if there were to happen today?

 

[vintagerepairer]

We had the Regina Housekeeper Plus in the UK for a short while during the middle 1980's. They were the competition for the Electrolux 610 and 612. However, despite being a lot cheaper in price, they were never that popular. Here is a photograph of said cleaners, courtesy of Turbo500.

 

[cajunvac]

Housekeeper Vacuum popularity

They did now sell because word got out about that people were not satisfied with this machine. Many were returned being broken or ineffective. Numerous repairs while under warranty ruined Regina's reputation.