Retractable cords on upright vacuums

[niclonnic]

There was a time from the late 2000s to early 2010s when upright vacuum cleaners with retractable cords (aka "cord rewind") had become quite popular. I've had two uprights with this feature: a Hoover WindTunnel 2 Rewind Pet and a Eureka AirSpeed Unlimited Rewind. When I first tried out the feature, I thought it was very cool and convenient. It was so satisfying to press a pedal and watch the cord get sucked back into the vacuum after I was done cleaning.

However, several years ago, I have donated and sold both the Hoover and Eureka, respectively, and therefore this feature has fallen to the wayside for me. Although the feature is prominent on canisters, I don't miss retractable cords on uprights for the following reasons:

1. Shorter cord length

Retractable cord mechanisms are generally bulky; therefore the cord has to be shorter in order to compensate (25 to 28 feet). This means that I have to unplug and replug more often. This was a stark contrast to our Dyson DC07 Animal; with its 37-foot cord I could do the whole downstairs from one outlet.

2. Potential durability issues

Due to the inherent nature of the mechanism, retractable cords can be very prone to failure. Although personally, I've never had that happen to me, which is ironic because my dad thought that the aformentioned Hoover's cord reel would be the first part to break.

3. Poor aesthetics

Placement of the cord reel varies from vacuum to vacuum. On the aformentioned Eureka, the cord reel was placed vertically on the back-left side of the machine. This makes the vacuum look a bit ugly, since there's a bulky piece sticking out of the back to emphasize the "rewind" feature.

4. Heat

On Hoovers with a retractable cord, the cord reel is placed ABOVE THE EXHAUST, of all places. Although this is more aesthetically pleasing, it is just a recipe for planned obsolescence. Any part of the cord that is still in the reel becomes incredibly HOT. Not sure what engineers were thinking with this one...

5. Smaller dirt cup capacity

Due to the previous statement about the cord reel being placed above the exhaust, a Hoover's dirt cup has a significantly smaller capacity compared to a model without a cord rewind. This naturally means that you'll have to empty the dirt cup more often.

6. Limited to budget bagless uprights

For whatever reason, a retractable cord is limited to bagless vacuums in the budget range ($80-160). Brands include Hoover, Bissell, Dirt Devil and Eureka. This means that these machines won't have the best filtration, and will require other maintenance such as changing the belt.

In short, I have simply gone back to the tried-and-true method of wrapping the cord up manually. What are everybody's thoughts on upright vacuums with retractable cords?

 

[panasonicvac]

I love uprights with cord rewinders, at least with the ones I own and still looking to find. But just in general, wrapping the cords the old fashion way isn't my preference especially on canisters. I've seen uprights without cord rewinders that have even shorter cords like my Eureka The Boss 1934A. I recently picked up a Hoover Concept One last month and it's cord rewinder still functions. Some cord rewinders are hidden like my Concept One. I don't find heat to be a problem, I only take a little bit of cord out if I'm only doing a quick pickup but the rest of it out if I'd vacuum a whole place which I do alot on my grandfather's Kenmore canister. Bagged cord rewinder uprights hold WAY more capacity, not to mention cleaner to maintain. And that Concept One I've mentioned, picked it up for $15 and it still roars like the day it left the factory.

 

[eurekaprince]

I loved the “Cordaway” cord winder on our Eureka Deluxe Rugulator upright 2083 from 1974 in Queen Anne Gold. Never ever gave us any problems. Best part was: the metal control clasp was high up on the vacuum’s handle - no stooping required ever! Mom loved that feature.

Always thought the name “Cordaway” was cool: similar to a lot of Eureka’s model names in the 1960’s, it relates to royalty in that it’s a play on the French word “corduroy” which means “fabric for the King” = “cord du Roi”!

Another note on manual cord wrapping: Panasonic uprights were the first to place both cord hooks high up on the vacuum handle - no stooping required!!!

 

[human]

I've never used an upright with a cord winder, so I can't really comment on that aspect. Perhaps because I've never experienced anything different, I don't really mind the cord hooks on an upright, and I am especially appreciative of machines like Kirbys that have the upper cord hook on a swivel for easy release. That said, I am less fond of manually winding up the cord on a canister.

Other than my shop vac and a couple of Oreck BB portables, all but one of my canisters have cord winders. My Eureka Ironsides does not. Winding the cord up on it is a bit of a pain because I have to sit on the floor to do it. The older I get, the more challenging that becomes, particularly getting back up.

As for the shorter cord length, there is a marvelous invention called an extension cord to take care of that. I actually made one out of a damaged cord that I replaced on my blue series Sanitaire S645. I also opted to replace the original 30-foot cord on that machine with a 40-footer. The damage on the original cord was confined to the first five feet on the machine end, so I cut that off and attached a heavy duty female two-prong receptacle to create the drop cord. It works great, even if it has to store separately from any vacuum cleaner with which it's used. For safety and convenience, I tie the cords into a square knot before use.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

My model train club has a Eureka Airspeed Rewind, and while I generally don't like it in terms of maintenance and filtration, it's pretty decent to use, and it's cord winder is actually one of my favorite features of the machine. I don't have a lot of machines with cord reels in my collection right now, but I think they're a neat and convenient feature, though I agree that some are better placed and designed than others. That being said, I can live with just winding up my cords.

As for them being only on bagless uprights, that's not the case. Bissell made some versions of their Velocity machines with the feature. Dirt Devil also made an upright called the EZ-Rewind that was bagged. There's also a Panasonic upright with the feature, and don't forget the Eureka Cordaways.

 

[niclonnic]

AmtrakSebo1997

Well, that was a myth busted. I had completely forgotten about the Bissell Velocity bagged uprights. I've never owned one, but I looked them up online in the past, and always thought of the design as bizarre. A bagged vacuum disguised as a bagless one? I'm honestly not sure what to think of that. The "dirt path window" looked neat, but it seemed like fine dust would get stuck in the crevices.

On the subject of Bissells, I just remembered that my grandmother owned a Bissell Rewind PowerClean (colored blue and green) back in the early 2010s. It seemed to clean well enough for her, but the filtration was just plain atrocious. Tons of dust neatly compacted into the primary filters. Of course, this meant that shaking out the filters was a VERY messy affair.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

Niclonnic

Yeah, they're pretty cool machines. I'd classify them as "bagless converts", machines that were initially designed as bagless vacuums, but had their dirt bins switched out for tanks that held bags. Think the Eureka Maxima bagged. A Velocity is one that I kind of want for my collection, especially since I'd probably use it more than its many bagless counterparts, as indeed, these Bissells filter horribly. I'd know, as my mom's Clean view Heilx 82H1 is filthy both inside and out.

 

[huskyvacs]

I have the Eureka Powerspeed With Suctionseal (yes thats its real name), and it has a retractable cord reel on it. The cord is very generous and I never had any issues with it. The vacuum itself is also very good and I used it heavily cleaning the house through 2016 and 2017. The foot-press brushroll razor is bar none the best thing and needs to be on every vacuum.

The only annoyance I have with it, is because I hold onto the cord when I vacuum - (because that's what I am used to doing all my life) - holding the cord activates the cord reel even when you are not pressing the windup button. The cord flexing as you hold onto it and move it around will trigger the retention spring and wind the cord in while you're vacuuming. Also the glue they used to hold the emblems on is very cheap so all the emblems have been falling off. The front decoration logo on the nozzle fell off and got sucked into the brushroll and all mangled up (its tin) and now I need to try and find another replacement one.

 

[fan-of-fans]

My mom has two uprights with retractable cords, a Kenmore Quick Clean bagless and Hoover Whole House Rewind bagless. I thought both were decent. I guess being used to canisters with a retractable cord, she wanted an upright with that feature too. Being used to canisters myself, I did like it too.

 

[panasonicvac]

I will say when it comes to cord rewinders, I prefer the ones that uses a button or reels to manually pull the cord back in. There are some models where you have to give it a quick tug and it'd self rewind. I could care less about that because one time with my grandfather's Kenmore canister, I remember I had the cord all the way out and while I was cleaning, I reached the end where I didn't realized I couldn't reach anymore so I gave the canister a tug, the cord unplugged by itself and reeled all the way back in.