Riccar R-40 P2 Upright - good/bad?

[kitra]

Hello, We inherited a Riccar R-40, like the Title says. It looks perfect, hardly a mark on it. I think they were too weak to use it much since it's heavy. The local Riccar Dealer told us the used value to them is only around $45. They claimed the "P2" revision had lots of issues.

Is this Vacuum really problematic? I looked it up and it was a lot of money ($1500) when new. I restore Vacuums as a hobby and sell "some". My Hobby is completely out-of-control as I have too many Vacuums. I'd like to fix any issues with the Riccar R-40 but the Dealer wouldn't comment what they are. I don't want to sell it to anyone IF it's a lemon. It seems to work really well for the little time we used it.

 

[panasonicvac]

I used to work for vacuum shops. The R40 in my opinion are overrated. The predecessor models that came before them (known as RAD) were better machines reliability wise. The R40 has some user improvements over the RAD but made them more complicated underneath the hood circuitry wise. I later learned that when we had more R40 machines come in for technical repair. And now I can no longer recommend them, they're just not worth it at least for the price that is. I think I'd agree that $45 is fair enough as once it breaks, good luck trying to get it fixed as the parts are super expensive and you have to deal with getting them shipped from Asia when they're out of stock.

 

[kitra]

OK, I guess I'll sell it to them? My Neighbor just gave me $120 for a Simplicity 7850 Series 7 and $50 for a Riccar 8900. I should not have sold the 7850 because it was one of our favorite Vacuums. It (7850) seems quieter than the others we own. It is in perfect shape since we never peeled the plastic off the lower cover when we bought it. He uses it for his Day care Business.

The Wife is currently using a Simplicity Cordless Upright. I bought it for $20 with a dead battery. I bought new 18650 Cells and spot-welded up a battery pack with higher capacity Cells. Does a good-enough job.

 

[panasonicvac]

Both the 7850 and 8900 were great machines, one of my personal favorites as well. You can still get similar machines to those today under their commercial brand called CleanMax. Or there's a company that makes clones of those machines called Cirrus.

 

[cheesewonton]

Both the 7850 and 8900 were great machines, one of my personal favorites as well. You can still get similar machines to those today under their commercial brand called CleanMax. Or there's a company that makes clones of those machines called Cirrus.

Din't forget Titan. Pretty sure they are made for the Titan brand by Tacony. I actually think some of the Titan models are better than what Riccar is selling now, which is sad.

 

[panasonicvac]

They are, however the Titan doesn't use a twin fan motor as the CleanMax line.

 

[kitra]

Wish I could buy my Riccar 7850 back. Being my Neighbor, I sold it to him cheap. It really does look new. He took the plastic off the lower cover and it is new. The Serial number starts with 7A00.

 

[cheesewonton]

They are, however the Titan doesn't use a twin fan motor as the CleanMax line.

Do you mean a two stage motor? That is neither here nor there for me. Modern single stage fan designs have fan elements that are curved lenghtwise and in cross section plus the fan is conical so the individual fan blades become wider towards the center. These are so much better than old flat fan designs. Panasonic and Hitachi have vacuum motors in their Japanese canister models that move huge amounts of air on less watts than most US household vacuums. Japan requires all vacuums to state their "Suction Work Rate", which is a method developed by Japan to measure cleaning performance of all vacuums sold there. Same standard applied across the board on all canister vacuums. It combines sealed suction and airflow measured over a period of time instead of an instantaneous measurement, and the product is multiplied by a factor. The best European vacuums from Miele and Electrolux sold in Japan earn a Suction Work Rate rating of 240 watts. There is one version of the Lux D820 that came with a high powered Domel motor rated at 280 watts. That is the most of any European vacuum sold in Japan. The top Japanese vacuums from Panasonic and Hitachi have suction work rate ratings from 580-680 watts. Fire one of those Japanese vacuums up on your 100 volt transformer ( Japan has 100-105 volt power ) and stand by because the power is unbelievable. Small single stage motors but very complex fan shapes that are based on a lot of computer simulation and the latest understanding of fluid dynamics. Superior in every way.

 

[newone]

Hello, We inherited a Riccar R-40, like the Title says. It looks perfect, hardly a mark on it. I think they were too weak to use it much since it's heavy. The local Riccar Dealer told us the used value to them is only around $45. They claimed the "P2" revision had lots of issues.

Is this Vacuum really problematic? I looked it up and it was a lot of money ($1500) when new. I restore Vacuums as a hobby and sell "some". My Hobby is completely out-of-control as I have too many Vacuums. I'd like to fix any issues with the Riccar R-40 but the Dealer wouldn't comment what they are. I don't want to sell it to anyone IF it's a lemon. It seems to work really well for the little time we used it.

I have 2 r40s bought new they even clean the air in the rooms you use the r40s but performance reviews YouTube channel has a video posted about complete repair of the r40s

 

[newone]

I have 2 r40s bought new they even clean the air in the rooms you use the r40s but performance reviews YouTube channel has a video posted about complete repair of the r40s

 

[panasonicvac]

Twin fan, double stage, I don't see a difference in what you call them. Personally, I'm a fan of twin fan motors and I'd rather use a machine that has one. I usually find them to be quieter, more pleasant sounding and reliable. Sometimes even more powerful as well but that'd depend on what make and model. For Tacony, my Simplicity 7350 with a twin fan is more powerful than my 6570 with a single fan motor. And even my Simplicity 7750 with a twin fan motor is more powerful than my Simplicity Symmetry Entry or even my Riccar Vibrance USA with their single fan motor. The only single fan motor that I've noticed is more powerful than any of my Tacony uprights would be my uncle's Riccar Premium Vibrance R20P.2 back when they upgraded their single fan motors. While I really do like that machine, I wished my uncle had either a R20UP or a S20UP model instead because they're such quieter and pleasant sounding machines. I'm not too crazy with the way the R20P.2 sounds like, and I do question the reliability of the motor as one time someone put the wrong bag in it and one time some one didn't fully inserted the bag all the way in where alot of dirt was inside the bag chamber. If that happened on a Miele, chances are that Vortex motor would've likely already had bearing problems. So CleanMax no longer offers any model with a single fan motor, they're all twin fan now. And chances are if I had to replace the R20P.2 and still stick with Tacony, I'd buy one of the CleanMax models over the Titan or any of the Riccar Spirits. Because of the bag issue, I now wish that my uncle could've bought a Riccar 8955 instead as the bag issue would likely never had happened.