Riccar R-40 P2 Upright - good/bad?

[Ant_Tenna]

There is no advantage to tandem. It was a marketing gimmick invented by Tacony. The circuit boards in all of them were a huge problem. I know, I used to work at the factory for 10 years. I saw them throw a flaming radiance down the concrete stairs. I was standing right there. They hauled it outside and threw water on it. The Chinese motors that power the tandem air vacuums are garbage. Cheap to make. Constant broken fans in the direct air motor because the plastic they make the fan out of it so cheap. Again, ask me how I know. I guess the moral of the story is to never hire a vacuum cleaner collector to work in a vacuum cleaner factory, because he sees everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The engineers at the company were complete assholes.

I find it intriguing from an engineering aspect and would like to have at least one in my collection as a piece of vacuum history. But from all the test I've seen people do I don't find it to be a big enough jump in airflow/suction power to justify the complexity. A single motor clean air machine (especially with a twin motor) seems to get 80-90% of the power whilst being much more simple internally. For everyday use I'd rather use something like a 7850 or my R20UP or my Simplicity S38.

Hell my Simplicity S38 has almost as much air flow while getting far more water lift. It's a shame Tacony got rid of that body style of canister, they we're far better than their successor

 

[cheesewonton]

I find it intriguing from an engineering aspect and would like to have at least one in my collection as a piece of vacuum history. But from all the test I've seen people do I don't find it to be a big enough jump in airflow/suction power to justify the complexity. A single motor clean air machine (especially with a twin motor) seems to get 80-90% of the power whilst being much more simple internally. For everyday use I'd rather use something like a 7850 or my R20UP or my Simplicity S38.

Hell my Simplicity S38 has almost as much air flow while getting far more water lift. It's a shame Tacony got rid of that body style of canister, they we're far better than their successor

On Ametek's old website years ago you could pull up and read their many technical papers. The new site is different and I have not been able to figure out if they have them still and, if so, how to find them.
I recall one in particular paper comparing tandem air to a single through flow motor both drawing the maximum allowed 12 amps. Their paper claimed a lot of problems for tandem air especially for the downstream through flow motor that is breathing hot air from the direct air motor. Hot air is less dense so the through flow motor's efficiency was reduced. Also, getting a diet of already really hot air the through flow motor ran much too hot, reducing it's service life. There was no advantage in cleaning power for tandem air compared to a single full power through flow motor.

 

[cheesewonton]

It was called the Kenmore ultra vac. When I retired, I sold mine to a man in Utah. View attachment 169762Sears sold them in the catalog. But it was the fall and winter sale catalog, not the big book. It was on the back cover. Also, the Regina canister with the brush and beat upright for a power nozzle had a fan.

Ah, I did not know about the Regina. Something research.