Sears Best 2 speed Kenmore

[aeoliandave]

Loading salt pellets into the water softener tonight I spied this in the basement and it all came back to me...

I installed this in this position back in 1986 when I bought the house. It has been in this same location all these years. The cobbled together wand & hose runs up through the wall to a baseboard outlet and serves as an auxillery suction pump for a very large restored 1914 Karn Church Reed Organ. The organ contains 9 complete sets of 61 note reedbanks on one manual and a Nag's Head swell top in addition to the usual smaller swell shutters front & back. Several stops speak through harmonic Qualifier Boxes and the 8' Diapason rank has a graduated harmonic 'pipe' box across the entire width of the case - this speaks directly toward the Nag's head top lid. Can be foot pumped gently for quiet stops (Offertory) or requires hand pumping by a Bellows Boy in back for Full Organ. The point being I used this Kenmore with a remote switch when I want to play full out. It's set on low speed, btw.

I recall that at the time I went out looking at Sally Ann for a powerful beater vacuum for this purpose and this fit the bill nicely. Dammit, I needed a pump and I needed it now!. LOL

On cursory inspection it appears none the less for wear and tear other than the dirt & dust. Runs fine. Tomorrow night I'm going to liberate it to the Great Upstairs Spa...because its two tone blue, and purty, has a magicord reel, a power nozzle socket and an intact Faux Woodgrain lid panel.

I'm rather excited to have rediscovered it. Having performed flawlessly and reliably for over 2 decades in less than ideal conditions it has earned a return to the Land of Daylight.

Dave.

 

[aeoliandave]

Basement dirt accumulation - 28 years worth.

 

[aeoliandave]

Genuine vinyl wood has not lifted. In fact, the case seems to be in pretty good unscratched condition.

 

[aeoliandave]

You can bet I'll be looking for matching hose and accessories and a power nozzle for this.

I also chose it because it sits solidly on end with plenty of exhaust egress clearence.

I'm assuming its an early 1980s machine. ?

More pix tomorrow.

 

[danemodsandy]

Blue:

"I'm assuming its an early 1980s machine?"

Dave:

Things may have been different between Simpsons-Sears in Canada and Sears here in the U.S., but here, Sears used blue in the 1960s and early '70s. By the middle of the '70s, yellows and avocado were used on the Sears Best machine. Someone who's more of a Sears expert can probably give you more exact info.

I had one of these in the yellow/avocado combination. Very nice vac while it lasted, but it was the only vac I've ever had a motor burn out on. I bought it in a thrift, so God only knows what it had been through before I got it- you couldn't possibly consider it Sears' fault. It had perhaps the best power nozzle I've ever had, Hi/Medium/Lo adjustable, edge clean, and a headlight. And Sears had the best dusting brush in the business at that time, real horsehair and a swivel neck.

 

[petek]

Would have been like this power nozzle but I believe the "Sears Best" had a headlight, this one doesn't. Usually in the catalog they had 3 models, Sears Good, Sears Better, Sears Best

 

[hoover1060]

In the US...

The blue models were from 1978, and one year only.

Pete has the similar power nozzle, the BEST model would have had a headlight and the 9 foot hose

 

[aeoliandave]

I'm expecting this one to be Canadian made but we won't know until I pull it upstairs tonight for the big clean. Don't even remember if there's a tool bin under the lid but it's big enough to or takes a really capacious dustbag. I mean it's as big or bigger than a Hoover Portable Cleaning Center.

Anxious to find out how many inches it pulls and decide what to replace it with for organ duty...

Back in those days my daily driver was a bashed up well used yellow, daisy decaled Compact C-8 with pigtail hose and power nozzle, since stripped and re-painted 'hammertone' steel gray with a bojacked hose arrangment.

 

[petek]

They were out at the same time in Canada. Mines a model 29441C, the C iirc denotes Canadian model. It's made in the USA.

 

[petek]

Now when did these brown ones come out?
This one is again the same machine but missing the lid for the attachments and missing the beater bar.
The other difference is that this one has a pigtail plug in for the hose at the vacuum port that you have to take that extra step to attach, the blue one did away with it and snaps in when the hose goes in. The port on the vac itself is identical so you can use either hose on either machine.
Since this entails an extra step and the model # is lower I'm assuming it's a previous version. It's model 20921C

 

[elux89]

Call Sears parts and service in Canada, they were able to tell me that my mother's Kenmore was made in 1974, that was a couple of years ago. It might be worth a try. All what they wanted/needed was the model number. They had to flick to a couple of different screens, but eventually they were able to determine the year.

Vernon

 

[aeoliandave]

It ain't gonna win any prizes for looks...

But it sure does suck good. And wouldn't you know it! I go looking to see if a Kenmore hose I have will fit and find it attached to...another one, in bright avocado green and white! Same machine, same two speed performance. LOL

The green model # 2799C pulls 51/85 inches.
The blue model # 2899C pulls 58/89 inches.
That's Filter Queen territory!!! No wonder it makes a good choice for a reed organ remote pump.

I ran them simultaneously and the motor whine pitch is identical, as in, the same note in tune with no beats at both speed settings. Perhaps giving the lid gasket a cleaning up will equalize the suction readings.

There we have it - two the same. Have a working leakless powerhose and off to the side is the Euroclean powernozzle and wands that came with the green one - I know not where I picked it up. I will definitely clean up the blue one because it's prettier, the green one can go downstairs for the next 22 years.

Note how clean the blue's insides are after removing the 22 year old paper bag.

Incidently, the blue one still has it's Sally Ann price sticker from 1986 for $2.99.

 

[aeoliandave]

Lovely woodgrain panels. There are slots around the edge intended I think for clipping on a tool bin fence or box...which would serve to hide the concave buckling of the lid when you turn it one. LOL

 

[petek]

What a shame because in the final moments of loading the truck for the big move east 2006 I tossed out the power nozzle for that green one

 

[vacmeister76]

Page 965 of Sears Catalog spring & summer 1979.The Blue models did continue thru 9/79.

 

[electroluxxxx]

I had the sears best with lit up powerhead and I loved it but thought that it was a little loud. I still have the hose if anyone wants it.
Mike

 

[vacuumfreeeke]

very nice

What a neat use. I've got the same machine, but the power nozzle is broken (

 

[vacmeister76]

Sears Best from 10/79 to 9/81?

 

[vacmeister76]

Same model with new power head design. (circa 1982)