Sears Best Canister

[kloveland]

This past weekend I bought a Kenmore “Sears Best” canister at an estate sale. The hose and upper wand were no where to be found, although I did find some extra bags in another part of the house. The canister and Power Mate where pretty fifty and had some mold growing around the bumpers because they had been sitting in the basement.

Luckily, Chad had some extra Kenmore wands and I bought a new replacement hose from Hesco.

The Canister: is in fair condition. The original filter had deteriorated and the previous owner had used dryer sheets to cover the filter compartment. The motor sounds like it could use some work. The bearings need to be either replaced or greased; it has a little grumble when the motor winds down. Are these motors difficult to repair?

The Power Mate: is basically shot. The housing on the belt side is cracked. The height adjustment crumbled as I was taking the power nozzle apart and the wiring must be bad because I tried several bulbs with no luck. It will probably be replaced when I find a replacement.

I really like the vacuum. I’m about 6’3 and the wands seem to be just the right height for me. I returned another Kenmore awhile back because the wands were too short. The tools all store on board and it has a cord winder, the suction is fascistic.

Just thought I would share. If anyone has any suggestions for me on this model let me know. Is possible to find a manual in PDF format?

Thanks,
Kenny
[this post was last edited: 2/24/2011-14:21]

View attachment kloveland++2-24-2011-13-44-31.jpg

 

[kloveland]

Power Mate

Bottom of Power Mate

 

[kloveland]

Canister

Bag Compartment

 

[luxg]

Kenny, that is a good find! I had that vacuum and it was really a great canister. Excellent suction and I loved the long hose that came with it. You can still get bags for it at Sears.

Terry

 

[eurekastar]

Very nice! Is that canister made by Whirlpool or Panasonic? Also, how did you get rid of the mold? Does bleach do the trick?

 

[kloveland]

I think it's a Whirlpool design

I used a Magic Eraser and it seemed to work pretty well. I plan to clean it up more this weekend. I’ve searched through the archives and found some more information on the vacuum. If I understand correctly, this was one of the last Whirlpool models before Kenmore switched over to Panasonic. It’s a big heavy, bulky design sort of like the portable. So I can understand why it wouldn’t be liked by everyone. For some reason, I like heavier vacuums; it sort of gives me a workout while I vacuum.

 

[kenmore81]

My altime favorite vac! It cleanes up nicely.

 

[Klectrolux]

Nice machine! I wanna find one in Green or Gold color. What style bags do these take?

 

[kenmore81]

Kenmore 5033 and there is one or two other numbers that will fit. You can also get the 5055/ type C as they are now known, for the Whispertone. They willwork you just have to make sure the collar is nice and snug on the bag holder. Sears should still have them in stock, some hardware stores still have them to.

 

[kloveland]

Kenmore C bags

Glad to know that I can use Kenmore C bags. They are everywhere, saw some today in Reasors.
Thanks,
Kenny

 

[eurekaprince]

Hi there Kenny,

Just a small clarification on the transition Kenmore made from Whirlpool to Panasonic.

What actually happened was the parent company of Panasonic, Matsushita of Japan, bought Whirlpool's vacuum cleaner division (in the summer of 1990, if I remember correctly), so in essence they took the basic Whirlpool designs and evolved them into new North American designs and technologies and features. The Japanese line of Panasonic vacs remained very different from the North American line from this point on. The Japanese-made Panasonic vacs we saw in North America up until that year stopped becoming available to us, and after this dramatic change in the vac industry, Whirlpool no longer made any more vacs. Most Kenmore vacs (and all Panasonic) vacs available to North American consumers were from that point on coming from that same plant in Kentucky (or Tennessee - keep on forgetting where that famous vac factory was!)

I guess Sears had the chance to find another supplier of vacs, but I actually think that keeping Sears as a buyer of vacs from that plant was part of the deal that attracted Panasonic to making the purchase. It's possible that Matsushita would not have bought the plant had Sears not agreed to keep their contract with this plant.

 

[alexb1186]

Kenny and Ken, 5055 Type C's won't work, they still have the bags for the square models available at Sears as Type E's which fit both 5023/5033. SearsPartsDirect still has genuine replacement square body white hoses available, a 7ft (part 2405) for $35 or the 10ft (part 2407) for $40.

The Maxi-Filters are still available oddly enough but IMHO are not worth $28. You can put in a round Compact/Douglas Lamb motor filter or if you want to keep the Maxi-Filter, go to Wal-Mart and get some Duck Brand Air Conditioner foam filters (when A/C season comes around) for a buck a piece and cut and glue to fit

 

[kloveland]

Thanks Alex

for the heads up. I plan to visit Sears on my lunch break, to see if they have type E bags. I would like to grease or replace both bearings on the Canister at some point. Are these bearings sealed? Or can I grease them?

 

[mark40511]

OMG

Whirlpool used to make Sears Vacs? Really?

I didn't know this.

Cool!

 

[eurekaprince]

Hey there Mark,

Here's a quote from the NY Times business section of June 5, 1990:

DANVILLE, Ky., June 5 — The Whirlpool Corporation and the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company said they had signed a joint venture to produce vacuum cleaners for the North American market from Whirlpool's vacuum manufacturing plant in Danville, Ky.

Whirlpool, based in Benton Harbor, Mich., said that as part of the venture, it would try to expand its relationship with Sears, Roebuck and Company, which sells vacuum cleaners made by Whirlpool in the Danville plant under the Kenmore brand name. Matsushita, based in Osaka, Japan, currently exports Panasonic brand vacuum cleaners to the United States and is expected to use the Danville plant to expand in North America.

Is Lexington far from Danville?

BTW, I think all the Panasonic-made Kenmores are now made in Mexico - as of a few years ago, the Danville plant no longer makes the vacs......

 

[eurekastar]

I vaguely recall that, at one time, Sears owned an interest in Whirlpool. Or maybe it was the other way around! Anyway, I'm not certain about that. Many, many years ago, I'm pretty sure that Whirlpool made all Kenmore appliances, though that's not the case now. So it doesn't surprise me that they made Kenmore vacuums too. However, I'm operating with an "aging" memory! There are others who are far more knowledgeable about these things. So I hope someone will weigh in and correct me!

 

[mark40511]

Yes. Danville is about 40 minutes to the SW of Lex......

So Panasonic is still making Kenmore canister vacuums? I thought they stopped making them. I remember reading that another company was going to be making them.......Did that not happen?

 

[eurekaprince]

Yes...Panasonic is still making most of the Kenmore vacs in Mexico now. But some of the low end cheaper canisters are now being made in China by TTI (those budget priced square-shaped canisters with the orange or green cover panels and the cheap tools).

Whirlpool/Panasonic never had an exclusive deal with Sears. Over the years, there were Kenmore vacs made by Regina, Sanyo, Ryobi, Korea's LG (magic blue canister) and even Sweden's Electrolux (the Kenmore bagless cyclonic married to a Eureka power nozzle). I remember even some uprights that looked like bag-first Eurekas over the years.

 

[mark40511]

I remember seeing those on Sears website a while back. I do remember an ORANGE and white one and some other color.....I went to Sears.com just now and NONE of their full size Kenmore canisters have those colors anymore. It also looks like their selection has dropped WAY down. They used to have a couple of pages of canisters.