Sears Kenmore bagless upright

[aeoliandave]

Rained most of the day and in fact we had hail the size of raspberries between 4 & 5 o'clock. I had the morn & afternoon free so headed over 45 minutes west to Mitchell, which was having its town-wide garage sale. Naturally because of the rain there wasn't much happening but then the sun appeared for about 2 hours and as I was rounding a corner I spotted this.

Gosh, that looks awfully new! Hardly used at all?

'Yeah, well it stopped sucking, my husband looked at it and said it was broke for good & bought me a new one but the motor still runs. So I figured I'd put it out for a few bucks today because I'd have to pay to leave it with the weekly garbage. Someone might be able to use the parts.

Ok, here's your $2. (Dave tosses it in the car and drives away smiling.) No more vacs to be found around Mitchell, it's clouding over fast so head for home and arrive in Stratford in the hailstorm.

Well, I couldn't very well leave it behind to be butchered for its cord, could I?

Its complete with all its tools and a lovely calm shade of blue/gray/lavender with sparkles in the plastic.

 

[vintagehoover]

It's hard to tell from that angle, but I think we had that model (or one very similar) over here as an Electrolux...

 

[aeoliandave]

As usual, it gets better...

My gosh, at home this upright is clean as a whistle except for the HEPA box filter. The dust cup is an new thing to me - cast from what seems to be hard & sturdy 1/4" thick foam material that breathes. But from the way the two piece cup attaches to the intake I believe a paper bag can be substituted!!!! Like a Pani Jet Flow type deal. Now the vacuum takes on more value...

And what has caused this vacuum to stop sucking? A ping pong ball stuck halfway up the hose. ROTFLOL!!!

A new belt and it runs great and quiet with a low assuring growl. Surprising suction through the hose. And you noticed that Eureka wand type static duster brush? and a 24" crevice tool inside the wand, and a dusting brush...and a Kenmore turbine Hand-i-mate Jr.

 

[aeoliandave]

The backside

 

[aeoliandave]

Light works, brush roll & bearings clean. It's a narrow footprint with edge clean brushes. Really, nothing wrong with it other than that ping pong blockage. I've come to like these static dusters. All my feather dusters shed feathers and the cats luv to get ahold of them for shredding. I suspect this Kenmore is made by Eureka for Sears, as I have only seen this type of self-vacuuming duster on Eureka uprights. The Kenmore has classier shape and subtle color - Eureka's colors are so 'vibrant'.

Here you can get a sense of its true color. Gunmetal Purple? Metalflake Eggpalnt?

The bag compartment panel is molded from tinted see through plastic with metalflake in it while the body parts are solid color with the flakes. Purty & useful thingie.

And after all, One vac out - one vac in.

I gave the woodstock rescued navy blue Dirt Devil swivel caster bagged upright, with the triangular corner tool embedded in its belly, to a gal at work who has a male house tenant in Toronto with a dog and her house vacuum has given up. She wanted something with a paper bag as guys are too lazy to empty the bagless dust cup. I told her that was only bonehead straight guys that do that. Tho I'm sure boneheaded gay guys do too.

She's going to bring her Toronto vacuum to me for fixing or keeping or whatever...

Tomorrow I will find a bag to fit this Kenmore, I swear. A type U maybe...or whatever the Jet-Flo uses.

 

[piano_god]

That is a Eureka Contour upright manufactured to Sears specs

If you wish to use it bagged, Eureka style 'J' bags are what that machine will need.

 

[aeoliandave]

Thank you, Scott.

I'll slap in one of those big boy Js when I get home in a half hour.

Dave.

 

[petek]

Yeah , remember seeing those things for sale as Eureka's at Walmart etc. hence they'd have been Electrolux across the pond. So much for the previous owners husbands skill. LOL

 

[aeoliandave]

Rats, no J bags. get some tomorrow. And I'll have to defeat the orange 'safety feature" lever that engages with the clear top part of the two piece dust cup in place, to close the cover.

The internal ribbing - in the lid as well - is clearly there for airflow around a paper bag.

 

[camelotshadow]

Cool vac
worth 2 bucks
LOL

Kenmores are decent
I have a progressive hepa
similar to that but doesn't have the internal plastic bag holder

It takes the 50690 or so if I remember correctly bags
hard to find so I usually make others fit with the help of some tape altering

 

[arh1953]

Passionate purple and light lavender

Dave, your luck is phenomenal, as usual. That is about the prettiest late Kenmore I've ever seen! What a catch! My brother and sis in law have a Eureka with the static duster.

 

[camelotshadow]

Now I am wondering if my progressive is made by Eureka
Has the same features though I think its a late 90's model
Has the channels around the bag
Takes a nice size bag
Has the same hepa filter up front
same light

 

[turbo500]

That's an Electrolux High-Lite over here.

 

[aeoliandave]

Went to Sears this morning. They had two Eureka Contours on the shelf. Opened 'em up and there was the J bag. Otherwise identical construction as my Kenmore.

So I two 3-packs of bags ($3.99 ea) & at the checkout was handed a scratch card and got them for 50% off.

Here, the lower priced Contour SE

 

[aeoliandave]

Here the upgraded Contour 15" wide. Far as I can tell, ya get a turbo tool for your extra $20. Considering Sears sells the turbobrush alone for $39.99...well...I got the Kenmore for $2 so I think I got the Turbotool free.

The J bag has a fold over tab that engages the 'safety feature' lever. So I set the bagless canister aside, popped in a bag and vacuumed the upstairs. Quiet, light, maneuverable and left a real nice pattern on the nap without strakes.

Suction at the hose measures 75", that is, until you block the 'safety' hole crudely drilled in the bottom of the bag compartment. (the 2 Eureks I examined have the same retro-drilled hole) Then the suction goes up to 90". Yeah, yeah, to prevent the motor overheating in the event of small animal ingestion...I'll be plugging that hole with a rubber grommet button.

And I think we can all agree that the Kenmore looks much classier without all that printing and pointless labeling, right? 'Course I can see the bag printing through the tinted lid but when was that an unwanted thing to a collector?

Dave

 

[aeoliandave]

Actually, both Contours have the same wide brushroll. Oh, and the static cling duster now has a 3 ft telescopic wand - big deal.

When you activate the duster clean lever it spins around in its container and takes a static charge.

 

[petek]

Dave you have voicemail.. If you're off MOnday and not planned anything I may be able to drop by

 

[rolls_rapide]

Ah yes, the dust box

I think it is a material like blown polypropylene.

Hoover Ltd used it on their 'Turbopower 2', 'Turbopower 1000' and 'Turbopower 3' "Permabag" models.

On the Hoover version, the hard foam was encased by a plastic cage, and the tight-fitting lid had long, dust-removing rods.

As you removed the lid, so you dislodged the dirt from the box.

Apparently, paperbags filtered better than the Permabag.