So, let's talk dirt devil hand vacs

[icee]

One of my favorite parts of my collection is my old school dirt devil hand vacs. I saw one as a kid and they might honostly have what sparked my passion for sweepers. I'm trying to collect all colors of the old ones. I have many of them, I even have one of the green rare ones. I DID have a 2nd green plus model, which I didn't even know they made. Very very unfortunately, a shelf I had put up that it was resting on fell and hit the kirby sentria I had sitting below it, and it shattered into way too many peices to fix . I know, I was very devastated.

But I was wondering, what other more rare colors are there? I'm interesting to find out!

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

icee

Zach,

I prefer the model 501 Prince all-metal hand vacuum, which shares the same belt and brush roll as the earliest Dirt Devil hand vacuums (models 103, 500, 503, 513, 523 and 533).

~Ben

 

[fan-of-fans]

I like them, and although they seem to turn up quite often in the thrift stores, sometimes with the attachment kits even, I have yet to add one to my collection. But I do believe I will someday.

I don't know much about rare models. I know there is the Car Vac version that's black with a checkered black and white bag and I think that one is 12V. Other than that I mostly just see the red versions.

When I was younger I had a toy red Dirt Devil hand vac, that ran on AA batteries and had a brushroll driven by a rubber band! It did actually pick up pretty well for a toy. I believe it went in a yard sale. I kind of wish I had kept it, they are probably pretty rare these days.

I also really like the Broom Vacs which are basically a hand vac on a stick in my opinion. These seem to turn up at thrift stores too, but again I have yet to get one of them.

 

[icee]

Fan-of-fans

Oh that toy sounds adorable! I'd love to find one! I have a couple broom vacs, a blue model and a couple red ones.

 

[human]

I agree with Ben. I'm more a fan of the Royal Prince 501. I've got two of them—an early one from the '60s with a red and gray bag and a light blue one from the late '80s. Last summer, when I was helping my parents pack up to move, I found two plastic Dirt Devil hand vacs but I left them behind. One was black and the other was red and had a short hose coming off the brush roll housing. It was pretty obvious something was missing. I probably should have grabbed one or both of them for parts, if nothing else, but I was already feeling overwhelmed at the amount of stuff I was bringing to my house so I left them behind. Besides, I'd already snagged an Electrolux 1205 and a Hoover Quik Broom so that was enough.

 

[repairman]

Doesn't deserve to be mentioned but,

The Dirt Devil Ultra handvac is absolutely terrible. The thing is way too loud, gets clogged easily, and hose is awkward to use.

 

[tolivac]

Hose awkward top use-the suction of those hoses was no more than you inhaling!

 

[oldskoolguy]

I believe I may have your green dirt devil! Yes indeed! It's the m08510 with a 6.8 amp motor, which is not like my other one i'm trying to sell, m08510, 7 amp amp motor. I could be wrong though!

 

[real1shep]

I just have two....

one I bought new in 1995 to keep my new work truck clean-12 volt model, black with the 'forever' cord and inline fuse.  Put that beetle butt thing on it to blow up air mattresses etc. The accessory hose was/is a joke....hardly any vacuum at all. Then I found another at  a yard sale of about the same vintage, red....this time 120 volts and accessory hose/crevice tool. Put another beetle butt thing on that one too. It has more vacuum with the hose...probably because it's 120 volts.


 


Those fan impellers I have are plastic and don't take kindly to direct shots by solid items like small rocks. I think I have one spare. The red one does a serious job on car/truck carpeting....the black one is just OK, taking a lot more passes to do the same work.


 


 


Kevin

 

[kirbyvertibles]

I just bought a black with yellow writing called the 500 in it's original box. It was (I'm told) a store display model that never got sold. I have no use for it. I do like them but I don't ever really use them.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

I'll tell you what dirt devil I really like. The can-vac with power pak. I love those little power heads on those things. I have a full red set and I have power nozzle for the blue and maroon models. I just need to find the blue and maroon canisters to go with.

 

[real1shep]

Phillip...

do you have a pic of the can-vac with the power pack? I have no idea what that is.


 


I only use my two for the cars and mostly the red 120 volt model because it's so much better than the 12 volt model. The 12 volt model was great on the road for touch ups. Anything serious though and I'd just stop at a car wash and use their vacs. 


 


Kevin

 

[kirbyvertibles]

[No message]

 

[real1shep]

Wow......

never seen that setup before! Thanx for the pic.


 


Kevin

 

[fan-of-fans]

One of those Can Vacs was at my local Restore last time I went, but it was the straight suction version - the one that Mister Rogers used on his show once, and the assembly line of them at the factory was shown on Picture Picture.

I have seen a few of the Ultra hand vacs with the attached hose, never used one.

Are the newer bagless Classic hand vacs any good? They look interesting, sort of like the older ones but with a clear dust collection bin and filter.

 

[fan-of-fans]

By the way, how is the hose suction on the typical Royal or Dirt Devil hand vac with front hose connection? If it's decent, one of these with the attachment kits may become my next car cleaning machine. It would be easy to manuever, not having a canister or shop vac to move around the car, and would probably clean the carpet and floor mats well. I haven't found a machine that can do that well, most seem to scatter the sand.

The bagless Classic handvacs use a pan style converter, similar to what Black and Decker, Kenmore and some other hand vacs did.

 

[broomvac]

Dirt Devils Etc.

kirbyvertibles: Funny thing--I have the long-lost maroon Pro Series Can-Vac for that maroon Power Pak you have! I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a Power Pak for this thing.

On the topic of hand vacs...I've had something like 4 103s, 3 Dirt Devil Pluses, 1 Royal prince model 501, and now my favorite: the Dirt Devil Ultra, which I found for $3 in excellent condition. It's apart right now for restoration, but once I finish it, I will post pictures.

I was shocked to find a brand new toy Dirt Devil "Junior" hand vac for less than a buck the other day, too! This thing will actually suck up little pieces of dust and cat hair!

fan-of-fans: Bagged Dirt Devil hand vacs can use tools with either the front port or a pan converter, which came with a number of the "Plus models." Although the pan converter is more convenient since it does not require removal of the belt, its performance is worse. I would recommend using the front port.

In my experience, your best bet for getting the highest level of cleaning performance is using a 3-amp Plus model with the hose through the front port. However, maybe the Ultra with its built-in hose and 4 amp motor will do better. I just don't know, though, because I have yet to try the Ultra out. Either way, don't expect an intense amount of suction.

The best solution I have found for vacuuming out my car is a digital motor Dyson DC34, found for $100 at Walmart, paired with a Dyson hand vac extension hose. It has just enough suction to lift the sand off my plastic floor liners and just enough battery life to clean every nook and cranny of my car in a single go.

Good luck!

broomvac

 

[huskyvacs]

My parents had a early 90's red one that we used to clean the stairs. The motor burned up on that sometime in the mid-2000's, then we did without for awhile, and then we found a newer red one that had the sliding cover over the brushroll. That one lasted a couple of years until my dog shredded the cord to pieces on it when he was a puppy. Rubber and string and paper and wires all over the floor. Later found another early 90s red one pretty much brand new in the box, or lightly used at Goodwill. Still have that one today, and also found a mint in box accessory kit for it shortly thereafter at goodwill as well.

I also have found a 12v auto dirt devil in black at goodwill at one point, and then one of my mother's friends gave her a NASCAR or racing one, I don't know what as I haven't looked at it for 6+ years but I do know where it's at, it has a checkered flag pattern colored bag.

 

[huskyvacs]

EDIT

I went around the house and in my garage and got the model numbers off them:

My main red one:
Dirt Devil Royal
Model 103
2.0 amps
Plant B

My black and yellow one:
Dirt Devil Royal
Model DD520 (Series 500)
2.1 amps
Plant E

My Black and white car one:
Dirt Devil Royal
Model 212
9.5 amps (12 volts DC)
Plant D