Tempted by an Epic

[delaneymeegan]

Good for you.

 


 


You mentioned that the cord may be a problem.   Consider that Electrolux had a safety recall for a poorly located cord on some of their upright models.


 


If the cord comes out of the machine at the very end of the handle, that is not safe, and you should be eligible for a free replacement handle and cord from Aerus.


 


 

 

[delaneymeegan]

Or you may have a model....

 


 


 


 


Where the power cord connects like this.  And yes, sometimes they work loose.  It isn't a safety issue, just annoying.

 

[human]

From what I've been able to find out, the Discovery Plus is essentially a Discovery II with a five-piece toolkit (hose, two wands combo upholstery/dusting tool, and crevice tool) and a pair of brackets to hang it all on the machine. The top bracket holds the two tools on the front and has a pair of hooks for the hose on the back. The bottom bracket holds the wands and provides a pair of channels for the hose to go. The URL below corresponds with a Vacuumland thread (coincidentally originated a year ago today) that shows a Plus, somewhat dirtier than mine.

http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?28548

 

[human]

My cord connects at the bottom of the tank, not on the handle, but I don't have the auxiliary plug on the left for the SideKick. It looks like that's an add-on accessory. I wish I had one. Maybe I'll have to keep an eye out for that part to see if I can retrofit mine.

 

[delaneymeegan]

 


 


 


In 1997, I discovered Electrolux uprights and bought two.  One was a Discovery like yours.  It too, did not have the Side-kick plug, mainly because I don't think Electrolux had a compact electric brush YET.  If I remember right, Sears was the first with that accessory in the later part of the 80s.


 


On other models, the slot next to the handle is where that plug would be.


 


Just FYI, I have a almost new hose that will fit this.  I was planning to list it on Ebay.  It's 4' and appears to have been used only a few times.

 

[delaneymeegan]

.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/231882375913?

 

[vacuumlad1650]

The Electrolux Sidekick came out with the Diamond Jubilee in 1986. Came out on upright's in 88, with the Discovery III

 

[human]

My eBay "best offer" on the hose came through so it's effectively all tooled up. I still may want to replace the 'bojack' tools with correct ones at some point.

In trying to find information about this thing, I came across photos of a Discovery Advantage (see URL below) that has a trapezoidal adapter that goes between the cord and where the power plug-in is on mine to provide a second plug-in for a SideKick. It looks like it could be a plug-n-play adapter. If so, it might be cool to find one and retrofit mine but I don't know whether I'm really into re-wiring the machine if it isn't.

I went ahead and took a few photos for your enjoyment, with and without the accessories onboard.

http://eluxurious.blogspot.com/search/label/Discovery Advantage

 

[human]

USPS delivered on Sunday!

Okay, I'm a little bit in shock right now because the Postal Service just delivered a package of bags I'd ordered from Amazon for my Discovery--ON SUNDAY!!! When I ordered them Friday afternoon, my shipping options were Saturday delivery for a little more than $8 or Sunday delivery for free with my Prime membership. I thought, Sunday? Yeah, right. It'll come Monday and that's okay. But no! They actually delivered it on Sunday. The bags were a pretty good deal also--36 generic bags for $22.18 with free shipping. Anyway, now I can start putting the Discovery through its paces. The hose I got will arrive tomorrow and I can play with that as well. This one's really come together in a hurry!

One thing I did figure out after I took the photos in the post above is I had the crevice tool on there wrong. It goes on much easier, stays more secure, doesn't strain the clip and gives an extra inch of clearance at the bottom if I put it on with the shorter of the two skinny sides against the handle. Even though that's a non-Electrolux tool, it's now obvious to me that's how it's designed to go. Oddly enough, the genuine Electrolux crevice tool from my 1205 is too long to fit on it. This one's about nine inches long at the longest and the one that came in the Discovery's toolkit was actually half that length, according to the Discovery II owner's manual I downloaded from the Aerus Web site. Amusingly enough, it was mislabeled as a Discovery III manual.

I am assuming the optional Discovery toolkit, consisting of a hose, two wands, a crevice tool and a combo dusting/upholstery brush, is what came with the Discovery Plus. The only pictures I've been able to find of a Plus are of one that, like mine, was without its tools. It amazes me that so little information exists on this machine. Some Web sites acknowledge it by name but other than the Vacuumland thread referenced in the post above, I have found no specific information, about it, much less actual images. The one thing that particularly baffles me is why there's a double hook on the back. One hook is obviously for the hose and maybe the other is for the cord since the upper cord hook is a little less accessible with the tool holder in place, or maybe there was some other tool but I can't visualize what it might be.

I guess the Discovery Plus was just a little ahead of its time when it came out in the mid/late '80s. It seems like onboard tools didn't really become de rigeur on uprights until maybe a the late '90s or early 2000s.

 

[human]

The hose arrived today

My Discovery Plus is now fully tooled up with the hose that arrived today. It is now quite obvious to me why there's a double hook on the back. You have to wrap the hose around twice to keep it off the floor when stowed. The wands and tools fit the hose perfectly so I'm pretty much in business with what I've got, although I may still try to pick up a shorter crevice tool as clearance is kind of tight, albeit workable, for the hose port when the crevice tool is in its holder.

Vacuuming with all tools stowed aboard is quite an awkward experience. It's pretty easy to tell the machine wasn't originally designed for onboard tool storage. During actual use, it is definitely better balanced with the tools removed.

I've also noticed that the handle appears to be bent backward slightly, causing the lid to the bag compartment to pop open too easily, especially with the hose hooked up. It seems the little catch in the lid doesn't go into the hole in the handle far enough. I'm just a little afraid to try to straighten it for fear of breaking it off.

Since this seems to be such an unusual configuration for the Discovery, I've added a couple of pictures of the machine with the hose stowed aboard (Note also the corrected positioning of the crevice tool in the front view). I felt sort of obligated to do so since there don't seem to be any other photos of a Discovery Plus fully loaded anywhere on the Web. It took me a few minutes to figure out exactly how to place the hose, so I guess I have it right but who knows? There's not much of a way to tell for sure since I'm working without a pattern.

 

[rugsucker]

Great Vac (wrong hose)

The 2 motor Discovery style uprights are great vacs with 4 ply self sealing bags,gear belt with reset and more.But as more vacs had onboard tools Elux felt a need to hangs the atts on the vac.This hose will work well with the vac but to mount on the caddy they used a shorter stretch hose that went up to the upper hook and had 1 length of hose on each side that were held with the swivel hook.There was also a wire part that mounted at each side of the lower cord hooks and held the hose ends without flopping around.The lower hook was for the cord that was longer on deluxe models.As you found it used the short crevice tool introduced with the Diamond Jubilee.
I question the need whether on Elux,Hoover Elite or other to have the attachments that I might use 5% of the time to add weight and bulk 100% of the time.
I may still have a gray comm(Prolux) color stretch hose that should be among many parts I hope to sort this spring and summer.
Happy Vacuuming(with or without the attachments.)

 

[rugsucker]

3 hoses,or is it 4

The Discovery started with a 6 ft hose.Then with the above tool & hose caddy was a 4 ft hose.One instruction folder advised cutting the 6 ft hose to 4 ft to fit holder.Then the stretch hose in gray.(Then the electric hose to direct connect with Sidekick having the pigtail cord at machine end.)
Some Prolux att kits used a gray generic crevice tool that was similar or same as Dirt Devil hand vac att kit crevice.

 

[human]

I agree that hose is too long. It's at least six feet, maybe a little longer. The onboard tool storage is great for just storing the tools with the machine but much less practical when the machine is in use. Of course, I think that of just about every tools onboard upright I encounter. While one of the shorter hose options would definitely work better for this application, a hose with a pigtail connector is pretty much out of the question as there's no place to plug it in to power a SideKick without doing some retrofitting, maybe even extreme retrofitting.

While all of the tools I have hung on that machine do serve the purpose intended by the manufacturer, none are, strictly speaking, 'correct' for it. The wands come closest as it appears many different manufacturers use the same or very similar wands I have a tool set for a Royal hand vac that has the very same ones in a brighter white. To all but the most trained eye, these wands could pass for OEM Electrolux ones. The more I look at the combo brush, the more convinced I am that it is not genuine Electrolux as it doesn't say 'Electrolux' anywhere on it and I've never seen another one quite like it. Perhaps it is for one of those Perfect canisters. Whatever the case may be, I like it with this machine because there's a nice little slot on the back that fits the holder absolutely perfectly and holds it in place quite securely.

 

[william]

Love stories like yours...

Sunday delivery? Wow. I think that either the Universe loves you or it wishes you to clean your carpets one or the other! LOL! Happy cleaning
Bill

 

[human]

Sunday Delivery...

Yeah Bill, I'm still trying to puzzle that one out. That's only the second time I've ever received a package on a Sunday. The other time was a couple of days before Christmas several years ago and USPS was delivering Priority Mail packages on Sunday in an effort to get everything there by the big holiday. The fact that Amazon arranged that of their own volition and at no extra charge is the really baffling part. I would have been just fine with a Monday delivery.

As for the Universe's role in all of this, the condition of my floors would suggest it really wanted me to do some cleaning.