The WORST vacuum cleaners, Ever made. In History.

[oreck_xl]

I would have to say probably anything made by Electrolux (a.k.a. Eurekalux) since Eureka took over the Electrolux name. The swivel necks on their powernozzles are an abomination and as a whole the machines are just a complicated mess of wires and circuit boards. Another case (like Hoover) where a good name is being "dragged through the dirt" and bought by unsuspecting customers.

- Hershel

 

[durango159]

I heard that the neck connections on the Eureka made Electrolux power nozzles was essentially fixed. Many of those Electrolux machines are whisper quiet while packing a good punch. I like the easy rolling rubber coated rear wheels on their power heads

 

[mysterymanbob]

"Chiritory"

I have heard lots about the Hoover "The One", but I've never used that in person.
from experience, my worst cleaner is actually quite an interesting unit.
it was made by NINTENDO in 1979 and is Japan exclusive.
It's basically a remote control Roomba ( which are also terrible )
It's pretty fun as a collectable knick knack, but not a functioning vacuum.

 

[eurekaprince]

Just a clarification: Eureka never "took over" the Electrolux name. Sweden's Electrolux company bought Eureka Williams in 1974 and from then on Eureka was a division of the worldwide Electrolux appliance corporation. Electrolux bought back the rights to use it's own original brandname in North America in 2007. Therefore from 2007 onward Sweden's Electrolux was selling their vacuum cleaners in North America under both the "Eureka" brandname and the "Electrolux" brandname. Their North American vacuum cleaners have from then on been designed either in the USA, or Sweden, or some combination of both.

 

[N64_hoover_dude]

The Dirt Devil Vision Canister registers an average of 104 decibels

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pAOwos9wng

 

[DesertTortoise]

Orek and Durango, I have a late 1990's US made Electrolux Epic 8000. The swivel neck on the powered floor brush is a horror story. Ok, it's prettier than a Kenmore Powermate and the wires don't run down the side of the neck like the Kenmore, but that is it's great weakness. The wire routing can under some situations allow the user to guillotine one of the wires, and the wire guage is ridiculously small. Trying to strip those wires to repair one that was cut by the swivel neck even the smallest hole in my wire stripper was too large for the guage of the wire. I mean my motorcycles with 12 volt electrics use heavier guage wire. And the little cover over the contacts between the swivel neck and wands is held on by the smallest possible self tapping screw. On mine the hole is stripped so the cover for now is held on with rubber bands. I have thirty plus year old Kenmore Powermates that have withstood more abuse with less going wrong than this Electrolux brush. And that design continues to be built today.

I nominate the Electrolux brush as the worst brush design made.

The vacuum itself? Well made, great suction and airflow, no exhaust air control (it goes everywhere inside the vacuum) and one huge omission; no secondary filtration whatsoever. I can stuff a standard Kenmore secondary filter into the back of the bag compartment, and it works good, but still ..........

 

[DesertTortoise]

Now that I have ragged all over my Electrolux, I have to say that my Hoover U5133-940 is much much worse. That thing has absolutely no redeeming features. Loud, nasty, blows air out of every seam including one hot jet that exits the bag compartment door and hits my face as I use it (ugh!). The worst possible hose and tools, and a frustrating little spring loaded trap door that tends to push the hose out of it's receptacle in the base, keeping in mind the way the hose is secured to that base is completely inadequate. How many times have I stretched that supposedly stretchy hose just a smidge and had the hose pop out of the receptacle. Kludge! Can any vacuum be worse than this?

 

[dysonman1]

The Electrolux Epic 800 DOES have secondary filtration. The filter is under the attachment carrier, under the door at the top of the machine.

 

[DesertTortoise]

No Dysonman, that is the exhaust filter you are describing. On a canister vac the secondary filter is between the bag and the motor. On the Epic 8000 there is nothing but a nice big hole from the bag to the motor fan. Electrolux later offered some kind of charcoal filter to cut unpleasant odors, but I have never seen one nor even seen one available for sale. Instead I cut half an inch of a Kenmore 5X5 inch secondary filter for one of their canister vacs and place that at the back of the bag compartment. The ribs in the bag compartment hold it in pretty well.

The exhaust filter is pretty useless too because exhaust air flows freely inside the vacuum body and comes out of the cord hole as well as through that filter. The housing around the motor lets a lot of exhaust air get past it.

 

[kenkart]

Anything made after 1980 or so...But

The most vile creatures ever built are Eureka Bravos,Orecks ,Dysons, any Regina Housekeeper and Hoover Elites...I remember working on all these and thinking how pitiful they were compared to a 260 Eureka and a Hoover Convertible....now those two were really fine machines!

 

[ronni]

I thought the exhaust filter was mainly to catch the carbon dust from the motor. Isn't the main HEPA filtration of a tank cleaner (along with many uprights and some canisters) in the disposable bag, while the secondary filter catches much of the micro particles that escape the bag's filtration--or in Aerus's case deodorizes the air with the carbon filter?

 

[DesertTortoise]

The secondary filter is primarily to protect the fan and, in the case of a thru-flow motor typical of most canisters the motor itself, from anything that gets past the bag. A lot of vacuums have HEPA exhaust filtration in addition to HEPA bags, but if your bag fails or for some reason there is a poor seal to the hose the secondary filter protects the motor from being FODed by debris. Some vacs add a layer of HEPA filtration at the secondary filter, along with charcoal filters for odor elimination.

The Electrolux Epic 8000 and Renaissance models had nothing between the bag and the motor intake. After air exited the fan it cooled the motor and went into a housing. There was this spring loaded trap door thing that would direct the air forward to an exhaust filter, a darn thin one mind you and out through the tool compartment (gaps in the door let exhaust escape) but in practice the exhaust air circulates freely inside the vacuum.

Here are some before and after shots of the Epic 8000 clean-up. I had to go back in a second time to remove the motor, disassemble the fields from the fan and soak these in an orange degreaser to remove the stench of whatever the previous owner/abuser sucked up. Whatever it was it was wet and, um, shall we say organic and it blew through the motor and splattered everywhere inside. During the second go around I figured out how to get the bag compartment out of the lower body, which revealed how to remove the door and all the wiring so I could immerse the whole body in water to clean it. The motor sat outside disassembled in 110 degree heat for a week to finally get rid of the stench. You can see from one image there is no provision for secondary filtration, and the exhaust filtration under the tool tray is a cruel joke.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Here is the Electrolux floor brush I am so fond of. I included two shots showing how I made a secondary filter for it using normal Kenmore secondary filter media like you find in their current vacs, and one of the motor catching some California desert sunshine.

The Lux floor brush has a high parts count, linguini thin wire guage (and it's taking a full 115 VAC on my voltmeter) and a delicate swivel neck with wires running through the swivel. Just asking for a problem.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Here is a nice simple, robust Panasonic brush for comparison. This is, to me, the standard of excellence for powered floor brushes.

This is a Panasonic brush. The same basic brush has been in production for almost forty years. The headlight cover releases by squeezing in the sides to release two tabs. The top snaps firmly into the base at on each side, and the two screws go through the top, the swivel neck and into the base. They come apart in less than a minute when you have done them a couple of times, while the Lux brush has six screws you remove from underneath followed by prying off a horseshoe shaped collar on the swivel neck to get the cover off. After that you have to remove another inner cover to get at the belt and brush. The brush of the Lux head is held in by a further two screws. Go back and look at the photos of the Lux head. The Panasonic head uses slots in the base that mate to tabs on the brush ends. Just lift out. When the cover is in place the brush ends are secured in the base. So simple. The Panasonic head is so much easier to work on, no wires go through the swivel neck and the guage of the wires is larger. Plus the brush goes right to the wee edges of the machine so you can vacuum right up to the baseboard. It's a superior piece in every way.

 

[ctvacman]

I would say the first electrolux upright as well.

 

[tig21er]

Ronni,

the after filter in the Renny,8000 and the plastic canisters are to catch carbon dust and anything down to 1 micron. The after filter is three layers. The previous bag was the first 4 layers of filtration. Today the new bags will get 94% down to .3 microns (HEPA) and are 4 times better according to tests done on the bag before it came out.

 

[ronni]

Thanks for clarifying the filtration system. I do wonder if the previous owner(s) of your Epic 8000/Model C133A ever ran the cleaner with a damaged bag which allowed so much dust throughout its inside. I have learned that mice sometimes find their way into the installed bag and chew through it. If mice were EVER seen in the house, or if a cleaner were stored in a garage or porch when not in use it would be prudent to find something to cap the hose inlet.

Regarding the Panasonic power nozzle versus the Electrolux N115K the superior quality and simplicity of the former is evident. I would imagine that Aerus has since improved that design as your Electrolux power nozzle is over 15 years old.

However, it's also probable that the Electrolux power nozzle may have been constructed in such a way as to require frequent--at least annual--service from a tech due to the apparent flimsy materials and complicated assembly. In a way I don't blame them--as Electrolux service techs were probably as busy as the Maytag repairmen.

I understand now that Aerus has a service tech program in which annual "service checks" are provided by persons who have been trained on basic repairs and replacements (although some have told me that it is also a thinly-disguised method of pushing new products, too). Appointments are made with the use of their customer database--which one's name is added to when a purchase or repair is made.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Ronni, I don't think it was mice. A paper bag won't long contain wet contents. Judging from the appearance, smell and, um, texture of what was clogging the hose, handle, wands, floor brush and even the poor Sidekick, someone was vacuuming vomit and/or animal waste with it.

As for that thing making claims to HEPA levels of filtration, I'm laughing. Exhaust air circulates all through that vacuum and comes out places other than the after filter under the tool tray. Not that my Kenmores of that era are any better in this regard. The first gen 5055 bagged machines have an exhaust filter but a fluid follows the path of least resistance and most of the exhaust air blows out the cord hole or out another vent on top. The Whispertone doesn't even make a pretense at trying to filter the exhaust, there is no filter and no way to create one. At least Panasonic threw a piece of foam between the bag and the motor to catch the big chunks. It wasn't until the Progressive line came out that Panasonic/Kenmore put serious secondary filters in their machines and ducting around the motors to force all the exhaust air out a proper pleated HEPA filter.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Desert-Tortise,


Were your Epic 8000 in good condition and as it left the factory, it would not leak exhaust. My Renny doesn't nor do any of the machines from that era that I've worked on. Yours has led an abused and hard life, it is not representative of all Electrolux machines,  not even representative of a small minority of the machines of it's time. It is one very poorly treated example. Your bashing is gone beyond obsessive to ridiculous. Why don't you just get rid of it and lavish your regard on your beloved Kenmores?


 


 

 

[firebirdman55]

Bison...pretty to look at...very unreliable.