Tons of questions to ask about Hoover in the 2000's.

[royalfan103]

Hoover said the dustcup filter was a Hepa filter. But I've heard about the Fold Aways having a bad filtration setup. There is also probably a more expensive version of dustbin filter that had activated charcoal or carbon in it which is supposed to filter better. Did you put in the dust cup correctly? Putting it in incorrectly probably lets dirt get into the motor and also causes poor suction. Here's a link to the widepath Fold away manual. It has instructions on how to put in the dirt cup correctly along with a guide to replace the headlight without removing the lens.
Here's also a small pic of how the dust bin should and shouldn't be attached. The guide for replacing the headlight and emptying the dustbin is on page 8 of the manual.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/280294/Hoover-U5175900.html?page=8#manual

 

[kirbyklekter]

Thanks for that

Yeah I had the filter in right, it's just that the condition of the main filter was so bad. It's sad, but I think when people are ready to throw something out, they stop taking care it. This had been run in to the ground towards the end, used up. It was covered in dirty dust, the belt was snapped and the front wheels gone. I took it to a gas station and blew it out as best as I could. Then at home I put on a belt and vacuumed everything. I washed the filter and dirt cup and wiped it all down with damp cloth. Cleaned up the roller and packed some grease in to the bearings. It fired right up the next day, after the filter dried, I used a hair dryer to finish the drying. I was surprised that considering the neglect it suffered and missing the front wheels, that it ran so good. The motor sounded great! It did however end up being coated with dust on the outside, you can really see this on a black vacuum cleaner! Now, this was 10 years ago and I had other things going on , so I put the foldaway in a closet and really only used it a few times since. It wasn't until I read your thread that I got excited about restoring it. I've only been a member for a couple years, but have never seen a post done on Foldaways! It's in a million pieces right now in a box, should be fun to rebuild when I've got all the new parts in. On the headlight, I couldn't imagine Hoover making it that hard to replace. I down loaded the manual you linked, thank you, and that's more like it!This won't be a museum piece when I'm through, but I think it will be a great little vac that I will use, not just look at! If you had one of each Foldaways that you want, how many would you have?

 

[royalfan103]

If I had one of each Fold aways that I wanted. I'd have 23 Vacuums in my collection. If I also found one at a Goodwill, I'd do a nostalgic vacuuming session.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Forgot to tell you,

that I'm going to pull out of storage the only Royal upright I own. I don't know what model it is. It's also been in storage for about 10 yrs. I think it's an older model because as I remember it seemed small like a Kirby Sanitronic 80 but lighter. I know more about Royals from people on this sight, I knew nothing about them when I got this from a curb side in San Francisco. It had a sign on it that read "Free! Please adopt me" How could I pass?

 

[royalfan103]

Any Pictures, Updates, or videos of your Turbopower 3100 yet?

 

[kirbyklekter]

As we speak, no.

At the time that I read your thread on the Foldaways, I had a couple other projects going on. I should have finished those before dissecting the foldaway.So that's what I'm doing first. Then I can focus better on the Foldaway project. Rest assured, it's going to happen soon. Anything new up your way? Did you get some ideas from the responses to your thread about cleaning the fan?

 

[royalfan103]

I did, I actually tried blowing out the fan in my Scorpion hand vac with one of my Royal Dirt Devil Hand vacs using the crevice tool and hose.

 

[dysonman1]

We worked on so many Fold Away's. People brought them into my vac shop after less than one year. The main filters were always clogged, and people resented having to buy a new filter all the time. A clogged main filter would allow the hose to clog toward the bottom, and people could never figure out what was actually wrong with the machine.

Hoover used different suppliers for their motors, which interchanged. Many Fold Away's used the G.S. motor and some of them used Ametek motors. Same with the Steam Vacs.

 

[kirbyklekter]

RoyalFan103

Victor, Just to let you know I got the new hepa main filter and installed it. I'd say I'm easily picking up twice the volume than before. Nice that it's all staying in the dirt cup, I think that old filter was so bad that there was back pressure in the chamber which leaked out onto the machine. Didn't happen today! New roller will quiet things down a bit, and when the height adjustment wheels get here, I can really get an idea of how well this machine works. Like I said this isn't a museum piece by any stretch, just another to put into daily driver rotation. Film at eleven!

 

[royalfan103]

I now have an Empower (Model U5269-900). Here's link to the thread that I created about it->https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?39245_2.