Trash find yesterday

[jo]

Picked up this Shark Rocket upright from the neighbors trash yesterday. Runs fine. 2 issues: The button latch holding the removable suction handle in place is missing rendering it sorta useless without it. Also, there is duct tape around a section of the swivel fitting the hose goes into. Cannot find a button latch for this model as it actually part of the removable wand that Shard has on the website for $17.95. The swivel assembly is not available but I did find one on eBay for $15 but the duct tape saving that expense. I found some latch buttons on eBay of similar style and shape for other models perhaps they are the same but everyone wants $10 for more by the time shipping is included for this tiny piece of plastic and a spring. Not sure I’ll keep it for this expense. There are lots of scratches and paint scuff and the big wheels on the power nozzle are sorta wobbly so they may be worn down, not sure how they are suppossed to be but the ones on my Rocket stickvac aren’t wobbly like this.

Here’s some photos:

 

[madman]

Nice. I found my Shark Rocket in the trash. Mine was in immaculate condition, missing the attachments, and someone had snipped off the cord. I can't fathom why they tossed it. It was not even clogged or anything. There's a lot of people around here that absolutely LOATHE Sharks, and I guarantee one of them is gonna tell you to throw it right back in the garbage.

I, however, like my Shark. It's simple, pleasant to use, and designed well. Works pretty good too. And I definitely respect them a lot more after my machine took a 5 foot fall onto concrete and survived unscathed. It's definitely not 'plastic crap.' I've seen plastic crap, I have plastic crap, this ain't it.

I'm trying to figure out the duct tape on the hose there. That's a swivel joint. Maybe they broke it?

 

[huskyvacs]

What a great find! This was a $180 vacuum, one of Shark's high end models. I love the orange color on it.

Vacuum parts are expensive for two reasons 1) too many selfish people just throw them out instead of selling parts, and for the case of Shark brings point number 2) vacuum companies do not manufacture parts for their vacuums. This creates a bottleneck where there's more demand than supply of what parts are around. You can get the parts, it just takes time. I've been waiting 3 years to try and find a rubber plug for my Hoover Z700. I have tape over the hole for now but that gets messy.

You just have to take what you can get, ask the sellers to see if they will take any lower on the part. Maybe try your local vacuum shops - they might have the parts on hand.

I have a Hoover Windtunnel 2 vacuum that just needed a bin latch. I had to pay $35 for an entirely new bin and swap the bin out just to fix that problem. It was a brand new vacuum that someone vandalized for that part then returned it to the store saying it didn't work. I paid $18 for it on eBay from a store that resold return salvage.

 

[jo]

Another issue found, sometimes trash vacs are indeed trash!

Well, a post a while ago of someone needing to replace the flex duct at the bottom on the power nozzle prompted me to check out the condition of that on this one today and as you can see it has holes. That’s problem 4.

I took the duct tape off the neck of the swivel connector and the neck is cracked half way around but the tape is doing the trick for that.

So with the missing latch, the cracked neck on the hose swivel fitting, the somewhat loose likely worn big wheels on the power nozzle and now the holes in the duct hose....this vacuum has seen better days clearly and it’s not worth the expense needed and time needed to fix it and then clean the filters and dust bin etc. so even though the motors work, it just doesn’t seem cost effective to keep to rehab. Will likely cost as much as buying a factory reconditioned model off eBay of the hand held stick version that I like better anyway so therefore, I think it’s going to have to go back on the trash. In its current condition it’s not even worthy of donating. Sometimes trash is trash! Perhaps I’ll keep the cord as Shark usually puts nice long cords on their machines

They did have the pet turbo brush on it and the crevice tool....I’ll keep those as they fit my rocket stick vac and there are several of the rocket stick vacs in the family so someone will get some use out of these tools if I decide I don’t want them.

I just don’t have the time to part it out to sell the other latch buttons and motor, bust bin, hose etc that are still good and likely all of these have significant wear on them anyway. Thought about selling the power nozzle head...but with the cracked duct hose that’s likely now worth next to nothing without it being repaired.

Someone has a relatively new Tri star on Craigslist here for $20. Post says it works fine and looks virtually new. I’d rather spend money buying that for fun than way more than $20 dealing with this worn out shark! But I won’t spend on either, I’m quite satisfied with what I have in my collection which is mostly Aerus Electrolux a random Hoover, a Kenmore, and a shark rocket stick vac and a shark rocket hand held.

 

[gregvacs28]

They are fun to experiment with if you're a NuB.

But yeah, some are just too shot, or poorly designed to be worth fixing.

 

[madman]

"Perhaps I’ll keep the cord as Shark usually puts nice long cords on their machines"

That attitude got me a free vacuum cleaner.

 

[jo]

Another thought.

This thing looks like it sort of converts down to a carry along stand up canister by taking off the power nozzle and using it that way with just the hose wand and attachments. I guess it will work for this purpose but there’s nothing to do the floors with. But it could be used for cars, and any detailed cleaning where one would only want to be using wands and attachments. But since I have enough vacuums that are better and more complete. I don’t really have room for something like this which is is less useful so it may just have to go. Maybe I could donate it in this “mode” and someone might find it useful enough to buy.

Jon

 

[justjunque]

Hi Jon,

Sorry you weren't able to fix it up like you had hoped. Glad you tried!
I'll second that idea of donating the useable part. At least someone might be able to use it.
I'm into preservation, whenever possible.

Barry

 

[jo]

Well it’s done

I decided to let the Shark go back to the trash. I did keep the crevice tool and the turbo brush attachment, the attachment clip and the hose since I have a different Shark. I measured the cord and it is 30 feet so decided I would keep that too for a very nice long extension cord to use with my daily drivers to avails having to keep replugging from room to room.

I considered keeping or donating the canister part but with the cracked swivel section and it was quite heavy and unstable to stand I didn’t think it would be all that usable and kinda bulky.

I did give the thing a whirl to see if I would like it and decided it definitely has seen better days and looked at what was needed on filter cleaning and that too would be a hassle for garage or remodeling use versus using my Old Electrolux canister with self sealing disposable bags that have no mess so out she goes.

Perhaps I should dismantle it for recycling but unsure if the plastics are coded for recycling. Here we have pretty strict recycling guidelines and they tag your bin if you put non recyclable items in it.

If anyone needs the hose and handle for this I did save it, it is for model NV480. I don’t anticipate needing it and will give it away for the postage cost to ship to whoever may need it.

 

[gregvacs28]

See, there you go, you got parts out of it.  That's the way to do it.


 


If you find another one next week that is good but is short those parts you'll be several steps ahead.  Beside, you can use the parts with your current cleaner.

 

[jo]

Yes

I’m mostly excited about the 30 foot cord, my current “vacuum cleaner extension cord” I use with my daily drivers and keep in the closet with them is only 15 feet and a little short to reach the longest stretches without replugging when doing most of the house, this additional 15 feet will eliminate that frustration and allow me to clean 6 rooms, a few bathrooms, hallway and foyer all without having to replug...I don’t think I will be able to do my master bedroom in its entirety though but that’s ok if I have to only replug once to do the entire house. It’s a wider than it is deeper ranch and when I want to do a quick “freshen up” vacuuming it’s annoying to me to have to stop to change outlets and I don’t like cordless vacuums because they don’t run long enough at full power to get through the job at once.

Jon