Bill:
As you note, the Filter-Fresh afterfilter isn't really necessary if you don't have allergies. There is a standard afterfilter that not only decreases backpressure, but looks sleeker; I'm including a pic of my CXL with a standard afterfilter below. Search eBay for "Tristar filter" and you should turn one up quickly and cheaply. You may find one that looks a little different from mine, but they're all basically the same thing - a thin foam filtering element held in a plastic grille frame. Generic or factory should work just fine.
To begin deodorising your new baby, you could start with a disassembly. It's very easy; turn the vac over and look inside the wheel wells. You will then see where the screws are located; undoing them will allow the upper half of the body to be lifted away from the top. Be gentle- there is wiring connecting the on/off switch (mounted in the top shell) to the motor (mounted in the bottom shell). If you like, the switch can be removed with a box wrench; that will completely free the top shell from the bottom one.
Once you've got 'er opened up, you can then have a great time cleaning her out with Fantastik, Murphy's Oil Soap, Krud Kutter, or what-have-you. Just be very careful to keep all these substances off the decal on the left side of the canister.
TriStar no longer makes the emblem that mounts through the body holes. They now make a self-adhesive plastic emblem that adheres on over the old mounting holes; it works fine. TriStar Canada (
www.tristarvacuumscanada.com) has them; they're not expensive, like maybe five or six bucks. While you're on their Website, you can also download the parts PDF's for your vac; click on the links for the EX-20, which is pretty much the same as your machine.
If your PN is quiet, then you are in luck, because it sounds like all the little spacers and dust seals that should be inside it are intact. Noisy TriStar PNs are nearly always the result of people changing a belt and not putting all "them funny lil' pieces" back where they belong. If you want to check to be sure everything's there, the parts PDFs have an exploded view of your PN, showing everything and where it goes.
Welcome to the ranks of TriStar owners! You'll appreciate that vac more and more as you use it; it's a real workhorse, not temperamental at all, and very easy to work on.
