Vintage Oreck Upright Vacuums

[bobhane]

Hi. I have two older Oreck vacuums that I would like to know when they were manufactured. The model numbers and serial numbers are as follows:

Vacuum #1 - mod. - XL9100, s/n - 1885760 - 4.0 amps

Vacuum #2 - (296B), mod. - XL2700RH (00268) - s/n - 2700RHYC009360-3 (type 3) - 4.0 amps

It was said somewhere in your forum that Oreck changed from 3.5 amp machines to 4.0 amps in the mid 1990s so both of these machines must of been made after 1995, but when exactly?

Your help will be appreciated. -

 

[bagintheback]

Any Oreck XL made after 1997 will take the "CC" style bags, where the bag collar slides into a usually blue dock. Older ones are just like other vacuums where you fit the bag over the spout manually. I haven't opened up an Oreck recently, but you may be able to find a date stamp etched into the plastic somewhere in the base. One of those circle ones with an arrow pointing to the date. It's much easier with Hoovers, where the serial number always starts with DD/YY, which I think started sometime in the mid-80s.

I'm probably in the minority in Vacuumland when it comes to Orecks, but other than their super loud noise, I think they're great vacuums. Aside from the XL21, they've pretty much used the exact same parts for nearly 3 decades, so you can fix an early 90s model the same as one bought today. But that also makes it difficult to know which years a model was sold.

From the pictures I've found of the models, the XL 9100 looks older and probably mid-late 90s, and the XL2700RH was probably sold until the very early 2000s. I used to get the Oreck catalogs in the mail, starting around 2004 when the XL2 came out. I don't remember any of those models in those catalogs. The XL2700RH style was sold until the mid-2000s but it had an AM-FM radio built in the handle.

Maybe someone else knows more!

 

[eurekafansquid]

I have an oreck commercial with 3.5 amps, its a very recent one tho... hmmmm

 

[jo]

Interesting

You mention the cc bag dock was only made from 97 on. My partner’s mom had one with this bag dock and the machine didn’t last very long. I replaced the brush roll in 2006 after giving it a good clean out from pets and she used it again for a few years then the motor died. Was not impressed with the short life of the motors in these supposed “extended life” vacuums. Also the brush roll was placed too far back so front edge cleaning was non existent on orecks.

My best friend also had one she bought around 2000...Motor crapped out last year just before I went for a visit when they were cleaning up the house for my visit. So hers lasted about 20 years.

Jon