Were older Rainbows good at filtration?

[fan-of-fans]

I always thought Rainbows were excellent at filtration. My grandmother has a D4C she bought new back in the 80s and her house always smelled fresh and looked clean. I used to wonder if it was because of the Rainbow.

I have recently been reading that the newer Rainbows need a HEPA filter in place to filter properly and that the older ones without them didn't filter all that well.

I recently found a Rainbow SE (Performance Edition) in the trash near my house and picked it up because "why not?". Not really sure what to do with it. It needs cleanup but appears to be in good shape. It came with the electric hose, wands, power nozzle, and a few attachments (I think a dusting brush, crevice tool and floor brush).

The Rainbows to me seemed like a good quality machine but a pain to set up and clean out, especially if you're just doing quick clean ups. My mom once had a cleaning business on the side and one of her clients had one, and she hated it. Said emptying the dirty water was a pain and filling it, etc.

 

[panasonicvac]

They can trap some dust but not all of them. I like the "No wet dust can fly" feature where you wouldn't have any dust escape from the water bin as you empty it but when it comes to cleaning, I've never once had a Rainbow even with a HEPA filter on read a zero on the particle scanner when I worked at a vacuum store. This video demonstrates my claim on the Rainbows or any other water filtration vacuum that I've used before.

 

[dysonman1]

I make my living cleaning the filth and dirt out of Rainbow motors. If a regular person uses it, the motor is filthy. I have hundreds of photos of customers machines taken apart to show all the filth and dirt packed into the revolving fans. It's everywhere in the machine.

If you empty the water every ten minutes and watch what you pick up, you can keep the motor fairly clean. But come on, people who just paid three thousand dollars for a vacuum only do so because they believe (incorrectly) that it's indestructible. That's what the salesman told them.

 

[kloveland]

Every Rainbow that I've worked on has been dirty. Not just dry dust but dust/dirt that is stuck inside the machine from moisture. I usually wash the internal parts if I don't the exhaust will smell.

They are easily neglected as mentioned above and emptying the water pan in time may make a difference! Average people are not collectors and usually do not take care of their vacs the way we do.

In a 1996 issue of consumer reports Rainbows were rated with high emissions. Even added emissions into the air from water based minerals.

 

[kloveland]

To add..

My favorite canister to use is an Electrolux 2100 as a daily driver. Bag in Bag out what could be simpler? I’ll use my Rainbow SE when I want to play around. Sorry if this sounds harsh for Rainbow fans but they are a pain to use as a daily driver. Especially when other tasks need to be accomplished for the day besides vacuuming.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

All I'll say is....................

I know people who own them. Some love them and use them regularly. I've been in homes where the machine is sitting there, unused, with dirty water in the basin.  I saw the demos.  I believe you do not want water in your basin.


  It's like everything else,  if you take care of things.................................

 

[dysonman1]

I know women who use Rainbows to clean other people's homes with. Because of the whiff of a scent that's added to the water, the homeowner compliments how the air 'smells' after the cleaning lady has been there, they go through the hassle of getting the thing in and out of the car for several homes per day. And bring them in twice a year to get 'cleaned'. At $150 a pop, I'm not complaining.

 

[cbird]

I’ve had an original E series for over 20 years with no issues, but it hasn’t had heavy use (I’m out of state a lot). I always empty the water after each use and never leave it sitting on a filled basin. A local vacuum repairman recommended running it for a minute with the the basin empty to get moisture out of the motor after each use and I’ve done that often.
I have been using an airborne particle counter in the house and have noticed that when I take a shower with the counter in the bedroom about 15 feet away, the reading will always rise from about the baseline of 200 or so up to 5000 to 10000. Apparently the shower is releasing a large number of tiny droplets into the air. I think you would see this effect with older Rainbows without HEPA filters ( I have a very early model Rexair and running it without the hose attached does cause a rise in the count, but to about 800). I use the E series as an air cleaner, too, and when the particle count rises dramatically (mainly after sautéing in oil, when it can rise as high as 25,000) it will bring the count down to under 1000, but takes a while.