Who made these modern Electrolux machines?

[gmerkt]

So what is the story on when an Electrolux is really an Electrolux and when is it a Eureka (or something else)? Approximate time line?

Who made the following:

This one is an Oxygen 3, Model EL 5035. The decal says made in Mexico, serial number starts with 0642. I had another one of these that I used for parts (was left out in the rain before I got it) and it had a serial number that began with 0605. Am I correct in assuming the pattern here is a date of manufacture in the SN, with the first two digits being year and the second pair being week of the year?

This machines calls for an EL205B bag, and to date I haven't found a substitute for that number.

 

[kirbykid]

no idea

 

[gmerkt]

Next, I've got the EL5010 Aptitude. This one was made in Mexico, SN prefix 0606, and I've found that Eureka DX bags are made for it.

Who made it?

 

[gmerkt]

Lastly, I've got this Model REL 6985 Harmony, marked made in Mexico, SN prefix 0609. Two bags work in this one, Eureka OX series and Electrolux S (EL200F).

What company made this one?

At one time, I used to see the entire line-up of orange colored, plastic Electrolux like these in Home Depot. Now, they have a similar line-up in lime green.

 

[eurekaprince]

Gary,

In a nutshell, here is what you need to know:

Vacuums sold in North America which show the brand name Electrolux can be divided into three groups-

1. Those made before 1968 and after 2007 are designed and made by factories and divisions owned by the original Swedish Electrolux Company.
2. Those made between 1968 and 2007 are designed and made by North American companies and factories which are owned by North Americans who bought the right to use the Swedish Electrolux name in North America.
3. Orange coloured Electrolux vacuums like all the ones you have shown in this thread are made by the Swedish Electrolux company for sale in North America between the years 2003 and 2007. During this period, the Swedes had already bought back the right to use their name in North America but gave the American and Canadian companies a few years to transition to the new name Aerus.

There is a very simple way to know if a vacuum was made by the European Electrolux or a North American company using the Electrolux name- the Swedish company has a very well-known logo that looks like a carpet nozzle inside a circle inside a square. All the orange vacs in this post have that distinctive logo. Sweden's Electrolux corporation is an international company with factories and offices and divisions all around the world. They bought the Eureka Williams Company in 1974.

 

[eurekaprince]

Here's a link to the main Electrolux corporate website. If the vacuum in question has the logo shown at the top of this website, the vac was designed and made by the European company, not a North American company.



http://www.electrolux.com/

 

[director12]

Eureka slapped their construction on it.

 

[gmerkt]

Many thanks for the tutorial. The information provided raised more questions. The nature of the machine is confused by the European company owning North American ones. So machines made in North America during the 2003-2007 transition period seem to be not purely Electrolux. Yes, they bear the name, but if Electrolux has owned Eureka since 1974, the orange machines could be considered more Eureka than Electrolux. I think of the true Electrolux uprights as being rectangluar and flattish, more European if you will. Or do I have that wrong?

I'm confused about when Swedish Electrolux bought back the name. Was it '03? You have the time line of ownership of the name as pre-68, post-67, but you mention them owning it '03-'07. Clarification? Thanks.

Re. the late-model, lime green Electrolux branded product that I've seen in Home Depot. I just checked the Home Depot website and they no longer offer that product. However, I've seen them at their retail stores within the past year to year and a half. Might these have been some of the stock made up to 2007?

As to the Electrolux uprights made between '68 and '03, what companies made these?

The EL5035 Oxygen 3 is a bit of a monster. Many problems with such seemingly simple things as wheels. Bad consumer rep for reliability; issues with electronics. The front of the dust compartment cover has a fabric overlay; if my cats ever discover that, I won't be able to re-home the machine.

As I mentioned, I made one out of two on the Oxy 3. The "good one" was missing the dust compartment door and had a few other broken plastic parts. The donor had a dust compartment door on it, but had been left out in the rain. I've got the good one pretty much sorted out (including the wheel issues) but the one thing that I've yet to master are the LED lights for the electric/electronic carpet height adjustment. The adjustment motor works, lowers and raises as it should, but the LED reads max. height at all times (all lights on). So, you have to watch it by eyeball when adjusting carpet height to see what it's doing. The elevation mechanism is fairly complex and electronically tied into the main PCB. Meaning the two boards have wires soldered in place, not with disconnectable fittings. There is a tiny jackscrew rigged to the elevation motor; this has two tiny limit switches (max up/max down) and I can't help but think the problem is in there somewhere.

The only other vac I'm familiar with that has such a carpet height control system is the Kenmore (Phonemate) Durapower. The elevation mechanism in it, however, is far less complex than the Oxy 3. Those have an eccentric rotor to govern height of the elevation dolly.

 

[eurekaprince]

Hi Gary,

I'll see if I can clarify some of your new questions.

1. "So machines made in North America during the 2003-2007 transition period seem to be not purely Electrolux." The orange vacs are all purely Swedish Electrolux. Every design (except the orange Oxygen Three upright) was available to Europeans at the same time - and were most likely designed in Europe and the designs were exported to North America from Europe. They did not originate on the drawing boards of Eureka in Bloomington Illinois. The canisters were all made in the Electrolux plant in Hungary, even though the Oxygen with the power nozzle took on a new power nozzle design and for a while had Eureka attachments. But that's it. I am sure that Electrolux created the orange Oxygen power nozzle vac by shipping 120volt canister units from Hungary to Bloomington, where they were married to a Eureka electrified hose and attachments. These American style attachments were never sold in Europe.

The uprights and power nozzles were probably made in the same Mexican plant as Eureka uprights and power nozzles for economical reasons. But you will rarely see any of these products with the "Eureka" name on them. From 1974 onward, Eureka vacuums (note the name change from "Eureka Williams" to "The Eureka Company") began being influenced by European design and Electrolux corporate decisions, and in fact some Eureka vacs were actually made in Sweden beginning in the 1970's. So Sweden's Electrolux began selling some of their designs in North America under the Eureka and Euroclean names because they were not allowed to sell any vac in North America labelled "Electrolux." Eureka as a purely American company began losing its independent identity back then in the 1980's. No more curvey "e" on their vacs!

2. "I'm confused about when Swedish Electrolux bought back the name. Was it '03? You have the time line of ownership of the name as pre-68, post-67, but you mention them owning it '03-'07. Clarification?" Up to 1968, the Swedes had a minority ownership in the American and Canadian Electrolux plants. They sold that in 1968 to Consolidated Foods. In 1974, they re-entered the North American vac market by buying up Eureka from National Union Electric. In November of 2003, they bought back the rights to use the Electrolux name in North America and the North Americans were left to find a new name to use - they chose Aerus. To give the North Americans time to transition to the new name, they allowed them to use "Electrolux" for an additional 4 years. The Europeans agreed that they would only market a limited number of European Electroluxes in North American stores during that time period, and it was agreed that these would be identifiable by a distinctive burnt orange colour. Once 2007 arrived, the Europeans were free to sell in whatever colour they wanted, and the first change occured when you began seeing those white and green versions of Electrolux vacs at Home Depot and Lowes in Canada.

3. "As to the Electrolux uprights made between '68 and '03, what companies made these?" Not sure if these came off the same assembly lines as the canisters, but these were not made by Sweden's Electrolux. They were definitely marketed by American and Canadian Electrolux companies and sold by their marketing and sales departments and stores. After 1974, Sweden's Electrolux used their Eureka subsidiary facilities in North America to bring in some European vacs under the Dometic name (I think also under the Viking name).

4. "The EL5035 Oxygen 3 is a bit of a monster. Many problems with such seemingly simple things as wheels. Bad consumer rep for reliability; issues with electronics." Which is probably why they were discontinued. BUT: this upright was the top-rated upright in Consumer Reports tests in 2003 or 2004. It was too soon to provide brand reliability details in that report, but it aced all the tests for carpet cleaning, bare floor cleaning, hose airflow for above the floor cleaning, filtration, noise control and ease of use. In fact, I remember that the magazine used a large photo of the vac with labelling to show what features it had to illustrate what consumers should look for in a good upright - including the cord reel.

Hope this helps Gary!

For a nice little summary of the history of Electrolux see this link from Ristenbatt vacuums:





http://www.ristenbatt.com/eu/lux-name.mv?SubWin=Yes

 

[gmerkt]

Brian, many thanks again for the in-depth corporate history information.

I didn't know any better; I thought Aerus was the new name for the European product. I don't think I've seen a single machine branded Aerus out here. Over the past few years, once in a while I've picked a few of the Electrolux uprights made in the '70's-'80's. Not realizing that they weren't "real" Electrolux. They were that rather angular, Sebo-looking, two-motor design.

Some people complained about the large wheels on the Oxy 3. However, they are much easier for going over carpet edge plates, etc. The real problem with the wheel was the plastic bearing retainers. A good drop on a wheel would break a spindle off. Replacements aren't hugely expensive; I found that I could just use a sheet metal screw to fix the broken spindle back into place; doubt if that's any weaker than the original design. Of course there's the embrittlement over time problem, and possibly the replacements are of a different composition (but I doubt it). It's a pretty hefty machine but very quiet.

Once I get machines back in order, I often drive them around a while before I let them go down the road. I've got a Eureka RR bag rigged in the Oxy 3 right now for test purposes, but I've got to get some of those (proprietary) EL205 bags in order to sell the machine. Also I've got to master that bit with the elevation LED's.

I've had the Aptitude sitting around for a while. It was basically whole when I got it, less all attachments. I cleaned it up and all but the attachments are scarce used and fairly expensive new and the only place you can get them is Electrolux. What I'll probably wind up doing is just finding whatever attachments are close fits; someone will buy it who doesn't care about exact matches.

The little Harmony I've used for about two years for doing vac work. It's the vac that vacuums vacs. It's got pretty good suction but the bags by design of the machine are small. Good thing the Eureka OX series are inexpensive.

 

[eurekaprince]

Hey Gary! One last little update to the corporate history:

Somewhere along the line, the door-to-door sales division of Sweden's Electrolux Group was sold and became an independent company called Lux International. It is based in Switzerland. Lux sells a very small line of high end products, including one canister vacuum with a power nozzle. Lux International is present under different names all around the world. For instance, in India their door-to-door sales company is called "Eureka-Forbes" believe it or not!

Now here is where things get a bit complicated: Lux International has some sort of loose corporate relationship with Aerus in North America. I think they call it an "associate partnership" meaning they help each other and share ideas and technology. And so for the first time ever, Aerus is now selling a canister vac whose main canister unit (not the attachments nor the hose nor the power nozzle) is based on the current European Lux Intelligence vacuum cleaner. So North America's Aerus Platinum has a main body which is almost identical to Europe's Lux Intelligence and Australia's Sauber Intelligence.

That's probably why you thought that Aerus is connected to Europe's Electrolux Group.

Hope I did not confuse you even more!

EurekaPrince Brian

 

[rugsucker]

Elux uprights 68-03

Much good information above on what is a confusing matter to many including customers whose parents/grandparents had MoXXX,Gs,Olympia,etc that worked great and now see Electrolux in Lowes and Sears that can be troublesome.I will add a bit on the uprights that I have personal knowledge of from the nearby Bristol VA Elux factory that was also toured by many club members.After making Euro design MoXIIs in Cleveland OH the Old Greenwich Ct factory was purchased and the first American Elux,Mo XXX,was built there.In about 1968 Elux(US) purchased the former adding machine(Burroughs?)factory in Bristol,VA.They started making the B-8 and Mo L in VA while the deluxe tank(1205,Golden J,etc)remained in CT.The first US upright was the 1 motor upright with the 2 belt magnetic cluth system as seen recently in vintage thread of about 1978.Then the all new 2 motor Discovery II,Disc III,Prolux,etc starting in April 86.Over time CBs,bags and more came to VA and the CT factory was closed.Then Aerus!Hope this adds to above history.

 

[gmerkt]

Yes, Jimmy, the Discovery II and the Prolux are two of the names of the Electrolux uprights that I've reconned and sold that weren't made under European ownership. It sounds like they may have been slightly newer than I'd thought at the time.

Brian, no that last bit re. the sales division wasn't known to me, so no basis for confusion!!