Who Owns 32Volt appliances?esp vacuum cleaners?

[vaclover]

I have recently seen a vintage add for 32Volt appliances do any of you guys have?I stayed on a farm with the 32Volt generator still intact and original in the generator room.

 

[tolivac]

Responded to this on the Appliance forum-but will add here-At my Moms summer cottage at Lake Winnepesakie in New Hampshire-the cabins there used to run on a 32V system on the island.When I visited there over 30yrs ago-the old generator-battery building was still there-the Hit-miss gas engine was there and corroding-rusting away.The generator it turned and the batteries were long gone.The cottages now are on 120V.While rewirng the cottage found some 32 V light bulbs-saved some of them-tried one on 120V and it made a good flashbulb.My Mom mentioned she used to have a 32V sewing machine she and her mother used to use at the cottage-She used it as a girl.Have no idea where it is now-she doesn't know either.The cottages on that island were used in the summer-in the winter was too cold to use them-the lake froze over and ice fishermen used it then.

 

[collector2]

I have a couple of Goblin Vacuums for 32 Volt as well as Electrolux's model 12 and 30 (Canada) that were made for 32 volt. The Electrolux 12 is interesting in that the switch is on the cord (Which was not removable) instead of the machine and the cord different than the normal one. I assume this was done to accommodate the heavier amperage draw that the 32 volt motor required.

Doug

 

[vaclover]

that's so awesome...

Awesome to see it!thanks for the replies!do you have a transformer to switch it on?and how's the suction of the 32Volt vacuums?I think its the rarest type of vacuum cleaner the 32Volts?thanks again for your replies very interesting!I wonder why the older vacuums had such great suction power with a lower wattage and some of todays vacuum cleaners draw more watts than a stoveplate and there's not really more suction power?

 

[super-sweeper]

Jerry-Rigging idea,

When you say 32V, is that AC or DC? would be fun to hook up a bunch of 9 volt battery and...


Fun fact- the 9 volt battery was invented in 1957 for use in PortableTransistor Radios

 

[tolivac]

32VDC- yes you "could" try to connect 9V radio batteries in series to get 32V-but the 32V vacuum would drain them quickly-remember the 9V battery was for low current radio and electronic applications-now-smoke detectors.

 

[vacosaurus]

I also collect radio's from the 1930's to early 1940's. They had some radio's that were designed for farm's that had no electricity that were 6 volt and also 32 volt. I have one Zenith floor model that will run on 6 volt or you could switch to 110 volt. I do not have any that run on 32 volt. From what I understand the male plug for the 32 volt radio was the same as a plug used for 110 volt and a lot of people who were not familiar with old radio's unknowingly plugged 32 volt radio's into 110 volt turned them on and promptly blew up the radio.

 

[collector2]

Hey Bill

That happened a lot. People never bothered to look at the name plate to see what voltage they were made for and the appliances burned up. Probably why they are so hard to find now.

Hey Alex:

Yes it was a DC system. You generally had either a gas generator or a wind powered generator that charged a series of 2 Volt batteries to power the house. All the wireing was 10 gauge to allow for the higher current requirements. (Ergo - don't let an electrician try to tell you that the old wireing in the farm house is bad just because its knob and tube. If you check it out it may be a lot heavier than what they want to replace it with.)

 

[super-sweeper]

Cool!

Carry your 32V Cleaner to anywhere and vacuum, just remember to carry 50 9-Volt Batterys!


 


I bought one of those Transistor Radios Saturday, Record were 50¢ Each, plus that Transistor Radio and an Elvis stamp all came out to $8.00! I think it was a Harpleys, with something tied to RCA about it, likely the electronics. It takes 1 1.5V D battery, and where a 9-Volt looks promising, I'm supposed to fit a 65.5V! Good luck to me finding a 65.5 volt battery, Looks like i'll be daisy-chaining 9-Volts to see if I can fire the old thing up!

 

[tolivac]

If I should run into a 32V vacuum or other appliance-maybe I could try running it from my 40V batteries that go to my Earthworks Cordless mower.I have a B&D 36V mower-its battery isn't removable-you would have to tap into it internally.So if you have rechargeable cordless Modern battery appliances of about that voltage-you could try that.Would be interesting.I bet the 32V devices would still work from 40V-bet in the 32 V systems you could get 40V.Don't think the voltage regulators would be that good from those days-and battery charger gensets operate a little overvoltage to charge the batteries better.I looked up the "32V Delco system" and its interesting about these-some are actually still in use today in Alaskan Islands and such!The 32V Delco gensets were quite durable and simple to maintian.So they could survive-But sad news-some of these units are sent to recyclers today for copper and iron-their engines also had copper fin heatsinks on the cylinders for cooling from the flywheel mounted fans-Anyone who turns these in to recyclers should be "recycled" themselves-Engines and generators that old are historical treasures and should be preserved and even USED!!

 

[collector2]

40 Volts would be a bit too much for the motors - I belive 36 V was the highest they were rated to go and even that was pushing it. Actually the voltage regulators at that time were pretty good but it wasn't automatic. The main panel had voltage gauges and rheostats on it to adjust the output.

Three twelve volt batteries that were slightly down on their charges wired in series would work well though.