Eureka-Forbes Revisited

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I am currently on an extended vacation. I haven't had one for years, so thought it was best to do a bit of family visiting around the globe. Perhaps I'll get to NYC in a few months to see the other cousins before ending up somewhere in Canada.

At the mo I'm in Dubai and India. Anyway in Dubai they have an old but reliable Miele S5 with a broken On button and a rather scraped tool lid cover. No problems there though.

In India, the picture is rather different. Typically like China, although major brands are welcomed to enter countries with products, the government prefers a major company to merge with a local Indian company as opposed to completely taking over (One can sympathise with India's request since the days of the British monarchy!). So I was delighted to find that the family's vacuum cleaner is an old Euroclean STAR canister vac under the Eureaka-Forbes brand (see previous thread).

It is very similar to the Electrolux Z345 but made in a robust rust proof metal body. I couldn't wait to try it as the whole house here is entirely made up of hard polished stone and marble floors - the Sebo Felix DISCO polisher head would be quite right at home here - but the dust is quite thick and the rugs need a good machine to clean with. The Star comes with the usual small cleaning tools including Electrolux's excellent Butterfly tool. Pity there's no where to store them on the machine and more's the pity for having useless standard twin plastic suction tubes.

So, the STAR vacuum has a few highlights. Similar to the ' Lux Z345 it has the twin pedals at the top and the cord sprouting out the rear wheel. For the more modern world, it also has a 6 preset touch-sensitive suction control panel with individual orange lights and probably satisfied my uncle at the time of purchase for looking bling! They work pretty well and I find the noise of the motor isn't that high compared to more modern alternatives. There's an orange bag indicator and a green LED indicator to when the microfilter needs replacing. I expected a metallic grid exhaust cover but its flimsy plastic though silver-look to the eye.

The 1100 watt total motor is also pretty powerful - provided the dust bag is clean of course. I love the design of the main body because it just reminds me of the Z345 that I never got to see when I was young (my parents had one just before I was born) and through the years as a child would often get to see other machines owned by friends' parents.

The bad points - oh the weight! Its a heavy old thing with its outer body being sheated in thick rust proof metal and the rear wheels are very thin and spindly. I looked at the dust bag inside and OMG I Wish I could have taken a photo! Although the dust bag can be used again, the whole principle of putting it in, and then opening up over the sides of a rubber ring that has to be put on top before the lid has to be snapped down shut evoked memories from my late mother who never liked that part of the Electrolux's original design!

The floor head is the most useless floor head I have ever seen though. It has the typical reversal flip style due to it being completely rotational and has the rough scarred part on top. However the base floor plate is a thick metal oval ring that is supposed to aid gliding on rugs/carpets. It kind of works but then it doesn't pick up very much other than top dust! No wonder the family end up brushing floors with huge brooms instead of using the vacuum cleaner - as for rugs - they're big enough to be folded over the balconies and beaten to remove the dirt!

Its like going back in time!
Apologies for the lack of photos - my camera cord has got lost and my phone isn't able to take photos!


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Post# 215210 1/21/2013 at 20:32 (4,106 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-... I am currently on an extended vacation. I haven't had one for years, so thought it was best to do a bit of family visiting around the globe. Perhaps I'll get to NYC in a few months to see the other cousins before ending up somewhere in Canada. At the mo I'm in Dubai and India. Anyway in Dubai they have an old but reliable Miele S5 with a broken On button and a rather scraped tool lid cover. No problems there though. In India, the picture is rather different. Typically like China, although major brands are welcomed to enter countries with products, the government prefers a major company to merge with a local Indian company as opposed to completely taking over (One can sympathise with India's request since the days of the British monarchy!). So I was delighted to find that the family's vacuum cleaner is an old Euroclean STAR canister vac under the Eureaka-Forbes brand (see previous thread). It is very similar to the Electrolux Z345 but made in a robust rust proof metal body. I couldn't wait to try it as the whole house here is entirely made up of hard polished stone and marble floors - the Sebo Felix DISCO polisher head would be quite right at home here - but the dust is quite thick and the rugs need a good machine to clean with. The Star comes with the usual small cleaning tools including Electrolux's excellent Butterfly tool. Pity there's no where to store them on the machine and more's the pity for having useless standard twin plastic suction tubes. So, the STAR vacuum has a few highlights. Similar to the ' Lux Z345 it has the twin pedals at the top and the cord sprouting out the rear wheel. For the more modern world, it also has a 6 preset touch-sensitive suction control panel with individual orange lights and probably satisfied my uncle at the time of purchase for looking bling! They work pretty well and I find the noise of the motor isn't that high compared to more modern alternatives. There's an orange bag indicator and a green LED indicator to when the microfilter needs replacing. I expected a metallic grid exhaust cover but its flimsy plastic though silver-look to the eye. The 1100 watt total motor is also pretty powerful - provided the dust bag is clean of course. I love the design of the main body because it just reminds me of the Z345 that I never got to see when I was young (my parents had one just before I was born) and through the years as a child would often get to see other machines owned by friends' parents. The bad points - oh the weight! Its a heavy old thing with its outer body being sheated in thick rust proof metal and the rear wheels are very thin and spindly. I looked at the dust bag inside and OMG I Wish I could have taken a photo! Although the dust bag can be used again, the whole principle of putting it in, and then opening up over the sides of a rubber ring that has to be put on top before the lid has to be snapped down shut evoked memories from my late mother who never liked that part of the Electrolux's original design! The floor head is the most useless floor head I have ever seen though. It has the typical reversal flip style due to it being completely rotational and has the rough scarred part on top. However the base floor plate is a thick metal oval ring that is supposed to aid gliding on rugs/carpets. It kind of works but then it doesn't pick up very much other than top dust! No wonder the family end up brushing floors with huge brooms instead of using the vacuum cleaner - as for rugs - they're big enough to be folded over the balconies and beaten to remove the dirt! Its like going back in time! Apologies for the lack of photos - my camera cord has got lost and my phone isn't able to take photos!

Post# 215217 , Reply# 1 1/21/2013 at 21:03 (4,106 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Thanks for that peek into a part of India's world of vacuums! For those who may not know, Eureka-Forbes is India's door-to-door vacuum sales company under the umbrella of Lux International which has an associate partnership with North America's Aerus.

Post# 215590 , Reply# 2 1/24/2013 at 07:56 (4,103 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes It was my pleasure. It is just a pity that Dyson have yet to get to India as well as any other major brand. Miele machines do exist but they are painfully not available everywhere. My aunt is suffering from using the Euroclean because of its weight. When I return to the UK, I'm sending them a Ewbank mechanical push sweeper for the carpets and rugs since it will be a heck of a lot easier to use and the mechanical type means nothing should go wrong compared to the cordless types.

Post# 215592 , Reply# 3 1/24/2013 at 08:18 (4,103 days old) by petek (Ontario)
Checkrate/Likes I had just read in the paper in the last day or two that India is allowing IKEA to open stores there and with no partnership. So the retail floodgates are about to open it would seem.

Post# 215715 , Reply# 4 1/25/2013 at 00:04 (4,103 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes OH that is good news! Last night I discovered EBAY India, but the vacuums they are featuring are anything but modern by Western standards, harking back to the 1980s. Still, its good things are improving!

Post# 352669 , Reply# 5 5/23/2016 at 09:45 (2,888 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes So, guess where I am for a few days... Thanks to Chris (Turbo500) and a few others from the certain group I'm on, I wasn't aware that the Electrolux design could be fashioned with other branded dust bags. The fact is that there are no longer any dust bags available in India to buy and use with the Euroclean Ace. After lots of suggestions of buying different branded dust bags, Chris suggested using a SEBO Felix dust bag. I have a ton of those (naturally) and cut off the top of the plastic cartridge for an open synthetic disposable dust bag. Most of India can be particularly dusty. I gave the removable foam ring a wash and dried quickly. However as you can see, it is still quite dusty after a day's use with the SEBO bag. View Full Size

Post# 352670 , Reply# 6 5/23/2016 at 09:47 (2,888 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes What a big difference the SEBO bag makes! This vacuum pulls in dirt like its going out of fashion! There is simply no need to have the highest 1100 watt motor power selected and I have already brought over the 32mm Electrolux BSL25 flat carpet floor tool to use in conjunction. It has an all plastic sole plate compared to the older tools supplied with the Euroclean Ace. As you can see, the carpet nozzle in particular is just made up of a complete metal strip. I found it harder to push given that there is no air outlet valve on the handle. There is an air valve on the neck of the floor tool but it is pointless and not all that suited when cleaning "down" on carpet. View Full Size

Post# 352671 , Reply# 7 5/23/2016 at 09:50 (2,888 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes Main look View Full Size

Post# 352672 , Reply# 8 5/23/2016 at 09:50 (2,888 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)
Checkrate/Likes Control panel up close. View Full Size

Post# 352817 , Reply# 9 5/26/2016 at 15:23 (2,885 days old) by gsheen (Cape Town South Africa)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I have a Forbes ace that came from India about 7 years ago View Full Size