Thread Number: 3543
A Hoover and a Royal reborn to usefullness. |
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Post# 39772   5/8/2008 at 21:54 (5,803 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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Yeah, yeah, pardon the plastic. By now you know I have soft spots for any derelict vacuum cleaner in distress with rebirth potential. These two, you will recall, were rescued from the curb in Woodstock. In otherwise excellent barely scuffed condition, both needed only a thorough bath, cord transplants and the green Royal Express Vac needed rear wheels. The thing is, not only do the shapes, robust materials and features compel me to bring them back to usefullness but the sheer suction power ensures their makeover survival in my house. |
Post# 39773 , Reply# 1   5/8/2008 at 22:10 (5,803 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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The Hoover Twin Chamber has an enormous HEPA filter cartridge - was able to get one at Zellers for $32. (ugh) Switched over to hose only the SUCTION reading is 45". Also intersting to me is this 'dirty air' vacuum doesn't suck the dirt through the dust path to the fans; it pushes the dirt very powerfully through the fan, up the vertical tube to the top of the dust canister. Typical of high quality Hoover the vinyl hose is very flexible and a pleasure to manipulate. This vacuum type is currently available at SEARS Canada here in Stratford, tho the upper section has been redesigned to hold 2 tools and a blue Whirlwind turbine brush under a flip down visor. The 2in1 wand contains a very useful removable 16" long thin crevice tool On the back are two horizontal clips for a dusting brush and maybe an upholstery tool? Just a guess as they are missing. Anyone got one of these you could take a picture? |
Post# 39777 , Reply# 2   5/8/2008 at 22:16 (5,803 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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I love the color & design of this Royal badged Express Vac (the plate on the back says Royal is a Dirt Devil? Anyway, the power nozzle's central suction hose is a sensible idea and this vacuum registers 98" on the gauge!!! This is one light powerful picker-upper. The curved aluminum handle retracts down the front of the body. |
Post# 39778 , Reply# 3   5/8/2008 at 22:19 (5,803 days old) by danemodsandy ()   |   | |
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Post# 39780 , Reply# 4   5/8/2008 at 22:26 (5,803 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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I've seen the earlier squareish version of this light vacuum in boring colors and a straight retracting handle. This one has verve and style! A simple efficient debris path with minimum jinks. Entire dirt canister lifts out and a handle button releases the bottom so the dirt falls out. The HEPA filter cone is washable. Oh yeah, I drilled new 1/4" bolt holes and installed chair rubber caster wheels. The old wheels were the snap on kind and obviously flimsy - correcting this flaw turns this into a terrific small apartment vacuum. |
Post# 39784 , Reply# 5   5/8/2008 at 23:04 (5,803 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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True Sandy and I do agree with the general sentiment. Bagless vacs are a pain in the butt for high maintenance and don't hold much dirt. They should be washed out after each use to last a long time and who has that sort of time? I mean, I vacuum off the hepa filters with the kitchen Lewyt, Lux or whatever vintage daily driver is at hand. But I can see their appeal to the uninformed with one vacuum cleaner who live in brand new relatively dust free hermeticly sealed homes where cleanlyness goes way beyond Gawdliness, taken to an absurdly paranoidal level. And well, if one does genuinely have allergy & hygeine concerns the evidence packed into HEPA folds and creases will make you feel diligently guiltless about your housekeeping... My house is 104 years old, bursting with unavoidably circulating fresh outside air and I like running vacuum cleaners. A lot! 'Nuff said. :-) Dave. No allergies I pay any attention to, honest dust everywhere The Good Lord flang it and a sparkling attitude about inevitabilities. |
Post# 39808 , Reply# 7   5/9/2008 at 05:58 (5,802 days old) by arh1953 ( River Park, in Port St. Lucie, Florida)   |   | |
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Post# 39993 , Reply# 10   5/10/2008 at 21:54 (5,801 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640)   |   | |
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Post# 39996 , Reply# 11   5/10/2008 at 22:48 (5,801 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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The modern day innovators can wax eloquent all they want about clogged bags & suction loss but after all is said and done nothing can beat the original Filter Queen cyclonic action for superior bagless cleaning with minimazl suction loss over time. Same configuration is used in the Fairfax & Rainbow. Adding a washable hepa filter medium inside a quick-release removable cone is the only genuinely useful improvement FQ might consider... Then we have the large capacity cloth/paper filter bag arranged around the fan motor in a GE Swiveltop and Eureka Rotomatic - any tub canister in fact. Honorable mention goes to Constellations and others with the large internal cavity around the 'pillow' paper bag. When you think about it, having experienced many brands & types of vacuum cleaners spanning a century of progess, what plastic bagless can hope to compete with vintage Hoover beater bars, Kirby carpet suction or the free hanging cloth and paper dust bag combo of a Compact, Haley's Comet or Vortech Force with a powernozzle or the remarkable 'First with a paper bag' Airway double wall bag chamber...dare i say, a smooth quiet powerfully sucking Canadian Electrolux with PN? Each and every one basicly cyclonic in principal. All turbines spin the airflow. At the end of an all over house cleaning I'd rather toss a paper bag or dump a full tub into a garbage bag than have to additionally wash & dry out Hepa filters, perforated inner & outer cylinders, acrylic debris bins and the like before my vacuum chores also have to wipe down the modern bagless with a damp cloth as plastic bodies get charged with static that attracts all the airborn dust in the room, yet another feature of no consequence in a metal bodied vacuum. :-) |
Post# 40000 , Reply# 14   5/10/2008 at 23:37 (5,801 days old) by danemodsandy ()   |   | |
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Apologies for the double post. |
Post# 40040 , Reply# 18   5/11/2008 at 19:03 (5,800 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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Thank you Joe for that info. I knew there was something about it and well, if its the first Hoover Bagless then that's reason enough to keep it running. Besides, it's a stately shade of blue. As for the Green Thing, yeah its so new I found this new one at Walmart Canada this afternoon for $69.99. Heck, mine was free and has better wheels. :-) |
Post# 40059 , Reply# 19   5/11/2008 at 20:55 (5,800 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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Yikes, I'm being stalked! Picked up this (not yet cleaned) blue bagged Hoover Model U5093 at Goodwill today in London for $4.95. Exact same color scheme as the Bagless U5280. So I guess this helps offset the recent overabundance of bagless plastivacs. Maybe, huh? Am I forgiven? Thing is, I work at a theatre complex with a 8 month season here. There are over 150 actors renting houses & apartments around town here until November and many, specially the young'uns, need basic vacuums. I will be giving them away on loan til they leave. :-) |
Post# 40381 , Reply# 22   5/14/2008 at 18:18 (5,797 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)   |   | |
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Joe, I much prefer the Preferred simply because it has a paper dust bag. It's a well made vacuum in a great color with a few nasty cheap partz. Holds more debris than any bagless container. I'm not that impressed with the plastic hoses and plan to replace them with the better quality stretchy vinyl hose from the blue Hoover bagless or the ones on two trashed.Eureka bagless vacs. All these Hoovers I rescued for free use the same basic motor/fan unit with the pop in lamp and are virtually interchangeable. Only difference I can see is it's set up for clean or dirty airflow cleaning. Have two of these now - the blue U5093 and the red U5063. And frankly I'm personally not much concerned about all that nanodust caught in HEPA filters - been breathing and ingesting it all my life. Pretending that collecting and trapping it in your home environment will make me a better person, or protect me out of doors or at some other indoors location is a futile delusion. I mean, my cats sleep right beside my head much of the time. LOL Regular vacuuming of floors, walls, beds, etc was good enough for Mom and Gramma, and good enough for me. |