Uprights on hard floors

I know we've discussed this but wondering how the older vacuums were meant to use on hard floors? What machines have had good design here?

It seemed to me most people never used them as such. I remember on All in the Family Archie was running the Convertible in the kitchen to "help" Edith clean and the neighbor asked why he was using it on the linoleum.

I know Hoover and Eureka offered the floor brush in most of their attachment kits that were deluxe. I do not remember Singer offering a floor brush with their Twin Fan upright kits, but from my Sears catalogs, it looks like their was a snap on attachment for hard floor use.

Kirby machines seem to work best in canister mode with the floor brush. What about the old fan first style uprights from Apex, Hamilton Beach, GE and such. GE offered a floor brush on their later upright kits I believe.

Of course going into the 80s and 90s when the fan first upright designs began to go toward the Elite and Bravo style cleaners with tools on board, there really wasn't a hard floor tool available. It seemed you just set the height to low and used it on the hard floors that way. Never saw this as a good option because of possible damage to flooring plus they tended to throw particles instead of sucking them up. Or course you could always add a floor brush to the wand but this seemed to be rarely done. I did try it with my Hoover Legacy and it worked ok.

Fantom was a bit of an anomaly here, offering such a tool that even stored onboard their uprights. I suppose it could have been mainly for stairs, but all the videos seem to suggest the machine used in upright mode for carpets only and floor brush for anything else.

The only other upright I remember that stored its floor tool on board was one of the higher end Eureka Bravo uprights, maybe World Vac model?

Then go forward a few years and get to clean air and specifically dual motor machines. At this point Eureka/Sanitaire and Bissell both offered two motor uprights with a brushroll shutoff option. Eureka also included a floor nozzle with their version. I don't remember Hoover ever offering this two motor design at the time, possibly the Windtunnel V2 was the first two motor system?

By this point was around the time Singer had gotten out of vacuums and I don't recall such a two motor system or any floor brush offered. They seemed to go the way Hoover and Eureka did with the low height setting on their bag in the front style vacuums.

By this time Panasonic was getting into uprights esp through Sears and many of them too had the dual motor system. Many of the TOL Kenmore uprights from then until now have either a clutch to lift the belt or a separate motor shutoff. At one time they also offered a floor brush on their high end machines.

I also get the idea some Windtunnels came with a floor brush but could I be wrong? I know the Anniversary "Convertible" model did have one standard.

Even with proper clutch based or two motor machines in the bare floor mode, I always feel my floors aren't getting as clean as they would be if I just used a bare floor brush. The machines just aren't designed with brushes to sweep the hard floor in this mode. They also seem a bit heavier to me on a smooth surface than carpets.

Same can be applied to canisters with a shutoff. Although, my Electrolux Grand Marquis' power nozzle does have a nice brush on the bottom that helps in bare floor mode. I'm not sure any uprights offer this?

It's getting more common now to see Bissell, Hoover and other uprights with clutch based and Sharks two motor system. So a lot of vacuums have the flexibility than did in the past, probably because of the popularity of bare floors. But few of these machines other than Sharks, Hoover's React and Kenmore's Elite Crossover offer any kind of floor tool.


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 396917 8/18/2018 at 14:32 (2,078 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes I know we've discussed this but wondering how the older vacuums were meant to use on hard floors? What machines have had good design here? It seemed to me most people never used them as such. I remember on All in the Family Archie was running the Convertible in the kitchen to "help" Edith clean and the neighbor asked why he was using it on the linoleum. I know Hoover and Eureka offered the floor brush in most of their attachment kits that were deluxe. I do not remember Singer offering a floor brush with their Twin Fan upright kits, but from my Sears catalogs, it looks like their was a snap on attachment for hard floor use. Kirby machines seem to work best in canister mode with the floor brush. What about the old fan first style uprights from Apex, Hamilton Beach, GE and such. GE offered a floor brush on their later upright kits I believe. Of course going into the 80s and 90s when the fan first upright designs began to go toward the Elite and Bravo style cleaners with tools on board, there really wasn't a hard floor tool available. It seemed you just set the height to low and used it on the hard floors that way. Never saw this as a good option because of possible damage to flooring plus they tended to throw particles instead of sucking them up. Or course you could always add a floor brush to the wand but this seemed to be rarely done. I did try it with my Hoover Legacy and it worked ok. Fantom was a bit of an anomaly here, offering such a tool that even stored onboard their uprights. I suppose it could have been mainly for stairs, but all the videos seem to suggest the machine used in upright mode for carpets only and floor brush for anything else. The only other upright I remember that stored its floor tool on board was one of the higher end Eureka Bravo uprights, maybe World Vac model? Then go forward a few years and get to clean air and specifically dual motor machines. At this point Eureka/Sanitaire and Bissell both offered two motor uprights with a brushroll shutoff option. Eureka also included a floor nozzle with their version. I don't remember Hoover ever offering this two motor design at the time, possibly the Windtunnel V2 was the first two motor system? By this point was around the time Singer had gotten out of vacuums and I don't recall such a two motor system or any floor brush offered. They seemed to go the way Hoover and Eureka did with the low height setting on their bag in the front style vacuums. By this time Panasonic was getting into uprights esp through Sears and many of them too had the dual motor system. Many of the TOL Kenmore uprights from then until now have either a clutch to lift the belt or a separate motor shutoff. At one time they also offered a floor brush on their high end machines. I also get the idea some Windtunnels came with a floor brush but could I be wrong? I know the Anniversary "Convertible" model did have one standard. Even with proper clutch based or two motor machines in the bare floor mode, I always feel my floors aren't getting as clean as they would be if I just used a bare floor brush. The machines just aren't designed with brushes to sweep the hard floor in this mode. They also seem a bit heavier to me on a smooth surface than carpets. Same can be applied to canisters with a shutoff. Although, my Electrolux Grand Marquis' power nozzle does have a nice brush on the bottom that helps in bare floor mode. I'm not sure any uprights offer this? It's getting more common now to see Bissell, Hoover and other uprights with clutch based and Sharks two motor system. So a lot of vacuums have the flexibility than did in the past, probably because of the popularity of bare floors. But few of these machines other than Sharks, Hoover's React and Kenmore's Elite Crossover offer any kind of floor tool.

Post# 397006 , Reply# 1 8/20/2018 at 09:14 (2,076 days old) by bryan1980 (Texas)
Checkrate/Likes 1 It seems like canisters have always worked the best for bare floors (hence the reason they've always been more popular in Europe). IMHO, for any upright to work decently on hard floors, it needs to have a means of turning off the brushroll. Otherwise, you're just going to scatter debris all over the place. You can mitigate that somewhat, with a squeegee mounted just after the brushroll, like the Orecks have.

Post# 397009 , Reply# 2 8/20/2018 at 10:21 (2,076 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes Kirby also offered a hard floor plate to cover the brush roll. I don't know what all models they offered it for but the one have is tobacco colored to match a Sentria II. That said, my absolute favorite upright for hard floors is the Electrolux Discovery/Epic/Genesis/etc. series. Its twin motor design is perfect for multi-surface cleaning in that you can turn the brush roll off and on with a flick of the power switch. I use my Discovery II every week to vacuum up cat litter in the hall bathroom. I turn the brush roll on to get the mats and off to get the floor itself. It works great although it begins to lose suction when the bag gets about 1/3 full.

Post# 397017 , Reply# 3 8/20/2018 at 12:38 (2,076 days old) by Rivstg1 (colorado springs)
Checkrate/Likes *I've never seen attachments for* Hoover uprights....anyone have any photos showing the assembled look of those handy, to post?