Hour Counters

The engineers at Tacony Manufacturing use hour counters all the time for the prototype machines. When a new model is being evaluated, 25 prototypes are made. Some have hour counters installed when the machine is built - it is invisible to the operator of the machine. The cleaner has to be taken apart to see the hour counter (under the hood of a "Freedom" for example).

The ones with the hour counters are either given to employees, or most of the time, given to hotels and motels to use for a period of time (usually 3 months). The machines are collected and evaluated for unusual wear and the hours of use are recorded. A motel can easily use a vacuum over 200 hours in 3 months of constant daily use.

My personal Riccar Prima canister vacuum was a prototype with an hour counter. I was one of the original testers. I returned my Prima to the Technical Services department when requested, where the machines was evaluated and returned to me. I asked a friend in that department to please NOT remove the hour counter (for my own personal information), and have in the years since taken the machine apart several times in order to view the hours I've put on my machine.
Once the Tandem Air power nozzle was available, I used my Prima a LOT more. Haven't taken it apart in a year and a half. Will have to do so soon to see how many hours in total I've used it since it came to me in 2012.


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Post# 399462 10/13/2018 at 02:58 (2,022 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes I had this thought after viewing Ian1035nr's topic about his Kirby motor armature that he showed has had a gouge worn into it. Has anyone ever wondered, what if from the first vacuum cleaners it became required for manufacturers to put a little usage hour counter on them? Like what some generators and construction equipment have, it can be used to see how many hours the vacuum has been run for and how much time has been put on the motor. When the motor burns out, a vacuum shop could then write the old odometer readout and the service date onto the bottom of the vacuum body with a permanent paint marker and then reset the counter, and then you can also know how many hours have been put on the vacuum as a whole and the new motor. It was just a thought I had that I thought would be great to also make it a lot easier to haggle on used vacuum prices and also to see how easy or hard a vacuum has been run its life. Then when the little old lady from Pasadena tries to sell you her Hoover Convertible that was seldom used and in like new condition and you see its had 100,000 hours put on it (11 years) and been through 2 motors it might not be such a good deal. lol View Full Size

Post# 399464 , Reply# 1 10/13/2018 at 06:33 (2,022 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)
Checkrate/Likes Hour meters are used here at the transmitter site-use them to record hours on tubes,modules,and vacuum capacitors installed in the transmitter.Cinema projectors use the meters for recording hours on projection lamp bulbs,light engines(digital projector),mechanical parts in film projectors. These meters may be too expensive to install in vacuum cleaners-guess you use them to record hrs on motor brushes,or filters.Most customers wioll not pay attention to the meter.To sum up the hour meters are used on professional,commercial,and industrial gear.

Post# 399468 , Reply# 2 10/13/2018 at 08:35 (2,021 days old) by rugsucker (Elizabethton TN)
Checkrate/Likes *Hour counters* I remember seeing a Popular Mechanics or similar magazine of the 70s or 80s showing a counter and saying that it would soon be used for household appliances that would then have warranties based on hours used not years from purchase.

Post# 399470 , Reply# 3 10/13/2018 at 08:49 (2,021 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)
Checkrate/Likes The engineers at Tacony Manufacturing use hour counters all the time for the prototype machines. When a new model is being evaluated, 25 prototypes are made. Some have hour counters installed when the machine is built - it is invisible to the operator of the machine. The cleaner has to be taken apart to see the hour counter (under the hood of a "Freedom" for example). The ones with the hour counters are either given to employees, or most of the time, given to hotels and motels to use for a period of time (usually 3 months). The machines are collected and evaluated for unusual wear and the hours of use are recorded. A motel can easily use a vacuum over 200 hours in 3 months of constant daily use. My personal Riccar Prima canister vacuum was a prototype with an hour counter. I was one of the original testers. I returned my Prima to the Technical Services department when requested, where the machines was evaluated and returned to me. I asked a friend in that department to please NOT remove the hour counter (for my own personal information), and have in the years since taken the machine apart several times in order to view the hours I've put on my machine. Once the Tandem Air power nozzle was available, I used my Prima a LOT more. Haven't taken it apart in a year and a half. Will have to do so soon to see how many hours in total I've used it since it came to me in 2012.

Post# 399476 , Reply# 4 10/13/2018 at 12:20 (2,021 days old) by chris (WV)
Checkrate/Likes I joke all the time that mine and my aunts rainbows need hour meters on them. I don't think there is anyone that uses there rainbow more than we do as we vacuum everyday. She just had a new motor put in her E-Series and I just had new carbon brushes put in my SE. It would be interesting to know how many hours they have on them when it burns out again and I need new carbon brushes

Post# 399513 , Reply# 5 10/14/2018 at 01:04 (2,021 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)
Checkrate/Likes Motor brushes used in vacuums and most other appliances last 500-1200 hrs of running time.