When you want a Maytag but all you have is a Riccar...

I'd been holding out for a Maytag M1200 tandem air, but when I came across this Riccar Radiance--also tandem air--I went for it. Considering I paid relatively little for this vacuum ($140, about 1/10 its retail price?), I'm not feeling too ripped off.

Silly me did not take any before shots, but you can imagine a lightly used Radiance with minor scuffing. I did completely strip down the lower half of the vacuum for dish washing, and while I was in there, I was somewhat impressed. It became clear to me that Riccar made this vacuum with service in mind. It has a lot of parts, but everything goes together and comes apart intuitively. All wear points are reinforced, from the handle release to the body pivots and everything in between. I was quite pleased to find that the wheels have sintered bronze sleeve bearings, a very nice touch. True fact: wheels are often overlooked items and wear out more often than you would think. These bearings make sure that doesn't happen any time soon.

It's not all kittens , ducklings, and sunshine under the hood, though. This vacuum has a dark secret. Quite frankly, I was astonished by the poor design of the bag connection. There is a separate coupler which joins to the duct in the bag housing with just two screws. I became suspicious of this connection when I noticed dust coating the bag housing around it. Removal of this coupler revealed a true head-scratcher. It seals to the duct using a flimsy, cheap foam ring with sticky tape on either side. Turned out, this little gasket blew out near the top of the connection and was allowing dust to leak everywhere. I meticulously re-glued the gasket onto the body of the vacuum and then used RTV silicone to seal the interface between the gasket and the coupler. This fixed the leak for good, but I must say that I was very disappointed to have to do this. Hopefully, they have since ditched this design.

Anywho, while I had the vacuum apart, learning all of this, I was inspired. Why don't I make my own Maytag? There were only three maroon parts to be painted, after all. How hard could it be?

Well, not too hard apparently. As someone who had never ever painted a vacuum before, I'm quite pleased by its new finish. In addition to painting the hood, bag door, and handle white, I also trimmed the bag latch handle and hub caps in gloss navy. Now all I need is some Maytag stickers to finish it off!

Anyways, let me know what you think of my Ricc-tag. I hope to feature this vacuum on my YouTube channel, VacuuMotion, sometime soon. Here's the "before":

Photos... < > Photo 1 of 4 View Full Size


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

Post# 411149 7/3/2019 at 23:12 (1,750 days old) by broomvac (N/A)
Checkrate/Likes I'd been holding out for a Maytag M1200 tandem air, but when I came across this Riccar Radiance--also tandem air--I went for it. Considering I paid relatively little for this vacuum ($140, about 1/10 its retail price?), I'm not feeling too ripped off. Silly me did not take any before shots, but you can imagine a lightly used Radiance with minor scuffing. I did completely strip down the lower half of the vacuum for dish washing, and while I was in there, I was somewhat impressed. It became clear to me that Riccar made this vacuum with service in mind. It has a lot of parts, but everything goes together and comes apart intuitively. All wear points are reinforced, from the handle release to the body pivots and everything in between. I was quite pleased to find that the wheels have sintered bronze sleeve bearings, a very nice touch. True fact: wheels are often overlooked items and wear out more often than you would think. These bearings make sure that doesn't happen any time soon. It's not all kittens , ducklings, and sunshine under the hood, though. This vacuum has a dark secret. Quite frankly, I was astonished by the poor design of the bag connection. There is a separate coupler which joins to the duct in the bag housing with just two screws. I became suspicious of this connection when I noticed dust coating the bag housing around it. Removal of this coupler revealed a true head-scratcher. It seals to the duct using a flimsy, cheap foam ring with sticky tape on either side. Turned out, this little gasket blew out near the top of the connection and was allowing dust to leak everywhere. I meticulously re-glued the gasket onto the body of the vacuum and then used RTV silicone to seal the interface between the gasket and the coupler. This fixed the leak for good, but I must say that I was very disappointed to have to do this. Hopefully, they have since ditched this design. Anywho, while I had the vacuum apart, learning all of this, I was inspired. Why don't I make my own Maytag? There were only three maroon parts to be painted, after all. How hard could it be? Well, not too hard apparently. As someone who had never ever painted a vacuum before, I'm quite pleased by its new finish. In addition to painting the hood, bag door, and handle white, I also trimmed the bag latch handle and hub caps in gloss navy. Now all I need is some Maytag stickers to finish it off! Anyways, let me know what you think of my Ricc-tag. I hope to feature this vacuum on my YouTube channel, VacuuMotion, sometime soon. Here's the "before": Photos... < > Photo 1 of 4 View Full Size

Post# 411150 , Reply# 1 7/3/2019 at 23:17 (1,750 days old) by broomvac (N/A)
Checkrate/Likes he protecc, he attacc, but most importantly, he's a Ricc-ar. Photos... < > Photo 1 of 13 View Full Size

Post# 411151 , Reply# 2 7/3/2019 at 23:20 (1,750 days old) by broomvac (N/A)
Checkrate/Likes *Pardon my meme.* Anyways, have any of you painted a vacuum before? If so, feel free to share pictures and advice!

Post# 411154 , Reply# 3 7/4/2019 at 05:40 (1,750 days old) by Blackheart (North Dakota)
Checkrate/Likes Hm It's an older model for sure I know they did away with the two tone hand grips quite some time ago. Your paint job seems to have turned out rather well, it now resembles the Radiance Premium as seen below (not mine). Is this your first Tandem Air? I've painted two vacuums....both when I was in my early teens possibly a bit younger....I used white wall paint. They didn't look very nice, they were very streaky looking. View Full Size

Post# 411179 , Reply# 4 7/5/2019 at 01:23 (1,749 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)
Checkrate/Likes he protecc he attacc but most importantly, he vacc