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Thread Number: 5647
I did not set out to rescue a free curbside vacuum today... |
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| Post# 62584 3/14/2009 at 15:41 (5,514 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
In fact it was to be a shopping for Cat & Davy Food & Litter day, a nice stroll around the Lake which is 3 feet below level, to see the male swan Mike, who escaped from the Winter Pen during the big wind storm a few days ago. The 12 mating pairs of white Stratford Swans with clipped wings are traditionally marched down to the Lake from their Pen to Bagpipe Parade on April 5th. But Mike caught air, glided over the 6 foot fence and has taken up residence on the Lake with the ducks. Oh yeah, the vacuum. Well, I was taking a back street over to the mall Pet Store comparing litter & Food prices and screeched to a halt when I saw this on the curb with a FREE Does not Work sign taped to the handle. Quite complete with the video manual and a Zip Brush and a lot of mud splatter. I'll give 'er the once over Spa tonight and get more pictures. The house's boys were outside playing road hockey and said their Mom threw it out this morning, cursing that it did not work anymore. The outer bag is in perfect shape but the inner bag is fully hard-packed to the brim. One more housewife that doesn't get it that the paper bag is not a Total Destruct Vaporization Chamber...one bagectomy later and it runs like silk. Mwa-ha-ha! I already have a purple G5 with a missing headlight lense and a broken cord hook...and now I have the Accesory Set with hose and it's in much nicer cosmetic shape under the mud, from being plopped - if not slammed angrily - into a mud pit at the curb. Dave, decanting 'best unit price' boxes of clumping litter into large plastic jugs because Felix likes to claw the boxes open and boy, what a mess that makes. can't be mopped up so it has to be vacuumed and the clay dust clogs very quickly. No way to start the morning. LOL 
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| Post# 62588 , Reply# 1 3/14/2009 at 16:29 (5,514 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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a quick look and a test run
As is usually the case with a 'not working' Kirby there is absolutely nothing wrong other than a brushroll upholstered in carpet fibers and a jammed full bag right down the tube to the emptor, so naturally it's 'not working' because it's not sucking up dirt. The brushroll spins freely, bumper rubber guard looks new, there are no deep scratches or dreaded waterspots, no cracked plastic and the headlight still lights. Transmission shifts smoothly between neutral and the motor hums pleasingly. Fan has minor blade surface abrasions, nothing to be concerned about. This one won't need a full buff job, a simple metal polish wipe will do it. SCORE!!! I had a brief moment of altruistic madness that I should return the vacuum but clearly this is an abusive stoopid household that wouldn't appreciate what they have lost. I wonder if she was the Lady I saw later at Zellers picking out a cheap new plastic upright vacuum???? :-) Going to watch the Video manual now... 
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Post# 62591 , Reply# 2 3/14/2009 at 17:09 (5,514 days old) by arh1953  ( River Park, in Port St. Lucie, Florida) |
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Dave the prize magnet
What a find! Great you got to that before the metal salvage people. That looks like one I found in the Dogs And Cats Forever Thrift Store when they were in their former location. No, you don't want to give it back to that woman, too much machine for a K-Mart mentality. I'm kind of annoyed because one of our Goodwills has a lime green Hoover Convertible that I believe is a ringer for one I unwillingly gave up years before I started collecting. It was marked Store Use Only, behind the counter with five or more pounds of dirt in the bag. Now it's in the appliance section with the same note on it! I'm going back tomorrow to see if they break down and release it.
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| Post# 62594 , Reply# 3 3/14/2009 at 17:16 (5,514 days old) by kirbyvacuum (Long Island New York) | ||
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G5 Rules Hi Dave What a wonderful find. i would not give it back to the lady. For sure she could care less. Clean and enjoy it.I love the G5 and g6 wonderful colors. Take care Doug | ||
| Post# 62607 , Reply# 6 3/14/2009 at 18:02 (5,514 days old) by petek (Ontario) | ||
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A curby Kirby Kurby Kirby to the UK boys out there.. LOL Dave how many stars or whatever were in your horrorscope today btw with finding that? It's like magic, micron magic | ||
| Post# 62609 , Reply# 7 3/14/2009 at 18:22 (5,514 days old) by camelotshadow (Valley Village) | ||
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You should change yout name to Lucky~ Wouldn't mind finding that myself | ||
| Post# 62612 , Reply# 10 3/14/2009 at 18:31 (5,514 days old) by kirbykid63 (Wilmington Delaware) | ||
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A Great find !!!! This is one of my favorite Kirby's to work on,I get many of those machines in Tucson for between $7.50 and $20.00 The motors are very easy to service and with a little cleaning up they run like new.I will be working on a G4 this week for my collection. | ||
| Post# 62620 , Reply# 12 3/14/2009 at 19:41 (5,514 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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It's the clumping clay litter Rick, and all the Tims Cof
Very useful on a busy sunny Saturday when yer zipping between chores and it beats the rubberband and plastic bag around the man partz. Ok, just kidding. But there have been some days when I forget to drain the spout before heading home from work, stopping at some store or other for this n that. In the sub cold weather it's a real bastard and a contortionist's dance to hold it all in while dropping the door keys in the snow carrying groceries and so on...One time in January I said to hell with it, stood in the yard and blissfully pissed my 501s - I figured I could hop in the shower and start a laundry right away. :-) The 1996 video manual is a hoot - 65 minutes of my life I won't get back. It's a reshoot of the G3 video manual with added opening sequences. Begins with 2 Independent Reports from Dr Joseph A Belland, MD, Georgetown University School of Medicine showing scary photo blowups of bugs & germs & spores and how gramma's old vacuum simply spewed it all back into the air. Then Susan Goldsmith, Director of Technical Services Interbasic Resources, Inc demonstrates an upside down G5 in a sealed chamber ingesting test dirt and spewing NOTHING out the backside according to very important looking instruments. No arguments from me. next, Jim Salk, Senior VP of Marketing introduces Gene Windfeldt, President/CEO of The Kirby Company. Jim returns at the end of the video to chat about opportunities to earn hundreds of $ per month demonstrating Kirbys door to door - just call your local Kirby Distributor. The User Manual supplements the book Manual and covers every detail such as how to clean your Zip Brush and turn the bearing plates for the brushroll as the bristles wear. The uncredited spokesmodel is very Vanna White-like in her determined smiling ability to keep taking the vacuum apart over and over as she points out the item in question with one double-tapping index fingernail. Speaking of clumping Kitty Litter, just guess what half the bag load was? | ||
| Post# 62622 , Reply# 13 3/14/2009 at 19:47 (5,514 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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That's Seven Kirbys for Seven Cowboys, a vague allusion | ||
| Post# 62623 , Reply# 14 3/14/2009 at 20:01 (5,514 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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The Inside Story.
Here's the kicker. As I said, the emptor was stuffed...with 5 bent hairpins trapping everything else. Wouldn't have mattered anyway since the up tube was full as well. Shows how good the outer bag is that it didn't leak a cloud of schmutz on startup with all that crap in there. That is not a G series bag with the lock slots, may be generic for the earlier models but there is no 'Kirby' stamped on it anywhere. After filling the bag with junk & Kitty Litter powder the back pressure blew the bag off and the outer bag got filled up too. Thanks the vacuum Gods she was done with the Kitty Litter disaster and just vacuuming up carpet remnants and Christmas Tinsel and hairstyle affixin' devices and some bra straps and rocks and stones and beer bottle caps and pull tabs...Smite Her, Jesus, Please. She just kept vacuuming 'til it sucked no more. Must be broken. LOL Contrarily, it doesn't look like she rammed it into baseboards, walls or furniture. Proper bag and now humming along like brand new. Yeah, I got a platinum horseshoe up my butt - maybe that's why I have to pee so much. :-) Dave 
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| Post# 62635 , Reply# 15 3/14/2009 at 20:54 (5,514 days old) by methodistbill () | ||
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Looks Toxic! I think you have a Toxic Waste Dump on your hands! Better call out the Canadian version of the Environmental Protection Agency! | ||
| Post# 62683 , Reply# 16 3/14/2009 at 22:15 (5,514 days old) by animasinsulin () | ||
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That is.... Dave, That is just too damn gross for words and for my pottie mouth especially. Some people have NO reason to be alive!!!!.....Bill in Az..... | ||
| Post# 62688 , Reply# 17 3/14/2009 at 22:20 (5,514 days old) by crevicetool (GA ) | ||
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I am just amazed. I guess people just don't understand how a vacuum cleaner works. I mean all that crap has to go somewhere! No doubt the cheap plastic replacement will go on for ever. It's probably bag-less! Stupid Kirby! Rick | ||
| Post# 62762 , Reply# 22 3/15/2009 at 10:19 (5,513 days old) by thunderhexed (Edmond, OK) | ||
Kirby G5
Every G Model Kirby I buy for myself, I end up gifting to someone in my family cuz they all love the way they are designed. My brother got the G4 when his new home was built, dad got a g3 cuz he hates moms dyson, and granny got the other g3. My family has always used Kirbys and probably always will. After graduation, I decided that I wanted to buy what I have always wanted - a G5. I found one on ebay, rebuilt with basic attachment set for $100.00. I absolutely love it. The color scheme, the way it grooms the carpet, the way it doesn't have a layer of dust all over it after use like my Sanitronics and Classics do. It's just an amazing all around vacuum. I will be getting many years of use out of it. I think it would be fun to find a curbside find like that some day though. I have yet to find a diamond in the rough like that. Congrats!
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| Post# 62872 , Reply# 23 3/16/2009 at 18:13 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Another free curbside vacuum shaped object...
Well, it was free and I did load it into the car at curbside after work... A gal at work told me she had a vacuum in her trunk that if I wanted it it was mine, or she would drop it off at Sally Ann. Said it was a Fantom something or other with an extra dirt jug that she bought gnu years ago for her allergic son. This weekend she bought the white Miele S7 at CanTire. Good for her!!! See, they can be edjumacated! 
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| Post# 62874 , Reply# 24 3/16/2009 at 18:17 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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I gotta say, not a bad vacuum cleaner for a bagless. It's fairly quiet, motor spins down like a turboprop, headlights are fantasticly illuminative, it pulls 95" plus with the hose/wand extended, which seals tight when docked as an upright handle. It has all the tools in the bin and really is quite clean throughout. So now I don't have to get a modern Dyson? 
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| Post# 62875 , Reply# 25 3/16/2009 at 18:23 (5,512 days old) by petek (Ontario) | ||
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Wow,, that is birthmother of the Dyson, the vacuum of which all soon after to be manufactured Dysons were fashioned after. I'll just bet it gotta be worth a kajillion smackeroo's Why is there a waffle iron lurking in your trunk? | ||
| Post# 62876 , Reply# 26 3/16/2009 at 18:28 (5,512 days old) by jdinstl () | ||
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It's good luck... to travel with a vintage appliance. I've an old beat up Electrolux shell in the back of my Jimmy. | ||
| Post# 62877 , Reply# 27 3/16/2009 at 18:28 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Fantom Cyclone XT
Quite a sexy shape, really. Barely any scuffs, no cracks or scratches. She said she preferred it or any upright over the central vac and figured it was time for a newer model. When she saw, played with in-store and researched the Miele S7 she was sold. BECAUSE OF THE BAGS!!! I can't find any maker's plate on it, yet. What year did these hit the market? I do remember the TV commercials. 1999? 2000? Dave Oh, the hose to intake coupling on the Kirby G5 has the switch depressing prong broken off, not the arm, just the prong. Another reason it 'didn't work'. LOL Easy enough to screw on a 1/2" shaped scrap of something to press those switches - I want to get a gauge reading. (The hose coupler from my G has a slightly thicker gasket rim and will not swing up enough to close, by about 1/2".} 
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| Post# 62879 , Reply# 28 3/16/2009 at 18:32 (5,512 days old) by petek (Ontario) | ||
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Those Fantoms came out in the early 80's didn't they. They were made by Fantom Industries here in Canada, Fanton Ind. used to be Iona Appliances iirc | ||
| Post# 62885 , Reply# 29 3/16/2009 at 21:06 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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KIRBY G5 on low speed | ||
| Post# 62886 , Reply# 30 3/16/2009 at 21:09 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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KIRBY G5 on high speed | ||
| Post# 62888 , Reply# 31 3/16/2009 at 21:15 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Five Kirbys | ||
| Post# 62890 , Reply# 32 3/16/2009 at 21:18 (5,512 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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| Post# 63264 , Reply# 33 3/20/2009 at 19:20 (5,508 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Part two - Friday March 20 | ||
| Post# 63265 , Reply# 34 3/20/2009 at 19:26 (5,508 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Never too many power tools - Woo Hoo!
Rooting around in the toy department looking for Serta Sheep I couldn't believe what I was seeing buried under the stuffed animals!!! Complete and pristine in the original box with an un-used sticker sheet for 'atomic-izing' the tall cylinders, missing only one blue ball. $10. YES!!! Put in two D batteries and started picking things up & rotating them in all sortsa crazy positions. 
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| Post# 63267 , Reply# 35 3/20/2009 at 19:39 (5,508 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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I so wanted one of these as a young mad scientist. Oc course, I wouldn't hang out with nerdy dorks like those be-specticled knobs. Yeah, like I didn't look exactly like that myself at the Hobby Fair...:-) Radio Shack Armatron 2364 - The Armatron, manufactured and sold by Radio Shack in the late 70's and early 80's, is completely mechanical. There is a single motor that drives a transmission of sorts and the joysticks manipulate the transmission to rotate shafts that use more gears to extend the length of the arm. The controls consist of two joysticks, the timer and an on-off switch. Two "D" cell batteries go in the bottom and the timer is just used for some games that came with the set when it was new. It gives you about 8 minutes to run. With the two joysticks you can: open and close the hand , rotate the hand, raise and lower the wrist, move the elbow side to side, raise and lower the arm, rotate the whole arm around the base.The grippers are spring loaded so you can grab things with varying degrees of pressure which is useful for heavier objects. There are rubber fingertips on the gripper so they're a little sticky for picking stuff up. 
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| Post# 63269 , Reply# 36 3/20/2009 at 19:47 (5,508 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Kicked almost to the curb and definitely abandoned to the Wh
On the way back home along a side street there's a small factory that closed up a few weeks ago. Somehow I spotted this from a moving car, among the garbage cans 100 feet away at the side of the building by the empty employee parking lot. Building dark and locked up tight, no one to ask, so... Nothing wrong with it that I could detect other than major scratching on top of the base. So home it came. The Type Z bag is full to bursting. Runs great. I like the black body with the orange graphics and cord. And godammit, it's a HOOVER, eh! Gotta find me some Type Z bags now. Dave 
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| Post# 63359 , Reply# 37 3/21/2009 at 14:05 (5,507 days old) by petek (Ontario) | ||
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Commercial Hoover A Bags should work in that I think. To think what that cost new,, I don't think they were cheap when sold at Acklands Grainger etc. | ||
| Post# 63372 , Reply# 39 3/21/2009 at 18:02 (5,507 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada) | ||
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Kind of a waste of a higher capacity A Bag.
The A bag does fit, Pete and that's what's in it now. But it is about 5" too long at the bottom, which I folded & tucked under, and can only expand one pleat's worth as the bag compartment is shallower because of the 1.5" deep 'HEPA' pad cavity. Not a HEPA pad at all, it's three layers of scouring pad 'foam' bonded together (white, yellow, green) about 1/2" thick called an 'Allergen Filtration cassette and it is easily vacuumed clean and washable, too. LOL The headlight area has an opaque filler panel snapped in where a clear lens would go and no lamp socket. Mike, the XT has a rubber flap valve that snaps shut when the hose is extended, diverting full suction to the hose/wand, the handle of which becomes the nozzle end. Full retraction and bedding of the hose/wand does the reverse - cuts all suction to what is now the vacuum handle, restoring full suction to the brushroll area. The Hoovers use a sliding gate across the brushroll channel with the hose/tool option slider on the base, that cuts off suction airflow from the brushroll area but nowhere near full suction is usable as the airways up the belt channels either side are open and the hose merely opens into one of these slipstreams. Dave 
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