Daft prices of vacuums - my story of thrift!
- Thread starter minininjarob
- Start date
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Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
There's battered and there's our 20+ yo one which has lost its back, none of the accessories stay in their holders, and which still works perfectly. I have just invested in a new hose bristle brush as the old one had worn its bristles down to nothing.That's just a stock photo, ours is battered too but it has survived for 10yrs or so and with Maz using it that's bloody amazing.
Levo-Lon
Guru
I think it is a big clunky old fashioned lump. I hate it.
Well yes they are a bit .
My friend had a Kirby for years ,that was mahooooosive
good hoover though
Mr Celine
Discordian
- Location
- Waxing my moustache
The motor in my 17 year old Dyson blew up recently. Suspecting the brushes were worn I had a fun afternoon dismantling it. This was so hard I can only think that planned obsolescence was the main design objective.
Fortunately replacement motors are cheap (£12 iirc). After watching a YouTube video it still took over an hour to get it back together.
Fortunately replacement motors are cheap (£12 iirc). After watching a YouTube video it still took over an hour to get it back together.
Bazzer
Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
- Location
- On the edge of reality
A bit late for you now, but Mrs B was thrifty in buying a very heavily discounted Miele, when the retailer, got rid of it's old stock because of the EU noise regulations. In fact the replacement was better and less noisy than the one it replaced.
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
Vacuum cleaner manufacturers work on the principle that there's a sucker born every minute.
Mrs M
Guru
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Wee have a small Vax Dynamo Strike, it’s ok, small and easy to manoeuvre.
Had a Henry before (recommended by next door neighbour as his is 20+ years old). Just didn’t like it, too heavy and bulky and a pain to drag around the house, put him in the flat for the tenant to use
Would like a Shark upright that bend under beds, far too pricey though
Had a Henry before (recommended by next door neighbour as his is 20+ years old). Just didn’t like it, too heavy and bulky and a pain to drag around the house, put him in the flat for the tenant to use
Would like a Shark upright that bend under beds, far too pricey though
OP
OP
minininjarob
Active Member
Next stage was seeing how knackered it was. I thought I may as well strip it down as I like to do that sort of thing anyway.
Came apart really quickly. The handle comes off in seconds and so does the upper section detach from the motor/brush bar bit.
The brush bar itself comes out with the push of a button - ideal for getting it untangled from bits of hair/string etc you might have picked up.
I then took the main motor body section apart. 4 screws and it was all accessible.
All seemed to be ok here, no burnt components or shredded belts. I was impressed with the quality of everything, built to tight tolerances and nice and solid. The belts are toothed ones which I was surprised at but there is a mechanism which detects the torque (rhs of pic) which depends on the belts being fixed. As I said before if it detects a problem it shuts the motor down - this is a much better idea than the rounded rubber belts you get in most hoovers which just slip if the brush bar is jammed - with the inevitable burning smell.
Anyway I dug round and couldn’t see any problems until I found another access hatch and pulled this out.
Very dense plug of dust/hair etc. Yeeeuch.
Maybe this was why it wasn’t working? They are supposed to shut down if they get a loss of suction to protect themselves- surely it couldn’t be this easy? Throwing away a £350 vacuum just because you didn’t check if it was blocked?
Came apart really quickly. The handle comes off in seconds and so does the upper section detach from the motor/brush bar bit.
The brush bar itself comes out with the push of a button - ideal for getting it untangled from bits of hair/string etc you might have picked up.
I then took the main motor body section apart. 4 screws and it was all accessible.
All seemed to be ok here, no burnt components or shredded belts. I was impressed with the quality of everything, built to tight tolerances and nice and solid. The belts are toothed ones which I was surprised at but there is a mechanism which detects the torque (rhs of pic) which depends on the belts being fixed. As I said before if it detects a problem it shuts the motor down - this is a much better idea than the rounded rubber belts you get in most hoovers which just slip if the brush bar is jammed - with the inevitable burning smell.
Anyway I dug round and couldn’t see any problems until I found another access hatch and pulled this out.
Very dense plug of dust/hair etc. Yeeeuch.
Maybe this was why it wasn’t working? They are supposed to shut down if they get a loss of suction to protect themselves- surely it couldn’t be this easy? Throwing away a £350 vacuum just because you didn’t check if it was blocked?
vickster
Squire
I have one of those too
OP
OP
minininjarob
Active Member
Anyway that was sorted but I still couldn’t test it as the cord had been cut. Why I don’t know but the handle came apart easily to reveal the bit where the flex was attached. I simply reattached what was left of the cord.
Jumping ahead a little bit - the £4.20 vacuum didn’t have all the tools and they aren’t that cheap to buy, plus the bag door didn’t shut too well so I scoured eBay and found an identical Sebo for sale. I offered £10 and won it! Picked it up on way home from work. Much better condition BUT when I took it apart I think something had gone wrong inside as it was full of black powder. It was useful for the tools, the bag door (I just used the whole upper section) and the handle had been fitted with a new Sebo flex not long ago which was £10 on its own so a good deal.
This was the state of the motor cover section on the £4.20 vacuum so I used the one from the £10 one.
Jumping ahead a little bit - the £4.20 vacuum didn’t have all the tools and they aren’t that cheap to buy, plus the bag door didn’t shut too well so I scoured eBay and found an identical Sebo for sale. I offered £10 and won it! Picked it up on way home from work. Much better condition BUT when I took it apart I think something had gone wrong inside as it was full of black powder. It was useful for the tools, the bag door (I just used the whole upper section) and the handle had been fitted with a new Sebo flex not long ago which was £10 on its own so a good deal.
This was the state of the motor cover section on the £4.20 vacuum so I used the one from the £10 one.
OP
OP
minininjarob
Active Member
Anyway, here it is. £14.20 worth of vacuum. I also have a load of spares including a motor which I’ve tucked away just in case.
Does it work?? YES!!!
It’s probably the best vacuum I’ve used. Auto adjusts to different surfaces, sucks really well despite the filters being a bit old (will replace asap) and brings the pile up on my new carpets reallly well, even where they’ve been trodden down quite a bit.
I forgot to mention that it’s pretty light I reckon - yes you can get lighter but it’s easy to move around and I’d rather have better built and a few grams heavier.
You can buy all the spares really easily so I’m going to get a service kit which includes a load of bags and replacement filters (£20) and a new sealing strip which is a little plastic strip behind the brush bar so bits aren’t blown around on solid floors but that’s only £2 ish. I don’t think I need a new brush bar/roller thingy yet as it works fine but apparently they do wear out on all vacuums and not many manufacturers make it easy to buy new ones or make it easy to swap them like on the Sebo.
So including the service kit I will spend about £35 on my new vacuum which is 10% of the price of a new one. And I’ve saved these from being binned.
Super chuffed!
Does it work?? YES!!!
It’s probably the best vacuum I’ve used. Auto adjusts to different surfaces, sucks really well despite the filters being a bit old (will replace asap) and brings the pile up on my new carpets reallly well, even where they’ve been trodden down quite a bit.
I forgot to mention that it’s pretty light I reckon - yes you can get lighter but it’s easy to move around and I’d rather have better built and a few grams heavier.
You can buy all the spares really easily so I’m going to get a service kit which includes a load of bags and replacement filters (£20) and a new sealing strip which is a little plastic strip behind the brush bar so bits aren’t blown around on solid floors but that’s only £2 ish. I don’t think I need a new brush bar/roller thingy yet as it works fine but apparently they do wear out on all vacuums and not many manufacturers make it easy to buy new ones or make it easy to swap them like on the Sebo.
So including the service kit I will spend about £35 on my new vacuum which is 10% of the price of a new one. And I’ve saved these from being binned.
Super chuffed!
OP
OP
minininjarob
Active Member
The flex in the handle was ok, I tested it, it was just cut a couple of feet away from the handle. No idea why. Got a brand new cable on the £10 one anyway.
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
This. Exactly this. Well made and last years. Our Miele washing machine is at least 16 years old. Still works well, although TLC needed soon.
MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
Nice repair work!
I was lucky when a friend bought a new house and wanted to buy a new Miele to put in it, giving me his old Miele... it p!sses all over the piece of shoot Dyson i had beforehand.
I was lucky when a friend bought a new house and wanted to buy a new Miele to put in it, giving me his old Miele... it p!sses all over the piece of shoot Dyson i had beforehand.
