Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I have been a huge Electrolux fan and I hate to part with my Guardian but people tell me that the world has changed and you can buy really good vaccuums must cheaper than the !,400 I paid for my Guardian 14 years ago with just as much pick up! Is this true, what would you do, pay to ship this with our goods or can I go out for under $500 and buy a really good vaccuum. I'm hearing Panasonic's are great. I can only get about $250 or $300 for my Guardian to sell it used, I'm told. This gives me pause even after factoring in the weight it adds to my moving costs. Would love some thoughts, thanks so much, Mair

Keep it. Yes, you overpaid for it new IMHO, no vacuum is worth $1700 or more new, but it is a durable machine and ought to give you 30 years of reliable service. I seriously doubt you have worn it out. The nice thing about the older Luxes is that everything is re-buildable and parts are readily available at reasonable prices. A fifteen year old Lux has as many good years in front of it as many lower quality new vacuums have were you to buy one new today. There are some good reliable and durable machines in the $400-$500 range but why sell the Lux to buy one of these? The Guardian motor is a heck of a lot better than the non-rebuildable Chinese made motor Aerus uses now. Even if it needs some mechanical freshening up, I would still be inclined to fix an older Lux before I would buy a lot of the newer vacuums. Especially if you are mechanically inclined Luxes are not all that hard to take apart and repair. The great thing about an old Lux is that parts support is so good. That canister body has been in production since 1982 in one form or another and remains in production today. Same for the power nozzle, wands, attachments and hoses. The old Guardian motor is now made by Lighthouse so parts for these remain in production. Can't think of too many other brands that keep parts in production that long (Kenmore/Panasonic and Kirby are similar in this regard). Don't expect too many new machines, with a few exceptions, to last as long as your Lux has lasted, much less expect them to give you years more service beyond what it already has given you.

Is it oyster or blue. is it a guardian or 9000.

I have an Epic 8000 with the Guardian motor. It's the same machine minus the big exhaust filter on top. I would never sell it. What I would do if you haven't already is to install the pre-motor filter Aerus sells for these. Trust me when I tell you to do this right now if you haven't already. If a bag ruptures or leaks in these machines, there is nothing keeping whatever was in the bag out of the motor unless you have a pre-motor filter. It will extend the life of the motor and protect it from a bag failure (rare but it happens). Oh man what a mess if a bag does blow. Been there, done that. Disassemble the whole machine and wash it out, including the motor (yes, you can wash some parts of a vacuum motor, just not the armature). I started using a cut to fit Kenmore CF-1 filter before I knew Aerus had a specific filter for this purpose. The Kenmore filter is, however, cheap, more available (every Sears and K-Mart sells them) and easy enough to make fit. Cut it to 5 inches X 4 inches (it is 5 X 4 7/8 originally) and push it to the back of the bag chamber. It does not hurt suction at all. Cheap protection.