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Hoover SteamVac Deluxe Hell...

Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
edited July 2019 in General Discussion
I spent over 2 hours repairing a Hoover SteamVac Deluxe carpet cleaner yesterday. I learned things I never knew and actually never wanted to know about them. My wife was cleaning some carpet and I noticed the brushes weren't turning and the water flow was almost nonexistent. So there it was...broke. What should I do? Easier to just buy her a new one but nooooo, I tear into it and after over 2 hours of wishing a horrid death on the designer of this thing and sweating buckets of sweat I got it to working.

To make a long story short I cleaned and greased the gears and a set of bearings and freed the drive shaft and brushes up which required taking it apart and putting it back together a couple of times to locate where the extra screws I turned up with go to after the first reassembly. Then I fixed the kink in one of the water lines that was causing the flow problem.

Then for the test, I plug her up to the wall outlet and...EUREKA er, I mean...HOOVER, the damn thing works!!

I think if I had it to do over I'd just buy a new one. :D

Comments

  • RobOzRobOz Member Posts: 9,523 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm sure you got some points for your effort and engineering. I bank the points, but they always seem to expire exponentially.
  • dcon12dcon12 Member Posts: 32,040 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Its a poor damn mechanic who can't come up with extra parts! Don
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    RobOz wrote:
    I'm sure you got some points for your effort and engineering. I bank the points, but they always seem to expire exponentially.

    I was in the red on points so I doubt there'll be enough points to put me in the black on this one. :D
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    RobOz wrote:
    I'm sure you got some points for your effort and engineering. I bank the points, but they always seem to expire exponentially.

    I was in the red on points so I doubt there'll be enough points to put me in the black on this one. :D
  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    To alleviate this issue into the future, remove carpets, install hardwood floors. Schzaam, no more steam Vac-cleaners needed. :D
  • jimdeerejimdeere Member, Moderator Posts: 26,277 ******
    edited November -1
    Have you ever ran into those screw heads that are scalloped so that they will only turn clockwise, making them impossible to remove? That?s when you figure out ?Hey, this thing was not designed to be disassembled.?
  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,559 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Damn , I too, currently have one of the devil spawned machines o my work bench in various bits and pieces. Once I get it cleaned , and reoiled I will try to reassemble it . Who knows I might even use all of the screws.
    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
  • buschmasterbuschmaster Member Posts: 14,229 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    every vacuum cleaner I have ever had I picked up from the curb because somebody couldn't figure out how to peel stringy stuff off the roller and unclog the giant hairball from the intake.

    and I got some good ones. one was a Swedish model with two motors. currently have a Eureka Boss.

    Smitty it would have been the same with yours. fix the roller, unkink the hose and thank yooooou so much! :P
  • montanajoemontanajoe Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 60,234 ******
    edited November -1
    Good job. Now put it on the dyno,,,,
  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A REAL man uses a leaf blower...???.

    I'm just sayin'...??????..
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    every vacuum cleaner I have ever had I picked up from the curb because somebody couldn't figure out how to peel stringy stuff off the roller and unclog the giant hairball from the intake.

    and I got some good ones. one was a Swedish model with two motors. currently have a Eureka Boss.

    Smitty it would have been the same with yours. fix the roller, unkink the hose and thank yooooou so much! :P

    Except this wasn't a vacuum cleaner it's a carpet cleaner that uses hot water and soap.

    I repaired her expensive vacuum cleaner a couple of years ago using JB Weld. One of the wheels broke off from the frame. I used JB Weld and it's on there forever now. The rest of the wheels might break off and the whole thing can fall completely apart but that wheel is on there until the end. :D
  • WarbirdsWarbirds Member Posts: 16,938 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My wife thinks everything is disposable- sometimes I just make a stand to prove a point- even if buying a new one would be easier on me!
  • BrookwoodBrookwood Member, Moderator Posts: 13,768 ******
    edited November -1
    I just go to the local Dollar Store and rent a "Rug Doctor" for the day to clean the carpet in my basement. For around 30 bucks I get er done and that includes the soap! :D Those machines do a fine job too!

    We do go thru vacuum cleaners about once a year (if we are lucky). I used to buy the top dollar models with all the bells and whistles, and I would work on them for simple belt or cleaning issues. Took a couple of them to a local vac shop and was educated on what makes a good vacuum cleaner good. The cleaners they sell and recommend still have disposable bags in them and the starting price point for their lowest is around 500 bucks.

    I preferred to spend my money on a machine that did the job without the bag hassle's for around 200 dollars from Sam's Club. Keeping my receipts has saved me a couple of vacuum trade outs for new ones when the old ones crapped out with a years time.
  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Brookwood wrote:
    I just go to the local Dollar Store and rent a "Rug Doctor" for the day to clean the carpet in my basement. For around 30 bucks I get er done and that includes the soap! :D Those machines do a fine job too!

    That would get expensive at our place. My wife is a clean freak. That cleaner has more miles on it than my truck. :D
  • Okie743Okie743 Member Posts: 2,736 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    AND that carpet cleaner is going to quit again :(:( and wiffee now knows that you can fix it AND she is going to tell her kids that you can fix carpet cleaners and vacuum cleaners. :(

    How do I know this.

    Them carpet cleaners can be a pain in the AxE when they quit and never the same thing wrong each time. AND wiffee needs it fixed right when you have another project going like during hunting season. :oops:
  • pulsarncpulsarnc Member Posts: 6,559 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The disc that spins to actually creat the suction has been broken out in the center . Apparently it is not a part that I can order to replace . It appears that I must order the entire motor assembly for about $85. For a few dollars more I can buy a new unit .
    cry Havoc and let slip  the dogs of war..... 
  • Ricci WrightRicci Wright Member Posts: 8,259 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    🔦📞🎈🧿
  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,527 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Plastic isn't very friendly when I try and work on it. After a few minutes the unit would end up in the yard with multiple bullet holes .
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    have a Dirt Devil M085845 vacuum that one year was #1 on consumers reports...and only cost about $55 ...WOW !! wore the plastic wheels out and made a new set with rod and wheels from tractor supply and redid the plastic bottom with a dremel and held em in with panel adhesive...that was about 4 years ago and it is the best little corded bagless vac i have ever had...everybody bought em right up then and i finally found another new one in Massachootis? shipped to me for $68 bucks ...just waiting for the first one to wear out ......DD never made near the top list again
  • Okie743Okie743 Member Posts: 2,736 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    AND taking a carpet cleaner or a Vacuum cleaner to a vacuum cleaner repair shop is in same category as going to a dentist or listening to a used car salesman. Rather be tied up and whipped with a wet rope than to attempt even listening to them. :cry:
  • jimdeerejimdeere Member, Moderator Posts: 26,277 ******
    edited November -1
    Cleaning is wimmens work.
  • dcon12dcon12 Member Posts: 32,040 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    jimdeere wrote:
    Cleaning is wimmens work.


    I do like clean wimmins! Don
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    best cordless vac...wife looked and reviewed cdless vacs till blue in the face cause she wanted one....AND finally said WTH and got a DYSON, the most expensive cdlss on the market ...BUT......OMG...what a great job it does ....fantastic cleaning & light tool even if it cost more than many vehicles i have bought back years ago.........got a boatload of accessories with it.....actually that is the second one she bought as the first ordered was just an empty box delivered??????? some shipper somewhere really needed a FREE one...but she contacted DYSON and rocket fast they had a complete one delivered ...in a plain unmarked, unlabeled box...NO PROBLEMO.....i am impressed after using many diff brands of corded vacs
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