Diplomat Restoration Project - History and Background

In 1990, my mother won an Electrolux Diplomat at a church raffle. It came with all the standard accoutrements...PN, braided hose, Sidekick, combo tool, long crevice tool, floor brush, and steel accessory wands. It even had the original box.

Naturally, this became the family vacuum. I was in university at the time, and never paid a great deal of attention to it...it was 'merely' the household go-to vacuum. It was used regularly throughout the 90's and early 00's, until, at some point, my father sucked up some water with it while vacuuming the car. Actually, this didn't seem to have much effect on the motor...it still kept chugging away.

As I pointed out here, I inherited my aunt's Epic 6500 in 2002, and I gave it to my folks to use as their regular vacuum, so the Diplomat went into semi-retirement. The braided hose was giving out by that time anyway, although everything else worked fine.

The next step in its life was in my sister's house. She married in 2007, and the Diplomat went with her, along with a used but good condition vinyl hose I bought for it. She used it until 2011 or early 2012, or something like that, and finally, I, wanting it back, traded her my Ambassador (which is the Diplomat's companion model).

So, the Diplomat came back with me. At that time, it still worked, and all the original attachments were intact. I took the machine apart about a year ago, and found pretty much what you'd expect from a vacuum that sucked up water...rusty motor parts, corroded electrical contacts, etc. As I say, it still ran, albeit a bit tiredly, and, while I was taking it apart, the contacts on the thermal sensor snapped off. 

So, what to do? The Diplomat was the first Electrolux in my family, and, as such, while perhaps not significant in terms of Electrolux history, was and is significant to me. I could:

1. Buy a brand new motor for it, or

2. Rebuild it with bits and bobs from other vacuums

I'm going to try option #2. Why?

It so happens I have a System 90, the body of which, when I got it, was practically bright yellow with age (or, more probably, nicotine). The motor and all the parts are intact and have been cleaned and disinfected by me, so it's all good to go. I can transfer the cord, motor and fans, and wiring to the Diplomat body and have a 'new' vacuum. 

At any rate, I have nothing to lose by trying this. I want my vacuums to be useful and used, not sitting there in pieces, and refurbishing the Diplomat will be 'bringing the past to life'. I'd like to document this process as best I can, mostly for my own edification. It's a pity that I don't have any pictures of the Diplomat from its early days, nor do I have the original box, but everything else will be original.

A picture of the Diplomat on or near the day my sister took it away:

The Two Rennies

Presenting the two Electrolux Renaissance models together. Both were on cleaning duty today, so I thought they deserved a photo shoot.

Granted that not everything in the Renaissance set is original and complete, I'm still quite happy to "have what I have". Both work perfectly well and are used regularly. For each machine, I have an original hose and power nozzle, and one set of original standard attachments (dusting brush, upholstery tool, crevice tool, and floor brush) is shared between the two. The first Renaissance needs a matching Sidekick and wands to be complete, and doesn't have its original plug, but at least the battleship grey Sidekick and wands match the trim, and the cord and plug aren't bright orange, or something like that.

The full Renaissance ensemble:

I really feel that the first Renaissance is one of the most significant models ever made by Electrolux, and, incidentally, that's why it gets so much exposure in this blog. In many ways, it's my favourite Electrolux and/or Aerus model, and if and when I come across any others for sale, I'd be happy to add them to the collection.

Upstanding:

I believe these models were produced between 1994-7, but I'm not sure. At least that's what the Aerus model chart says, but that's not always dependable. I'm also reminded that the Renaissance, along with certain other North American models (I think the Genesis LX or LXE and the Floor Pro shampooer), was sold in Europe under the brand name 'Globaltek'. How and why this happened, I'm not sure, but the machines appear to be identical in every way to the North American versions except for the brand name and voltage.

Hose handles 1 and 2. These work exactly the same, with the obvious differences. The 2nd hose is certainly more user-friendly for those who speak languages other than English.

P.S. I've heard some people nickname the Renaissance 'Renny', which, quite frankly, I don't like, but it does give an opportunity for the terrible joke in the post title.

In looking at the picture below, I wonder why the company kept the dark grey cord winder pedal and handle on the otherwise monotone grey 2nd Renaissance?

6500 Reasons to Buy an Electrolux

I really had to laugh when I looked at the stats of this blog yesterday. The page views had jumped by over 2000 in a few days. Not to be negative, but I think I'll hold off on congratulating myself over being a "popular blogger", as all of this is probably fake traffic anyway.

Anyway, back to the only reason I'm blogging...Electrolux and Aerus vacuums! Presented here today is the battleship grey Epic 6500, Model C102D, which I bought a year or so ago from an older lady who was moving into an assisted living home. Vacuums owned by "persons of a certain seniority", if I can put it as nicely as possible, tend to be in excellent condition, at least cosmetically, and this one is no exception. It looked like it had rarely touched or bumped against anything in its life.

Here is a picture of the machine the day I brought it home. You can see a couple of scuffs, but nothing that a cleaning wouldn't take care of.

Here is the Epic 6500 after a full-on cleaning. Shiny!

In looking at these pictures, I realized that I confused the floor brushes on the Epic and the Renaissance. The one that came with the Epic has no openings in the front row of bristles. I assume that this is the correct floor brush, and the openings were added later.

A couple of shots of the grey and white Epic 6500s together. There aren't many differences between these two models. The white power nozzle is a little more rounded off over the motor and headlight housing, and it also has an extra row of bristles. I'm not sure if and/or when the double row of brushes became standard on the power nozzles. In addition, the white floor brush has openings in the front row of bristles, but other than these, I can't see any differences.

I can understand why they eventually renamed this model "Legacy". It is, in many ways, a continuation of the tradition of simple, easy to use, hardworking, automatic, and dependable Electrolux vacuums. In fact, there's only one thing I don't like about this vacuum, and that's the suction valve on the hose handle. It can become loose and stay open after some time, and, even when open, it doesn't really reduce the suction enough for delicate cleaning. Other than that, I think the Epics are great vacuums.

A Fairly Serious Makeover - Discovery III

In my previous post on the Discovery III, I indicated that the bearings were crapping out, and the handgrip was loose. Well, problems solved. After some time at the local Aerus emporium, the Discovery III has a brand new power handle and after filter, and has received a tune up. Naturally, I'm as happy as a clam (why are clams particularly happy?) that its back to full functionality and on regular cleaning duty.

Having its day in the sun, and showing off its improvements:

As soon as I got it home, it was Discovery III-ing the living room carpet, before you could even say "Aerus by Electrolux". The new handle is the standard Aerus replacement grey, with a rocker rather than slider switch; I prefer the rockers, incidentally. As far as I can tell, this handle was the one used on the Discovery II. One can either use the moulded-on cord hooks, or the bottom cord wrap, as one desires.

Moulded cord hooks:

Bottom cord wrap:

It's a pity that I couldn't have kept the original brown handle, but sometimes, originality has to be sacrificed to functionality and usability. The handgrip, as can be seen, is a more beige-y color than the rest of the handle, making the handle a possible candidate for a beige or brown painting.

Handgrip, outside:

Handgrip, inside:

Altogether, I'm quite happy with the Discovery III, and I'm sure it's good for many more years of cleaning. As can be seen in the last two pictures, I added a cord clip taken off another upright that I had hanging around. This keeps the cord from hanging down or falling off the upper cord clip. The only other improvement I might make is to replace the brush roll. The current one is as old as the machine (25 or 26 years?), even though its still in fairly good condition.