A Little More Set Completing

I happened to snag this on eBay:

This is a nearly complete set of attachments for the Electrolux Lux 4000 and Aerus Lux 6000*; the only missing item is the combo dusting brush and upholstery tool. I already had an electric hose, but I had been looking for the colour-matching Sidekick and baby crevice tool, so I'm happy to have these. The manual, bag order form, Clean Sweep Chips, and what I assume is the cardboard tube holder for the combo dusting brush and upholstery tool aren't too shabby in themselves. 

Except for a tiny bit of thread wrapped around the brush roll of the Sidekick, this set looks completely untouched by dirt of any kind. The electric hose I got to complement the Aerus Lux 6000 shortly after I bought it was the same. Did people ever use the attachments? After all, the electric hose and Sidekick were included with the vacuum, not separately purchased add-ons. I suppose because they weren't onboard, people tended to store them away in a closet most or all of the time. So much the better for me, I suppose.

Here are the Electrolux Lux 4000 and Aerus Lux 6000 together (again), with even more accoutrements than before. One can see the white crevice tool on the Lux 4000; the 6000 has the black one, along with its black HEPA filter. As pointed out here, black is technically a matching colour for these machines. 

As a 'by-the-way', this year (2020) is the 20th anniversary of the Lux 4000. As I said elsewhere, I wish they had kept making this style of machine, with the subsequent improvements in power they offered with their other uprights.

*I'm going to assume that the later models of the Aerus Lux 6000 (U140C, perhaps, and the U156A) eventually got an electric hose that didn't have the 'Electrolux' logo on the handle, the same, one assumes, as the cylinders that were coming out concurrently. 

The Crevice Tool: Small, But Significant

In my posts on the Lux 4000 and 6000, I noted the fact that neither came with the 'baby' crevice tool, which clips on to the side of the handle. I did have a couple of older ones, but the problem was, none had the small ridge on the outside that keeps them secured to the handle of the Lux 4000 and 6000. Consequently, in use, the crevice tool would fall off and, not infrequently, disappear under some article of furniture.

Well, problem solved:

Here it is in use on the Lux 4000. Pity it couldn't be white, but then again, the 4000 and 6000 have black cords, black switches, and black undersides, not to mention that my 6000 has a black HEPA filter, so, it does technically match.

Most importantly, at least this one won't be falling off the handle all the time.

Holiday 2017 Cleaning Team

Electrolux purists would naturally disagree, but here are the two Electrolux/Aerus vacuums I like to use and depend on more than any other. Note that the Lux 4000 is more or less interchangeable with the Lux 6000, for both practical and aesthetic purposes.

Despite being warned, as a little boy, that "...little boys who play with Electroluxes don't get to...etc, etc", I still like them, 40 years on, and don't care what people think of me for doing so. I might also add that, in all my years of using (and playing with) Electroluxes and Aeruses (?), they've never let me down.

2018-03-30: I decided about a week ago (mid-March) to break out the white, grey, and red Epic 3500 to use for a while. I was astounded, after months of using the Lux 4000 + 6000, just how lightweight the Discovery variant uprights are! It literally felt like lifting a feather compared to the 4000 and 6000.

Stepping Up on Stage for an Encore

The Style R family is steadily growing. Here is the latest member, the Electrolux Guardian Encore, Model C134C.

Logo closeup. Yes, its still dirty, as the machine is fresh out of the box, but it will of course be getting the full-on 'Eluxurious' spa treatment before it gets put into regular service.

Note that this logo matches the later Guardian Model C134E...on the latter, the black stripe bears the notation "By Electrolux", and the stylized "E" becomes a "G".

Logo and Good Housekeeping guarantee sticker, which leads me to believe the Guardian Encore and the Lux 4000 came out at the same time.

Left side view:

Kitted out with hose, wands, Sidekick, and combo floor/carpet nozzle. This, by the way, only came with the small attachments, which aren't shown. I just borrowed everything else from my other blue and white Style R models. I don't happen to have the original power nozzle for the Encore, which features the "Electrolux" in dark blue script, exactly like the Lux 4000 power nozzle.

I do happen to have a hose, the handle of which features the "Electrolux" in the same script as the side bumper, as this picture shows:

The hose itself is rather yellow; I'll just get a new or newer one one of these days and stick this handle on it.

Side bumper logo:

Ratings sticker. Same power ratings as the Guardian 75th Anniversary C134A, and right up to the Aerus Lux 9000, I believe. The Encore certainly sounds exactly like those models.

Speaking of sound, I naturally turned the Encore on, to see if things were good to go, and, to some extent, they were, but, when I put my hand over the hose end to check out the suction, the motor shut off. Uh huh. Something, of course, was askew in the auto-shutoff system, so I dismantled the front cover, and found that the little hose connected to the suction inlet had fallen off completely. Back on it went, back on the front cover went, back on the motor went, and all was good.

I'll be adding more comments after the Encore has completed its first tour of service, and after he's been cleaned and shined. In the meantime, I'm happy to have another addition to the Style R lineup. I still need to get the Electrolux Guardian C134B 75th Anniversary, the Electrolux Lux 9000 C134D, and the Electrolux Guardian C134E.

Since the Encore is its sister/brother/whatever you please to call it vacuum, and since its the current upstairs upright, here is the Lux 4000. Vacuums when not in use make good doorstops.

The Guardian Encore all cleaned and polished up. This was the first of the Style R machines with the new white and blue colour scheme.

Into service as the bare floor/dusting/upholstery vacuum, along with its model line-mate, the Lux 4000:

Uprighting the Collection

Here is the latest addition to the collection, and the first in quite some time: an Electrolux Lux 4000 upright. I saw it on eBay for a reasonable price and decided to snag it, as these models are not very plentiful.

Before I go on, since I got the Aerus Lux 6000 long before the 4000, and since the former is a virtual copy of the latter, and has the same groundbreaking features, one can read the details here

The Lux 4000 is a fairly significant machine in the company's history, being the first to incorporate a built-in hose and telescopic wand, and on board attachments*. Its also the first model to offer an electric, fully-direct connect accessory hose, and the first to have the electronic information panel, as featured on some of the cylinders...in the case of the Lux 4000, its on the power nozzle. Finally (and this is not particularly important), the Lux 4000 was the first upright with the new white and blue colour scheme, which lasted for another 8 or so years.

This purchase only included the combo tool and the machine, but no matter...the Lux 4000's younger brother, the Lux 6000, is happy to share his electric hose and baby crevice tool, and I have tons of Sidekicks**

I believe the matching machines for the Lux 4000 are the Lux 3000 (Discovery style) upright, the Guardian Encore, the white and blue Epic 6500 (possibly the last Epic before it changed to the Lux 7000?), and the Lux 5000 (non-automatic). At least, all of these have similar graphics.

Right out of the box, and festooned with dust and packing material:

Bits and bobs: stretch hose and telescopic wand, carry handle and bolt, combo dusting/upholstery tool, cord and handle assembly, and package of bags the seller included:

Logo, down both sides of the bag chamber. Looks kind of big and a bit garish, but hey, it had to go somewhere.

Power nozzle. I like this 'Electrolux' script. I believe its the same as that on the American Model G, as well as a few others.

Hose hook. A little ratty looking, but still functional.

You knew this was coming. The Electrolux Lux 4000 and the Aerus Lux 6000*** together at last. See here for my impressions of the latter, all of which pretty much apply to the former.

Note that these machines sound identical and look identical; the only differences are the graphics, the model and company name change, the model number (U140A in the case of the Lux 4000), the Lux 4000 'seal of approval' from Good Housekeeping****, and the green-bristled brush roll on the Lux 6000 (which, as I mentioned, I've since changed).

Of course, I have a lot more cleaning and detailing to do on the Lux 4000, but he did get a scrub down with detergent for these pictures. He works and sounds fine; I did a brief test run. When I get around to it, I'll add a HEPA filter*****

Magic-erasered, washed, and Armor-Alled, with a brand new bag, carbon pre-filter, and after filter...I'd say Mr. Lux 4000 is ready for service, and that's what's going to happen tomorrow.

UPDATE June 29th, 2016: I put the Lux 4000 into service today, doing the carpets, floors, dusting, and baseboards of the upstairs and downstairs. He works perfectly. As I said above, all I need now is to add a HEPA filter*****, and the properly matching attachments mentioned in Note 2 below, to have everything perfect. One point: when I use this and the Lux 6000 in the summer, I tend to wear rubber gloves, as my sweating hands tend to slip off the rubber or rubber-like handle.

Lights ablaze, and motors running:

I should say that I have never used an upright to vacuum the car, but why not? The Electrolux/Aerus uprights have long enough cords to reach right from the house (same with the Style R models), and a long enough electric hose to reach all over the car without moving the vacuum.

*Some earlier uprights, as I mentioned in another post, had clips on the back to store the two plastic wands, as well as the combo tool and baby crevice tool, but this was, I'm reasonably sure, essentially an add-on. The Lux 4000/6000 incorporated the tool holders into the vacuum body.

**Actually, the dusting/upholstery brush and electric hose I'm using with the Lux 6000 have ‘Electrolux’ stamped on them, so they seem to match the Lux 4000. To complete both vacuums, I need 2 white and blue Sidekicks, blue and white electric Aerus hose (no logo?), blue and white Aerus dusting/upholstery brush (no logo?), white Aerus baby crevice tool with outer ridge (no logo?), and white Electrolux baby crevice tool with outer ridge. In addition, the little yellow sticker on the inside of the bag door about using genuine bags and where to order them says, in the case of the Lux 6000 "Only use genuine Electrolux bags". Clearly, they whipped this one out to take advantage of the company name change.

***The Lux 6000, as a matter of fact, just got a brand new rocker switch; very appropriate timing as his older brother had just arrived.

****I'm not sure of the arrangement and rationale behind the Good Housekeeping guarantee sticker on the machine, but I believe this did feature on some of the company's other models as well (I have seen it on the Guardian Encore, for example...maybe it was only this particular lineup that featured it?).

*****Today (July 16th), I did in fact add a HEPA filter. I might also try some of the aftermarket HEPA bags for some of my machines.