Rainbow vacuums

[franksdad]

Anybody here familiar with Rainbow vacuums? My sister bought one back in the late 70's and it is still going strong. A good friend's wife had one. Their wayward son stole and pawned it. I never felt I could afford one.

 

[laundromat]

When I lived in Houston, there was a Goodwill clearance store that had a flat rate on all their floor care products. $7. I had found 6 of the Rainbows and they all worked. I had to, in all of them, clean out their seperaters and, two needed new hoses due to the old ones having holes in them.I really like them because they are bag less and have great suction! I always put Gain fabric softener in the water and it gives the entire house a great,clean aroma.The secret to keeping these in good condition is to never leave the tank full of water. As soon as you are done your housework, empty the dirty water , rinse out the tank and leave it alone so it dries. then, remove the seperater and clean out all the residue on it. put it back on and, once dry, replace the tank and put the unit away until you need to use it again. NEVER OPERATE A RAINBOW WITHOUT WATER IN THE TANK!!You'll love it!!

 

[yogitunes]

I have a buddy who sells them.....good machines, the down fall of brand new is they are under warranty for everything, as long as the motor stays dry.....

if you accidentally tip it over, bump it into something, lift it up and turn it over......the motor is shot, not covered under the warranty, and your out of a good chunk of change......the salesmen are instructed not to tell you about this.....invite an offer for a demonstration, knock the machine over and watch it fry....you will have an upset salesman and his boss too!

you think they would have a better design to avoid water ever possibly getting into the motor, the concept is a great idea, actually it's a fancy wet/dry vac, with a stopper to avoid water getting into the motor, for hundreds less!

you are better with a used one from a thrift store, you will save major bucks, and if it does fry, you didn't kill your bank account

just my opinion

 

[cfz2882]

a neihbor bought a rainbow around 1981,was careless about vacuming coins and
would dump the rainbow out in the dirt road where i could come along and
collect the coins-sometimes over 50 cents per dump!

 

[washernoob]

I have had a few rainbows in the past. I really did like them.

Especially the D4SE I had. Pretty powerful, and oh so quiet. But they are kind of a pain to use.

WELL built machines though. For those that knock them over, god knows what they could possibly be doing! They are quite sturdy.

Also had the Model E2 2 speed (the newest one) It was very powerful and cleaned very well.

But it was LOUD! lol.

And it smelled very bad. The people who owned it before left the basin on, and i could never get the smell out with anything.

Sounded like a jet engine. Very unique start up sound.

 

[michaelman2]

Sorry guys...I have two...left over from my former partner.....they are a pain in the ass to use, clean and store......he loved these things ....he stole anything that was not nailed down...too bad he left these things....Anyone want to make an offer for two ?

 

[69oyu812]

YES!

what model are they?

 

[circlew]

Got a torn up one

I have a defunct one sitting in my garage. My grandfather - who lived with us at the time - bought it for my Mom sometime around 1965. It had a new motor put in about 25 years ago, and quit 6-7 years ago. I do remember it falling over shortly before; one of the wheels caught on something, and I pulled on the hose trying to get it to move. I may look into having it worked on at some time in the future.

 

[whirlcool]

We have a Rainbow E2 which we used for a year or so. We bought it off of Ebay after we got tired of the Fantom Fury.

I found that the Rainbow only has minimal suction. It'll do the job, but not very well. It'll leave dog hair behind on the carpet. We were using it as an auto vacuum, but I put it on a table and it fell off, breaking the lid with the integral handle.
So now it's useless. Cleaning the thing was a mess.

What we used it for most was as a deodorizer. Rainbow made this air freshner chemical that you put in the water and if you run the machine it makes your room smell like a hospital.

After about a year of middling performance we went with a Miele canister and never looked back!

 

[mark_wpduet]

I have one bought brand new in 2004........

It's great and the hepa filter is still snow white. I've taken it out to shine a light through it and I don't see anything. It still looks brand new.........

The suction is TERRIFIC on mine.

It's a PAIN to use though. If there was one thing I could change it would be the power head....I don't like the design. I use mine to clean areas HIGH up that I can't get with the regular vacuum. I also use it to blow the coils out from under the fridge......It really works great if you change the water before it turns to sludge......Dumps right down the sink....

It's pretty heavy too......I don't get it out unless I plan on spending a few hours cleaning

 

[countryguy]

I'm a vac collector so although I have a Rainbow model D (the chrome dome) I don't use it all that often.  It does not have the electrical port for a power nozzle - that was added on the D2.  I do have an air driven turbo brush which works not too bad.  The suction is pretty good on this model and it is pretty quiet.  I wouldn't mind filling and emptying the water pan if I had somewhere easier to empty it.  The house is on a septic system so I definitely can't empty it down the drain so that means taking it outside - OK in the summer but not so good when it is -30 C.  If you have a quick pick up to do, like when you drop something in the kitchen then it is not convenient at all to use.

 

Gary