The Case of the Mystery Hoover 61

[tolivac]

the Hoover "Soft&Light" reminds me of the Royal "Featherlight" vacs-same sort of appearence-Fan first all plastic design-with the stiff hose.Does the Hoover one have aluminum motor windings?Saw that in a Royal Dirt Devil Featherlight. I have even heard of overheated Featherlights aluminum motor windings catching fire!I saw one of the "victims" out here at "Vacuum Cleaner Hospital"A vac repair shop here.He threw the remains in his dumpster.He does replace a lot of fans in both the Hoover and Royal DD machines.

 

[hoover1060]

Hoover Soft & Light

I believe the motor windings are copper, however I have seen one and heard of others that have caught fire. The reason being that vent on the front of the motor(where the headlight goes) always catches dirt.
When its ignored, it just lets the motor overheat until...
I guess I should note it was 12amp models.
I've had many of the Elites come & go, lots of broken fans/handles/wheels/cords... never a bad motor...

 

[tolivac]

Thats good the Hoover motor has copper windings-In those DD machines-it was amazing they could label it a a "12A" motor even though in its physical size it was small.Both the rotor and stator windings were tiny for a 12A motor-more like a large PN motor.And the frame was plastic-something to warp or melt as the motor heats-causing the motor to strain even more!An it was cooled by a tiny plastic fan.I was tempted to buy one and see it "melt down".there is a lot of them still going in my area-the folks here like those machines-cheap-not fancy-but works.Just don't work it too hard.The one that was thrown out had lots of debris wrapped up in its roller brush.I am sure that caused the Aluminum windings to really heat up.

 

[hoover1060]

12 amps is too much for a vacuum...

I don't know who the Einstein was who decided vacuums should all be 12 amps...
I am amazed at the small size of motors today as well. The Hoover Windtunnel motor is VERY small, and with only a single fan on it. I've often wondered if they were to make that motor two stage and cut the amps and RPM some how much longer it would last...
Its not about lasting, its about how soon can we sell you another vacuum...

 

[tolivac]

I am also amazed by this-but does that motor really draw 12A?In most vacuumsdoubt that the motor is loaded to the current suggested on the vac nameplate-its to make the consumer beleive that the machine is more powerful than a lower amp one.I have Royals,Kirbys,Hoovers,Direct air system vacs that have motors only 2.5A that can outclean the "cleane air" 12A monsters.Its also the DESIGN of the vacs fan-filtering system and its airpath.All the filters on vacs today you do need the big motor in order to pull the air thru all those filters.The direct air machines like Kirby's ,Royal classics,and older Hoovers,etc have their fans close to the item being cleaned-so very high efficiency.Their filtering ability may not be as good though.The clean ir vac makers like to emphisize this.In the New Hoover vac-is it a direct air system?-the fan is AHEAD of the filter system.And is the fan a larger diameter than the twin fan model-a larger fan can move the same amount of air at a lower motor speed-not only longer life-but quieter as well.