Questions about vacuum cleaners

[Donald S. Lambert]

Question 1. I use an extension cord on our new vacuum cleaner. I don't know the gauge of the wires but it is one of those yellow three conductor cords. After using it I notice that the cord is about the same temperature (felt by my fingers) as the cord that is the vacuum cleaners cord. I presume that it is OK to use since it is the same temperature on both cords. Is that a safe assumption?<p>Question 2. I noticed with the prior vacuum cleaner that it had a tendency to want to go to the left if pushed straight forward and the replacement vacuum cleaner does the same. Any reason for that to happen? Both are Hoover if that is of importance.

[myp71]

I would not use a ext cord for this reason at all.
Plug in the vacuum without the ext cord and turn it on for the same amount of time and see if it gets the same temp ( vacuum cord) as with the ext cord if the vacuum cord is cooler without the ext cord then do not use the ext cord.Go to Home depot or Wal-mart and get a vacuum cleaner ext cord for about $ 10.00-$15.00 dollars. they look just like the vacuum cord that is on the vacuum now.<p>[ June 11, 2003: Message edited by: my p71 ]</p>

[Dean Huster]

I used an extension cord with our Eureka uprights for years. Vacuums come with such short cords** that it's a pain to have to find a new outlet with each room. In a ranch style home, I've found it easier to use a 50-foot extension to an outlet in the center of the house and I can vacuum the entire house in one swoop (or is that sweep?).<p>Regarding the wire gauge, I found some #16 zip cord and made up my own rather than using one of those heavy orange things. Never had a problem with wire heating. The definitive check, of course, is to measure the voltage at the vacuum's plug while the machine is running to insure that it's at least 110-115 volts.<p>The skewing of the vacuum while running probably has nothing to do with the machine itself as the beater bar is made so that the right half is a reverse of the left half. More than likely, if you're using it on carpet, you'll find that the nap of the carpet will tend to pull the machine one way or the other. As an experiment, if the machine pulls to the left, try running the machine 90° to your original direction and see if it still pulls the same way. I've noticed that our large area carpet has a very aggressive nap that makes the vacuum really hard to push in some directions.<p>Oh. If you have one of those "self-propelled" uprights, that's a different deal altogether. You probably have some drive inconsistencies in that case.<p>Dean<p>**Short appliance cords really hack me off. We have a toaster that came with a 24-inch power cord -- AND IT COMES OUT THE FRONT OF THE TOASTER INSTEAD OF THE REAR!! Unless you have an outlet located on the front edge of the kitchen counter, that toaster is a real pain in the rear to use. Most of our outlets are on the back wall in hard-to-reach spots between canisters and such. Sometimes appliance makers go too far in the name of "safety". This toaster has to be located so far back on the counter that it ends up operating underneath the overhead cabinets. Doesn't sound so safe to me.<p>[ June 11, 2003: Message edited by: Dean Huster ]</p>

[Bernius1]

You should never use any inductive motor load on less than a 14ga. cord. AND DON'T GO BY THICKNESS! READ THE CORD! Many "Homely Despots" sell 16/3 cords that are as thick as 12/3, but read the imprint. At 50', the voltage drop on a 14/3 or 16/3 will probably cause the brushes to toast too soon. Buy a good 12/3 cord, & be done with it. It'll take 15 amps. Why ruin a $100.00 tool for a $25.00 cord ?????

[josmith]

I have to take a lighter view of the extension cord thing. A vac has a universal motor and since the load is depedent on the rpm of the impeller voltage drop might hurt your performance a little but isn't likely to cause any real problems.<p>If you mean that the vacuum cleaner itself tends to go to one side when you push it it's probably because the rotating mass is acting like a gyroscope and causing a resultant force when you push it.

[Crowbar]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by no_vice:
You should never use any inductive motor load on less than a 14ga. cord. AND DON'T GO BY THICKNESS! READ THE CORD! Many "Homely Despots" sell 16/3 cords that are as thick as 12/3, but read the imprint. At 50', the voltage drop on a 14/3 or 16/3 will probably cause the brushes to toast too soon. Buy a good 12/3 cord, & be done with it. It'll take 15 amps. Why ruin a $100.00 tool for a $25.00 cord ?????<hr></blockquote><p>Lets do the math on this one. A 16/3 cord has a rated ampacity of 13 amps. The DC resistance spec for a stranded #16 is 4.9 ohms/kft or .0049 ohms/ft. At fifty feet the resistance would be .49 ohms (taking into account the ungrounded and grounded conductors). Now 13 amps X .49 ohms =6.3 volts, if we assume a nominal 115 volt system that would leave us 109 volts at the tool. That would be a 5.2% voltage drop. This would fall within an acceptable range as a tool rated for a nominal 115 V should work on 110 V. I would only worry about this light of a cord if I was using over a 50 foot length. Any thing over 50 feet, I'd use a 14 gauge up to 100 feet and then 12 gauge after that.

[Chris Smith]

I wouldnt? <p>Over kill is cheap, <p>Mistakes are expensive.

[Dean Huster]

I don't buy $800 Rainbows, $400 Orecks or $1000 Silver Streaks (or what ever that door-to-door brand is) and I don't use a cumbersome 12/3 50' cord on a load that's lighter than my circular saw. Unless you run the vacuum non-stop in an 8000 square-foot home, the chore should be done quickly and it won't have time to heat up much anyway. Most folks cycle the machine on and off as they move furniture around anyway. And if you have a home that size, you're foolish if you don't have a central vacuum anyway!<p>Oh. And we've had two upright vacuum cleaners, both running on that "skimpy" 16/2 50' cord. Each vacuum had to be pitched, not because the motors went bad, but because the bearings on the beater bar went sour. When you pay $60-80 for a machine that lasts for 15 years, it doesn't make sense to put much money into repairs vs. buying a new one.<p>Dean

[Bernius1]

OUCH! Should I say 'touchee', '2-shay' , or 'touchy'??? Where I work , motors with brushes and rated at 15 amps running (not startup) are routinely eating brushes because
A) The motor is constantly at reaching stall load
B) The power supply is either a generator, or the last leg of a home circuit, with other loads attatched and a 30-yr-old outlet
c)The 'heavy-duty' 16/3 cord from the 'homely despots' now has bent, dirty tangs, and the ends have melted slightly inside (?hvy-duty?)
Now the customer is p'd off for the $75.00/hr +parts to fix his tool when the $25.00 he spent for a garbage cord would've bought a 12/3 x 100' from me.
So I get agitated at the fact that 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing', and that one mistake made & corrected is a joy, but that same
mistake repeated ad infinitum is torment. You teachers know the feeling. But I accept your reproof of my ranting. Thanks.
But on a footnote, I hate what the influx of cheap Chinese tools & products has done to mfg. standards in this country. We build up the Pacific Rim to our own detriment.

[Crowbar]

A) The motor is constantly at reaching stall load<p>That would have to be the #1 reason for failure since they are so easy to overload and with the only real overload protection being the tool's getting too hot to hold on to. And those cheap Asian import tools don't help the matter much at all. I have a 16 speed floor drill press with a cap start 115VAC Chinese motor that won't accelerate on the top 6 speed ranges.<p>[ June 13, 2003: Message edited by: Crowbar ]</p>

[dacflyer]

i think all vac companys put too small of a GA cord on vacs anyways,,, they always get warm,,,kinda scarry to me,,, mine gets hot as hell just using it for a blower... not to pump anything,, just blow off dust...moter makes a lot of heat...makes a good space heater..lol and cord gets quite warm also... i called mfg,, they said thats normal... go figgure,,,, phantom lightning vac....

[josmith]

When you restrict the airflow during normal vacuuming it takes load off of the motor. Using it as a blower causes maximum load.

[Dean Huster]

This is going to start to sound like a Hints to Hattie column pretty soon!<p>My greatest sin on this subject is not changing out the vacuum bag often enough. Suction disappears, machine gets heavy and cumbersome, air flow is reduced (as mentioned above), etc., and it plain just doesn't suck!<p>I never did understand why a manufacturer installs such a short cord on an appliance that is expected to be used over a large area of the domicile.<p>Yeah, no_vice, stalling a universal motor is bad news, and for homeowners, is commonly done with electric drills, circular saws or rotary grinders. I'll bet, though, that the only way you'd ever stall out a vacuum cleaner in "normal" operation would be to vacuum up a shag rug that's had a gallon of pine tar or rubber cement spilled on it!<p>Dean

[dacflyer]

even in normal use,,, it still gets hot...most all vacs do,,,