The car boot fairies were smiling upon me last weekend, when I saw a ruined looking Philips P60 sitting by a stall. Wandered off to have a look, and it found it's way into my hands. Thanks to the good people at Vacuumland, this is from the early 80's, and was a bottom of the line cleaner, retailing at about £40. Rarely seen now apparently. Anyway... The last job this poor cleaner did involved plaster dust, and alot of it! I had to pop the hose onto the miele just to get the dust out and stop it billowing out every time the hose was moved! The foam seal was so perished that when I approached it with another cleaner to get the dust off it shot into the bag in a million pieces of foam. I quarter filled a DC14 with this! The hose, still yet to be cleaned. Luckily the tape wasn't hiding a crack. So, onto the dis-assembly. Push the two plastic pins out, and the bag door lifts away. remove the hose clip 4x Philips (!) screws a

Well it rarely happens, but I bought a new cleaner a few weeks ago. I needed something small for doing the stairs, and for my partner to use when cleaning up after our young daughter. After having a good browse around, I decided upon this: Featuring an 600w motor, hose and crevice tool, along with a VERY long cable, it seemed perfect. And it almost is. With a fresh, clean filter the suction is very strong. So strong in fact that I find it hard to push, as it glue's itself down to the floor. Likewise when using the hose, it compresses when you start to use it, making it hard to bend. However, once used to this (or when the filter has clogged up a bit), it is very good to use. The brush bar makes light work of stair treads and risers, as well as sofa's, beds, and the car. I have used to once on the car. We have a Vauxhall Meriva (well, my girlfriend does), and it cleaned it up really well. I had to empty it twice in total, as the suction dropped right off.

I collect, restore and sell old vacuum cleaners for a hobby. Until now, I have posted detailed write-ups on how I dismantle, clean, restore and re-build old (and new) vacuum cleaners on various forums, and these have been few and far between. Now, I aim to keep all of this together on this blog. Many of the cleaners you will see will be for sale, some will be added to my collection. The rest I will give away when I have finished with them. I hope you enjoy reading about my strange hobby, and if you learn something new, then even better. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy. Sam