Worst Vac ever owned -- "AIR TEC"

by Brad
(South Carolina)

I worked to repair something called an AirTec vacuum cleaner today. The firm, apparently is, or was, out of Massachusetts. I have found very, very little information (no manuals, schematics) about this vacuum (canister) online, other than who one can contact 'for service' or purchase expensive parts from. They're certainly protecting their dealers ... at the expense of technically knowledgeable customers.

In my opinion this machine is a very poorly/crudely designed and cheaply produced machine--and relatively heavy. Worse, the thing can be extremely dangerous. The entire frame is metal. (Wheels are plastic, making it worse -- the machine is thereby 100% isolated from any contact, even the floor). There is NO frame ground connection in the wiring.

Opening the machine, there are loose wires, live, in friction/rubbing contact with the canister shell and motor/turbine frame. But the green/ground lead from the two-prong (molded onto the power cord) has been cut off at the end of the outer insulation. And -- you guessed it -- this machine has an intermittent short somewhere. The only way it would turn off was to unplug it!!

After removing the motor/turbine assembly, testing the switch with a digital meter, I learned that the switch is functioning correctly. Carefully re-assembling the machine after a minute inspection of the wiring (turned up no obvious frayed wiring), the machine is now functioning correctly. If, as I suspect, there is a damaged wire somewhere in the machine that I could not locate, this thing is a potential death trap to an unsuspecting homemaker holding onto or touching the canister, and, for instance, trying to turn off a water faucet in the kitchen sink.

Someone should report this contraption or get the word out to all to be wary of it. Interestingly, this was also a very expensive machine. Since the money clearly is not in the machine ... I wonder where it went?