We have a Kirby 15 vacuum cleaner.

[Argent 88]

And we have all the attachments also 

[oldandslow]

Good for you. We have a Hoover cordless and a Shark robot. No carpet and no rugs make cleaning an easy job.

[Argent 88]

Good for you. We have a Hoover cordless and a Shark robot. No carpet and no rugs make cleaning an easy job.

Uhhh, ar15 Kirby. 

[oldandslow]

OK, makes more sense now.

[Lloyd Smale]

one was the straw that broke the back on my first marriage. We had just bought a vac about a month before. I came home from work and there was a kirby and a pile of boxes of attachments on the living room floor. Seems the kirby man can by and talked my wife into one with EVERY attachement they had. That was in 1989 and it was like 1200 bucks then so probably 3k todays money. I blew a cork and told she should have at least called and asked and she could either take it and get the hell out or take it and get my money back. She choose the first and moved in with her friend that night. Next day she found a kirby and all the boxes in the snow out in front of her friends house. Now to be honest it was comming anyway and was hands down the best decision i ever made in my life. I always tell my friends if they ever see a kirby salesmen give him 5 bucks and say its from me. 

[Argent 88]

Ours is a refurbished Kirby Silver, that meaning it's from about the late 1970's. The Transmission messed up on it last year if you engaged it, that dang thing was so powerful it could drag you across the room. 

[Bob Riebe]

Ours is a refurbished Kirby Silver, that meaning it's from about the late 1970's. The Transmission messed up on it last year if you engaged it, that dang thing was so powerful it could drag you across the room.

You can get them fixed and at the price they now charge for pieces of plastic dung they call a vacuum you will  be far , far better off getting it fixed.

[Lloyd Smale]

my wife swears by her dyson. It does pick up better then any kirby ive seen and isnt such a tank to drag around. That said i built a little one bedroom apartment in my pole barn. Bought some 50 dollar red plastic (dont even know the name) vaccum off ebay. My son was living there and moved. He was smoker so i shampooed the carpet like 5 times to get the smoke out. Let it dry and vaccumed with that dyson. Got alot of crap. Did it a second time and didnt get much. took that little cheap plastic thing and vaccumed and got as much as i did the first time in the dyson. So all those cheap plastic vac arent junk. Rebuild? Heck toss it in the trash and buy 3 more for the price of a rebuild. No way id spend more then 200 bucks of a vacuum today.

[Bob Riebe]

The canister ones are nice for vacuuming up sand and such dirt and that is all they are really better for , but then a cheap wet/dry works better.
When we used the canister one as a house vacuum I got sick and tired of having to stop to go dump out the canister continually, plus if you do not replace the filiters most of those also have or they will burn out.
We have gone through three of the plastic things, which does not include having to buy new belts and rollers/brush which are 50 bucks each.

These were not 200 cheap crap, but 500 plus simplicity/Riccar vacuums.
These get hard use, and now for 500 dollars all you get is a refurbished which to me is now just fine, as new ones are several hundred dollars above that.
the Sig. had little red low buck , now 10 years old one at here beauty shop. IF, if it had attachments one like that was amazing, it would pull itself across the carpet when it was new.
But without attachments it is only good for carpets. (It sucked stuff up so well that it packed it into the bag and beyond. It stopped working once so I pulled the bag out and found it at the verge of bursting, BUT, the handle is part of the dirt transfer hose and it took me an hour to finally get the packed hair out of the handle.
Worked fine after that.)
Get the Kirby fixed, the plastic crap one stop working eventually and cost just as much to fix as a Kirby.

[Argent 88]

Ours is a refurbished Kirby Silver, that meaning it's from about the late 1970's. The Transmission messed up on it last year if you engaged it, that dang thing was so powerful it could drag you across the room.

You can get them fixed and at the price they now charge for pieces of plastic dung they call a vacuum you will  be far , far better off getting it fixed.

Bob it has been one heck of a vacuum cleaner, reversed it and aired up a big inflatable swimming pool with it.
And aired up tires with it. The transmission only cost fifty bucks to repair. A clutch was worn down and slipping.

[Ranger99]

Well I'll have to be happy with
my junk. I have a Hoover
something-or-other here, and
an unknown wet-dry shop vacuum
and a handheld dirt devil,
and a Hoover something-or-other
at the outpost.
One thing I did learn a really
long time ago was that I bought
as many bags and filter pads
I could find for each model I
have. Stores these days have
the bad habit of suddenly
discontinuing the model of
whatever I have, then your only
option is to order replacements
from the manufacturers and
pay an exaggerated price with
exaggerated shipping.
I got lucky last go round and
and was visiting one of the
middle eastern dollar stores
around here, and found a
big selection of vacuum bags
for older models of vacuums and
belts for the same

[Ranger99]

One "secret " to longevity of
vacuum cleaners in general is
to not let the thing get packed
full of dirt and debris before
you clean it out. It'll do a better
job of cleaning with less strain
on the machine

[fatercat]

I've got two kirbys. best vacuum ever built. they have automatic transmissions. got a bad back and,or bad shoulders? get a Kirby.

[Argent 88]

I've got two kirbys. best vacuum ever built. they have automatic transmissions. got a bad back and,or bad shoulders? get a Kirby.

I even used ours once to run a paint gun. Painted a trailer I built with it.