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Old 30th Jun 2018, 7:39 pm   #1
G0HZU_JMR
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Default Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Bit of a success story from me on this hot lazy day here in Gloucestershire...

I've had this 'Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner' from new (early 1990s) when they were being sold off cheaply at Rumbelows in Gloucester. They work really well but have a reputation for gumming up the shampoo system if not used regularly or if the system isn't flushed with water at the end of each session.

Mine has suffered from this gumming several times but it always freed up after forcing water through the system. This was a tedious ritual that I often went through even if I flushed the system with water before storing it away the previous time. However, it got really gummed about 6 months ago and even the shampoo pump stopped making a sound. So I assumed the pump had failed completely. Nobody sells spares for these any more so it was left on death row in a cupboard awaiting a trip to the tip. But today I took pity on it and decided to try stripping it all down.

It turned out to be really easy to take apart with just three screws holding the top cover on. The dead shampoo pump was an ULKA 27 model and I watched a few youtube videos where people take similar pumps apart. These are pumps used on coffee makers but they look very similar.

So with nothing to lose (and now some idea what was inside the pump) I took the shampoo pump apart. Again, it was really easy and it had seized on some limescale in the bore. So this was quickly freed and cleaned and the rest of the pump was in good shape. All the rubber seals and the springs were fine despite being about 25 years old.

I put it back together and it now works! However, the trigger valve on the hose handle was now leaking badly. It has been leaking a bit for several years but was now dribbling badly and there was loss of pressure at the head.

So I tried searching for info on this to see how to take it apart but found nothing. At first glance it appears to be impossible to take it apart but there are two metal pins (pressed into the plastic body) that hold it together and they also act as pivots. I was able to press one of them out using a tiny drift and a mallet but the other (smaller) one was stuck solid. I ended up hacksawing this thinner pin in half to free the valve mechanism and was then able to strip and inspect the trigger valve. I hit lucky again and the valve cap appeared loose and all the insides were in good shape and it just needed a quarter turn on the endcap to tighten and seal it.

I made a new pin from some thick 14SWG enamelled copper wire and put it all back together and now no leaks!

I'll try and post up some pictures if anyone wants to see how I repaired it. The repair cost me nothing although it probably would have cost over £70 to buy a new shampoo pump and trigger valve if they were still available. I suspect a lot of these machines get binned even though they only need a bit of TLC to get them running again. So hopefully, this will give a few owners the confidence to try taking it apart to fix it without needing any expensive/unobtainable spares
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Last edited by G0HZU_JMR; 30th Jun 2018 at 7:47 pm.
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Old 1st Jul 2018, 9:41 am   #2
GMB
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Thanks for that useful guide on working on these.
We have one which has so far only had minor issues.
Its vacuuming has been rather taken over by the portability of Dyson's battery offerings so is less used than it was. But it is a great carpet cleaner and we hope it will continue to work.
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Old 1st Jul 2018, 11:40 am   #3
electronicskip
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Jeremy!
I may well have sold you that Electrolux Masterlux myself.
I sold quite a few from the Rumbelows Gloucester branch where I worked for a few years almost until it closed.
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Old 1st Jul 2018, 1:26 pm   #4
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Small world! I'm fairly certain I bought it in the sales in the winter of 1993/1994 just before I moved house in 1994. It was advertised in the shop window and I think they were being sold off really cheap and I spotted the price and thought.. why not?

Here's some initial pictures of the pump. I'm afraid I didn't take very good pictures because I didn't know if this was going to end up as just another interesting/clumsy/damaging autopsy or a successful repair.

Note that there's a 1N4007 diode inline with the motor and this is only held in place with weak crimps and some heatshrinking. So this pulled/fell apart once I had the motor out. So I had to refit the diode.

Note that the shampoo motor was extremely hot when I took the unit apart and I don't think it likes being powered when it is seized internally.

So if you don't hear the shampoo pump running don't keep pressing the button as it will get very hot. I knew the pump was trying to do 'something' because I monitored the power drawn on an inline wattmeter and the power went up from 950W to just over 1000W when the shampoo pump button was pressed. But it made no sound so I assumed it was dead. But it was just seized on a bit of limescale inside the bore

Hope the internal pictures are interesting to GMB and other owners...
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Old 1st Jul 2018, 2:05 pm   #5
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

From a health and safety point of view, most of the live 230V mains wiring is fully exposed as you can see in the picture that shows the cleaner assembly with the top cover off. The non-insulated crimp connections are live 230V AC. So obviously, nobody should work on this unit unless you unplug it fully from the mains supply.

It might be possible to free the pump by removing the black rubber hose at the input side of the pump and poking something in here. But this is just a guess and there may be something in the way. I didn't try this but probably will if this happens again. It also depends how easily the hose comes off and if it seals OK again afterwards.
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Old 1st Jul 2018, 7:01 pm   #6
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Here's a few images of the leaky trigger assembly. The fatter top pin tapped out easily but the thin bottom one was stuck in really tight.

So I ended up hacksawing it (the pin was soft/easy) and replacing it with some thick copper wire. It took a lot of twisting and pulling with molegrips to get the remains of the cut pin out of the plastic body so no wonder this thinner pin wouldn't tap out with a drift and mallet. This was doing each side in turn with the molegrips so this pin is very unlikely to come out without a fight unless you do it my suggested way with a junior hacksaw.

Luckily, I just needed to retighten the end cap on the valve assembly to cure the leak as all the inner seals were fine. Tightening the endcap wasn't possible (for me at least) with the unit fully assembled. However it does have a hex end on it if you think you can make up a tool to squeeze inside the assembly and get a purchase on a couple of flats. But you need to avoid applying lots of twisting stress in case you snap off the hose feed nipple as you support the whole assembly. This looks to be quite fragile and also needs to be protected when tapping out the top pin or sawing the lower pin out.

If anyone with more experience can suggest better/easier/safer methods than the above then please post up your suggestions. This is because I'm fairly clueless and clumsy with stuff like this so there are probably several ways to do it better. However, this whole thing was quite a mini victory for me. Because of my lack of mechanical skills (and tools) I didn't expect to repair this machine but it looks like I've had a good result!

These are great carpet cleaning machines so I hope this is useful to someone in the future!
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Last edited by G0HZU_JMR; 1st Jul 2018 at 7:18 pm.
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Old 1st Jul 2018, 9:44 pm   #7
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Congratulations on your repair! For anyone who doesn't fancy such a comprehensive job, or whose pump is BER, it's quite similar to a standard industrial pump of that type, which could probably be substituted.
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Old 3rd Jul 2018, 12:41 am   #8
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Thanks. I think the most unreliable component is going to be the shampoo pump because of the gumming issue and also because it will eventually fail BER mechanically or electrically because of the nature of these vibration pumps. Otherwise this cleaner seems to be built to last a very long time.

I did some googling and the insides of the various Ulka pumps seem to be quite similar so it might be possible to swap internal parts between pumps. Otherwise, I couldn't find any service kits for them. Maybe this is because some of the smaller Ulka pumps are only £20 new.

But I couldn't find a drop in replacement for my pump amongst the latest range of Ulka pumps. Hopefully, you are correct and there will be an industrial pump that can drop in. My Ulka pump had loads of info stamped on the faceplate and this probably included flow rate and a few other relevant specs. It looks like the cleaner chassis can accept pumps of a different shape because the pump is effectively held in mid air between a couple of large rubber mounting washers.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 6:08 pm   #9
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

I have one of these in the garage which is now only used for vacuuming the car. The trigger mechanism broke on it and I bought an upright cleaner which is much easier to use in my opinion. The pump is still working as far as I know and if anyone would like the whole thing they are welcome to pick it up from Southport. I would test the pump before it was collected as it hasn't been used in a while
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 9:42 pm   #10
Jon_G4MDC
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

I didn't know, but I recently found out (unless someone knows better) that Electrolux is a Swedish brand.

Do any markings help to confirm that? The national test house was Semko so such markings could also help identify.

Thanks!
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Old 21st Sep 2018, 8:25 pm   #11
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Default Re: Electrolux Masterlux Wet and Dry Carpet Cleaner

Electrolux was most definitely Swedish: they also owned a slew of other companies including "Facit" who made computer peripherals like card-readers and paper-tape-readers.

Not sure who owns the brand now.
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