Edited: This vacuum sucks!

I was messing with our vacuum the other day. I remembered something that Mark (Ruth's brother) said about the height adjustment being a nonfunctional gimmick on most vacuums. This was when he was a Kirby salesman. So, I put our vacuum, a $40 Hoover Tempo Widepath, up on the kitchen table and studied the bottom. The beater was covered with hair thanks to the Mavy females in the house. I moved the height adjuster back and forth, trying to see a difference and there was nothing noticeable. The beater actually would not touch the carpet! So, I got the screwdriver out and began disassembling the beast.

We have had this vacuum since we moved here about 3-1/2 years ago. It was the cheapest upright at Kmart and Consumer Reports gave it great reviews (as if that had any value). With a previous vacuum the height adjuster had worked just fine, so I had faith that I would find some well intentioned mechanism in this one.

After getting the belt cover off, the belt broke, necessitating an unwanted trip to Wal-mart, then K-mart(a 30 minute drive one-way) when Wal-mart didn't have the belt. Kmart didn't have a belt listed to fit this vacuum either so I picked one that I figured would work. But before all the driving, I dug into the vacuum deeper. The height adjuster actually appeared to have been designed well. But the shape of the adjusting wheels against the adjuster was not quite right. I got my jigsaw out (remember our Halloween post) and modified the adjustable wheels. It took a couple tries, but I finally got the offending plastic out of the way. Put it all back together and tried it out. Ruth isn't going to like this admission but I could hear the vacuum sucking up 3-1/2 year old dirt!

Now we have a fully functional vacuum! I am so excited. Really. Now Ruth can do a better job of cleaning. Really, I am excited.

Edited to add: My dream is to open a sew and vac shop. If only I had the capital. I could be living the high life. Everyone would bring me their vacuums. I would listen to their vacuums and tell them exactly what the problem was. Then I would fix them with my awesome vacuum repair skills.

I would have to have somebody else take care of the sewing machines for me. While I don't have any problem working on them or using them, they just don't spark any interest as far as the "take-it-apart-to-see-how-it-works" gene is concerned. (sorry if you had to read this twice, Tamie!)