Kirby Generation 3 G3 Retro Vacuum Cleaner Review

Kirby Generation 3 (G3) Vacuum cleaner review - A look back in time to 1990
Vacuums Recommend By Professionals
www.amazon.com...
Help Support us on / performancereviews
Join our vacuum discussion Discord
/ discord
/ performancereviews
Like us on / performancereviews
Performance Reviews Blog
performancevac...
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

[@jayburris6252]

Thumbs WAY up for the “newspaper” used to clean that piece.

[@PerformanceReviews]

It was far more fun to throw those guys in the trash 😂🤣

[@AaronSmith-xx5zb]

@@PerformanceReviews oh yeah!!!:-)

[@expeditionaryrevival3677]

I second

[@bigal1682]

My wife and I have a G3. I've used it since we got married 11 years ago. The thing I like most about it is that she and her ex-husband are the ones who paid for it.

[@LlyleHunter]

In my parent’s time when they purchased a refrigerator or range it was expected to last for most of the duration of their lifetime. That’s why I value my Kirby. I’ve had it since it was delivered to my family’s home on June 3, 1973 and it’s been in for tuneups four times and needed only six brush rolls and regular belt changes.

[@LlyleHunter]

@oninja 1129 No I use it two times per month. I have a Riccar R30 upstairs as well as an Electrolux canister and use both daily. Downstairs I have an Oreck XL Pro II and a Miele Pure Suction. The Kirby is use a few times per month when I turn my rugs over and vacuum the bottoms then flip them back up and deep clean them. It’s very gentle yet very thorough on wool and silk. I have to be very careful when selecting vacuums because my rugs are all wool or silk and I can’t use nylon bristles. My Oreck has soft bristles and when I bought the Riccar I immediately replaced the bristles with their own special order bristles. My only other option was a Sebo with a green roller brush.

[@LlyleHunter]

@oninja 1129 No thanks. It’s only used a few times per month and it’s laundered regularly as it’s been for fort seven years. Originally for the first eight years it had been dry cleaned as we’d owned a dry cleaning factory and had cleaned it before our tanks were switch out with fresh supply.

[@LlyleHunter]

​@oninja 1129 Since all of my other machines are HEPA filtered and my AC is also highly filtered and the Kirby is only used for a specific task three per month the method gives maximum airflow and costs nothing. I wash it in an extra washing machine that I also use for shop rags in my garage outside and besides, my house is vacuumed and dusted every day.

[@KirbyVacuumCollectorFixer]

Lovely lovely Generation 3! If you look closely at the kirby in the manual drawings, you’ll see it’s actually drawings of the G3 Prototype! Just a cool observation for you.

[@YoumuHoover]

I really like the look and graphics of the G3. Feels so 90s where every appliance in the late 80s through out the 90s were white tho I like the G4 and G5 more for its graphics and color.

[@breckfarrar8663]

Just added this machine to my collection today.

[@BigjsVacuumandrestoratio-st5qf]

I bought my g3 new in 1993 and I have never had to do anything to it until now and it is still my only vacuum for my carpeted rooms and for the few rooms with vinyl and wood floor's I have a filter queen I inherited

[@narcissistinjurygiver2932]

i am rebuilding a g3 right now. got it cheap. I also restored a g5. i would recommend everyone to save one of these. they will last 3 lifetimes.

[@DanTheManIOM]

we bought a G3 when they were new, and I still have it and use it. I came here to learn about the carpet attachment, but I think I am going to leave it in the box. Think about it, the water has to get to the bag and that cannot be good. I never knew about the slot. It was her machine !

[@rwdplz1]

Have a few Kirbys, and use the G3 upstairs for spot cleaning what the Roomba 980 misses, or for dusting with the hose attachment, love the 80's aesthetic. Had a newer Miele Orion, the Kirby absolutely blows it away for everything except hard floor cleaning and stairs. Gave the Miele to my parents for stair cleaning, but my father also prefers the Kirby Sentria I gave him.

[@PerformanceReviews]

The Miele Orion S4 was only designed for hard floors and above the floor cleaning. Was never intended to clean carpet. Take care of your Kirby G3.

[@danielc.1227]

Yeah I just happen to of found your channel when I bought one at auction for 5 bucks that had pretty much everything I saw your restore series and I’m glad I did. The vacuum only needed a belt and a outer bag wash and a new handle spring other than that I’ve been using it Every few days I love it all said and done you make some good points it’s definitely not easy to use but once you get used to it and like it it’s really not a big deal most of the time, keep up the great videos you have another subscriber on your hands that is here to stay

[@kawasaki1017]

Awesome job on that kirby you do really great work !!!

[@fartman2269]

I absolutely agree with you about the Kirby, in 1996 a guy came to the door, and did the whole demo/sales pitch. He even let me keep it for the weekend. I didn't buy it for $1500.00, I did find Kirby heritage at a garage sale for $10.00, and spent $60.00 to get it working properly. The salesman told me the airflow on the one you have in the video was 110 cfm, I'd be really interested what the actuall cfm is with the bag in place, then in contact with the carpet.. With the lack of lift, I suspect it isn t even close to 110 cfm. When I switched to the hose for bare floors with my heritage model, it didn't even suck as much as a cheap $60.00 shop vac.. The Kirby as you know, is outfitted for demoes with a little door that fits a coffee filter to show how much dirt it picks up. I think the Kirby excels in one area, agitation. It beats all the dust and lint out of the rug, nicely manicures it. It also picks up a ton of carpet fiber. I used the heritage for 5 years, several times it lost most of it's suction, I had to open the dirt trap at the bottom. That dirt trap was always full of carpet fibre. ( I know several flooring manufacturers will void any warranty on carpets vacuumed with a dyson for this reason) I retired that Kirby when I bought my first house in 2003, there was an existing Broan central vac system from 1984 which I immediately vented to the outdoors. I was so tired of smelling that stinky stale vacuum bag from that old Kirby every time I vacuumed, I was also so glad I didn't have to try to use it on the stairs, or bare floors ever again.

[@steeltag]

for cfm info, with full bag on it, check out most any videos on YT by 'vaclab', he does a lot of airflow testing on Kirby's If your emptor was so full of carpet fibers I"d bet your brushroll was adjusted too far down (too low). I have many Kirby's and I never find excessive carpet fiber stuff in the bag/emptor

[@fartman2269]

@@steeltag I've seen several vac labs videos, his box experiments aren't going to result in accurate information. He is measuring airflow through a hole with the same diameter of the annomometers vane housing, doing this will result in a falsely higher velocity, and flow measurements as the mid section of the vane/fan reduces the net opening by 35%. What he should be doing is measuring airflow using a 3" round, or 3"×3" square opening. Take 3 different 1 minute readings while moving the vane over the entire surface of the opening. The annomometer will give you an average of the three readings, this method will not cause interruption of the airflow path that will cause velocity to increase, resulting in inflated airflow readings. I find the box questionable as well, as when carpet is on the actual floor/underlayment, this will change how much air is pulled into the cleaner as well. If a person could build a sealed box-container around the bag of the Kirby with a 3"-4" round, or square hole, exhausting air could be measured. This would likely be a more accurate representation of airflow while the cleaner is in operation. I know that when the Kirby is lowered down to the rug surface, the rpm of the fan increases. This is due to the fan moving less air, the motor doesn't have near the load now, and the fan/motor can spin faster. When you put your hand over any vacuum hose, you will hear a dramatic increase of fan/motor rpm because lack of air to move allows the motor to turn much faster with zero load.

[@fartman2269]

@@steeltag It is possible I had the Kirby set too low, I had a Tristar demo about 12 years ago. Those are conveniently made so a coffee filter fits in the door on top.... He showed me several filters from vacuuming two year old carpeting was still pulling dust out. I had to point out that most of it was no longer dust, but carpet fiber. If I still had that Kirby I'd rig up a way to accurately measure air flow with my VEI digital airflow meter, but I got rid of it 14 years ago.

[@robertgwisdala5795]

Very nice restoration! Your Kirby Generation 3 came out fantastic! I have videos of my 1991 Kirby Generation 3 up. The 1st video is when it came back from the Kirby Company Factory Rebuild and the 2nd video is before it was sent off.

[@JoeTricep]

Picked one up at an estate sale for 2 dollars. It came with all the hose attachments, shampooing, bags, and owners manual. All it needed was a new belt and it works great. Much better performance and reliability than Dysons in my experience

[@fracturedmind8124]

Finally got me a G3 for $75 with everything including the shampooer. It does not drive the same as the newer ones. At least with mine you have to be gentle with the TechDrive or it gets really upsets and starts clonking really loudly. But I love it it's so quirky and charming as you said. I did upgrade the handle slide to the one with the spring as mine liked to get stuck in reverse. But other than that and the previous owner putting a Gsix cord on it, its all original. And you pointed out that the G3's handle lock flat like the newer ones. Although mine does it. Maybe it's a quirk with the first year G3?

[@Jerry-me1fy]

I've had a few of those over the years and used Dozens of other vacuums over the years Kirby seems to be the best

[@jessicah3450]

I always kept the coins I found while vacuuming the sofas. It's like getting tipped! Cleaning my ex's couch bought me a latte.

[@redwolfpiping5701]

I had as of four days ago saved a G3, and a Royal 882 from going to the trash, they were a little dirty but they ran strong, lady could not use them, too heavy, but I may either just clean them up or do a full restoration on them

[@zacharymartinez9455]

The hand held tool was not specially for stairs… it was mainly for furniture and mattresses. It’s not very good with stairs though so it’s better to just use the hose and an attachment

[@awp2902]

Awesome video,if you swap the motor our from a newer one would that a make a difference

[@PerformanceReviews]

A new motor really wouldn't be any different. Really the thing they changed is the fan. Which would have slightly less power if I swapped it out.

[@masonjones5658]

I have a g4 I got for free nothing wrong just needs bags reminds me of the g3 my aunt had

[@rexoliver7780]

And in old days liked how Kirby salesmen promoted the "Kirby Bank"Not only to save for payments-we don't want the fasn to get broken by ingesting coins!!Has happened-A vac place here has a 5Gal Lowes bucket full of busted-blown Kirby fans-both Lexan and Amodel.

[@themagicboy6548]

True story my grandparents bought a g3 from a door to door salesman with the money that they were supposed to have set aside for my parents' honeymoon

[@PerformanceReviews]

Tragic.

[@rexoliver7780]

I have a factory rebuilt G3 that came from a former Kirby dealer along with a G4 and a G5.Not a lot of difference among these-the Tech Drive on the 4 and 5 are greatly improved.I had a strange experience in using my G3 as a canister and hand tools.You pull on the hose hard and the machine goes into tech drive mode and wants to play tug-of-war with you like a favorite dog.And if you let go the Kirby takes off like a drag racer.The later Tech Drives didn't have the tug of war deal-good for safety.Wouldn't be a good thing if the Kirby did its drag race thing with kids or pets around.The G6 was when the airflow was improved.Dome mini emptor as opposed to the flat top one.Always HATED the Kirby combo floor tool from the get go-would use another tool with the machine.And-explains why a lot of Kirby owners get a low cost suction only canister vacuum to use with the Kirby-the Kirby left in carpet mode.I haven't used my G3 in some time in the back of the row!Got a good deal on them from the Kirby dealer that went under-was several years ago.Also got lots of sales aids.Proof kits and books.And liked what you dumpted your Mini-Emptor on!!!I just dump mine into a trash can.

[@kathrynwyatt2615]

i wish these types of videos showed which ( BELT ) to use 😳😔🤔....1 stop shop 😁

[@PerformanceReviews]

That would be in the restore and repair videos. kzbin.info/www/bejne/goG5hqqgopdsabM

[@meriflower]

I bought one new in the early 90s. Gave it away. It was my first and last Kirby and do not miss it!

[@desrynne2720]

Ive got the g4 .Can you tell me if there is a way to lock the handle in the upright position for transport from one room to another

[@againtjugofcocomilk]

I have a G4 too, there are only 3 locking positions and there isn’t any upright position

[@Cockyguy07]

my G3 Kirby was made in 1991 in the same year i was born

[@moloukhamoud4692]

Hi which one better sebo Canister or this vaccum ?

[@aaaaeeeeffffeeeekkkkssss]

SEBO

[@Ca31_Buff]

4:40, Who vacuums like that? lmao. I think if you use the vacuum normally, you don't get much of a coin sound if any

[@mickeyfinnfinn5449]

You What ?