The joy of vacs: do these people love appliances TOO much?
February 12th, 2013
You know, we all love Appliances here. I mean the website is called Appliances Online. Appliances are our business.
Let’s be clear tho – they’re not our obsession.
That said, we won’t judge you if they happen to be yours. We don’t care if you dream about them, take them on trips away with you, or that census records list your next-of-kin as a Fisher & Paykel 8kg Top Load Washing Machine.
We’re peeps of the world – and we like to think it’s (mostly) a free one. Once we’ve delivered the goods, what you want to do after that is your business.
We want to make this point – since, in our endless quest to dredge as much as we can from the internet for appliance-related material, we recently came across this guy.
His name is Kyle Krichbaum.
Here are a few salient details about this kid: he comes from Adrian, Michigan. He’s sixteen years old. He’s got a collection of around 200 vintage vacuum cleaners. And he will voluntarily clean his parent’s house twice a day.
There is absolutely nothing to be ridiculed about this, in our opinion. Nor will we make any sly innuendoes about what kinda thrills a vacuum cleaner may offer a teenager, ‘cos we are better than that.
This dude just has profound love of vacuum cleaners.
While most kids his age are busily creating filth of all kind, god love ‘em – Kyle lies at the opposite of the end spectrum, happily indulging himself in cleanliness: collecting, restoring and using vacuums of all different shapes and sizes.
According to his mother, MaryLynn, the origins of the obsession can be traced to infancy, when he would become transfixed by the sight of her vacuuming the house. He received his first vacuum when he was a year old, enjoys dressing as a Dirt Devil at Halloween, and became known at elementary school for wanting to stay in at recess to vacuum the principal’s office.
Favourite treasures in his collection, include a vintage Kenmore Magic Cord for 1978 (two-speed motor with twin fans) and a Pump Vacuum Cleaner from 1911.
Scoff all you want, the kid’s a dead-set phenomenon. Known in some circles as the Vacuum Savant, he’s appeared on American Cable TV on something called “My Collection Obsession” and has displayed his very special gift of being able to identify the model of a vacuum cleaner – blind-folded – simply by the sound of it. Oh and, for some reason, his older sister Michelle thinks “he’s incredibly weird.”
To which we say – “hey, back off lady”. Don’t crimp this guy’s style. This boy has got the king-sized kahunas to embrace his inner-weirdness. He obviously doesn’t care – this guy’s rocking out Des’ree style and “reaching out to a higher ground”.
And he’s not the only one who really loves vacs …
There is a Vacuum Cleaner Collectors Club (VCCC) – whose official website, called “VacuumLand”, says that it is “dedicated to those who love vacuum cleaners old and new”. Here members can share photos of their collections, take part in on-line forums, read newsletters and more.
Meanwhile, for those that are interested there will be a VCCC Convention in June this year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It comes complete with this appropriately daffy and not-at-all-rude bit of promotional material.
And it’s not just Vacuum Cleaners than feel the love: there’s a sister website called “Automaticwasher.org” devoted to collectors and fans of vintage and brand new automatic washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and wringer washers.
Obviously, we here at Appliances Online can’t fault this kind of devotion. We’re a – excuse us – sucker for passion and in answer to our rhetorical question – no, of course you can’t love appliances too much. We salute the Kyle Krichbaum’s of this world.
Oh and we’ll see you all in Milwaukee for the convention.
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