I have a moderately old Hoover upright vacuum cleaner. It hasn't been working well at all, I decided today to try to deal with it, and in the process, discovered it's possible for an Ordinary Person to replace the belt that makes the agitator brush go around. (I never knew.) When I started the vacuum again, the belt promptly broke. Investigating further, I believe the agitator brush itself needs to be replaced. My vacuum's manual is on-line in PDF format, and so I was able to find the part number for the agitator brush. (48414-032 or -033). However, Hoover doesn't make it any more. It's not listed on the WWW anywhere. I even tried eBay but no luck. There are a lot of similar-sounding agitator brush part numbers. It's possible another would work fine. But I don't know how I would be able to tell from an on-line catalog listing. Anyone have experience fixing vacuums? Are there stores in the area that sell such things as agitator brushes, and to which I could take my old brush and get them to confirm I am getting the right replacement?46 responses total.
The name that comes immediately to mind is Ann Arbor Vacuum, on Packard near Carpenter. There is also a vacuum-repair place on Jackson, east of Zeeb, next to the Viking Sewing Center. I've never done business with either of them, though.
Thanks! I'll call them.
Jim has fixed dozens of curbside vacuum cleaners. It may have long threads wound around the bushings (ends of the roller) that prevent it from turning and make the belts break. Make sure it turns freely by hand before putting on another belt. Remove it and clean it first. You might need a saw blade to cut the threads. We will pick up the next vacuum cleaner we see while out walking if you like. The last order got filled in 24 hours. Or bring it by along with the printer. Maybe in two weeks. How do I link this to DIY? I keep forgetting. Jim says why would you want to use a vacuum repair place. Don't they charge you money? That's why god made grex, so you could learn to do it yourself.
Sindi, I thought of you almost immediately. (-: I am not sure I want to wait two weeks before I vacuum my floor, though, with Christmas coming up so soon. Maybe I can get by with my unpowered push sweeper. There were indeed threads around one end of the roller, and much collected debris. I cleaned it out, and used some graphite lubricant I had available, and tested the brush. It spun briefly and then stuck again. I think it has broken the 2nd belt by now. I'm convinced the brush and roller cannot be fixed, but the vacuum should be fine if I can get a replacement. I'm not very mechanical, so I take on projects like this rather reluctantly. However, vacuums are pretty simple machines; simpler than a bicycle for example. Simpler than a computer from an end-user repair point of view. I know a lot about mine at this point and it didn't take me long at all. How necessary is the brush, anyway? Surely the vacuum will do *some* cleaning if used without that part working.
Some but probably not enough. The roller gets the . . . stuff . . . moving for the air current to pick up.
The belt goes between the motor and the roller and transmits the force from the motor to the roller. You might need to take off the belt in order to test whether the roller spins freely. Did you take out the roller before cleaning it? It should come out easily if it is not wrapped in threads, or cut the threads if it is. The vacuum cleaner will vacuum without a belt but it won't sweep things up to the surface of the rug. You can use a regular broom to do that first. Canister vacuum cleaners often don't have a roller (beater bar) and rely on the brush built into the tool, which you use by rubbing it harder against the rug. We will keep an eye out for a curbside vacuum cleaner. They always just need to be unstuck and have belts replaced.
John, fixing a vacuum cleaner is easy.
There are four possible reasons that you could be losing belts:
1.) The roller-brush still has fibers around the shaft.
2.) The roller-brush has frozen bearings.
3.) The pulley at either the motor or the brush has burrs
or other flaws which cut the belt.
4.) The belt is so loose that it slips regardless, and
it wears through in short order.
Eliminating 1 and 2 is easy; just see if the brush turns freely with
the belt off. A close scan of the pulleys should tell you if it's 3,
and if you can turn the brush while holding the belt immobile then 4
is your problem.
To fix, use a knife, oil, small round file or adjust tension as required.
Someone left an old Dirt Devil at my house that had a bad roller-brush. Since I have all hardwood floors, I just took that out and use it without the brush. It works great :)
The roller brush is jammed up. It is not easy to fix. Yes, I took it out. I took the shaft out of it, and cleaned it really well, and it still jammed up again after a couple of minutes.
This could be my impetus to get a Roomba. They're $200 at Best Buy.
I have heard that Roomba's do not do a very thorough job. They sure look cool.
Heh. I doubt if I do a very thorough job, either. At least with a Roomba the floor would be vacuumed regularly.
Do you really want to spend $200? Jim offers to fix it if you drop it off. And we have another one that you might find simpler to fix. Larry (polygon) stopped by to trade monitors (we had made a computer for his five year old to play games on and gave him the only monitor for which we had a manual and we needed it back for linux). He brought along his broken vacuum cleaner which he does not want back if it gets fixed. The symptom was that he smelled something burning when he tried to use it. Jim and I debated whether that might be the motor or the belt burning, so Jim took a look at it. I have posted his photo at www.usol.com/~keesan. He asks for ideas. John III might like to try fixing this one. It is relatively new. Kenmore. The red spiral is the brushes on the beater bar.
I don't see the pictures of the vacuum, Sindi. I don't know what kind of useful suggestions I could have about it. I have fully 30 minutes of experience in vacuum cleaner repair; that with a Hoover. No, I don't really want to spend $200, but I do need to be able to vacuum my floor. The Roomba does something I think could be very useful to me; it vacuums automatically when you're not around. It's something I've thought about getting even before my vacuum broke, but now that appear to need a different vacuum anyway, it seems worth considering again. If I go that route, I'll probably still want a supplemental vacuum. Either my current one or a different used one would fill my need just fine, if they work. I am not going to mess around a lot with vacuums. The ones I'd get are on the low end anyway. I'm not going to spend a lot of time and energy avoiding spending $100-200 for a vacuum.
I had subscribed to Consumer Reports WWW page when I was looking at cars. Since I got a 1 year subscription, it's still available, and it only makes sense to use it for vacuums. So I did so, I went out and read up on current vacuums, and thought their "Best Buy" for upright vacuums, the Eureka Boss Smart Vac 4870, seemed like a decent choice for me at $140. Everything on the planet is on sale right now, so I went through ads yesterday looking for one. Hahaha! Not a chance. They're not sold. I could get one on eBay... So then I looked through their ratings for the under $200 vacuums that are being advertised. Hahaha! *None* of them are reviewed. Nothing very close to what's being advertised is reviewed. Consumer Reports really isn't very helpful this time around.
Re resp:3: I have long hair, so I have that problem in spades. Every month or two I have to cut away all the hair that has wound itself around the beater brush of my vaccuum. This is one reason I won't be buying a Roomba...I figure I'd spend all my time cleaning the silly thing. Also, you have to pick up all the clutter in the room before setting the Roomba loose, and that takes me much longer than the actual vaccuuming. Re resp:15: I've always had that problem with Consumer Reports, too. They seem to live in some alternate universe that has completely different brands and models available than the one I live in.
I have thought about getting a Roomba, just for the fun I could have watching the reactions of 6 cats :-) But the thought of $200 for a vacuum for a house with nothing but hardwood floors just to watch the cats either chase it or run away from it isn't really worth it.
I understand the roomba has limitations with regard to suction and capacity. Otherwise, it sounds like fun.
Re resp:17: Get a cheap radio controlled car, or one of those battery-operated bump-and-go toys. Cats are terrified of those things.
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You need a Rainbow....or a Kirby....;-)
I found a web site that sells remote controlled laser firing tanks. They come in pairs. The cats love chasing laser pointers. . . How about laser pointers that chase back.
I emailed jep the photo. Forgot to post the full URL. It is www.usol.com/~keesan/vacuum.jpg. Jep figured out right away what the problem was with this one. It is a simple fix. The red stripes are the brushes on the beater bar. The brown object is not found in all vacuum cleaners. We will trade this one for the other or maybe get them both working.
Kirby vaccuums run forever. My apartment is way too small to maneuver one of those chrome beasts in, though.
Re #16 (Re #15): Consumers Reports takes time to buy, test, and evaluate products, then there is the time to write and publish the reprots. The problem they have lies in manufacurers switching models too fast to keep up with. I think they do this deliberately so that reviews of products are hardly ever current and hence the manufacturers don't have to worry about them.
I have found that asking an experienced sales person to show me the current model that used to be xxxxx in Consumer Reports, usually gives me what I need. Experienced sales people tell me whether the engine/motor/whatever has remained the same, and what the differences between the old doodads and the new doodads are. Usually what I am looking for is longevity/durability and if the basic power unit is the one that was reported in CR, that's good enough for me.
Another problem is using different model numbers depending on the place it was purchased, such as the Suckmaster 2000WM if bought at WalMart, or the Suckmaster 2000KM if purchased at K-Mart. Despite its shortcomings I will continue to get Consumer Reports if only to support what they are trying to do. (I do end up using the information quite a bit)
re resp:21: My mother got a Kirby several years ago. Then, for some reason, she got an upgrade a year ago that does steam cleaning. Two $1500 vacuums... she got a discount on the 2nd one; $300 I think it was. Unfortunately she got the upgrade, *then* told me about it. Mom... $1500 will buy you a lot of trips from Stanley Steemer...
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Re #27: Some suppliers (Levi's for example) do cheaper goods for WalMart.
I realize that was just an example, but I'd watch out.
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Let's leave your personal life out of this, shall we?
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Jim spent a couple of hours taking the perfect picture of what the problem was in Larry's vacuum cleaner and it really disappointed that nobody (except jep, to whom we emailed it) has taken a look: http://www.usol.com/~keesan/vacuum.jpg. It is a funny picture.
That is pretty funny, assuming it was indeed the problem. :)
Re#29: $1500 will get you a hardwood floor of decent quality?! How many square meters do you think that would buy? What sort of wood?
Re 35, it was the cause of the belt not moving and therefore burning in one spot and breaking. We paid $2 per square foot for third-quality maple flooring in the eightiews, direct from a factory in the UP. It is about $5 now at the store, or $50 per square meter. 30 square meters? Enough for a reasonable sized house.
That is a pretty cool picture. I didn't know ou could get monkeys in your vacuum, instead of on your back.
Yeah, you gotta watch out for those monkeys. Good picture, Jim. :)
Hahaha. I wonder how that monkey got in there? ;)
Teh vacuumer was probably vacuuming up peanuts, and the monkey was going for lunch.
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Was curious because not long ago I requested a guestimate on flooring our home. It came out to quite a bit higher than though come to think of it, part of that was to level out some slightly uneven sections of the concrete block foundation.
I did look at the picture earlier. I was puzzled by the animal. Do you mean to suggest it was caught inside the vacuum somewhere?
Larry, I've got the monkey now; Jim and Sindi gave it to me when I picked up the vacuum. Would you like to have it back? I replaced the belt and Larry's old vacuum seems to work great for me. Thanks, Jim and Sindi!
The monkey was caught exactly as the photo shows it - it is unposed. Larry obviously is not one of those DIYers :=)
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