they don't cope very well with dust and fluff. Clogs em up. Strip and clean.
I just had an issue with t e wifes VA wert and dry 'its not sucking up the water' well that too had a pad of fluff keeping the front of the sucker off te ground, and intakes filled with fluff..but the killer was that teh dirt water bit - which does the sucking, could be fitted in two ways, one of which left the intake 3mm above carpet level.
She is now busy emptying the dirty water into the bath, instead of the bog, where it will doubtless block the entire bath waste system.
If there is one thing more useless than a modern vacuum cleaner, it has to be the airhead that buys one.
Throw it away, get a Henry, then get the Airobrush head for the Henry. Nothing to match it on pet hair.
If you do manage to clog it, they've already put Stanley knife grooves down the roller, through the brushes. Just slide a knife along and the hair falls loose.
Does the brush rotate when on the floor? It could be stopping and the drive belt just slipping. A new drive belt solves this. Also check the bearings at the end of the brush, they get full of dust and stop the brush rotating.
When I was looking to buy my first vacuum cleaner for my own home, after the previous owner's crappy Hoover had fallen to pieces, I asked about a Dyson and my local vacuum cleaner shop said: no way, they're crap, we're forever repairing them. They sold me a Mercedes:
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's worked perfectly ever since, 19 years now.
You can clean it by popping the lid off, removing three screws holding the motor in place, and then dunking the entire lot in the sink.
I had the same problem on my DC04 - the suction was good and the bar spun but it didn't pick-up cottons, etc. The problem was that the bar was not spinning when in contact with the carpet - the solution was to change the clutch assembly, which includes the two drive belts. I bought the clutch on eBay and it took about 30 minutes to fit. It now works like a new cleaner, despite being about 10 years old.
We've got four Dysons currently: a very old DC02 cylinder (still as good as new), an old DC03 upright (has needed a replacement wand and canister), a DC24 'ball' upright and a little DC34 handheld. Apart from the DIY spare part replacements for the DC03, none has given any trouble.
Finally got the blasted thing apart after consulting YouTube. It's the 'all floors' model with the clutch and two belts. The belts are a little slack and not very 'grippy' with a shiny surface. Cleaning them with IPA has made them grippier and got rid of the shine, I'll stick it back together and see how it goes.
Searching for the belts online, several spares places supply the clutch with two belts fitted and suggest the entire clutch assembly has to be replaced, because changing the belts needs the clutch to be dismantled. About £18.
Found an eBay supplier which does the belts on their own for a couple of quid. Have ordered them and will have a go.
These Dysons are clearly not intended to be repairable - they're throwaway crap.
Brush rotates freely, so I think this is OK. Found the shoe plate would not swivel freely, this was caused by a wood shaving jamming the hinge.
Hardwood floors and a brush works well for me :-) (I never realised just how much hair pets lose until I got a place with wood flooring... I don't think I could go back to carpets again now that I know how much crud must accumulate in them)
My Panasonic (Which best buy) is more like 20 years old and still going strong. With nothing so complicated as a clutch and twin drive belts. Or rather I dunno if it has a clutch - you can stop the brushes rotating when using the nozzle. Perhaps I'll find out when it breaks in another 20 years time.
I can never understand this Dyson fetish. They appear to give more problems than a pre-war Hoover. Advertising obviously works.
I'm delighted for those Dysonistas who have only good stories to tell and I commiserate with those who only have bad. Me? I bought one of the first Dyson Ballbarrows because it seemed like a good idea. It rotted itself to death over its first winter. I promised myself then that I'd never give James any more of my money, under any circumstances.
Odd, I don't understand it really. Cable was tied off inside - so no strain issues (at least not obviously to me), and no sharp edges where it enters the body. It's a sort of exponential horn profile there.
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