Today my beloved Henry suddenly started smoking! I turned off immediately, unplugged and detached everything. took it outside and found a blocked entry pipe which I cleared. Emptied the bag and replaced. It was full of rubbish as used by workmen putting in a new kitchen! If I put it together again is it safe to plug it in and see if it works? If it doesn't work maybe the motor has given up? If so can I replace it? Are there U tube instructions?
Giddi
A real electrician will probably come along in a minute and tell you don't do this at home but as a fond owner of a George I'd say plug it in and give it a try. Your house electrics ought to protect you and if it goes Bang! it will go Bang! inside a really thick plastic case. Maybe don't put the bag and the filter in for this first, quick test?
If it goes Bang, you probably need a new motor. If it's totally silent, check the fuse in the plug before anything else. If it works, job done.
Numatic is a British company and they carry lots of spares which you can get direct from them or from other outlets. Nice article about them here:
<snip>
All you need to do is to type replace henry motor into the search box at the top of the YouTube page.
You sure it was smoke and not dust? Yes, take it outside, switch it on, then plug it in and switch on at the switch, see if it works. Be quick to turn it off at the plug if there's more smoke, a fire in a working vacuum cleaner is a fantastically interesting thing.
Best search for the exact part number of the motor in your henry, as there've been many variations over the years ...
They're cheap enogh to replace.
Something that requires the OP to make a video of it.
Take the machine outside, and plug it in inside. If it works, that's fine. If not, we can take it from there.
And, yes, they are easy to work on. Replacing the motor is a doddle.
On Sun, 29 Aug 2021 17:01:13 +0100, Nick Odell snipped-for-privacy@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote: [snip]
If I were going to do this, I would switch if at the socket well clear of the appliance.
I had a Henry once (or maybe it was a VAX) that appeared to be broken. It turned out that there was a thermal fuse in the motor circuit which took a few hours to cool down enough to self-reset due to the sound absorbing insulation around the motor. So its worth waiting a few hours before assuming that a vacuum cleaner is truly dead.
John
Did it really run long enough to overheat ?
If it immediately smoked right after switch-on, then you are probably not looking at a thermal failure.
Someone measures the power consumed on a couple machines, and there is a slight difference between them. To be doing such comparisons, both air paths would need to exhibit the same airflow resistance. Like, a clean bag in each before measurement. The motors can consume a kilowatt on some of the more powerful machines, and that heat (eventually) has to escape somewhere. But it takes a few minutes for the heat to build up in one.
If you ran it for ten or fifteen minutes without checking it was jammed up, then I could imagine something melting in there. While some vacuum cleaners have thermal cutoffs, not all of them do.
Paul
Plug it in.
Spare motors for Henrys are available (approx £35 for a compatible, £56 for genuine part). Check the brushes first as that may have been the cause of smoke.
Youtube instructions are available
My Henry has survived a many years of building rubbish - small rubble, plaster dust etc. but I always use the Hepa-Flo bas which keeps the filter clean and stops anything entering the motor.
Don't Henry vacuum cleaners normally smoke :) :)
I'd be inclined to phone the workmen and ask them to sort it out.
should be safe. they are basic beasts and spares are available
Safe?, well maybe if its out of doors but the likelihood is some damage will have been done to something if it started to smoke. I would suggest its buggered and it might be time to get a new one. Brian
My Henry is mostly metal with plastic bits attached here and there. Brian
My Wickes branded ???? wet'n'dry vac suddenly started smoking and smelling of hot pvc wiring. The fan on top of the motor that provides suction action also sucks cooling air through the motor and being 1Kw+ got V hot V quickly. The fan was screwed onto the motor spindle but somehow the nut had come loose over time. Looks like it wasn't correctly punched down after tightening - no washer tab. In the few seconds that I heard the noise change the damage had been done to the windings. Luckily the company ???? was located at Guildford, Surrey and not too far away. They sold complete top assemblies with the motor pre-fitted for £31 which was OK for me. They wouldn't sell me a bare motor - 'elf n safety'.
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