My Dyson DC01 has just died and from the location of the electrical burnt smell the prime candidate is the mains switch.
However, I'm struggling to get at it. I assume the big (yellow in my case) mains button must pop out.
I've read lots of posts related to a different model (DC04) which suggest you just need to push a screwdriver down a small slot - the DC01 has such a slot but allow I have managed to insert a small screwdriver, it doesn't feel like it is depressing a lug, nor does the button release.
Does anyone know how to remove the button on a DC01 - is a different technique required?
The Dyson is quite old now and served us well. It has continued to work very well upto the point of the switch failure and I think that once the switch is repaired it will continue to work well.
If in my shoes you would truely throw the Dyson away without attempting a cheap repair and buy a new vacuum cleaner then you have far more disposable income than I - please accept my congratulations and admiration of your huge wealth and my wishes that it is sustainable and indeed increases.
Got all excited for a minute but then had to calm down. Although the site you provided does claim to be for a DC01, I don't beleive it is. The pictures shown are certainly not like my DC01 - and mine does not have a Torx screw to remove.
Perhaps I have an older/earlier version of the DC01 or the site is decribing the process for another model.
My DC01 doesn't have the viewable torx screw either.
You have to slide something thin down the inside edge of the button, the side against the handle, and gently lever the botton of the button away from the handle side, whilst at the same time lifting the button out.
This will reveal a screw, which does indeed retain the switch.
I had the same problem with mine. My futile attempts to dismantle the beast resulted in its total destruction. Reminds me of the days when, as a child, I was facinated by clocks. None of them survived either! I subsequently learnt that there is a tool that somehow pushes the right bits of plastic in order to get it to bits. Our local electrical retailer and repair shop charges =A315 for fixing broken switches and the more common problem of breaks in the cable where it enters the cleaner. Personally, I hate the 'snap together' assembly methods that are used in todays manufacture of domestic electrical appliances. Give me good-old nuts, bolts and screws anytime.
I think I must have been mistaken. My model is a DC04 - followed the instructions on the website given. Have to jam a screwdriver down the side of the button to release it - horrid design.
Got the switch out and found the cable had cracked and burned through - common complaint according to the groups.
Nothing wrong with the switch, stripped the cable and it's working fine.
Thanks for the help.
To Steve Gee I wish I had just thrown it away and bought a Henry as you had recommended- now I'm going to have to spend the £90 on beer or something.
A flaw like that indicates crap design, one wonders what other horrors lurk within. I've always been staggered by Dyson lovers, they pay around £250 for a hunk of tat, rattle on about how it is "bagless" and then have to buy expensive filters, and put up with poor performance and incredible noise.
I may be one of the lucky few but my Dyson is at least 10 years old and this is the first fault that has developed with it.
I have not replaced filters that often (perhaps less than I should have done). The filter at the top is washable and I have never replaced it. I have replaced the filter at the bottom (HEPA) twice maybe three times at a cost of around £18 each.
When it needs a costly repair will I replace it - No Why not if it has served so well - Down to weight really, especially now we have a loft conversion (2 flights of stairs) Would I replace it because of the weight, even though it is working - Maybe, see how it goes What would I get - Don't know but a Henry would be on the list
So I have no problems with my Dyson. It has been the best and cheapest (if you spread the cost over lifetime - about £27 per annum) vacuum I have ever owned
If it weren't for the weight I would buy another when time comes to replace.
I always have to smile at these Dyson Vs Henry threads, since the proponents of the various brands frequently seem to miss the bleeding obvious: they are not really comparing like with like. If you like cylinder type cleaners a Henry is great and one of the best examples of the breed, however if you want an upright cleaner then a Dyson upright is (by definition) better.
The later ones (DC7 onward) seem lighter and much of the "clunkiness" of the design has been ironed out.
We are in the same situation - three stories - so the 12 year old DC01[1] lives on the top floor, and the DC14 gets moved about the others.
The Henry is nice for what it is, but if you have lots of carpets to clean then I find them hard work.
Yup same here, although there are things about the DC01 I am not too keen on[2] it has cost very little amortised over the time we have had it (cost about £140 new IIRC). I had[3] never used another upright that was as good at cleaning carpets - especially lifting pet hair (and I have tried a good few).
[1] only faults occurred when I was using it as a dust extractor for the router, and managed to tip sawdust into the switch - I had to blow it out to get it to switch on again, and I broke the plastic hepa / bin retaining clip once (couple of quid from Dyson tech support). Treated it to a new brush bar recently since the old one was getting a bit short in the tooth!
[2] The DC01 is heavy (ish), noise is on par with many uprights I have used, but way louder than the Numatic beasties. It can clog easily if not looked after, and it only has moderate suction when using its hose. The way some of the tools fit on the hose (with that kludgy adaptor pipe), and the fact that the top end of the wand is used upside down is also a bit naff.
[3] Till I tried a friends DC07, and went out and got the DC14 "Animal" shortly after. By comparison to the DC01, the DC14 is much lighter, a bit quieter, has ferocious suction, and the tool and wand design is all very swish - can't really find anything I don't like on it. The bin emptying design is very good, and all the air passages simply clip off when required, so if you do accidentally suck up a 4" nail it is easy to retrieve from wherever it ends up getting stuck.
I think you must, but then that maybe something to do with what you use it for (not as silly as it sounds).
Many of us 'abuse' our suction cleaners if you read the small print .. "No brick dust, nails, kids toys" etc) and from the number of Dysons I have 'recovered' (about to be dumped because people are 'fed up' with them) they have been kill or disabled by fairly trivial faults.
Two of which being the broken mains lead as it enters the machine (why no strain relief like most other brands?) and bits getting stuck under the 'complicated' rubber flaps they use (on the DC01 here) to stop the thing trying to suck nothing when the wand is in and the machine upright. These flaps are normally jammed open only by stuff not normally found on a domestic floor.
The only reason we have ours is because of the above (discarded / repaired .. I offered it back to them repaired (free) but they didn't want it!) and I wouldn't dream of using it for anything other than a plain flat floor. For anything more complicated Henry is ready and waiting and the only times he has 'stopped working' (for a moment) is when he has inhaled half a house brick or a 6" nail!
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