Replacing a broken belt on your vacuum cleaner is something that everyone can do. It only takes a screwdriver and a few minutes work to get your cleaner back in action.
With the cost of vacuum cleaners today it is really worth getting a few extra $3 parts that you know will need to be replaced.
Filters and bags can often be picked up at the store you purchased your vacuum at or you can check the YouRepair.com Store for extra Bags, Filters and Belts. Please see the end of this HowTo for direct links to our store items.
Ok well lets hope you already have your extra part or you can get it shipped to you in a couple days.
The first thing we need to do is remove the bottom plate on our upright vacuum.
Three screws hold on this models bottom access door and it comes right off. If you still have your manual you can probably view an exploded view of your parts and find right where your access panel screws are but they are not too hard to find.
Often they are recessed so that dirt wont clog the screw heads and they won’t snag on your rug so if you see a deep hole about the size of a screw head …. chances are there is a screw in there that needs to come out.
Your model vacuum may have clips or other ways to secure the belt access panel but it should be pretty easy to figure out. When in doubt visit your manufacture’s website for a detail exploded view.
Now that we have the access panel off we can quickly see that we were right. The reason the beater bar head stopped moving was because the belt broke.
If you have not purchased your replacement belt yet do not throw your old belt away. Often there is a serial number on the belt that can be read and will give you the exact part number you need.
Other then that you should know that all belts stretch so matching up the length of the belt probably won’t do you any good but matching the width of the belt can be important if you just cant find your belt available anymore. In this case if you are using the old belt to match your replacement you want the same width and you definitely want a shorter length. Probably about 30% shorter because remember it will stretch over time.
Now we have the old belt off and we are installing the new belt.
At one end you have your beater bar on the other end you will see there is a stem shaft that is connected to our motor. If you look closely in the hole you will see that you can slip the end of the vacuum belt over it. This is not a secured method where the belt is tied in place …. the belt will be held in place by tension.
Now we insert the beater bar into the loop of the belt and stretch the belt so we can get the beater bar back into its slots.
This is not easy and it shouldn’t be. There should be a lot of tension on the belt and it should be difficult but possible to stretch it back in place.
Ok that is about it now all we have to do is put the access plate back on the bottom of the vacuum and fire it up for a test drive.
Always place the access plate back on the vacuum before starting. This plate more then likely acts double duty to hold the beater bar in place and if you were to turn the vacuum on with the door removed you could injure yourself and probably with out a doubt you will cause some damage to your vacuum cleaner.
Also its just a lot safer.
Ok so there we go for about $5 or $10 we repaired our vacuum and didn’t even have to take it some place.
One of the amazing things about yard-sales or trash days is that people will not even try doing this easy repair themselves so they will often just think that the vacuum is dead and they need to get a new one.
If you see an almost brand new looking vacuum cleaner out for garbage pickup or in a yard sale give it a look. Turn it over and see if the beater bar spins free. If it does take it home and maybe you have an extra vacuum that you can use to clean the garage or to stick in the basement so you don’t have to carry yours up and down the stairs.
Because now you know for $5 and a little work …. you can fix it…
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