AuburnChick's Adventures

For some time now, we’ve had serious issues with our vacuum cleaner.  You know how, when something is sort-of broken, you tell yourself and everyone else that you’ll get to it…eventually?

Well, that’s how I’ve been with the vacuum.  Shame on me!  With three dogs, being able to vacuum is extremely important!  There’s a lot of dog hair in this house!

Just last weekend, the Mr. and I had talked about the need for a new vacuum; however, because of my lack of a job, it is not high on the list of must-buy items.

Yesterday, I decided to see if there was anything I could do.  I mean, last week, I fixed Chicky’s dehumidifier.  You’ve already read about me fixing the doorbell and the garbage disposal.  I’m in Fix-It Mode.

First, I retrieved the manual from the bag where I keep such items.  The back had a section for troubleshooting, and one of the things the manual suggested was that the hoses be checked.

I ambled over and peered down the long black coil.  I didn’t see anything amiss.

Back to the manual, where I read about taking apart such and such part off of such and such part.

Insert Tim the Toolman’s Ar, Ar, Ar.

AuburnChick was gonna get her hands dirty.

Woo Hoo!

Armed with a variety of screwdrives, I got to work.

First, I turned the cleaner on its side to look at the roller brush…

Oh boy.  Not good.  Chicky and I have long-ish hair.  I wondered if this could be the problem.

I found the reset button on the side…the one the manual suggested to get the roller brush turning again.  Could this be the problem?

Alas, no, it wasn’t.  Sure, the brush was turning, but it was still spitting out gunk.

No such thing as a quick fix, eh?  Time to get serious.

I unplugged it and began removing screws and eventually had the thing taken apart.  Look at what I found when I took the top cover off…

That’s dust and dog hair.

Gross!

I made a quick pass at the initial line of dust/hair only to spy this…sticking out of the hose that connects to the roller…

That was just the tip of the iceburg, so to speak.  I removed the rest of the hose and had to use the longest screwdriver to push out the rest of the junk that had gotten jammed inside…

What a nasty, icky job!  I meticulously cleaned the rest of the vacuum, cut the hair from the roller brush, and put all of the parts back together.  I didn’t even have any parts left over!

It was now time to test it.

Would it work?

Of course!  Never doubt AuburnChick’s ability to figure things out!

Never has vacuuming been so much fun (except for the first time I used it after pulling it out of the box).  After cleaning on 1/2 half of one bedroom, here’s what I collected…

Almost an entire container of gunk.

Ewww.

I eagerly made my way through three bedrooms, rearranging furniture in the process.

If you ever want Chicky to do something, let her fix it first.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: home improvement, vacuum cleaners |