Carbon Brushes...

[jmurray01]

OK, I know how carbon brushes work and that they wear down, but my question is how quickly ?

I know it is probably in the same league as "how long is a piece of string ?" but if anybody could help inform me I'd be grateful.

For example, do certain things make them wear down quicker ? And under well maintained circumstances do they even wear at all ? Also, what are the early symptoms of worn brushes ?

I know nothing other than the role they play in the motor, so any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[alexhoovers94]

How quickly the carbon brushes burn down depends on how often or how much you use the vacuum cleaner, if you had a vacuum cleaner that had 1cm long carbon brushes that had worn down over time, that could last you a year, on average use, but again it depends if you vacuum daily, weekly, and how many hours you vacuum for.

I am not aware there are any specific symptoms of carbon brushes wearing out, however, I do know that if one, or both of the carbon brushes are worn down too much, resulting in them not contacting the comutatuor propperly, the vacuum will cut out and therefore will not work until they are replaced.

 

[vacu-finder]

In my experience they and that is based on all machines, all manufactuers, 6amp 12amp whatever, uprite, canister whatever.
On average I would say about 10 to 15 years. And i have seen brushes still good at 30 years.
If there is a lot of fine dust passing through the motor then brushes will wear out quicker.
Another factor is heat. But don't forget a motor can have good brushes but the commutator can be worn out.! Excessive heat and load can do this.

 

[jmurray01]

Well I'm pretty lucky then!

I have two vacuums which are older than 30 years - my 1977 Hoover Senior and my 1951 Hoover Dustette. Both of which still run like brand new with no repairs what so ever in their lives, as do all my other Vacuum Cleaners. The reason I believe they do so is because I don't use too low a height setting (where applicable), don't block the air ways, change the bag before it gets past half full and keep the filters spotless.

 

[vacuumfreak95]

Oreck.

I need to replace the Carbon Brushes in my Oreck. I just don't feel like spending the money right now. All in due time.

 

[jmurray01]

So how can it still be running when it needs new brushes ?

 

[vacuumfreak95]

Oreck

It's not have had it sitting in the closet.

 

[jmurray01]

On further inspection of my blown Hoover Turbopower 1000 motor it seems the commutator was at fault, since there is still plenty carbon brushes left, so your theory of that wearing out first in some cases has been proven correct.

 

[vintagerepairer]

On most vacuum cleaner motors made after the 1960s, the brushes are unlikely to ever be replaced as they would usually outlast the cleaner or the motor. Indeed Electrolux used to show a split photograph of their motor, in sales leaflets, and described the brushes as designed to 'last the life' of the motor. Of all the burnt out Electrolux motors I examined, all of them had plenty of carbon left.

This is not to say that with excessive use of the cleaner the brushes might not wear out of course, but it is unlikely to happen under normal usage. And when I say excessive, what is excessive to one user is not to another. I also have to point out that a cleaner is a product to be used. In a home which needed to be vacuumed more regularly, what would be the point in not doing so if one owned the equipment to do it?

In all my years of repairing cleaners, I only ever saw one Hoover Senior which had motor damage. I saw a good deal of Seniors, of many models, often more than one model stuck together to make a dogs-dinner of a cleaner. I put my hand up to such folly too, as I often sent cleaners back to their owner with a 2nd hand 'new' part in the wrong colour. But whilst the Senior cleaners showed signs of great wear and tear, it was never on the motor. The motor was built to last, certainly it was built to take the use of a driving a fan and a roller brush. One would have to do a lot of damage to ruin one of those motors.

 

[jmurray01]

I totally agree Benny, those 600W motors are truly brilliant.

I know I shouldn't jinx it, but I don't believe my 1977 Senior will ever die, at least not through motor problems.

Although you say the motors never broke down, did you ever have to replace the motor brushes in those or were they pretty much everlasting on those old dirty fans ?

 

[vintagerepairer]

Well I recall replacing some Junior and Senior brushes which were looking a bit on the short side, but then they were cheap to replace and I always had plenty of 2nd hand ones around. I'm sure it was the same brush for both cleaners, indeed for a good deal of Hoover motors. Clean fan motors were always more likely to burn out than dirty fan, for a good deal of reasons. The most obvious is that they rely on the passing airflow to cool the motor, and on cylinder cleaners this is a problem because of course using the attachments all the time often restricts the air, unlike an upright which spends most of it's time using the large cleaning head on the front of it.

 

[jmurray01]

Did you ever use a commutator stone to seat the brushes like some people say you should ?

On that subject, do you know where I could buy replacement brushes for the Turbopower 2 motors ? I don't need any just now but for future reference I decided to try and find a source but cannot find a single one!

 

[vintagerepairer]

Yes I have done that with a stone, but I was not keen. To be perfectly honest, it was only really ever Hoover motors which allowed the replacement of brushes. Most other motors were a nightmare to fit brushes too, and in most cases once the brushes were in one would find that the commutator was faulty too. Fitting brushes to old vacuum motors could be a very time consuming and costly affair. As for where you get new brushes today, I expect that like everything else, the answer lies in Google.

 

[jmurray01]

I thought so Benny but there are absolutely no relevant results when I type in "Hoover Turbopower 2 carbon brushes". Nothing what so ever.

Did you ever change any brushes in the Turbopower 2 motors as a matter of interest ?

 

[vintagerepairer]

No, never. I never saw one with a burnt out motor either. The motors were very good. Electrolux of the same period was another matter altogether.

 

[jmurray01]

Oh well, maybe mine was just a one off then, lets hope so!

My 1999 Turbopower 2 is still running great, just don't like the fact it has no Autosense so it is screaming at full power all the time.