The bag door doesn’t seal
The bag door itself does not create the seal, the backside of the cardboard bag top and the rubber seal of the bag Compartment do as well as the bags rubber seal and also the conical rubber gasket around the air inlet on the inside of the bag door do. That conical gasket keeps the cardboard bag top against the rubber seal of the bag compartment. When you install a bag, stand the cleaner on its hind end and do it that way, this insures that you get the bag properly seated against the rubber bag compartment gasket and close the door still with the the cleaner in that position. Otherwise the bag may not properly seat if installed in the horizontal normal operation position. The conical gasket on the metal inlet tube inside the bag door is what keeps the bag pushed against the inner gasket so the bag door itself does not create a seal. It should definitely be there and if it is not, you will need to get one.
In fact you can run the cleaner with the bag installed but the bag door open by holding the power switch in the on position, it will not stay on with the door open because of a spring loaded plunger that turns the switch off when the bag door opens. It’s all mounted under the top trim and the plunger is located next to the clip for the bag latch. The plunger on the inside of the bag door prevents the bag door from staying closed without a bag installed and hence also prevents the machine from operating without a bag.
If the machine is sealing properly as well as the hose you should get virtually no air blowing out of the back end when testing the suction from both the front of the machines suction opening without the hose installed and also when covering the suction opening of the hose with the hose installed. Since your hose is rubber or plastic it probably is in good shape.
Check to make sure the automatic control system works, it monitors suction before and after the bag. If something has become disconnected it could be causing a leak. To make the automatic control work, set the dial on 1 and it will be most sensitive and should pop the bag door open and shut off the machine to indicate to check for a full bag. 1 is most sensitive to an imbalance of suction of suction due to the bag Clogging and filling with dirt . 6 is the least sensitive setting and will “retard” the operation allowing more dirt to fill in the bag and the cleaner to continue to operate at weak suction from a clogged bag.
A clogged bag will reduce suction. Is the bag a new empty bag? This could be the issue. If someone vacuumed up fine powdery dust and the cleaner is set on 6 it will run but with low suction and the motor will be strained but you could think the bag is empty. Set the dial on 1, if it pops open then try each number going up one at a time. Usually cleaning efficiency suction starts being significantly reduced after number 3 as those higher numbers allow the machine to run with a more clogged bag which creates the less efficient state so best to keep the dial on 3 or 4 for normal cleaning and change the bag if it pops open on those settings. Use a higher number only temporarily to finish a fine dust cleaning job, then change the bag and reset the dial to 3. If you have a lot of shedding pets your normal setting will be a lower number as pet hair doesn’t block suction so the bag will become packed before the suction goes down.
If the automatic control doesn’t activate at all ever on 1 and the bag has a significant amount of dirt in it Then one of the tubes for the automatic control system may be missing or broken or come disconnected. They are easy to fix as it uses clear plastic tubing. Also the sensor could have gone bad. Though I’ve generally found the automatic control system to be relatively non problematic and quite reliable.
Ultimately you should have fabulous suction with a fresh empty bag and if it is installed correctly no air will leak at the gap between the bag door and front of the cleaner.
There is another seal around the motor that could have gone bad but I’d check the above things first. It’s not as common for the rubber baffle of the motor to go bad but it has happened. A loose motor will also affect suction too. If the machine seems to vibrate while winding down when shutting off that’s an indication the motor mount screws have loosened over time. An Electrolux man taught me this.
Jon
