Why you should clean the brush roll end caps on your vacuum

[niclonnic]

Last night, I did a little maintenance on my Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Lift-Off vacuum.

On the bottom of the vacuum, I noticed that some dirt was clogged in the suction channels. I unscrewed the 10 screws holding the bottom cover in place, and then lifted it off. Sure enough, there was a bunch of hair and some large debris jammed in the channels, so I took it all out.

Then I took the brush roll out, and it wasn't turning very smoothly. I looked at the end caps, and couldn't see anything clogging them clearly. A butter knife did nothing, so I took a tiny flathead screwdriver and wedged it between the end caps (I couldn't remove them). Sure enough, there was quite a bit of hair stuck in them! It took a bit of work to get all the hair out, but the brush roll is turning smoothly again.

This is just a PSA from me that if your brush roll isn't turning smoothly, clogged end caps could be the culprit. How often do you clean the end caps on your vacuums?

 

[marks_here]

When I had pets

And hair I cleaned mines after I finished vacuuming because if I let it build up it was a pain to get off plus I didn't like the smell of burning rubber.

 

[huskyvacs]

You know what I bet is happening because it is a "tangle free" brushroll - I think it's just sliding all the hairs down to the end caps and then it works its way inside the roller.

 

[ridgidwd0670]

I clean the brush rollers of my Eureka ESP, Kirby Classic 1CR & Electrolux 1692 PN on daily/weekly basis

btw that Bissell Pet Hair Eraser 'tangle-free brush roll' is just a 'false claim'

Ain't no such thing as a tangle-free brush roll; either the brush roller itself and/or bearing end caps still collect hair & debris

I hate that the Lux Sidekick PN brush roller end caps don't come off at all!

 

[lesinutah]

Dang

It looks as small as fishing line in the third pic. I wish mine was pet hair it's long dark brown human hair. I do get pet hair but the hair is more like pics.
My wife used the rainbow. I took off the water basin and the seperator wasn't cleaned. The brush roll had a little hair.
I also clean brush roll and check filters after every use.
You can say I'm a little OCD but how can you expect a vacuum to clean if it's not clean.
The shark zero m is suppose to be tangle free. The only way it could be tangle free is straight suction and no roller.
Les

 

[jo]

We don’t have long hair in our house so I rarely if ever have this problem, also have mostly hardwood now but even when we had 60 percent carpet, nothing much ever got wrapped around the brush. I just visited my niece who rents our other house and looked at her vacuums and sure enough they had all sorts of threads and hair and yarn from carpet pieces on the floor that are not bound all on the rollers and I cleaned them off. What a mess. I didn’t open anything up to check the end caps, but I do do that on a full cleanout and rehab or if a belt has to be changed.

Since I’m going to be the one paying for replacement carpet in the house our niece lives in, I figure if I check the vacuums periodically to make sure they are working correctly, it will help keep the carpets cleaner. After all, I provided her with both of the vacuums anyway. I got her two for two purposes..so if one goes out she has another so no excuse to not vacuum and also the house is two story so I figured this way she can have one per level which might encourage her to vacuum more frequently rather than putting it off because the vacuum is on the wrong level at the time and doesn’t feel like hauling it up or down to clean up as frequently. So far it’s working out better now that she has two machines than one, at first when I offered her a second she said, why? Is it better than the one I have. I said “maybe a second for upstairs” and she instantly said ok. She’s kind of a minimalist so didn’t see the point in a second vacuum at first.

Jon

 

[vacuumdevil]

Really depends on the vacuum with that particular vacuum the brush rollers meant to be changed as a whole assembly.

Something like a ebk360 once every two to three years.

Something like an old-school Hoover with exposed bearings I'd say every 6 months to a year.

 

[suckolux]

Seems to be worse with folks with long hair in the house too. I sure don't have that, but many families do.

 

[n0oxy]

cleaning end cap and brush roll

By far the Sebo vacuums make this the easiest, you can remove the entire roller with no tools, I'm surprised other companies don't do something similar, that's one reason among others why I think Sebo is the best brand of portable vacuum available right now.
Mike

 

[human]

I loaned a Kirby Heritage 1HD to a girlfriend a while back and after she'd had it for a couple of years (yeah, it was a long-term loan that turned out to be permanent), she complained that it wasn't working very well anymore. I brought it home and found the brush roll was completely encased in her long, brown hair. Took me about 30 minutes with my pocket knife to cut it all out. I should have just kept it at that point but instead, I cleaned it up, even polished it, and took it back over to her. That turned out to be a big mistake because she left it behind in her apartment when she moved out last year. But that's another rant that I've already made in an earlier thread. Let's just say we've had almost no communication since.