Shorted Motor Burst Triac In EUREKA FORBES Vacuum Cleaner EUROCLEAN XL
This vacuum cleaner belonged to brother of my neighbor, who was my regular customer. The reported complaint was that it was dead. I opened and cleaned the inside thoroughly. There were ‘tons’ of dust in its bag, which was found torn and the fine dust had penetrated deep inside.
I disposed the paper bag and cleaned the inside thoroughly. Then opened the back cover by loosening the holding screws. The auto-winding unit which housed the cord came off, exposing the PCB and connecting circuits.
On checking up the PCB, I found that the triac was short and the speed control potentiometer was also burnt. The indications were very clear that the load, which is the Motor might have been the cause. With the collection bag not emptied and replaced, the motor would have got overloaded. Here you can have a closer look of the PCB:
After removing the holding screws, I removed the ivory coloured back cover housing and removed the motor.
The following pictures might be of use to those who are interested in venturing a self-help in changing a motor:
I directly connected the motor to AC for checking and the MCB tripped confirming the doubt that the motor had an internal short. I checked for any shorts in the carbon brushes which can also cause a trip and found these to be ok.
There was more than half of the carbon remaining to be burnt. (In the last picture above, you can see the two carbon brushes housed in metal enclosure which have springs at the rear to push it in as and when it wears out) I contacted my techie friends who do vacuum cleaner service regularly and got the company’s franchisee situated around 30 KMs away from my home. I also obtained the name of the in-charge and contact number. The motor wanted by me was not in stock and he assured me to fetch it from the factory within a few days. After follow up with him a couple days, finally he announced that the motor had come. I clubbed my visit to attend an association meeting, in which I held the post of Vice-President, along with this errand. On visiting the office, I was given a motor which was smaller in size with an extra fitting at the rear to hold the motor in place. According to them, the company had changed the design. (I am sorry I forgot to click the pictures of the new motor with its extra fitting, amongst my busy schedules!). I checked the resistance of the coil of the new motor and found it to be 9.2 Ohms:
Perhaps you can notice that the new motor shown above does not have a projection at the rear like the old motor. The fiber attachment given along with the motor together sit snugly. The motor comes with a new round rubber bush, which is not in the above picture. Since fixing the spring loaded back cover of the motor along with the extra fitting was very difficult to handle alone, I took help of one of my close techie friends, who was only very glad to come home and aid me. After fixing the motor and its housing, I fixed the Control board, in which I had already replaced the Triac and did the retouching of solder. (No other components were found burnt or value changed though the Triac was short! This came to me as a surprise!) After rewiring the switch and control board, we applied power keeping the new speed control sliding pot at minimum and slowly increased and found it to be working very well.
After allowing it to run for a few minutes, we closed the back cover and retested it. It was found working very well with good sucking power. The following is a picture of the old motor and sliding pot, along with the fully fit unit kept ready for delivery to the customer. Mission accomplished with a sigh of relief! The satisfaction also had a relief when it could join its predecessors! (LOL)
This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 72 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.
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Albert van Bemmelen
April 15, 2023 at 2:58 pm
Like often you do not easily scare for the more dirty repair jobs! But in this case I suppose it would have been wiser to just buy a new vacuum cleaner with brandnew motor and new warranty claim.
Parasuraman S
April 17, 2023 at 7:39 am
The cost of the motor was about 20% and the customer did not want to throw it off or exchange it. Many thanks for your comments!
Waleed Rishmawi
April 15, 2023 at 3:47 pm
goodjob on the repair my friend. I see a lot of machines like that which need new motor. sad to say the new motor cost the same exact cost of the new vaccum cleaner so not many people were interested in the repair. if I have to repair a machine like that I would go to some stores that sell used vaccum cleaners and try to find a replacement motor and most of the time I can not find any. if I find it I would buy that used vaccum cleaner, replace the motor and then keep the old machines for parts in the shop but hardly I ever do that. have a blessed day
Parasuraman S
April 17, 2023 at 7:42 am
We do not have such discarded VC in and around like in your country. Secondly, no checking is possible when we pick up something like that from a scrap yard. We need to take risks. Thirdly, the cost of such VCs would be almost equivalent to a new motor.