Retractable cord I am trying to replace the retractable cord on my vacuum, but I don't know which way to wind it. I have tried both ways and it still doesn't seem to work.

Either the cord inside is caught on something or the retraction spring is broken.
Try to pull it out further, if you can feel any spring-back then most likely the cord is caught, maybe on itself.
Either way, the canister will probably have to be disassembled to fix the problem.

Depending on which model of Electrolux you have and how far out you have pulled out the cord (most of the Electrolux canisters have a yellow tape around the machine end of the cord to alert you not to pull it out any further), you might have to take it apart to fix it. However, the first thing that I would try would be to stand it on the end (the hose end at the top), and pull short jerks on the cord to see if it will correct itself and retract. If that does not fix it, I would stick a screwdriver in the hole where the cord comes out of the machine and attempt to wind the cord reel back up which will slowly wind the cord back up on the cordwinder. This usually cause the cord to wind back up. If that does not work, then the only option is to take the machine apart to fix it.

These get stuck all the time...I own 2 of these , and I have done this many times...Get a can of WD40 or some type of spray lubricant with the little straw in the nozzle. Try pulling and pushing the cord back inside(don't pull it too hard) while you are spraying the lubricant directly inside where the cord comes out. push the cord back in as if you were going to force all of it back inside the cord winder. You may even have to bump the back of the machine where the cord winder is located. But it will wind back up.If you are worried about getting the lubricant on something that it doesn't need to be on , then take the Vac apart and spray it directly on the the coils of the cord winder..A lot of times, that's all they do in the repair shop when they tell you they replaced the cord winder....

Maybe there is a button on it that you press while pulling the cord,my iron has one.

You will probably have to replace the cord winding mechanism. I have never had any luck trying to repair one. Cord retracters are great when they work but it seems like they always go bad before too long. On many units you can't even replace the cord if you get a bad spot in it, you have to buy a new cord reel which can get expensive.

Tools required: Haxalobular screwdriver (Torx or 'Star'), Strong hands/fingers, flathead screwdriver.

Possible hazards: sharp edges (metal plastic), bacteria enriched dust/dirt.

Notice the black ring/skirt near the bottom of the unit...sit on the vacuum cleaner, and pull very firmly at the ring, which will begin to click and pull upwards, rotate around the unit pulling the ring up until the whole ring comes off and you can pull it off over the top of the unit.

Now, there will be a white plastic ring revealed around the unit, using a Flat Head screwdriver to pry the ring out of the grooves it sits in (pull it off towards the bottom of the unit as opposed to the intial black ring coming off upwards).

Now take the handle of the unit and give a firm **** upwards, the whole encasement will slide off in your hand.

You will now see the spring loaded cord retracter. The problem here is that the spring has become too losely wound back onto the larger spindle, or it is dirty.

Firstly pull the entire power cord through the outer shell that you removed (you will need to unscrew and remove the black facade that the cord goes through otherwise the head of the cord wont go through).

Then take the plastic cirlce cover off the smaller spindle (carefully as the wound tin spring could pounce).

Now you need to manually turn the larger wheel clockwise until it has no coil left on it, and the smaller coil now is full.

While winding, dont let the powercord wind back onto the wheel, let it sit to the side (there will be a bit of tangle which will go back to normal when we finish winding back the other way).

Once it is fully loaded onto the smaller coil, wind it back on to the larger coil again, but make sure it's loading on 'tight'. You can ensure this by keeping some pressure on the smaller spindle while winding (be carefull because the coil edge is sharp). Once the smaller coil is basically gone and there is just a small curved end of the coil, put the small spindle back on making the curved coil wrap around it.

Wind some coil back onto the smaller spindle so there is atleast one full ring plus a small overlap, around the spindle, or it may come off. Also, make sure that where the cord is coming out of the larger spindle, is pointing towards where it goes out the back of the vacuum cleaner, so that when you pull the cable it wont wind the wheel at all, otherwise it may wind some coil off the smaller spindle.

Proceed to put the unit back together, but before putting the white and black rings back on, test the retract button. I noticed the first attempt to put it back together that the external button had not lined up with the internal mechanism and it wouldnt retract, i had to open it again.

All done, it should now retract, but it will never be as strong as the day you bought it, but atleast you dont have to have the cord hanging round. Hope this helps.

if you can open it up extend the cord and wrap it around the spool.make sure its clean.spray a little wd40 on the shaft of the pully so it moves freely

I had the same problem with my Hoover s3639. The cord rewinder started squeaking, and retracted less and less of the cord each time, until it finally stopped retracting the cord at all. Here is what I did. I hope it will work for you as well. Open the covered tool storage and remove the tools. You should see three screws. Unscrew the screws. Remove the cover. You should see the motor for the vacuum and the cord rewinder. Between the vacuum motor and the white wheel where the cord is, you should see two brass wheels that turn into each other in order to operate the cord rewinder. Spray a small amount WD-40 between the two brass wheels. This should solve your problem.

I had a problem with my K1 Komfort model which sounds similar to this. I initially thought the cord was too short but the machine wouldn't give out anymore and retracting was difficult. A Sebo engineer/helpline told me to pull roughly on the cord, of which I did and was rewarded with 2 metres more than what I thought I didnt have! So, perhaps if your machine isn't retracting properly, give the cord a rough pull with gloves on, or a strong grip - the cables on the K series are notorious for stopping up. Afterwards wipe the entire cord down with furniture polish; it will retract much more quickly.