Power head not working on riccar 1800 series vacuum

Karl Whisenand

• 1554 Answers
• Posted on Apr 01, 2008

SOURCE: burning smell

Unlock the sweeper brushes and take them out. on each end is a cup bearing and should be free of debris.
then check around and under the belt and likely there is debris wrapped around it.
the post is getting hot as your pulling too much of a load.
though if it continues the motor may have a bad set of motor brushes (inside the motor) or bad wiring (kinda unlikely).

SOURCE: Vacuum smells like burning rubber

Usually when my vacuum smells like burning rubber, the belt needs to be changed and that is very easy to do. You just need to remove the the screws that hold in the rotator and put in a new belt. When the belt needs to be changed the vacuum will not pick up anything and this could make it seem like there is no suction. I hope this helps!

SOURCE: Our vacuum smells like burning rubber. Does it

Burning rubber smell means the brush belt need attention. Make sure the brush is turning freely and replace the belt

SOURCE: Eureka 2961 BVZ no suction, burning smell

I have the same vacuum. The burning smell is letting you know that your belt is either broken or about to break. I have had mine for a year and have had to replace the belt 5 times. Now I have to replace the brush roller 'cause it broke under normal use. My next vacuum will be a Dyson Ball.

SOURCE: Belt keeps burning and breaking

Hello There,

It sounds like you need to replace the roller brush. If your Bissell is breaking belts that fast, then that can only really mean one of two things. The first being that the belts are not being properly installed, and the roller brush is pinching the belt which causes the belt to break, but after 3 belts I doubt this to be the case.

Probably the more likely problem is that the brush roller's bearing have seized up. You may test this by removing the roller brush from the vacuum, and holding it with on your two pointer fingers holding the outside bearing caps of the brush, making sure not to touch the actual part that spins. Now try to spin the brush while holding the bearing caps with your pointer fingers. The brush should spin freely, and should revolve around 5-6 times with each spin. If the brush doesn't spin easily, then this is going to put a lot more stress on the belt.

You may try to remove the bearing caps on the ends by twisting them off, and visually inspect each side to make sure there is no hair or thread that's lodged inside the bearing cap. This will make the brush hard to spin, and can cause you to burn belts quickly like you have been. You may find the bearing caps will not come off. This indicates that your brush roll has worn out the bearings completely, and the bearing caps have melted to the bearings due to extreme heat. You will then need to replace the roller brush if this is the case, and it maybe the best solution for you if you have burned through 3 belts so quickly.

The roller brush for your Bissell (I'm assuming this is yours as this is where the repair was posted on Fixya) 6594 PowerForce upright uses Bissell roller brush part number; 203-1195. Here's a link if you need to purchase one;
http://www.govacuum.com/biclandpobar.html

I have uploaded the parts schematic and owners manual to the main Fixya page for your model as well. Sometimes it can take 24 hours for Fixya to publish this data, but please visit the link to these documents in 24 hours or less;
http://www.fixya.com/support/p49887-bissell_6594_powerforce_bagless_upright#manuals.

If your roller brush is good, then examine where the brush rests inside of the vacuum cleaner, this is called the agitator housing. Look at the sides of the agitator housing where the bearing caps rest. Do you see any visible damage on either side? Sometimes the brush can get so hot, it may melt the agitator housing on the sides where the brush rests, this will also cause the belts to burn very quickly.

I hope that this information is helpful to you. If none of these suggestions fixed your vacuum, please just add a comment, or request a clarification request here on Fixya, and I'll be happy to respond. If this was helpful, please be sure to rate the repair by clicking on the 4 thumbs up icons in the upper right hand corner.

Thank you,

Chris J.
GoVacuum