Quick Repair - Hoover Whirlwind WR71

Hello my Vacuum Cleaner Chums!

One of my girlfriends friends asked her if I still repaired vacuum cleaners. Of course, the answer was yes, and I found myself coming home tonight via her house and collecting this

A Hoover Whirlwind WR71.

She said she had had it about 4 months, and it wasn't picking up. A quick browse of google confirm it is indeed current and being sold in Tesco for £50. Hoover want a frankly eye watering £120 for it!

So, I had my suspicions as to what it might be, and a quick test when I got home confirmed the relief valve was opening, and there was sod all suction.

So, I had the cyclone off

 I hate little filters like this. Totally ineffective, infact I threw this away and cut up an random better bit of filter to fill it's gap. So much fluff and debris gets through these things, and clogs the motor fan up

 I undid the cyclone

 undid the filter, and immediatly my suspicions were confirmed

 I'd be amazed if she even knew it had a filter, let alone that she needs to clean and bang it out with every bin empty!

 A brief whack out/vacuum off had it looking like this

 and a more thorough vacuum and brushing had it as good as it was going to get

 I admired the comical dual purpose tool

 A for Energy, Z for actual cleaning/longetivity!

 I flipped it over to give it a check over. The sealing strips for the baseplate haven't fared too well (although I don't know what type of flooring she has, probably something unsuitable like hard flooring)

 I had the baseplate off, and cut the threads off the very stiff brushroll

 The side sealing felt strips were ok on this side

But filthy on this side!

So, it was now working ok again, and can go back to it's owner!

Top Facts!

Cost - £30 - £50
Filter Cost - £7.50 excluding postage
Filters Washable - Yes according to the instruction manual
Wattage - 750w
Energy Label -

Suitable for hard floors - NO! There is no brush control, so you cannot turn the brush off. The brushes are also VERY stiff, so it grooms well, but could damage lino flooring


My Score - 3/10
It's a cheap cleaner, but it shows! This type of cyclonic machine is always awful, the filter will clog VERY quickly, and it will need constant maintenance. I would be surprised if it lasted 2 years of normal use! Spare parts will be almost impossible to get hold of if anything structural breaks, and Hoover will probably not even acknowledge it exists after the guarantee expires

Thanks for reading! I was a nice, easy way of making £15 though...

Sam