Vacuum Brushes Not Spinning

There are some simple checks that you can start with to point you in the right direction, and can save you hours.

• Does your vacuum have a hard floor setting that shuts off the brush rolls? If so make sure it isn't turned on. If it is, turn it off and see if your brush rolls work.
• Is your vacuum set to the right pile height for the carpet? Check the setting on your vacuum and make sure it isn't set, for example, to a low pile setting with shag carpet. The brushes can be overwhelmed and won't spin.
• Is the brush roll loaded with hair, string and other debris? This can stop it from turning, and will result in a belt that slips, falls off or breaks over time.
  • Unplug your vacuum, and clean the brush roll fully. You may have to do some minor disassembly.
  • You will want scissors and possibly pliers to remove everything.
  • There are tools that are like a letter opener that allow you to cut the hairs with less chance of damaging the brushes.
  • There are links here to several pages that will show how.
  • Test the unit, do the rolls spin now?
• Are your vacuum brushes on a separate vacuum brush head with a hose attached? If your unit has this sort of head, but is driven by an air turbine that uses the airflow of the vacuum, rather than an electric motor, skip this and go to the next item.
  • On central vacs, canister models and some stick vacuums, motor driven brushes have a cord or internal wires that run down the wand to the brush head. Is the motor running still or has it stopped? If stopped:
    • Has the cord come unplugged? Plug it in.
    • Are the connectors dirty or bent? Clean and straighten them.
  • The motor may have an overload reset button. Unplug your vacuum then:
    • Check to see if it is tripped, if it is, let the motor cool and then reset it.
    • Determine what may be making the brush roll hard to turn.
    • Hair, string or rubber bands in the brush roll bearings or wrapped around the brush roll can cause this. Clean them off.
• Is your carpet loose? It may have stretched since installation, or was improperly stretched at installation. The vacuum can suck loose carpet into the brushes which will stop them. If the carpet clings to your vacuum when you try to lift it, that's a sign of this condition. Consult a floor covering professional.

If the brush rolls are still not turning go to the next step. If your unit doesn't have a drive belt, like some air turbine driven units, skip all the belt steps below and head down to Air Turbine Issues.

This is the most common problem that you will encounter after going through the items above. It isn't hard in most cases to check. If it's broken, you need to replace it, but the key is to work out why it broke. Unplug your vacuum before you start these checks.

• Does the belt show signs of being stuck?
  • The belt may have an area where it looks ground away or kind of melted, mainly in one place.
  • If the brush roll is jammed for a time the spinning drive shaft can create enough heat to melt and abrade the belt. The belt will break easily at that point.
  • Debris wrapped around the brush roll can jam it; make sure you clean the brush roll before reinstalling it. Make sure the bearings are also cleaned out and that the roll spins. If you can't get it to spin smoothly, you will have to replace the brush roll along with the belt.
• Does the belt show signs of slipping?
  • Instead of just stopping or jamming, the brush roll may be hard to turn.
  • The belt moves then, but the drive shaft moves faster so it slips and it wears the belt along its whole length. Then it breaks.
  • The brush roll or its bearings may be clogged with hair, threads or dirt. Make sure they are clean and the roll spins.
  • The belt may also have slipped because it was loose. Check the fit of the new belt when it is installed. Make sure it is the right one for your model.
• Is the brush roll installed properly?
  • Sometimes the roll can fit properly only one way, but that won't be apparent until you run the unit.
  • It can rub against another part when everything is back in place.
  • Check carefully that the brush roll spins freely when reinstalled, and that it isn't touching any parts of the housing.
• Is the belt just old? Belts see a fair amount of wear and time can just catch up to them.

Is the brush roll clean now? Did the belt slip off rather than break? This points to alignment or tension problems, or both.

• Replace the belt.
  • Old belts can stretch and when stretched are much more prone to falling off. For most vacuums this IS the tension adjustment.
  • The belt may be glazed and will slip and heat enough that it expands and falls off.
• Check to see that the brush roll is installed correctly and is not cocked or improperly seated. If it isn't in properly it can be at a slight angle to the driveshaft and may cause the belt to wander and fall off.
• Some upright vacuums have the motor parallel to the brush rolls, but its part of the upper body of the vacuum. If there is a lot of play in the assembly from wear the shaft can go out of alignment with the brush roll and the belt will fall off.

Sometimes the drive belt is still connected, and the brush roll may still turn a bit as long as it isn't touching anything. It stops very readily though, and won't turn when vacuuming.

• First step new belt; it could be just stretched.
• Check to see that the brush roll is rotating in the right direction.
  • This can easily happen with some uprights that use a belt with a twist, the brush roll will be sweeping things away from the inlet!
  • The belt can slip and the roll may stall.
• If the new belt is loose, then look for possible ways that something has shifted.
  • Worn bearings can cause a loss of tension such that the belts that once fit won't do so any longer. The brush roll bearings are the usual ones that fail.
  • Plastic vacuum housings can soften from overheating and allow the motor to shift, loosening the belt.
    • You can try shimming the motor back in place, then try reinstalling the belt.
    • Or depending on the cost, a new housing might be an easier fix.

This is straightforward, and applies mainly to vacuums with power driven brush heads. A few conventional uprights, have two motors, one for the fan, one for the brush roll. If you have dealt with everything mentioned above, it is likely that the motor has failed. Some may have replaceable brushes in the motor, but most will just need a new motor.

Air turbine driven brush rolls may either be direct drive or have a belt. We've already dealt with belt issues above.

• Air turbine driven brushes won't have a power cord or connectors, and will frequently be smaller. They are more prone to stalling, especially on dense or higher pile carpet.
• Air turbine driven brushes are affected by a plugged hose. Since full airflow is needed for them to work best, they will stop much more easily when there is a clog in the vacuum hose. Check your whole hose for clogs when the brushes seem to lack power or stop.
• Turbine driven brushes are very sensitive to hair wrapped around a bearing, you may have to disassemble your unit further.

Belt Replacement and Brush Roll Cleaning (older upright, Eureka)

Brush Roll Maintenance (Electric Power Head)

Belt Replacement (Kirby G5)

Cleaning of an air turbine power head (Shark)

Cleaning of an air turbine power head (Miele)