Oreck XL Vacuum: DIY repair
Some things are worth fixing!
We have had an Oreck vacuum cleaner since 2005. The machine is light-weight, easy to maneuver, and has powerful suction. It is also quiet, works well on bare and carpeted floors, and required no maintenance other than bag changes. We REALLY liked the machine.
Broken
The machine worked flawlessly for 15 years (FIFTEEN YEARS!) before the neck that connected the handle to the base started cracking. It eventually broke off (sad face), and there was no way to repair it other than to replace the damaged part.
Oreck’s neck, we hardly knew ye. Except for the fifteen years we had you.
We considered whether it could be repaired with an appropriate amount of glue, but upon closer inspection, we found cracks in multiple places.
Here and here and here, and oh goodness here too!
It was instantly clear that any stress to a glue-based repair would cause the repair to immediately fail; there was no point in even trying.
But we had a good run, though, didn’t we? You were the best.
Wrong part, right part
To find the needed part, we plugged in the model number of our Oreck into Amazon and up popped what seemed to be the piece we needed. When it arrived and we compared it to the broken part, though, it was immediately clear that it was NOT what we needed and was NOT going to work.
Technically speaking, this is a thingie-mabob.
We SHOULD have taken the Oreck apart, extracted the broken piece, and made SURE we ordered the proper replacement. However, we took another chance and ordered an older version of the part, and this time we got what we needed.
The older part came complete with the fan as part of the assembly, not just neck and one side of the housing.
All for one and one for all, as it were.
Disassembly
In order to remove the broken part, the entire base had to be taken apart. The good thing was that all of the screws holding things together were clearly visible. A simple Philips screwdriver was all we needed to remove the base plate.
“Yeah, gotta do the whole thing, or else you won’t have done anything…”
With the base plate off, it became clear that further disassembly was required and that a few more tools would be needed (in particular a socket set and a vise grip).
A work of art and a joy forever – if you’re into upright vacuum cleaners, that is.
Repair
The broken housing needed to be separated from the pieces holding it in place. This meant removing the air funneling chamber on one end and then separating the fan from the motor spindle.
Getting the air channeling chamber off was easy enough, but removing the nut holding the fan in place required holding onto the spindle rigid while turning the nut. That required additional aid in the form of a pair of Vise Grips 🙂
Find that, remove that, peer into that, admire that.
An 11mm or 7/16″ socket held in place the nut that secured the fan. To free the nut, we gripped the motor spindle with the Vise Grips. A counter-clockwise movement of both tools freed the nut. Once freed, the new part was installed (new felt pad, lock washer) without issues.
Do what we already did, but this time backwards.
Reassembly
The standard refrain, “reassembly is the reverse of disassembly,” is of course true. The one tip we can offer from our experience is: make sure the rubber seal is properly seated before attempting to put the cover back on. If any part of the seal is out of position, the cover will NOT go together properly.
In the home stretch – which is no time to try to take a shortcut.
With everything back in place/reattached/tightened, we tested our reassembled Oreck and it worked perfectly!
The Oreck is a well designed, very well-made machine, and we hope to get another decade or two of service from it. Also, we’ll keep fixing the unit because some things are worth fixing!
Easy to use, does what the company says it does, and doesn’t take up alot of space.
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