My Hoover Preferred Vacuum Model No. U6476-910 has a Dirt Finder "RED" light that stays on. All areas have been cleaned, no effect. Do I need to replace the circuit board ($37) and /or the Dirt Duck ($3)?
Inspection of the circuit board found that the 470uF capacitor looked damaged. I replaced it and I now have the Green and Red lights are working correctly.
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There's a microphone inside the tube the dirt runs up. It listens for dirt coming up the tube. They just go bad and there's no making it better. You can either replace that entire assembly or ignore it. Fairly easy to replace. I'll include the part so you know what you're looking at. Good luck! The Vac Dr.
check to make sure the settings didn't get inadvertently switched to the hi position, move the switch back and forth from high to reg a few times, then leave it on reg.
remove and hand wash the primary filter and secondary filter, dry throughly and replace them in the vacuum.
if none of this works, you will need to have the vacuum serviced, or if it is still working, just don't pay attention to the dirt-finder. the dirt sensor on your vacuum is located in the suction tube and is generally not accessible enough to clean without taking the vacuum apart.
I'm not sure about a 3 month old vac, I'd probably go the warranty route. However, for the older vacs thy start getting false positives. The sensor is simply a microphone hooked to a computer chip detecting sounds of dirt entering the bag.
To rig it to start working, you'll need to remove the tool accessory tray and elbow that enters the back of the vac, and attached to the bag. This will reveal the microphone at the elbow, and wire that runs into the bottom area of the vac. When on, a large amount of air comes from the bottom screw and area where the wires enter. My fix was to clean up the microphone contact points a little bit with a screwdriver, and then leave the vac running while putting in dampering in the hole at the bottom, and around the back of the elbow. Cotton balls and electrical tape at the bottom hole, and napkins around the outside of the elbow (wedged between the back of the vac assembly and elbow did the trick). The schematic for the vac is here: http<colon>//www<dot>vacsrus<dot>com/CartGenie/pg_U6485900<dot>asp Look for micrphone.
I had the same problem with a hoover windtunnel 6200 - u5477-900. I removed the flexible hose from top of the plastic tube running vertically along the right side of the back of the vacuum. When I used a flashlight to look into the plastic tube, I could see a clog at the bottom, where the flexible hose curved frontwards towards the brushes. I then removed the 2 screws holding the vertical plastic tube to the vacuum. When I disconnected the plastic tube from the flexible hose at the bottom, I found a clog of dirt and dog hair. After removing the clog and reassembling, the clean / dirty light now moves back and forth from red to green.
The Hoover uses a small microphone that is positioned in the plastic housing that the end of the hose fits into, just behind the bag compartment. What happens is that when dirt comes up the hose and hits the 90 degree corner, just before it enters the bag, the microphone picks up the sound and transmits that info to the electonics that controls the lights. Sometimes the microphone will stick and the red light will stay lit. If you take a screwdriver and give the microphone area a sharp tap with the handle of the screwdriver, this will often jar the microphone and it will begin working again. If not, it may need to be replaced. NOTE: this function does not affect the cleaning efficiency of the vacuum. Your vacuum will still work normally whether the dirt sensor is working or not. It is a totally unrelated function to the vacuum itself.
Try cleaning out all the pathways you can get to. Trapped particles can mess up this indicator. Particularly check the extra mesh filter that is under the bag (there's a plastic grid that snaps over it to hold it into place). Clean that out and make sure the bag is securely in place.
The sensor may be bad, or it may be coated over with dirt. Re,ove the hose at the back of the vacuum, the head of the sensor is down inside that opening, reach in there and clean it off and see it that corrects the problem, if not replace the sensor.
check out the switch that activates it. go to thehooverstore for a complete listing of hoover machines. I'm sure you'll find your machine listed along with an exploded diagram of the machine
The dirt sensor is a motion detector. After it gets dirty it will either stay red or stay green. You can have the vacuum serviced at your local vac shop and possibly get this fixed. Sometimes they are as good as new and sometimes they are not repairable. It will not effect anything else though.
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