Help find a replacement electric motor for my vacuum cleaner
March 28, 2011 2:39 PM   Subscribe

Help me find a replacement electric motor for my vacuum cleaner?

I have a Eureka 431BX. It has a spinning brush roll on the bottom, driven by an electric motor (not the main vacuum motor). This motor has failed. I'm hoping it's a standard part that I can order online, but I don't know enough about electronics to find it. Hoping someone here is good at sourcing parts like this :)

The motor has a label that is partially illegible due to a piece of foam glued on top of it. Here's what I can decipher:

SF5512S ??????????AX-03
120V / 60Hz ????????6C7F

And here's someone else's photo of the disassembled vacuum (same model).


Supporting information:
* I've disassembled the vacuum and run the motor without the attached belt; it makes a few revolutions and then stops. A yellow failure light comes on.
* I've cleaned all the hair and fuzz out, and tried blowing it out with compressed air
* Vacuum is out of warranty. Eureka customer service was sympathetic but not very helpful
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl to Home & Garden (2 answers total)
 
Since the vacuum is available for less than $60 new on Amazon you have a fairly tight margin to try and make repairs before it becomes cheaper to buy a new one. Because of that it is unlikely that an exact replacement will be available from Eureka - they just want you to buy a new vacuum.

If you are willing to spend some time you may be able to determine the motor specifications. Can you remove the foam by pulling gently and swabbing q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to reveal the full label text? Once you know the specifications you may be able to find an identically spec'ed motor online.
posted by ChrisHartley at 6:35 PM on March 28, 2011


You might actually have more luck if you continue the disassembly even further and find out what's actually wrong with the motor. Could be as simple as replacing brushes. I had to do that for the main motor inside my old Sanyo vac, and even though Sanyo hadn't made that model for decades it was pretty easy to track down compatible brushes.
posted by flabdablet at 10:49 PM on March 28, 2011


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