Hoover Steam Vac, brushes stopped - repair/service manual?

They are likely on the hoover web site. Try:

on that page is a place to put in model & serial for manuals, parts & information. Or try customer service @ 330-499-9499.

Trust me, this is the first place I went... what a joke! They do have the users manual online, which is completely worthless. Their idea of a replacement part is cleaning solution.

Their parent company, Maytag, has a nice part lookup for appliances... it shows exploded views in great detail.

I don't know if Hoover just wants to force you to one of their service centers or what. All I know is that those repair manuals are somewhere; I just need to find someone to tell me where they are... Customer services will not tell me anything other than directing me to a service center.

I do know this... I will never by another Maytag or Hoover product again. I'll spare you the problems I had with my Maytag Neptune...

We are on our first one and we have a large house of carpeting. I suspect your in-laws abused it. Our has been trouble free for many years.

OK, how does that response help??? I don't care that yours is fine... and no, its not from abuse, the thing is brand new (two uses).

After further digging, it turns out that Turbine Gear Assembly is bad... I found one on eBay for 20.00, so it's worth repairing, but I still think the thing is poorly made. However, it does clean well.

***UPDATE***

I found the problem and took the time to document it with some pictures:

Hopefully this will help someone else that encounters the same problem.

Later,

Scott

Thanks for the pictures. I also have one of those machines and had to replace some of the parts. I just started to remove screws until I got to the brushes. Parts were sold by local Hoover parts guy.

My carpet is short. Maybe that explains why it works well. We rented a Rug Doctor with vibration to do my parents. That seemed to do a decent job too. Might be better for some since it has to be made to stand up to abuse.

these pictures were incredibly helpful. i could not not figure out how to get the cover off until I saw these photos (i could see what screws he had been removed and which he had not; that allowed me to figure out how to take it off without breaking something).

before you replace or disassemble the turbine, check the spring that connects to the on/off switch. you have to remove the cover to see this.

as it turns out, my problem was not the brush turbine -- a spring had come loose on the brushes' on/off switch (see right side of Scott's first photo).

the way the turbine works is that the on/off switch opens and closes a little door that controls wind from the vacuum. when the switch is in the 'on' position, the little door is open, allowing wind to go inside the turbine and turn the gears inside, and they in turn cause the brushes to spin. in my case, the spring came loose, the little door stayed closed, and no wind got in no matter how much i played with the switch on the outside. the whole thing is actually a pretty simple construction.

i did put some grease and WD40 on the inside of the turbine, which had started to rust a little.

my model is a steamvac 7431-900.

good luck, and thanks again Scott for taking the time to post pictures. could not have done it without you and you probably saved me a bundle in repair costs.

Scott wrote:

Hi, No spare belt?

***Another Update***

When I got the replacement turbine gear assembly, I took it apart to see if there were any improvements.

They did put a much better barring inside, maybe that was the root cause of the failure?

Anyhow... works fine for now.

Later,

Scott

Scott,

I found this very helpful. I have managed to get mine apart but I do not see anything broke. Can you tell me if you can turn the gears by hand using the brush? I hope this makes sense. If not please contact me via e-mail. Thank you Kim

Scott Found your pictures very useful. I opened mine up and fortunetly did not find a broken turbine disc but instead just a very jammed disc. I slowly hand turned the gear, important word is slowly so as not to break the disc, and managed to get the disc through a rough spot. The disc rotated freely after this so I assembled everything back together and the vacuuam works fine. I wonder what caused it to get stuck in the first place. Hoover definetly could have used some better anti corroding bearings.

Kim if your still having problems, I wouldn't recommend turning the gears at the brushes but instead try to disassemble everything and get down to the turbine disc and then try to slowly rotate the disc.

Thanks For your help Scott

kchinery had written this in response to

: Thanks for this very informative information Scott...........I had the same problem with the brushes and if it hadn't been for your pictures would never have figured out the problem. I took mine apart and got lucky, the gears were locked up but in good shape.........put it back together and working like new..........Ken

------------------------------------- Scott wrote:

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------------------------------------- Scott..you wrote quite a few years back but am hoping you see this. I believe I have the same problem but where did you get the instructions to take the steam vac apart to replace the turbine gear assembly..I am sure that is what it is..thanks for any help..

sclma had written this in response to

: I'm not Scott but have been trying to find a repair manual to fix my machine for over 1 yr. I read through all of these and Scott posted a link to some photos (had to read each post but it's there) he took of it all apart. I've looked over all the pieces and none of mine are bad but the bearing was very dry so I added some oil to it and now it's working just fine. I had a very difficult time finding out how to take the stupid thing apart to look in and finally found the places I was missing. One the bottom of the machine you will find 4 screws in the clear plastic piece and then just above that deep on either side on the gray piece are 2 screws (very deep easy to miss but on the far outsides near the clear plastic piece) When you turn it over with all the containers off of it and look straight down at the mid section of the gray piece you will see 1 screw in the middle. You will have to pull hard to get the gray piece off as the two skinny ends snap in tight. Be careful so you don't loose the little spring on the part that scott shows in his photos. Also, I had 2 of the black clips on that piece break so am hoping that nothing further deveops from that. It's working fine now though but it does take some time and looking at his photos to get the piece back on the correct way.

nesschap wrote:

:

------------------------------------- sclma

responding to

Lefty wrote:

Scott wrote:

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For a Hoover SteamVac model F5893-900, If your Brushes don't turn, and the Brush Indicator doesn't move, try to following: Be sure the Brush Speed selector isn't OFF, Have the handle NOT in the upright position, and the Brush Indicator screen is cleaned. (See page 7 instructions) UNPLUG the cleaner, remove the Cleaning Solution tank and Recovery tanks. Release the handle and lay it on the floor. Refer to the Diagram. Remove screws 1 and 2, LOOSEN but don't remove screw 3. Remove the Duct Assy (6), lift off the indicator knob (9) Flip the unit over and remove the two BLACK screws (33) that hold the Hood (12) on. Flip the unit back over, and With a screw-driver pry off the tabs under the back of the hood. Breaking the Black plastic around the tabs will not effect the unit. Lift the hood off. You Do Not have to take the clear plastic cover off the hood. (silver screws). Flip the unit over, and remove the long silver screws (34) that hold the turbine assy on from below, and then flip the unit over and remove the two screws (14) on the front of the turbine assy. Pull the fluid hose off, and the turbine assy should slide out off the front. At This Point, See if the Brush Assy will turn Manually. Sometimes items jam in the brush gears. Use a screw-driver and try to turn the Turbine Assy gears. (where the brush assy connects) It will move SLOWLY. (reduction gears) If this is jammed, the shafts of the turbine may be dry and need grease. WD40 Will be Washed Off, you need GREASE. Sometimes the turbine wheel will crack, other times the shaft on the turbine will dry-out (grease). Brush Assy Jammed: If one of the tabs INSIDE the Brush Assy breaks off, and Jamms the gears, the brushes will either not turn, or only go around Almost Once and then stop. (PLASTIC Parts) The Brush Assy (32) is held in the Main Body (35) by 4 push-clips. Slowly and Carefully pry these back with a screwdriver blade, and the Brush Assy will drop from the Main Body. Once out, there are 6 clips (3 on a side) that hold the Clear Plastic Sides on the Brush Assy. From either end pry the sides apart, as you work your way down the side clips with a small flat screwdriver. Pry the small clips until the clear side releases, and go to the next clip. Once the Sides are removed, the brushes will drop out, except for the brush with the Brush Indicator on it. Look for Broken Items/Dirt/Ect jamming the movement of the gears, and remove it. Re-assemble the Brush Assy in the reverse order, Being Careful not to break any of the clips. Push the Brush Assy back up into the Main Body until the clips 'Click'.

Scott wrote:

Refer to the Diagram.

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the web site for the parts Exploded Diagram. (Page 2 for above repair)