Vacuum Clogs: Check Carefully for the Root Cause

Saturday morning's project was a Dyson Ball Multi Floor vacuum with two nasty clogs: one in the hose from the brush head, one in the wand.

The wand had a Canadian Quarter wedged deep inside, I was able to yank it out with a wire coat hanger modified with a hook

The brush head vacuumed up a needle that stuck in the soft flexible plastic hose between the head and the main body of the vacuum, I was able to fish that out with a pliers.

Neither item was immediately evident as a root cause for the clogs and poor suction: there was a lot of fluff that had accumulated around both items. After the fluff was cleared both the brush head and the wand immediately had good suction and one might've been tempted to declare victory at that point. However: without further inspection to find and remove the quarter and the needle the clogs would have re-occurred.

From a maintenance perspective this vacuum was designed for relatively easy access to and inspection of the places where a clog might develop. This video was helpful too: https://youtu.be/YgR-hfT2Mhk

We see vacuums with poor suction all the time and the root cause is almost always a rigid or semi-rigid item wedged in a hose that accumulates fluff around it until it clogs the hose.