3 Reasons Why Miele Vacuum Brush Is Not Spinning

Many modern Miele vacuums come with a spinning brush that fits into the vacuum’s head. The purpose of this brush is to dislodge dirt ad debris from the surface is working on. If your brush stops spinning, the functionality of your vacuum cleaner will most likely be vastly reduced.

When the Miele vacuum brush stopped spinning, there are several potential reasons why it happened. One of them, the belts that drive the brush may have broken, or the brush itself may have broken. It may also be an issue with the electric motor that powers the brush, or an issue with the motor’s wiring.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at several issues that can cause your vacuum brush to stop working, and we’ll show you how to diagnose these issues and how to solve them.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Miele Vacuum Powerhead Is Not Working

Firstly, you should take care to always unplug your vacuum cleaner before working on it. Some of the repairs you may have to make will require you to handle your vacuum cleaner’s electrical parts, so it’s an important safety step to make sure the vacuum has no power. You also wouldn’t want to accidentally turn your vacuum on while working on the brush. 

Related: Top 3 Reasons Why Dyson Brush Bar Isn’t Spinning

Most vacuum cleaners have an access plate that partially covers the brush and helps keep it in place. You may have to remove this plate to fully get at the brush, which will require a screwdriver in most cases.

• Once you’ve got the cover off, take note of the condition of the brush and the other components you can see. If anything looks obviously broken, that’s most likely the cause of the problem.
• Otherwise, there’s a good chance that the brush isn’t spinning because it’s clogged up with hair, dirt, and other junk.
• Odds are that the hair and other debris have become totally wrapped around the brush. If this is the case, trying to just pull it out probably won’t be very effective.

What you should do instead is remove the brush from the vacuum head, and use a pair of scissors to cut the hair away from the brush. Take care not to snip off any of the brush’s bristles while doing so.

Speaking of bristles, while you have the brush exposed you should check to see how the bristles feel. Ideally, the bristles should be pretty hard and stiff; this is what gives the brush the ability to lift up dirt from surfaces like carpets. If the bristles feel soft, on the other hand, this means that they’re worn out and the brush should probably be replaced.

In pretty much every vacuum with a spinning brush, said brush is powered by an electric motor that is connected to the brush via a drive belt. In general, there are two types of drive belts that vacuum cleaners come with; ribbed belts and cogged belts. 

Ribbed belts feature a series of grooves that run along the entire inside length of the belt, while cogged belts have teeth on their inside length that fit into sprockets at the ends of the electric motor’s driveshaft and the brush. Regardless of what kind of belt your vacuum has, though, the process of changing one of these belts is largely the same.

To begin, you’ll need to remove any covers required to access the brush, which you should have already done at this point. Once you have all the covers off, you should be able to simply pop the brush right out of the vacuum head. 

• Once you do, inspect the belt and see what the damage is. If you’re lucky, it’s possible that the belt somehow just became detached from either the motor or the brush, in which case you can probably solve the problem by just reconnecting the belt. 
• If you’re less lucky, however, the belt may have broken. If this is the situation, you’ll have to order a replacement belt.

Make sure you know what model of vacuum cleaner you have when searching for a new belt, as not all vacuum cleaner drive belts are one size fits all. Buying a new drive belt that doesn’t fit your vacuum will be a waste of your time and money. 

There are bearings or spindles on each end of the brush that allow the brush to spin freely within the vacuum head. With enough time, these bearings/spindles can wear out and lose their effectiveness. When this happens, the brush will encounter a lot more resistance when it tries to turn.

• To test the condition of your bearings/spindles, give the brush a spin with the drive belt off while it’s in position within the vacuum head.
• If the brush rolls easily, the bearings/spindles are probably not the issue.
• If the brush doesn’t roll easily or if the alignment of the brush seems off, this can indicate a problem with the bearings or spindles.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to remove the bearings or the spindles from the brush and replace them separately. If your bearings/spindles do fail, you’ll have to replace the entire brush.

As we’ve already mentioned, your vacuum’s brush can lose its functionality if the bristles wear out, which inevitably happens over time as you use the vacuum. When this happens, the brush will still be able to spin, but it’ll be much worse at actually doing the job it was designed for.

This doesn’t happen as often, but it’s also possible for the brush to break outright. If it’s an old brush, there’s a chance that the plastic the brush is made from will have become somewhat brittle, which is obviously not what you want in a component that is designed to rotate at fairly high speeds.

Luckily, swapping out an old brush for a new one is pretty easy.

• After removing all of the covers over the old brush and detaching it from the drive belt, you should be able to either slide or pop the old brush out.
• Then you can simply push the new brush in and reconnect it to the drive belt, and you should be good to go.

When buying a replacement brush, once again you should take care to buy one that actually fits the vacuum cleaner model you happen to have.

With enough use, the electric motor in your vacuum cleaner can eventually wear out and stop working. Many vacuum cleaners actually have two electric motors inside them; one of them powers the suction of the vacuum, and the other one is used specifically to power the brush.

• If the brush motor wears out completely, the vacuum’s suction will still work as normal, but the brush will fail to spin at all. If you’ve determined that a buildup of hair, a broken or disconnected drive belt, or some other obvious issue is not the cause of the problem, it’s probably time to check out the motor.

For those of you that have some experience working on electronics, you might want to try testing the brush motor with a multimeter to see if it’s still working. If the motor shows no continuity, it’s broken and will have to be replaced.

• You should also check your vacuum’s wiring harness, if it has one. Look at the contact points of the wires, and take note if it seems like any of them are broken or melted.
• If you do find any wires in your vacuum cleaner with obvious signs of damage, you’ll have to replace these wires.

Obviously, this kind of appliance repair is a lot more advanced than simply changing your vacuum cleaner’s brush, so don’t hesitate to call a certified repair technician if the prospect of working on your vacuum’s motor seems pretty daunting to you.

As your vacuum’s electric motor gets older and starts to wear out, it has to work harder to produce the same amount of power, which causes the motor to overheat. This can also be caused by an overfilled vacuum canister or filter bag, an obstruction in the hose that interferes with the vacuum’s airflow, or even a broken drive belt.

Many vacuum cleaners come with thermal cutoff devices, which automatically shut off power to the vacuum cleaner if they detect that the motor is becoming too hot. If your vacuum cleaner starts up normally but keeps shutting itself off after a few minutes, there’s a good chance that your issue is being caused by overheating.

• To deal with an overheating vacuum, you should first unplug it from the wall and allow it to cool before opening it up.
• Once you have it open, inspect the canister/filter bag and the vacuum hose for any blockages, and clear them out if you find any.
• You should also check the drive belt to see if it has come off of the brush. When the drive belt becomes disconnected from the brush, the motor has a lot less resistance and is, therefore, able to over-rev, which can make it overheat.

Once you’ve cleared away any blockages you can find or replaced the drive belt, allow the vacuum to sit for an extra half-hour or so just to make sure it’s fully cooled off. Then, try turning it on again and see how it runs.

If it runs normally, you’ve solved the problem, but if it continues to shut itself off then you should probably take your vacuum to a repairman. 

Many modern Miele vacuums come with a spinning brush that fits into the vacuum’s head. The purpose of this brush is to dislodge dirt ad debris from the surface is working on. If your brush stops spinning, the functionality of your vacuum cleaner will most likely be vastly reduced.

When the Miele vacuum brush stopped spinning, there are several potential reasons why it happened. One of them, the belts that drive the brush may have broken, or the brush itself may have broken. It may also be an issue with the electric motor that powers the brush, or an issue with the motor’s wiring.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at several issues that can cause your vacuum brush to stop working, and we’ll show you how to diagnose these issues and how to solve them.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Miele Vacuum Powerhead Is Not Working

Firstly, you should take care to always unplug your vacuum cleaner before working on it. Some of the repairs you may have to make will require you to handle your vacuum cleaner’s electrical parts, so it’s an important safety step to make sure the vacuum has no power. You also wouldn’t want to accidentally turn your vacuum on while working on the brush. 

Related: Top 3 Reasons Why Dyson Brush Bar Isn’t Spinning

Most vacuum cleaners have an access plate that partially covers the brush and helps keep it in place. You may have to remove this plate to fully get at the brush, which will require a screwdriver in most cases.

• Once you’ve got the cover off, take note of the condition of the brush and the other components you can see. If anything looks obviously broken, that’s most likely the cause of the problem.
• Otherwise, there’s a good chance that the brush isn’t spinning because it’s clogged up with hair, dirt, and other junk.
• Odds are that the hair and other debris have become totally wrapped around the brush. If this is the case, trying to just pull it out probably won’t be very effective.

What you should do instead is remove the brush from the vacuum head, and use a pair of scissors to cut the hair away from the brush. Take care not to snip off any of the brush’s bristles while doing so.

Speaking of bristles, while you have the brush exposed you should check to see how the bristles feel. Ideally, the bristles should be pretty hard and stiff; this is what gives the brush the ability to lift up dirt from surfaces like carpets. If the bristles feel soft, on the other hand, this means that they’re worn out and the brush should probably be replaced.

In pretty much every vacuum with a spinning brush, said brush is powered by an electric motor that is connected to the brush via a drive belt. In general, there are two types of drive belts that vacuum cleaners come with; ribbed belts and cogged belts. 

Ribbed belts feature a series of grooves that run along the entire inside length of the belt, while cogged belts have teeth on their inside length that fit into sprockets at the ends of the electric motor’s driveshaft and the brush. Regardless of what kind of belt your vacuum has, though, the process of changing one of these belts is largely the same.

To begin, you’ll need to remove any covers required to access the brush, which you should have already done at this point. Once you have all the covers off, you should be able to simply pop the brush right out of the vacuum head. 

• Once you do, inspect the belt and see what the damage is. If you’re lucky, it’s possible that the belt somehow just became detached from either the motor or the brush, in which case you can probably solve the problem by just reconnecting the belt. 
• If you’re less lucky, however, the belt may have broken. If this is the situation, you’ll have to order a replacement belt.

Make sure you know what model of vacuum cleaner you have when searching for a new belt, as not all vacuum cleaner drive belts are one size fits all. Buying a new drive belt that doesn’t fit your vacuum will be a waste of your time and money. 

There are bearings or spindles on each end of the brush that allow the brush to spin freely within the vacuum head. With enough time, these bearings/spindles can wear out and lose their effectiveness. When this happens, the brush will encounter a lot more resistance when it tries to turn.

• To test the condition of your bearings/spindles, give the brush a spin with the drive belt off while it’s in position within the vacuum head.
• If the brush rolls easily, the bearings/spindles are probably not the issue.
• If the brush doesn’t roll easily or if the alignment of the brush seems off, this can indicate a problem with the bearings or spindles.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to remove the bearings or the spindles from the brush and replace them separately. If your bearings/spindles do fail, you’ll have to replace the entire brush.

As we’ve already mentioned, your vacuum’s brush can lose its functionality if the bristles wear out, which inevitably happens over time as you use the vacuum. When this happens, the brush will still be able to spin, but it’ll be much worse at actually doing the job it was designed for.

This doesn’t happen as often, but it’s also possible for the brush to break outright. If it’s an old brush, there’s a chance that the plastic the brush is made from will have become somewhat brittle, which is obviously not what you want in a component that is designed to rotate at fairly high speeds.

Luckily, swapping out an old brush for a new one is pretty easy.

• After removing all of the covers over the old brush and detaching it from the drive belt, you should be able to either slide or pop the old brush out.
• Then you can simply push the new brush in and reconnect it to the drive belt, and you should be good to go.

When buying a replacement brush, once again you should take care to buy one that actually fits the vacuum cleaner model you happen to have.

With enough use, the electric motor in your vacuum cleaner can eventually wear out and stop working. Many vacuum cleaners actually have two electric motors inside them; one of them powers the suction of the vacuum, and the other one is used specifically to power the brush.

• If the brush motor wears out completely, the vacuum’s suction will still work as normal, but the brush will fail to spin at all. If you’ve determined that a buildup of hair, a broken or disconnected drive belt, or some other obvious issue is not the cause of the problem, it’s probably time to check out the motor.

For those of you that have some experience working on electronics, you might want to try testing the brush motor with a multimeter to see if it’s still working. If the motor shows no continuity, it’s broken and will have to be replaced.

• You should also check your vacuum’s wiring harness, if it has one. Look at the contact points of the wires, and take note if it seems like any of them are broken or melted.
• If you do find any wires in your vacuum cleaner with obvious signs of damage, you’ll have to replace these wires.

Obviously, this kind of appliance repair is a lot more advanced than simply changing your vacuum cleaner’s brush, so don’t hesitate to call a certified repair technician if the prospect of working on your vacuum’s motor seems pretty daunting to you.

As your vacuum’s electric motor gets older and starts to wear out, it has to work harder to produce the same amount of power, which causes the motor to overheat. This can also be caused by an overfilled vacuum canister or filter bag, an obstruction in the hose that interferes with the vacuum’s airflow, or even a broken drive belt.

Many vacuum cleaners come with thermal cutoff devices, which automatically shut off power to the vacuum cleaner if they detect that the motor is becoming too hot. If your vacuum cleaner starts up normally but keeps shutting itself off after a few minutes, there’s a good chance that your issue is being caused by overheating.

• To deal with an overheating vacuum, you should first unplug it from the wall and allow it to cool before opening it up.
• Once you have it open, inspect the canister/filter bag and the vacuum hose for any blockages, and clear them out if you find any.
• You should also check the drive belt to see if it has come off of the brush. When the drive belt becomes disconnected from the brush, the motor has a lot less resistance and is, therefore, able to over-rev, which can make it overheat.

Once you’ve cleared away any blockages you can find or replaced the drive belt, allow the vacuum to sit for an extra half-hour or so just to make sure it’s fully cooled off. Then, try turning it on again and see how it runs.

If it runs normally, you’ve solved the problem, but if it continues to shut itself off then you should probably take your vacuum to a repairman.