Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Central Vac stuck on...

Hi There;

Wondering if anybody has any ideas on this problem...

Using the central vac the other day and then unplugged the tube from the wall. Normally at this point the motor on the canister down stairs shuts off as the metal tube no longer compltes the circuit. This time it did not. Looked at the contacts in the outlet, and they were not obstructed. Went downstairs and disconnected the wiring for the outlets that controls the on off signal by closing the circuit... motor kept running.

Before I take the housing on the canister apart, are there relays or similar that could be stuck on? Any advice appreciated...

Cheers;
Eric

Racer944,

The first thing I would think of is whether the unit is under warranty. I have a Beam system, and the motor has a lifetime warranty.

The unit probabaly does have a relay in the circuit, but if it's like mine, it's more complicated than that. For example, when you switch the unit off by unplugging the hose or by moving the switch on the attachment, the motor continues to run for a brief period. This is to prevent rapid on/off transitions when you switch between vacuum w/beater and vacuum only. This would tend to indicate that there is probably some circuitry involved between the actuator circuit and the actual motor relay (assuming a relay is used).

Just food for thought.

Good luck,

From Racer's description, it sounds like there is a switch at each outlet with all of them wired in parallel so any switch could start the motor. Then it sounds like there is also a delay on break timing relay that delays the shutdown of the motor so you can move to another room. If another switch is activated while the timer is running the delay period, the timer is reset to 0. Another way to say it is, the timer instantly closes the relay contacts when a switch is activated and has a time delay to reopen the contacts when the switch deactivated. These relays are used on heating/cooling systems to keep the indoor fan running after the thermostat is satisfied and shuts off the heating or cooling equipment. They are notoious for failing; usually in a mode where the motor just keeps running. Occasionally, I'll encounter one that will not close it's contacts when activated. From Racer's description of his problem, it sounds like a bad relay because he disconncted all the switch control wires. Let us know what you find. I would be interested to know how the system works.