Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Tips

1. Filter must be cleaned out which means that it needs to be washed and dried thoroughly. (If this is done it can help to suck another clog thru if the suction was not at its peak.)
   
   
2. Make sure that all of the valve/outlet covers are fully closed. Make sure to check the garage outlet as well. Check to see if the cone is in place and the canister is attached properly. With older style metal canisters rust spots can develop and that may reduce suction.
   
   
3. Then be sure the vac pan does not have a leak and is closed properly. Sometimes uncooked spaghetti or something like it stops the vac pan from closing fully. On rare occasions the pipes behind the vac pan come apart as they never get glued. If this is the case you should hear a leak when the vac is running. (If customer has a vac pan) Make sure that the hose is not clogged. (Ask customer to check it by taking a small stone the size of a big marble and try rolling it thru the hose using gravity. Start at the end of the hose that the wand goes on, most clogs occurs right in the hose handle.)
   
   
4. Does the motor sound normal. If it seems louder than it did when it was new, it probably has some dirt in the motor and should be serviced. If the reset keeps popping
   then the motor definitely needs to be serviced.
   
   
5. If all of the above don’t help there could be a clog in the pipes, a customer should be able to determine if this is the case if they have a vacuum inlet on the vacuum (usually in
   the garage) they can plug the hose into that outlet directly and see if the suction is normal. If the suction is good there, and not on any other outlets, then there is a clog in the pipes.
   
   
6. We unplug most clogs in pipes by sucking them back to the outlets using another vacuum. The customer can do this themselves if they have a shop vac. Otherwise we will
   do it for a minimum service charge of $175.00 + GST.
   
   
7. If the motor turns off and on while vacuuming, try inserting the hose in the wall outlet with the tab at the 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock position, instead of straight up. This will
   bypass the switch on the hose. If the motor now runs continuously while vacuuming, bring the hose in for servicing, as the switch is faulty. If the motor still turns off and on,
   call Grohovac installations for servicing options.

Vacuum does not turn on:

1. Check to see that the vacuum is plugged in to the electrical outlet.
   
   
2. Make sure that there is power to the electrical outlet.
   
   
3. If you have a newer vacuum that has an LED light on it and that LED light is on then then you know you have power to the unit, otherwise continue with the information below:
   
   The preferred way to do this is to plug a hairdryer into the electrical outlet and test power that way as a hairdryer uses similar amounts of power to a central vacuum. If you own a two motor vacuum such as the Vacuflo FC 1550 then you cannot do this because it is a 220 V vacuum and must be tested using a 220 V item which most people don’t have around their houses!!! However, if you have a non contact electrical voltage tester, you can check if there’s power available at the outlet using one.  Once you have established that there is power to the electrical outlet you need to check if the breaker on the vacuum has tripped; this is simply done by pressing the button and if it moves back in, then you know that it has been reset. (if it does not push in, then it does not need to be reset and has not been tripped.
   The next thing to check would be the switching of the vacuum. Sometimes a vacuum does not turn on because the switch on the hose has malfunctioned. There are several ways that you can troubleshoot this issue. If you house has a VAC pan installed in the kick of the cabinet, you can see if the vacuum turns on using one of those.
   If it does, then you know that your vacuum hose switch might be in need of repair.
   
   
4. If you have a hose purchased from Grohovac Installations that looks like the one in the photo, you can check to see if the hose is malfunctioning by turning the hose 90° from the normal position that you put it in when you plug it into the inlet. This will not harm the vacuum or the hose. It just turns the vacuum on in a different way! If your vacuum turns on and works normally with the hose in this alternate position, then for sure you know that there’s something wrong with the switching system in your hose! If you bring the hose to us, we can assess whether the hose can be repaired. We do not charge to assess hose repairs these.