Imagine this you are vacuuming your dining room floor, preparing for company to come over for a special dinner when suddenly. You hear a noise that sounds like something that just broke. It was the vacuum belt, but you can prevent this situation from happening by following a few simple tips. Regardless of the type of vacuum you have, upright or canister, it is almost certain to have a belt within it. Simply made of a band of rubber, belts are made of many unique sizes and styles to accommodate the numerous vacuum cleaners found in houses today.

One of the first things to look for when trying to fix a problem with a belt is to make sure that the belt is meant to work with your vacuum cleaner. Although belts are similar in construction, each vacuum cleaner belt is created in a way to work smoothly with a certain vacuum cleaner. Incorrect usage of a wrongly fitting belt will lead either to a broken belt, or even a broken vacuum.

To identify the proper belt for your machine simply look at your vacuum cleaner because select vacuum cleaners will list the belt number or style directly on the machine. If you cannot locate the belt number on the machine look toward your instruction manual for the belt number or look at the actual belt because the belt number may be printed directly on it.

An additional problem that arises from vacuum belts is incorrect installation of the belt. To correctly install the belt it is important to make sure that the belt goes around the motor spindle and then around the brush roll. When installing the belt it will be evident there is a lot of tension in the belt and putting the brush roll in the correct slots is difficult because there is a tremendous amount of tension. The tension felt is entirely normal and essential to perform its job of rotating at high velocity speeds.

But why do vacuum belts break? Should I be worried if I am constantly breaking belts? Even if a belt is installed correctly a belt can still break regardless. Some belts can break just from constant machine use, but the most common cause of belt breakage is snagging. When a machine runs over the edge of a rug or a blanket, the belt gets jammed, overheated and instantly breaks. Belt breakage caused by snagging can happen over and over again and will only stop when you buy a new vacuum with a gear-driven belt system with electronic overload.

To prevent belt breakage it is remember to keep a few things in mind while vacuuming. First check to see if you have correctly installed the belt into the machine, and secondly check to see that the type of belt is appropriate to you machine. After an initial check of the whether or not you have the proper belt you can begin vacuuming. While vacuuming it is important to remember not to run over anything that cause snagging. Snagging an item such as a towel, a blanket, the edge of a carpet, or even the vacuum cleaners power cord, will put you at great risk of instantly incinerating your vacuum cleaner belt. Another tip to remember is to regularly change your vacuum cleaner belt every 6 months. Over time a belt becomes more elastic, and loose around the brush roll, consequently the brush roll will no longer turn at the appropriate revolutions per minute. The vacuum cleaner belt being loose causes a to vacuum not to function at an optimal level and can be avoided if the belt is changed every 6 months.

There are all different kinds of belts that exist. Many are flat belts, but there are also round belts and cogged belts. Round belts are used with old style machines that use a fan system. Cogged belts can be found on machines with electronic overloads. When you snag on something, vacuum cleaners that use cogged belts are the best because they are much less likely to break a belt. This is because the machine is aware when something is caught or snagged and will shut down to prevent belt breakage. Then you either turn the machine on and off or press a reset button in order the make the brush roll turn again. This feature is found on many machines such as the Miele, Simplicty, Dyson and Sebo. This feature is great because it prevents belt breakage and frustration. When purchasing a machine this should be definitely be a consideration because it does not even require 6-month belt changes, saving you time and money.

Buying a vacuum cleaner that is built to strongly resist belt breakage and following the easy steps above, will prevent you from being one of the many people with vacuum cleaner belt breakage problems. The reasons and causes for belt breakage are easily avoidable and following these simple tips may help prevent the amount a belt breakage that occurs on your vacuum cleaner.