My Hoover Purepower has suddenly developed the fault of not being able to stand upright on its own for some reason. Can anyone help? thanks.

marian, March 2007

Hoover used to make a model (1346) that I have seen wear in as little as 3 months. If you keep picking them up by the top of the handle then all the weight of the base gets magnified, acting like a lever on the ratchet steps. Bad design really.

In contrast very old Hoover models (119) from the 50's/60s have never had this problem. I have serviced loyal 30 year old examples without any hint of the problem you are experiencing.

Ken Tait, March 2007

Thanks Ken, would the ratchet wear so quickly, bearing in mind it's only 14 months old? Perhaps I need to get back to Hoover as, I would have thought it should last longer.

marian, March 2007

I am not sure about your specific model, but I used to repair vacuum cleaners for a living many years ago. In most cases this kind of fault is due to the ratchet wearing. The ratchet has little right angle steps on them. Over time these wear and become rounded. You can often repair them once only by removing the ratchet and with a little junior hacksaw or file, restore the shape of the right angle. Other than that its a case of buying a new ratchet.

To stop this fault happening again, carry the vacuum very low down the handle, close to the base, so the handle is at a 45', that way there will be less weight on the ratchet.

Ken Tait, March 2007