Thread Number: 36353
/ Tag: Recent Vacuum Cleaners from past 20 years
URGENT! My Fantom Fury has died! |
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Post# 389727   4/3/2018 at 15:33 (2,186 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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Ladies and gentlemen, my new to me Fantom Fury has...died today. I got it refurbished a couple weeks ago from electroluxxxx here on Vacuumland. I used it as my daily driver for the past 2 weeks. Today, I used the hose and floor nozzle on my laminate floors downstairs, and it worked perfectly fine. But then, I went to vacuum a rug using the brush roll, and within 1 second of turning it on and giving it a little push, it shorted out on me! I then smelled a slight electrical burning smell. I tried turning it off and on, and nothing happened.
Does anybody know of a way to revive this Fury? I really want this vacuum back. I love it; it's my favorite in the whole wide world. I have uploaded a video of the issue. |
Post# 389736 , Reply# 1   4/3/2018 at 16:59 (2,186 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)   |   | |
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I know nothing about Fantoms, just not my thing, but the fact that you smelled something burning would make me think that if you could open the machine up, you would likely see an area inside--circuit board, perhaps--that is blackened, melted or otherwise damaged. I have no idea what that part might be or whether replacements are available short of acquiring a donor machine but that's my $0.02.
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Post# 389752 , Reply# 2   4/3/2018 at 20:03 (2,186 days old) by Dysonman1 (the county)   |   | |
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Post# 389755 , Reply# 3   4/3/2018 at 20:15 (2,186 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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With permission from electroluxxxx, I took apart the Fury and took a look at the motor. It looks like the motor has gone out. That was a brand new motor, too!
electroluxxxx offered me to send in the motor to see if he can fix it and send it back, or refurbish another one. I'm unsure if I should do it or not; I mainly got this Fury as a collectible. Below is a pic of the bad motor.
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Post# 389756 , Reply# 4   4/3/2018 at 20:17 (2,186 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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Post# 389757 , Reply# 5   4/3/2018 at 20:26 (2,186 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)   |   | |
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Post# 389759 , Reply# 6   4/3/2018 at 20:53 (2,186 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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At first, when this happened, I thought the Fury tripped my circuit breaker. But everything was still on.
What happened was the motor suddenly changed to a lower pitch after turning the machine on, and I immediately shut it off. That's when I noticed a slight burning smell. Then the vacuum wouldn't turn on after that. Well, after letting it cool for half an hour, I tried running the Fantom again, and the motor stuttered, then it died almost instantly. |
Post# 389767 , Reply# 7   4/3/2018 at 22:19 (2,186 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)   |   | |
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No disrespect to electroluxxxx, but was it a brand new never used motor, or a used motor that was brand new to that vacuum? That commutator looks pretty bad, not sure if that's smoke damage from what just happened or a lot of carbon buildup. If it's carbon buildup, maybe that's why it's not working?
I watched this video last month on how to polish a motor commutator: |
Post# 389772 , Reply# 10   4/3/2018 at 22:44 (2,186 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)   |   | |
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Oh OK, I was just trying to help with process of elimination. I've bought vacuums off Amazon that claim they are refurbished, but only just washed, and no motor repairs done or they use recycled parts, so you never know what people actually mean when 'refurbished' is used.
I'm going to be learning motor repair this summer so I've just been trying to study things that go wrong with motors so I know what to do if I encounter this problem. And no, I don't know anything about the Fantoms because I just became a member here last fall and I'd never heard of this vacuum before then. I do have an Amway ClearTrack though, which people says was similar to the Fantom. So I guess there has been dirt got inside there that jammed it up and killed it? |
Post# 389792 , Reply# 12   4/4/2018 at 07:48 (2,185 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)   |   | |
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Huskyvacs, back down & leave Electroluxxxx, Mike, alone! I have known him for many years & he is definitely one of our more reputable members here. I assure you, Mike would NEVER intentionally send a vacuum out in bad condition or with a bad motor! The fact he has been in contact with Nick to help him out & try to resolve the issue speaks to his character. If you have any further doubts, ask John Long, he knows Mike even better than I do.
As to issues with the Fantom Fury, I completely agree with Mike on this. The Fantom Fury was introduced as a lower tier model to the Fantom Thunder, & even Tom Gasko has criticized Iona, Fantom's parent company, for how poorly made the Fantom Fury was, both here & in Floor Care Professional, the trade publication for vac shops. There's good reason why that company went under, everything after the Fantom Thunder was garbage. James Dyson ending their agreement to use the Dual Cyclone technology was the icing on the cake that had done them in. Rob |
Post# 389821 , Reply# 13   4/4/2018 at 16:49 (2,185 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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I think the reason why Fantom vacuums were so popular is because they cleaned well. While the suction isn't the strongest, they do a very good job on carpets. I believe it's the brushroll. In addition, they started the bagless revolution in North America, during a time when bags were your only option. Fantoms were easy to use and maintain, have a user-friendly design (for example, the clean-out ports in case you get a blockage) and are 2 machines in 1, featuring a hose stored on the back as part of the handle, and removing the handle instantly converts it into a cleaning wand for easy above floor cleaning. This is in contrast to many vacuums at the time where you had to attach a separate hose in order to convert it to tool mode.
In addition, Fantom achieved their success with television infomercials. For example, here's the infomercial for the Fury. Lots of everyday people fell in love with them. |
Post# 390083 , Reply# 14   4/7/2018 at 18:40 (2,182 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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Post# 390160 , Reply# 16   4/8/2018 at 20:33 (2,181 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)   |   | |
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Commutator looks pretty gnarly. And not the good kind of gnarly, either.
Are the brushes... like still there? Worn down? Non-existent? Maybe the brushes got oil on them? Maybe the bearing holder (if plastic) melted? I mean it's kind of hard to speculate without looking it over in person. Kind of hard to guess if we can't see a smoking gun. I mean... I'm sure electroluxxx did his best. But it could just be rotten luck, like a shorted armature or whatever. I've had worse happen with motors refurbished by even the best people. |
Post# 390220 , Reply# 17   4/9/2018 at 16:35 (2,180 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA)   |   | |
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