One Kirby customer from Mandurah called our office recently, complaining about his Kirby brush belts have been snapping very often. He explained that the brush belt was snapping few times a week!
We know that the original Kirby belts are very durable. So in the conversation we checked if he is using genuine Kirby Belt as we had many cases where the customers have bought non-genuine Kirby belts, and nearly always we find those to be causing problems.
Either the Brush is not rotating as it should, or the belts become lose very quickly, often they even snap, blocking the fan of the Kirby.
If not sure you are using genuine Kirby belt - check this article.
The gentlemen insisted he only buys original bags and belts. So we went to investigate.
Sure enough, he had a pile of snapped original Kirby belts, including one, sucked in the machine itself :), but there was nothing wrong with the belts. The thing is, well he had used the same brush for 12 years, had not serviced his Kirby for 5 years, and his kids often vacuumed wet and sticky floor with the Kirby.
The result was not surprising: The ball-bearings on the Kirby brush (located in the Kirby vacuum head) got filled with sticky material, dramatically increasing the force needed for rotating of the brush. We were even surprised that the belt could rotate the brush - we hardly could make it move by hand!
The problem was solved easily - new brush, service and general clean up of the machine were enough!
'Thank you very much, so happy to have my Kirby back! It cleans so much better now' - said his wife. 'And here we were, thinking it was the belt! Should have called you earlier!!' :)
I hope their story helps you look after your Kirby Vacuum Cleaner better, so your Kirby can look after you longer!