Power Will Not Turn On

Not having power when you're ready to vacuum can be very frustrating.

Here a quick link to troubleshooting steps to assist you with the no power: http://www.bissell.com/FAQDetail.aspx?id=1457&cid=ccsocial

 

Power switch problem: The red-colored power switch has a plastic tab that acts like a spring to provide resistance when pushing the power switch inside. Depending on whether the switch was ON or OFF when the little tab broke, your vac will either stay on or stay off. Mine was always ON because my switch was sticky in addition to the plastic tab being broken. If your vac won't stay on but will if you keep your foot on it, you may be able to fix your vac without taking it apart at all! You can skip the next section if you want to see the main fix // It is worth taking the vac apart if only to oil the switch. To take apart the vacuum, lean it back and then press the thing once more to make the vacuum lie completly flat. Take out all the screws you see that hold the black part to the blue bottom. The housing can now be removed, but be careful not to break the 2 wires. You will see a black cap that covers the power switch. Take it off. Now you can see the power switch and the part of the red button that presses it. Go ahead and manually click it. The switch may be sticky, so spray with WD-40 or other oil if needed. You can even take the swicth apart and spray the inside. OK, see the plastic tab? Push it through to see if it comes out. Mine did. Of course there is no tension for the button, so that's why it can't operate the switch. I tried all sorts of ways to create more tension, but in the end the best fix was to remove something on the outside! Oiling the switch was good in my case because it was quite sticky, but the main problem was the button. // You can buy a new button, or just do what I did: JUST TRIM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BUTTON! Using a pair of angle pliers, remove about 1/4 inch of the button's underside edge at the bottom and sides. You want the button to press down a little further than it presently does. This allows you to give it just enough extra force to click the switch inside. There, it's FIXED!