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Author Topic: DC03 Lacklustre performance  (Read 16037 times)

Offline beko1987

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DC03 Lacklustre performance
« on: December 10, 2013, 05:51:29 pm »
Having rebuilt my DC03 (as per the dedicated thread) I'm less than impressed with its performance.

Motor works well, it does pick up but lacks any greatness.

Suction from the hose I would say is below par, even for its little motor. No sharpness to it, I;ve had Hoover Turbopowers with more suction. All seals are replaced, and I think seated correctly.

Floor performance is awful.  Barely any grooming at all. If I push down on the head it cuts nice deep tracks in the carpet, when on its own it skims across doing nothing. Have I put the head back on wrong? Reclines and latches upright with no issues.

I bought a new soleplate assembly, which works great. However the old one had foam seals on the edges, the new one doesnt (genuine dyson). Can I get the strips seperatly? (This may be why it doesnt glue itself to the floor, too much suction leakage)

Fills up well enough though, so it must be doing something.

Shame really as I was looking forward to it. Am I making a fuss over nothing or does something seem wrong? Will probably re-strip it at some point, but want to go in with a sense of whats needed rather than just take it apart and put it back together again.
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline __russ__

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2013, 06:18:04 pm »
Having rebuilt my DC03 (as per the dedicated thread) I'm less than impressed with its performance.

Motor works well, it does pick up but lacks any greatness.

Suction from the hose I would say is below par, even for its little motor. No sharpness to it, I;ve had Hoover Turbopowers with more suction. All seals are replaced, and I think seated correctly.

Floor performance is awful.  Barely any grooming at all. If I push down on the head it cuts nice deep tracks in the carpet, when on its own it skims across doing nothing. Have I put the head back on wrong? Reclines and latches upright with no issues.

I bought a new soleplate assembly, which works great. However the old one had foam seals on the edges, the new one doesnt (genuine dyson). Can I get the strips seperatly? (This may be why it doesnt glue itself to the floor, too much suction leakage)

Fills up well enough though, so it must be doing something.

Shame really as I was looking forward to it. Am I making a fuss over nothing or does something seem wrong? Will probably re-strip it at some point, but want to go in with a sense of whats needed rather than just take it apart and put it back together again.

Whilst the DC03 doesn't have the same suction power as say a DC07, I wouldn't say the suction from the wand is below par so would suggest something isn't quite right somewhere!

There should still be a healthy suck from it  :biglaugh:

Offline MVacs

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2013, 06:26:26 pm »
Having rebuilt my DC03 (as per the dedicated thread) I'm less than impressed with its performance.

Motor works well, it does pick up but lacks any greatness.

Suction from the hose I would say is below par, even for its little motor. No sharpness to it, I;ve had Hoover Turbopowers with more suction. All seals are replaced, and I think seated correctly.

Floor performance is awful.  Barely any grooming at all. If I push down on the head it cuts nice deep tracks in the carpet, when on its own it skims across doing nothing. Have I put the head back on wrong? Reclines and latches upright with no issues.

I bought a new soleplate assembly, which works great. However the old one had foam seals on the edges, the new one doesnt (genuine dyson). Can I get the strips seperatly? (This may be why it doesnt glue itself to the floor, too much suction leakage)

Fills up well enough though, so it must be doing something.

Shame really as I was looking forward to it. Am I making a fuss over nothing or does something seem wrong? Will probably re-strip it at some point, but want to go in with a sense of whats needed rather than just take it apart and put it back together again.

I'll disagree with Russ and say that is normal for one of those.

We only build them to order for this reason. Teeny weeny motor and small cyclones makes them asthmatic. Yes, they pick some stuff up, but Dyson abandoned that design for a reason.

Offline beko1987

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2013, 07:04:37 pm »
That's a shame! Its been so long since I had one I presumed it would be some good. It can't be this bad normally though!

Will investigate further, thanks for the input though
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline __russ__

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2013, 10:37:25 pm »
Having rebuilt my DC03 (as per the dedicated thread) I'm less than impressed with its performance.

Motor works well, it does pick up but lacks any greatness.

Suction from the hose I would say is below par, even for its little motor. No sharpness to it, I;ve had Hoover Turbopowers with more suction. All seals are replaced, and I think seated correctly.

Floor performance is awful.  Barely any grooming at all. If I push down on the head it cuts nice deep tracks in the carpet, when on its own it skims across doing nothing. Have I put the head back on wrong? Reclines and latches upright with no issues.

I bought a new soleplate assembly, which works great. However the old one had foam seals on the edges, the new one doesnt (genuine dyson). Can I get the strips seperatly? (This may be why it doesnt glue itself to the floor, too much suction leakage)

Fills up well enough though, so it must be doing something.

Shame really as I was looking forward to it. Am I making a fuss over nothing or does something seem wrong? Will probably re-strip it at some point, but want to go in with a sense of whats needed rather than just take it apart and put it back together again.

I'll disagree with Russ and say that is normal for one of those.

We only build them to order for this reason. Teeny weeny motor and small cyclones makes them asthmatic. Yes, they pick some stuff up, but Dyson abandoned that design for a reason.

To be honest I was expecting someone to disagree with me as I know what the general opinion on DC03's are  :))

I would certainly never describe the DC03 suction as excellent, but also at the same time, I wouldn't say it was poor - I get the impression from Beko that he is saying the latter about his so still think something isn't quite right there.

Be interesting to hear what his further investigations uncover!

Offline Madrat

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2013, 03:45:46 pm »
The DC03 I have is fantastic for its size.  Cleans very very well.

Offline bluebumble485

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2014, 05:35:13 pm »
i agree with ermmmmmmm lol
mvacs i think the wand is bellow what it should be suction wise
i can see what russ means though
i dont do them i just scrap in the midlands us yam yams do like um
i think the shape you love or hate
some one will say they are great now ,thats what makes the world go round, if we were all the same boring world
[only one model of dyson to fix though ]

Offline beko1987

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Re: DC03 Lacklustre performance
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2014, 10:10:58 pm »
Chatting with some fellow collectors, I think I;ve left a seal out somewhere.

When it was all back together, I found a thin, prob 20cm diameter circular seal left over. One went back in the cyclone. I had the DC04 Marie Curie edition in bits too, so assumed it went with that.

It didn't, and now everything we own is boxed up in various lofts around buckinghamshire and oxfordshire, I've just thought that maybe I left it out!

Buggar all I can do about it now, I've put it in the loft for safe keeping until I happen upon the box the seal is in. I know it exists, and I know I kept it as it seemed important. The only thing I can do is get another DC03, re-strip it and be damn good at accounting for all the seals, then find the two that hopefully are identical, and play spot the difference. Will update as and when!

Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

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