Miele S6220 Cat and Dog - Stripdown and Refurb

[beko1987]

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I happened upon this the other week, looking sorry for itself and £free! Good old freecycle. SWMBO picked it up for me as well as it was on the way back from where she was one night





Poor thing wasnt without its flaws though



The extension tube was missing one of its buttons



The turbo brush had part of the parking bracket snapped off, although still clings on like a champ and parks



The day I got it, I removed and cleaned the filters, vacced out the bag chamber and fixed it. Listed for spares, apparently it had taken a tumble. Whilst tumbling, the bag chamber seal must have fallen out, as it was re-fitted upside down... A quick flip round and she was working well again!

The next night, I get a plea for help from a lady who'se DC33 I refurbished last year. They were moving to South Africa in 3 days time, their house was empty, DC33 was on the boat, did I have anything they could borrow to do a final clean? Of course, take the Miele. I got a fiver from them, which was a nice gesture since I didnt ask for anything.

 2 days later it came back, I was cleaning SWMBO's car, and she made me nearly soil myself as she came up behind me as I was vacuuming it out. Full of thanks, but also full of apology, she had dropped it, and broken the tool holder. She asked how much a new one would cost, I said a tenner, and she gave me it there on the spot. I may have neglected to tell her that I've had a spare holder in the shed for a few years... £15 up already on a free cleaner! We said goodbye, I said good luck, and carried on vaccing the car. I was using ye old faithful Aquamaster, which was good, but I only have a crevice tool. Brainwave, I plugged the S6 in and gave it a thorough shakedown on the car. On full power it was brilliant on the carpets, although I had to turn it down to below halfway for the seats, as it just stuck otherwise.



Fun and games over, I messaged someone on another forum who had enquired about anything for sale before, interest was gained, so I commenced the refurbishment...





Bojack bags  The bag has probably never fallen off, or overflowed, just leaked all out the bag and into the compartment...

The poor old filter



It originally came with an active charcoal filter



Which was ab it poorly



The status strip was long dead, apaprently these show the remaining life left in some way.



This wont be replaced, the airclean filters that come with the bags are more than good enough, plus the charcoal filters are fecking expensive, and that would put the price up...

Bag holder out





The hood unclips from the pivots





and the pedals unclip from the hood, bringing their springs with them





There is a big sponge diffuser that sits under the lid



The bag full piston (not a fan of these, they dont really show anything) pops out



it splits down nicely though



The hose entry socket unclips and splits in two



bag door latch pops out



The aformentioned bag chamber seal comes back out



2 screws and 2 clips pop the speed control housing out



which holds the circuit board and speed control. Going by the date printed on the PCB this machine is not even 2 years old, how much abuse do people want to give an expensive vacuum cleaner?



On/off switch clips in underneath the on/off button (obviously...)



and then it all pops out



This little spacer/rocker sits above the on/off switch



The knob pops out



Oooh, a later date!



The PCB plugs into the main wiring loom, which sits in the housing underneath it



Pop that out the way, remove 5 more screws and



This is the motor chamber seal, which came with the lid



Some sound deadening was clipped up there too



This black part unclips from the rest of the housing. Diffuser?



This part was even weirder, but pulled out from around a screwhole



The surround where the cord exits pops off



Onto the last layer now



The motor unplugs



and lifts out



The bracket that holds the rear in place





fancase seal



fan cover taps off



Fan is removed



Another 2014 date



Carbon brush holders unplug



Armature lifts out



It was quite clean



At the top of the motor housing is the thermal fuse



It sits inside it's little casing





The coil assembly eases out of the motor housing



and this tension strap falls out



Empty!



More sound deadening sits under the motor





This and the foam top diffuser went through the washing machine and came up very nicely indeed!

The cord rewind cassette lifts out. I made doubly sure not to f  k with this, as it's the comfort reel, one press reels the whole cable in, so god knows how it tensions up, and a new one costs a frigging fortune!



I took the chance to check the cable wasnt about to do a standard Miele and break at this point



I could not get the pre motor filter cage out, so left it be!



The bleed valve sits here at the front





All the wheels are removed



and the main machine is done! Onto the tools now



Luckily this was just dirty and not worn



The litter pickers pop out



Turbo head now!



Utterly filthy and abused, but the brushes were not worn at all



Baseplate off



Rubber deflector strip out. This makes it useable on hard floors as it stops it flinging the dirt backwards





The release valve pops out from the top cover



Yummy





The turbine housing comes off with 2 screws



and the turbine and neck lift out



One small washer this side



The centre axle pulls out with a bit of persuasion, and the turbing splits into 2 halves



Another tiny washer, and loads and loads of hair before I cut it all off



The brushroll lifts out of the end caps, and the belt guard unclips from around it



I cleaned the threads/carpet off the brushroll



The end caps sit either end in the moulding



The wheels underneath pop out



Done! Non washables



Very nearly forgot the hose end too!



the suction release slider pops off



Washables

[beko1987]

I ran the machine polisher over the glossy plastics and took out 80% of the damage and restored all the gloss back



It seems to have been dragged on its side for a fair while sadly, would have been top notch without this





I had a look at the extension tubes next. I bought one off ebay for £3, but it was ruined at one end





The front one is what they should look like



I have a very rusty one too in the shed, so got that out to join the party



No amount of wire wool will fix that, which is a shame as its spot on otherwise



But the end the hose attached to was ok, so I teased out the plastic insert from both



Gathered a good set and cleaned them up



The clip holder sits in first



anti static strip sits in the housing



then slides into place. Insulation tape on my thumb is where I put a screwdriver through it earlier whilst dismantling the poles...

Gave the hose end clip a wipe over





and voila! One good telescopic tube



It was a little bit worn on the other end, but not too bad



Release valve back onto the hose end





Wheels clipped back into position



Brushroll and end caps fitted



Belt guard fitted



I then put the turbine and associated back together with a drop of oil on all the moving parts (I turned out, after an hour of troubleshooting it later that the turbine was on back to front, so you see how it is in this picture? Reverse that!





2 halves together





Squeegee back onto the base plate, and baseplate back onto the main housing



Small tools went back together



Wheels back on the bus



Release valve refitted



Cord rewind cassette was dusted off and clipped back into place



lower sound deadening back in



Time to build the motor back up



and the thermal fuse





I put a drop of spray grease in both the bearings, which made it smell slightly on startup, but that faded very quickly. I'll use proper grease next time! Smoothed it up anyhow













All back together, the motor can be dropped back in



Random piece dropped back in by the screw hole



Other random black part dropped back in



then the casing can be lowered down onto the lower chassis



Electronics all clipped back together



and fitted to the machine. Bag chamber seal refitted



Release catch fitted



Hose entry pieces clipped together



Bag indicator clipped back in



and the top lid clipepd onto the main body



Bag holder fitted



and she is done!



The tools fit onto their holder



I then had to wait for some post. The first to arrive was a new fuse holder, as it seemed a shame to chop off a perfectly good moulded plug just because it was missing





And a nice new service box, as all my Miele refurbs get!



Pre motor filter cut to size





Post motor filter fitted. Handily, I've had a filter cage for years, as I bought an incorrect one when I had an older cat and dog years ago. This cage is needed to replace the active air clean filters. The things that could come in handy one day eh? 



Nice new bag fitted



and an air freshener popped on the filter



and she is done! Life reset, ready for many more years of vacuuming!







When I first got her, and confirmed it worked well I got in contact with a chap on Autoshite who had expressed an interest in replacing his vax bagless thing. So, virtual money was exhanged, and she is as we speak winging her way up to Nairn in the Highlands to start her new life, with someone who will be more sympathetic in use than the previous idiot owner! Collect+ are doing the whole thing for £8.50 with a 10% off code I found online, better than £30 that anyone else charges, being as it's an IV12 highlands address!

[dysondc16]

It never ceases to amaze me how much abuse is dished out to expensive machines, I don't really understand the logic behind it. Those aftermarket bags can absolutely kill these.
Although it seems there is little that you can't revive! I really like mieles, but I tend to prefer the larger cylinders to these compact ones, still good machines though.
Glad it already has a new home!
Scott

[beko1987]

Yea, the build quality of the S5 is much better than the S6, the plastics thicker, build quality better, finish more robust etc.

But then Madrat posted me the most bogging Miele S6 I've ever seen, but it's that matt blue colour, which always ruins itself. That one is beyond saving I think, I'll post some pictures up soon of it so we can all laugh at it (not laugh at Madrat, he made it clear it was battered)

[Parwaz7862]

My Dream Miele is any S7 with all tools and my dream Miele Cylinder is either the S5 cat & Dog or the S8 Cat and dog

[beko1987]

Im waiting to find a nice complete cheap s5 revolution 5000. One day...

[dysondc16]

Granted, I have yet to see a broken upper casing on an s6, but it really doesn't feel that robust. Gosh I miss the s4...... And those matt finishes are great for a while, but really don't look too pretty for long. Good luck on finding a revolution! Have to say though your current setup isn't too bad!
Parwaz, The s7 is a beast of a machine, I do understand why miele is discontinuing it over there. Great performer, but certainly a bit large.

[beko1987]

When I put it back on at the end, I did it at the wrong angle, and it made a massive crunch noise as it slipped past some part of the housing. Was ok though, no damage done! I've seen one revolution locally, but it was missing the power head and still went for £30. Seen them go unsold on ebay for under a tenner but always hundreds of miles away with collection only.

My current setup is cool, but clunky, the clips for the cable keep falling off! Still, better than nothing, and I'll always keep the SEB head, even if I sell/upgrade the main cleaner, wont ever get a new one for £25 again!

[Parwaz7862]

The S7 is being discontinued?! No more upright Mieles in the UK? WTF is it that powerful or something

[dysondc16]

I don't know why, but that's what I heard!
Beko, I've never been too keen on external cables on cylinders. Seems messy and cumbersome.

[beko1987]

Well I received a very nice PM from the new owner, the cat and dog is loved very much indeed! He is very in tune to our way of thinking, and thinks it criminal that such a machine was as good as thrown out. Says he knows people who have had dysons from the tip that have had nothing wrong with them etc, I told him that was usual.

Apparently his partner has wrist issues so the light Miele is a welcome change from their heavy vax upright, which he is cleaning up and selling to recoup some of the outlay on the miele

[beko1987]

The new owner got £30 back on facebook for his vax,  so only spent £58. Bargain!

[pleriche]

Great repair guide! But how do you get the nut off the end of the motor spindle in order to remove the fan? I put WD40 on it and left it overnight, and even then the only way I could get a grip on the fan was to thread nylon chord through the fan and grip the two ends in a Workmate. When I eventually did get the nut to move it didn't come off however far your turned it.

So I looked again at your photos. Do I detect a left handed thread on the spindle end in the photos of the clean commutator? But turning it clockwise doesn't shift it either. I can't believe I've stripped the thread on a nut that size!

Also, is the thermal cut-out on the motor self-resetting? The problem is either that or commutator caked with dust - the machine was totally clogged with plaster dust and wouldn't run.

[beko1987]

They are a LH thread I do recall. All I usually do is, with the fancase off, place a cloth inbetween the fan and your hand, as it will slice you up if your not careful, then with your palm of one hand clamp the fan down, then crack the nut off, it then spins off with your fingers. If the whole motor does turn, a small flatblade screwdriver into the back of the motor and locked against a segment of the coil (not the commutor) will work, but be careful not to damage anything!

RE the thermal cut out, yes it is self re-setting, 30 minutes IIRC. Plaster dust won't help though, plus I've had an S5 before that blew the track off the PCB rather than the fuse, some pigeon shit soldering fixed that one! But you need the fan off to see, then the top of the motor and then you can see the fuse assembly! If the fuse is blown, I imagine RS or ebay will have just the replacement you need to solder in!

Don't forget to wash the fan either when you do get it off!

[pleriche]

Very many thanks for the ultra-speedy reply! But it looks like I'm screwed as far as that nut is concerned. Whilst holding the fan I can turn it in either direction without it coming off, and the rotor doesn't turn. There's a little more resistance once every revolution, so I certainly seem to have stripped the thread. Clearly I don't know my own strength. Crazy idea using a LH screw - all they needed to do was swap 2 wires to the brushes and make the fan from a mirror image of the drawings and they could have used a RH screw! There was a little arrow on the nut pointing in an anticlockwise direction - I'll know to look out for that in future.

But anyway, I poked an air-duster through to the commutator from the back and nothing much blew out, so maybe the brushes and commutator didn't need cleaning too much after all. I cleaned out the fan as best I could and put the motor back into the carcass and plugged it in, and the motor ran! So long as the brushes don't wear out it seems to be sorted. Now I just have to wait for the noise absorbing stuff to dry out on the washing line (thank heaven for a bit of Summer at last!) and I can put it all together again.

Thank you again for a most helpful disassembly guide.

Best regards - Philip