Until one afternoon it started to give unfaimilar screeching noise and silly odour like something burning. It still sucked dust or small particles in normal speed but it had sluggish sound like interupted rotating machine, sometimes fast then slow, on and off. If speed is increased then not much sucking power gained. Only fumes that clog our breath, constantly getting more filled up the space. Oh no ! Turned on and off the machine, nothing changed. I just stopped the machine.
Be positive. I was still went and buying new dust bag and replaced all the filters that came with the package. Maybe it was just dirtiness problem since its filter or the bag never got replaced from day one. See what I'd said ... even the dust bag never became full ... or it maybe we just recycled it over and over after emptying it (lol). The last thing I saw before this machine broke was a wood satay skewer (tusuk sate) poked through the dust bag :-(
Till after some days I had one relax day to disassemble it. Not too difficult, just with one + screwdriver.
How to dismantle Philips FC8348 vacuum cleaner
1. Open the two screws on top, near the carriage handle.
2. Open the two screws below its belly.
3. Open the rear filter cover (in our case it is yellow color).
4. Remove the top part of the body ... yeah the yellow cover.
5. Unplug the white cable from the socket (this cable is connected to speed dial).
6. Remove the housing of the power cable (black) roll. It is latched to the inner compartment near the left wheel.
7. Unplug the red-white cable that is connected to the socket.
8. Remove the four screws for the motor housing.
9. Voila! Lift up the vacuum motor now.
Observing the motor phisicially, looks to me there was nothing wrong. Just a bit dusty and could be wiped off with tissue paper. No signs of burning, shortcuts, in my naked eyes. But that was all, what I could see as non-motor expert :-) No clues.
One or two weeks later I brought the unit to the service center here. Pleasant morning, no visitor crowd, there was only me with big plastic bag carrying the sucker. The CS (customer service) lady asked what kind of machine I brought, what model, what symptom, ... while keyed in the information on her system. She was not considering to let me demo to her, and quickly gave answer "Sir, your model is five years old plus and we do not carry any more spare parts for this. We can just give you a discounted coupon (staff price) to buy new models *only* in our shops here. Or if you can wait in about two weeks there will be carnival sale for our products here with more offers". By the time she finished with that "uninteresting" offer I managed to demo the problematic machine. She just said the motor got problem and the cost "just to analyse" the "sooo-obvious" problem would be $30. Seems one third price of a new one.
Huh..huh...
By that time I realised no point of arguing more. Wraped up back the machine inside the bag and went off after collecting the "staff-price-offer" paper that she passed to me. I spent ten minutes inside the shop to see what kind of best deals I could get but really felt not to buy anything there.
It is really amazed. How come this product has very short life though first I think this sucker is very simple and does its job well. Yeah 3 years is average, 5 years is luck anyway, for any electronics stuff. Maybe this is one of expensive home appliance I ever have ... $79 in 5 years or even more [sigh]. My wife warned me, never buy this vacuum brand anymore ! Why ? Why ? It is designed in Holland, but made in ***n* (you know where). Of coz, otherwise it can't be cheapo right !
You can hear similar sound that I encountered here.
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