My shampooer will not release water

xpinto
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I wasted a lot of time following the expert advice to repair my unit by taking the cover off of the main unit and using compressed air to blow out the lines. The problem turned out to be in the lower panel of the handle (4 screws to remove). The heater is a large block of aluminum with a stainless cover held on by screws. The lower nozzle of the heater was blocked by water/soap reacting with the aluminum while in storage. Blowing out the lines as recommended with air compressor just warped the stainless cover resulting in time spent flattening this back into shape.

I would recommend the following steps:
1. Make sure that fluid levels are up in both the supply water bladder and the soap dispenser.
2. Pry off the left side access cover and ensure the pump drive belt is still in position. Switch the unit on and see that the pump is spinning.
3. With the unit plugged in and the handle laying flat on the floor (using the foot release lever) , remove the clear bezzel over the red impeller, switch the unit on, and pull the trigger for soap. Liquid stream should shoot straight up past the impeller. If not the lines are plugged somewhere.
4. Unplug the electric power. Remove the four screws and remove the lower handle access cover (with the red light in it).
5. All the fluid lines are clear plastic so you can identify which have fluid movement.
6. Disconnect the line from the soap activation switch (pliers on the squeeze hose clamp) feeding the heater (large aluminum block). Blow air (with your mouth NOT the air compressor) into this line and see if fluid movement is observed in the clear plastic lines. A little tentative about soap in your mouth, use a turkey baster filled with water). I saw no movement of liquid. Nozzle exiting the heater blocked.
7. Remove this hose and use a small drill bit to twist the debris loose. You may elect to remove the heater shinny cover for better access. Gaskets are reusable. Blow thru the hoses again to assure blockage cleared.
8. Button unit up.
9. With the clear bezel off and the red rotor exposed, plug unit in, soap and water supplies in place, switch on power and pull soap trigger. Should see vertical stream. Mine was about 5 inches initially then jumped to about 10 inches high. Knew blockage was cleared.
10. During shampoo operation if soap stops (red impeller stops spinning) first check fluid levels and fill. That doesn't work, I unscrewed the clear bezel and pulled the soap trigger with the unit switched on. Less than a second vertical stream appeared every time.
11. Now you know how to fix and achieve continuous operation.
12. The unit must be thorougly cleaned before putting it away for storage to prevent the reoccurance of the blockage in the heater. After following the manufacturer's instructions, by flushing (operating the unit) with clear water in the bladder and the soap dispenser, I did one final thing. By removing the fresh water storage/collection plastic container, a black round fitting is exposed that channels the water from the bladder into the spray system. I used a length of automotive heater hose that was the same diameter as the seal on this fitting (turkey baster with bulb off will work) and blew hard while the unit was switched on and the clear bezel was off. One last big blast of water spewed from the unit. This cleared all the lines from the bladder through the pump, switch, and heater and blows it out just prior to the spray nozzles.

This is long but specific.

Not so technical, take each step as presented.

Good luck.
Plano Tx

This may be caused because the pump belt has stretched slightly or the pump is seized and will not turn. Remove the pump belt and turn the pump rotor with your fingers to see it turns freely. If it does then the pump should be OK but the belt may be stretched and will need replacing. If the unit does not spray after changing the belt then clean the spray nozzles at the front of the machine and make sure that water flows to the nozzles OK. You can check this by temporarily disconnecting the nozzles from the plastic pipes.

Main causes for no spray.

Bladder may be empty.
SmartMix Bottle may be empty.
The Filter may be clogged.
Tanks may not be seated properly.
Pump may have lost prime.
The Pump Belt may be broken.
2 front jets are blocked. This is a common problem. When the machine is standing for a while the detergent turns to a gel causing the blockage Lay the Bissell on its side then where the water comes out of the jets at the bottom of the machine unblock them using a pin to poke through the hole in the centre.

Try running hot water through the system with no detergent to empty out all the residual detergent. Keep running hot water through the system by pressing the button you press for it to spray the water do this for about 5 mins and keep swapping the water for hotter water as it starts to cool doing this 4 or 5 times might solve your problem if not get the tools out and start looking for the blockage. Do this once a month to ensure that the pipes and jets are kept clean and free of any detergent gel build up.