Kirby sentria I have a kirby and the belt is on, however it has very little suction. I am unsure what to do.

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Sentria - The Kirby Company - Kirby Vacuum

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The Sentria Model includes softer lines and gentler curves on its design, giving it a sleek and soft look. The handle was redesigned on this model to provide ...

How To Replace The Belt On Kirby Generation or Sentria Vacuum Cleaner

1. Put the hose and see if suction is good. If it is - you may have had nozzle installed wrong or brush roll may be worn out (bristles must be sticking out of the nozzle by about 1/8 of an inch).
2. If there is no suction with the hose either - check if bag is not overfilled to the point where dirt is blocking the fill tube hole.
3. If two above are fine - something must be blocking the air passage from the fan to the bag. Check for clogs in the fill tube (tube inside the cloth bag) and mini emptor (bag bottom plastic part) and also see if there is something blocking the exhaust on the vacuum. You may not even see it so use a piece of wire. Once I found a sock there and it was so close to the fan that I could not see it in the hole and was only able to get it out using a homemade hook made from a coat hanger.

how to check for a clog in your Kirby

GoodVac.com Technician
www.goodvac.com
1-800-775-6586

1. Put the hose and see if suction is good. If it is - you may have had nozzle installed wrong or brush roll may be worn out (bristles must be sticking out of the nozzle by about 1/8 of an inch).
2. If there is no suction with the hose either - check if bag is not overfilled to the point where dirt is blocking the fill tube hole.
3. If two above are fine - something must be blocking the air passage from the fan to the bag. Check for clogs in the fill tube (tube inside the cloth bag) and mini emptor (bag bottom plastic part) and also see if there is something blocking the exhaust on the vacuum. You may not even see it so use a piece of wire.

GoodVac.com Technician
www.goodvac.com
1-800-775-6586

that means its working properly. If you have no suction then it is usually the belt and or the bag. so make sure your bag is not full , make sure everything is attatched properly and the green light is on.... The Kirby is the best vac out there and little suction should never be a issue for us.. I am a proud owner of the sentria..Love it..

Take the front off the vacuum and check inside both the front portion and the canister for additonal clogs. Sometimes something will get caught in the impellor, causing the motor to overheat. Since there's little suction and the smell, I'd guess this is what happened.

An Ultimate G has lots of suction. If you turn on your vacuum and the bag immediately inflates - that is how you can tell if your Kirby is moving air (suction). There is a more modern brush that came out with the Ultimate G Diamond and the Sentria that has stiffer bristles that dig up pet hair better.

Another way to test the suction is to spread some baking soda onto a hard floor and vacuum it up - you can see how much suction your Ultimate G has, or take off the vacuum head and put on a hose and test the suction at the end of the tube.

Ways to increase your Ultimate G cleaning efficiency. Take off the vacuum head and remove the brush roller. Attach your hose attachment and **** vacuum out the head. Put on a new belt, and remove any hair and or string or threads that may be wrapped around the brush roller. Put the roller back on and on the ends of your roller you will see that the ends spin and have numbers on them. If your vacuum brushroll is original - you could have your bristles rather worn and so you can align the #3 on BOTH sides of the brushroller. This would be a good time to consider upgrading to the Sentria Brush.
Remove the bag, and replace with the CLOTH Kirby bag. It has the best filtration and it has the best airflow (which increases what you are referring to as suction). If you want to go the cheap route - at least get the paper Micron Magic with HEPA filtration (but it has slightly less air flow)
Remove the side mini emptor from the vacuum and check to see if there is anything clogged up on either the vacuum or the mini-emptor.
If your engine is running and inflating the bag and you replace the belt, the brush roller and to the cloth dust bag - your vacuum should pretty much run like a brand new Sentria Vacuum. Your vacuum system is outstanding, but may benefit from a little TLC if you have been neglecting it.

You can take off the power head and look in that whole where the belt is and see if there is a paper towel or something in there clogging it up.

Also tug on the belt and make sure it is tight - because if it is loose it is broken and you need a new belt.

While you have the head off, put on your hose attachment and use it to **** out any debris stufk in there.

Yes G3 and G4 had different gasket thus the suction blower connector connecting Kirby hose to the unit on later models is different. You do not need to replace entire hose but just the plastic part that connects to the vacuum. You can find it HERE. To remove old connector you may have to submerge the end of the hose into hot water (not to hot to touch) so the vinyl becomes soft and you can bend it in with finger bringing plastic end over the lip on the molded end of the hose.

Good Luck

Have you checked the fan? It is what creates the suction. If ok, then you may have a motor problem, sometimes they run but not up to speed, then suction is lowered when that happens.