I recently put a new bag in my kirby and now when i turn it on, it will not pick up anything

Twist the bag emptor left to remove it from the upright then your need a sharp narrow pointy object (like a metal dental pick cost $1 in most stores) push it under the plastic band around the rubber on the bottom of the cloth bag roll it across and take off the plastic tie once off pull the rubber bottom part of the bag emptor take out the inner plastic tube and zip the bag put in the washer by itself and wash with soap and softner and let hang dry you can also wash the inner plastic tube with hot water and fabuloso I recondition kirbys and do it all the time.

Hi there. It sounds like you belt may be stretched. Simple turn vac upside down, start it up and carefully press your hand on the brush. If the belt is stretched the rollewr will stop turning. If this does not help, you probably have a clog in the power head area. Hope this helps, Chris

On the right side of your vacuum head, there is a green belt indicator light. If when the unit is powered on and this light is not lighting up, you have a broken belt, or you didnt properly latch the belt in place.

a) Broken belt- you can use the belt from your shampoo'er if you have one, otherwise your nearest Kirby distributor has them for a couple bucks

b) As for the suction, the Kirby has 2 motors. 1 motor is for the cleaning of the floor, the other motor (where you see the vent on the left side) is for keeping the unit cool to expand the life, which btw average life of a kirby is 20yrs and they all come with a lifetime refurbishing plan. If your not getting any suction check the boot of the bag where it hooks onto the unit for any clogging

If your brush roll is turning and your bag is not overly full, then the only other thing it can be is a clog where the bag connects to the vacuum. Turn the plastic part out away from vacuum and lift off to see if you have something clogging it. It would have to be something big, but not so big that it could not get past the fan. As a rule of thumb, KIRBY never clogs. I suspect that your belt is stretched out and your brush roll is not turning while on the carpet so the brush roll is just in the way rather than brushing your carpet to pick up dirt.

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 may have suction but if the belt is worn the roller brush won't spin and therefore won't pick up anything. You can get a replacement belt here:

http://vacbelts.xps.convina.com/kirby-301291-belt.htm

There is a shampooer head with shampooer brushroll, water tank, small hose that hooks to the tank, collection tray

Need to use the Kirby shampoo. It goes down as wet suds but you pick up the suds with the vacuum when it drys. Fill tank adding 1 cap full of soap (kirby soap only) per level on the side, this attaches on the side where the bag is attached

After using the shampooer you need to reattach the vacuum bag and main brushroll nozzle as though you were just vacuuming up dirt.

Instructions:

Lift the front of your kirby up (front part with light) open the handle on the dail in the front (if epquipt), remove the power head, put on height adjustment on highest level, turn dial on front of power head until you see 2 red arrows facing each other, unlock by turning knob, power head should come right off, get shampooer out the power head for shampooer with collection tray, make sure dial is set red on red, put on front of Kirby and lock in, turn dial to green on green arrows, fill tank adding 1 cap full of soap (Kirby soap only) per level on the side, this attaches on the side where the bag is attached, line up arrow and notch and turn, to hook up hose put Kirby down to lowest level, notched end of hose hooks in on tray other end on the tank,on/off switch refers to the foam, Turn machine on to lay the foam & scrub carpet, take shampooer back off to extract the foam once it's dry.

Good luck.

TRY THIS STEP BY STEP NOZZLE REINSTALLMENT GUIDE...

http://reviews.ebay.com/CHANGING-THE-BELT-ON-A-KIRBY-G3-G4-G5-GSIX-ULTIMATE-G_W0QQugidZ10000000003720039

HOPE THIS HELPS!

Is the bag emptor all of the way on? It will blow out if it isn't, But being new, you must have a number to call, it is under warranty so they should be able to help you out.

Here is a link to my online guide for belt changing. Hope it helps.

http://reviews.ebay.com/CHANGING-THE-BELT-ON-A-KIRBY-G3-G4-G5-GSIX-ULTIMATE-G_W0QQugidZ10000000003720039

Marci