irobot Roomba 570 problem

[Twobeers1]

I have a Lhasa Apso. I find that I have to clean my Roomba 572 Pet model constantly. It's not all that pet friendly. They sent me a replacement brush assembly once. And replaced the whole thing after it developed the error 9 a couple of weeks before the warranty expired.

[WaddleBih]

Thanks! you just saved me with these explanations... indeed the box was full of dust. Now Roomba works normally again, SOOOOO HAPPY! :-)

[OutlawTomFantastic]

Mine started making a thumping sound, and you can literally see the robot bump up and down every second or so of operation. I took out the brushes and it still bumps. Haven't looked into the gear box yet but I bet that's what happened.

[manorcraft64]

get a life

[honkeetonk203]

my robots are broke too :(

[vikaskarade]

Very nice and critical design analysis :)

[oweschill]

So why haven´t you told me this before?!

After dissambling the gear box, cleaning the cogwheels etc my two robots are working perfectly.

I have some problems with other domestic machines, so if you could please - no, just kidding...

Anyhow - now I can let my robots work when I go out and enjoy the coming of spring (Swedish people are almost obsessed with the sun after the long cold winter...)

Thanks and best regards!

Owe S

[AgilityFox]

Same problem here.

I was cleaning my Roomba after each room !

And the gearbox was fried after 4 months !

[videogameobsession]

This is the second time this has happened to me. They replaced it with a green model "Rev2?" which was supposed to fix this problem, but 6 months later my gearbox is destroyed again. Roomba denies that it's a design flaw and is trying to charge me $69.99 to replace it. I think a class action lawsuit is in order here!

They are selling a flawed product and perhaps they are not fixing it on purpose. I'm sure a replacement gearbox is a big money maker for iRobot. :(

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

@videogameobsession I'm sure that there is a class-action lawsuit there because iRobot can be demonstrated to be deliberately causing this problem. I say that because the black gearbox that they introduced featured (semi) sealed bearings and that pretty much solved the problem. They then very quickly stopped producing that gearbox and brought out the green one which has no bearings just like the original.

This is a scam by iRobot to sell gearboxes that fail quickly.

[videogameobsession]

@PaleBlueDotCitizen I hope that class action lawsuit happens soon. I've been through 3 of these gearboxes and it's terribly expensive to replace!

[lwindross1]

Thank you so much! IT just started clunking today, got it cleaned out and it is working great!

[salsimon]

Well we have a model 570 and three dogs that produce enough hair to endanger the national wool clip. The greatest catcher of hair we find is behind the bearings which gradually get pushed out until the machine stops. If you try to replace the brushes without cleaning the hait from behind the bearings they simply won't fit!

We open the gearbox probably once a month and clean out bit of hair but not much. It is a marvellous machine.

[bbbitbuerger]

My iRobot shows the same defects within only three months of usage. I think the company won't have much fun and financial benefit of this silly product. I'll return the device every time it fails again and again!

[desmisc]

I returned my Roomba "Sweeper" and bought a Neato "vacuum cleaner". I have two cats and I have not the problems like I did with the Roomba.

[Rosher18]

Nice detective work. I salute a fellow handyman.

[900bigd]

SEND THIS VIDEO TO IROBOT! it's perfect for them to start fixing the problem.

[imayneer]

What I do for my customers is to modify the gear box. This process is to drill n cut then insert stealed bearings. This process will eliminate debris and runs great on carpets. It also indeed voids your warranty, but my customers don't care as long as it protects their machine. ;)

[adigold1]

hey there...can u post a video how to disassemble irobot like u did?

[BBsheepy]

great video, hopefully they will fix the problem

[Despara5T]

Interesting video.

[mtpr]

שהחברה תחלק כיסוי סיליקון בחינם!

[Frankeinstein127]

YOU HAVE KILLED IT

[titocala]

well my has the same problem I will try to open and clean it

[deviantspeed]

I went through this whole process, even looked at and tested the motor... IN THE END, the brushes had too much pet hair in their grooves.  This created too much resistance for the motor, so it would keep backing off. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk instead of moving the brushes.

Brushes should spin easily... take a few mins with a knife or something to get all the hair out of the brushes.... slotted ends pop off, clean all hair from there.

[fgmenius]

thank you so much for posting this. it was very helpful and taught me a little about gears and what they do to plastic!

[projectshave]

You've saved me $50!! I've got a Roomba 530 and a Husky shedding his fur everywhere. I called Roomba support and they told me I needed to buy a new gear box. Instead, I did as you described and found large amounts of dog hair wedged between the gears. Now it's running perfectly again. Thank you for posting this!

[wkdf83f]

Excellent presentation. This video was really instructive. Clearly there's a design fault with the machine. I don't own a iRobot but I'm considering buying one. With this knowledge I don't know. Do all models suffer from the same problem? I hope the engineers of iRobot see this video. You just gave them a free lesson.

[happyshlappy]

@wkdf83f this is just one of the Irobots I think he should complain and get a new one because other roomba 570 work perfect ly and this was 3 years ago they have improved the flaw and it is better than ever. this guy needs to get his facts right.

[davidknox1234]

An intelligent presentation. The Roomba is now in the 'not yet' stack. Thank you for the information.

[battlebots16]

thanks alot i have the roomba discovery and i took the gearbox apart it was full of hair the cover was cracked i took it apart cleaned out the hair fixed the crack i put tamiya ceramic greese one the shafts and closed it back i then sealed around the gearbox with amazing goop it runs great now thanks for the heads up

[antgaunt]

Thanks for showing me this, I will keep an eye on it now...

[mikaila31]

Wouldn't applying some silicon to the seams stop the dirt from getting into the gearbox?

[lvdlvd]

mine is 6 months old and started the ticking sound a few weeks ago, so found out the brushes weren't moving anymore and i started looking for the warranty and how to get it serviced. Instead i found this very useful video. brilliant. I have 2 dogs, and the gearbox turned out to contain enough hair for a spare 3rd one. I don't care i voided the warranty, my experience with these things are that your appliance is gone for months and they find a reason to charge you half a new one anyway. thanks.

[learjet79]

Opening up the any of the Roombas in the 500 series does not void the warranty. In fact if you check your instructions it shows you how to pull all the modules out. I bought one in Australia and at first didn't know I could do this until I called the company and the customer service told me it was allowed. I now do it at least once a month to give the machine a good clean besides the daily maintenance and I haven't had any problems since then.

[learjet79]

@lvdlvd

Opening up the any of the Roombas in the 500 series does not void the warranty. In fact if you check your instructions it shows you how to pull all the modules out. I bought one in Australia and at first didn't know I could do this until I called the company and the customer service told me it was allowed. I now do it at least once a month to give the machine a good clean besides the daily maintenance and I haven't had any problems since then.

[beerorkid2]

you just saved me a call to irobot and the wait associated. I took off the cover to my malfunctioning gearbox and cleaned out globs of compacted hair. Lucky for me there was no damage to the non bushing pin holes so I am back up and running.

I agree, that is lame that those gear boxes are not sealed better.

[liquidpromises]

I try to remove all the components fairly regularly to make sure no dust gets inside.

[Fotr3d]

Nice presentation !

[adrianet1967]

well done. Congratulations!!

[mollyandthebug]

Just wanted to say thank you for posting this! I purchased my 570 over a year ago and never had a problem, and then it started the knocking sound. I had cleaned the brushes and still no success. I then found your video. I cleaned all of the fuzz from my gear box, and it runs like a charm! My husband was very impressed with me. :)~ Thanks!!

[AndHund]

I have had 2 Roombas, the Green had the same problem after 5-6 month and the first one was exchanged to the Green due to the same problem. Really bad quality and a lot of money lost.

[conatcha]

iRobot should thank you for your job. And thanx for saving me the money.

[GoTimothy]

It has a year warranty, why didn't you call the manufacture? Now that you taken it apart the warranty is probably void.

[iskim86]

for our education and knowledge. Because knowledge is power!

[Phuti73]

I wonder if the 520 we get tomorrow might have / get this issue ...what should I be looking at ? (and why do you look so familliar!? :p)

[psicorpszzz]

I asked customer service about the new GREEN CHM. I wanted to know if they reintroduced the problem of overheating and wanted to know if the bearings were sealed. They responded "Unfortunately the bearings are not sealed but the brush sockets have been redesigned closer in the module.". Does anyone know if this solves the problem? Does anyone have the new GREEN CHM and have they experienced problems?

[cclarss]

the green is better than the read one

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

Try watching my two follow videos...

[DanFrederiksen]

yeah I did. and you seem on the level nad it's probably right. I'm just surprised that such a low power device could melt the plastic around the gear shafts. unless they used some very low temperature plastic. I guess they were new at it then. hopefully better now

[thedementation666]

why dont you open one up for yourself before you open your mouth.

the gearbox is not sealed.

[srjones8]

Excellent video - nice investigation!

[Mjk11166]

Thank you for adding this video. I was online lookin gto buy my wife the same unit. Your review was perfect. I hope the manufacturer sees it and fixes the flaw. I am tired of paying good money for something a company chinced on. The metal or brass bearings (That can be replaced by the user, CHEAPLY) would be a great start as well as your recommended gasket. NICE JOB on the review.

[haydenman2]

just great I was going to get one for the wife

[contact1araya]

What you should get is a documentary on the women's rights movement, you dont get women electronic apliances anymore dude.

[4G64TurboSpyder]

Dumb is the person who buys one of these to replace their upright vacuum cleaner...that's just poor judgment right there lol

[wwallender]

by a new cleaning head modgule

[paj006]

very very helpful. Thank you! No one else seems to know what was wrong with my Roomba!

[MichaelTrendsetter]

With about 1/4 of the effort it took to make and post this video, you could have taken the Roomba back and gotten a new one. Why waste your time when you can easily solve your own problems?

[sharpanator]

maybe cause the new unit will have the same faults cause its a bad design from IRobot??

[otterboxiphone]

You are great!

[learjet79]

Did u even think 4 a second to ring the company.They would send you a new cleaning module free. Why did you continue 2 run it after it made a strange sound? & by the way the only reason the cleaning modules fail is due 2 extreme lack of maintenance. U need 2 spend time cleaning it after each use & if looked after the way recommended it would not fail after 1 week. Pure laziness on your part. I have had the original cleaning head module in mine for over a year with no problems because I clean it.

[sharpanator]

that IRobot is starting to look hillarious to me, its made for saving time and in the end you use that time for maintenance the unit after every use, lol! I keep my normal vacuum cleaner which need no maintenance at all

[AV3NG3R00]

Yeh, bad design, and probably a manufacturing fault on iRobot's part.

Obviously they use all plastic components to cut down on production costs, despite the obvious need for some critical components to remain steel or aluminium.

At least it's covered by warranty.

[Freshbott2]

Good one pulling it apart. You could have had it replaces over warranty. Also, it's not supposed to replace upright vacuums. It's supposed to regularly vacuum simply so you use your upright vacuum less. You didn't seriously expect the Roomba to completely take over the job did you?

[sharpanator]

well, i guess thats what every custumor expect from a 400 Euro product, it is supposed to replace the normal cleaner otherwise it would have no sense. I dont have IRobot but i use vacuum cleaner and a small but strong black & Decker wireless unit when i see a hair or 2 on the bottom, its great and quick.

[Freshbott2]

Nah, it's not meant to replace normal vacuuming. It reduces how thoroughly and how often you need to do normal vacuuming. That makes perfect sense to me. Most people I've asked still vacuum normally, but lest often, every few weeks or so. There's nothing that doesn't make sense about that.

[sharpanator]

i would recommend a Dyson or Black&Decker wireless cleaner. They are quickly pulled out and finish the job in a minute while the irobot is still working and wearing out cause it cleans also the clean parts. i can spend the saved money for other gadgets

[pagie181]

thank you for showing this to us we will certainly be looking very hard at this before we purchase 1

[hokky12345]

mine doesnt have a gap and mine is acually fine and is set to clean everyday on every room while im at work and it works perfectly i think yours was broken during a building error or it was used because my cousin got one used and it has nearly the same problem

[putthisonmytab]

which model do you have? Does it clean carpet good?

[hokky12345]

yes it does clean carpet well im acually very busy and have many things to do i got the 560 and it was not used and im very happy with my purchase

[sharpanator]

because used onces have more miles on, that just means that your unit is fresher but it can have the same failure in the future, i dont believe in those irobots

[tedeology]

i have a 560 and it does not have a gap like that on it's red gear box. either they updated the gear boxes or yours had some defect or the warping of the plate caused it.

[emellqui]

Same thing happened to mine (6 months old), and I was cleaning the brushes every time it ran and cleaned out the gear box twice. If you have pets that leave hair around they house, the only way to keep your Roomba going is to clean out that gear box every few days. With that kind of hassle, it makes me wonder if it's worth $300.

[UNSEENPATRIOT]

Yours must of been beat to hell, because I've had a 560 roomba for quite sometime and mine is scheduled for every single day and I just opened mine up completely and my gear box looked nothing like that. WD-40 and daily cleaning makes sure that you don't melt the gear box housing. But, you know, they sell a new type gear box brush housing on the irobot site that is all blue for $50. Considering it looks like yours is destroyed it might be worth it.

[weirdobob21]

u no, u look and sound like simmon cowl on american idol, and u act like him to, just clean the brushes daily, and check for the heavy duty stuff every month or so. ive had mine for over 2 year and it still runs great cuz i clean the brushes and do heavy duty cleaning every month, so that should save ya some money. and there was a gap becuase of the melting.

[rwstreb]

I got the iRobot Dirt Dog. It says it's for shops and things like that, so I figured it should be good for cleaning up after four kids. I am very impressed. It cleans far better than I expected, both on carpet and vinyl floors, even though that's not how it was advertised. I think it's better than our upright, maybe because it is more patient. I checked the gearbox, and it seems to be sealed tightly.

[TGWMPE]

Thank you Showing us this video. This has happened to mine Twice.

[ohyeahjerryjeff]

I just purchased a 560, 5th Generation for the house this Christmas. Got curious and started checking out youtube. I saw this clip and went holy $#&@!!! Thought I would seal the gearbox now before it became contaminiated. Through the 560 on its back and took out the brush gearbox. I can report that on the 5th generation the problem no longer exist.

[mckelly46]

Thank you for this clip. I was thinking of purchasing one. With poor engineering like you described in the video I think I'll stick to my good old fashioned vacuum cleaner. Anyway, you saved me a bit of cash - not too shabby in this poor economic climate. ;-)

[porkcow55]

thats not a roomba its an irobot xD

[GTAAAAAHHH]

same diff...

[AxelX1]

I have my 5x roomba also more than year and no trouble with it.

[kroehm1972]

I've had mine for 3 years and it never broke or clogged up like that. Did you buy it new or off of eBay?

[Quotacious]

Uh, he has a 5XX series. They have not been around for 3 years, so your comparison isn't valid. iRobot has, in fact, just recently redesigned the whole mechanism to correct this issue.

[kroehm1972]

Umm, so if they just redesigned the mechanism then it stands to reason that his mechanism and mine would be the same, right? 5XX series or not.

[komodomoe]

why do brits always overpronounce t's?

[jfm2301]

beginVent: They don't - North Americans underpronounce them to the point of losing them altogether. Peter becomes Peder, and winter becomes winner, and sentence becomes sennence. Brits also know how to pronounce -ile as in fragile - it's -ile like while, not -ull like bull. Brits also know when to use take instead of bring and go instead of come. And while we're at it they know the plural of is is are not is, as in there are lots of places to park not there's lots of places to park. endVent

[jnkerr]

I'm sorry about your Roomba, but your video showed me how to fix mine. I could not figure out why I kept getting the brush cleaning error, even with new brushes. Took it apart and cleaned out that gear box and now it's as good as new. Thank you for your video!

[superseyirci]

Dood you look like Armand Assante a lot !

[sammamishmash]

Thank you---my gearbox was just PACKED with matted cat fur...and is working great now!

[OoYesIKnowOoYesIKnow]

Well thank you very much for your presentation.

.

I am greatful for your community spiritedness.

.

I am inspired by your confidence.

D

[OrangeLover122333]

Wow! Great video! This video really helped out a lot, I was one of the few many lucky ones who just happened to see this! Props!

[ObserverSUB]

Too cheap designed to buy for all that money. Its great when it works tho. Nice video, showed me what i needed for choosing to buy or not.

[humbertosilvaimob27]

Hi manmany thanks was nearly ordering one but from your video i decided not to buy. Thanks a lothope you got your money back.

Kr

Jorge

[GlockNinja]

Here here. I've owned mine for several months and I've returned my first one after 3 months because it stopped working. Now the second one is working but its not picking up any dirt or debris. I am thinking of returning to the company. What was your solution?

[jay29786575635343637]

Ok you really voided your warranty dude, the 400 series are more reliable except for the battery problem.

[portiaparkercole]

sorry - didn't see the other vid, very helpful.

[portiaparkercole]

this is exactly what happened to mine, the wheels were making a knocking sound when they were going round. we have long haired cats - which is why we have one!! We clean it every day - this is a big design fault. Have you sent this info to irobot? Mine has gone back to the distributor as I've only had it 2 months. Won't be happy if it happens again!! Thanks for very useful vid.

[flir67]

thats for the info,the 1st generation wheels did the same thing but just burned up and now the second gen gears shaft burns the plastic, well , off to try a noname brand one ....

[mjking79]

nice video but you probably voided your warranty..

[bairey]

Brillant mate! I've been using my Roomba for 6 months and just ran into the problem. I was stumped until I found a link to your video on a Roomba chat site. Gearbox cleaned, problem solved.

Cheers

[groundhog2008]

I have been using my Roomba for about 2 years now. Have not had any problems at all with it. I have followed the manufacturer instructions on cleaning and maintaining the unit. It works fine, and seems like ti will run well for at least 2 more years. Tis a great product. I would buy another one just like it!

[trialoutnow]

Wowsa, let me guess, working for iRobot?

[groundhog2008]

Yes, I work in marketing for IRobot.  I wonder how you knew? If people would follow instructions for operation, they wouldnt have problems with their units.

[trialoutnow]

It's an easy guess. People will end up on this semi-iRobot Roomba page by searching on, for instance, Google. They don't search because the like searching, but most of the time, because they are having problems and trying to find a solution for it.

If there are so many negative or almost negative responses and suddenly there is a positive one, something would be fishy.

The only thing I see, regarding the normal responses to this VID, that the Roomba dies most during the first 8 months.

[trialoutnow]

Instructions are what they are, instructions. There are no instructions what to do in case of something goes wrong with the wheels, sensors, bearingbox or whatever part of Roomba. Only instruction is that it has to be fixed by Roomba.

What the VID is showing is that the 'gearbox' can clutter up with dirt and should be cleaned. I can find nothing in the manual about that, but I know that if i open the gearbox, waranty will drop. RTFM not always works.

[irisquee]

Gee thanks for saving me $500 bucks.

[lliammclaney]

Well I guess I have to add this as a part of my regular maintainence ...thanx for the heads-up as this has been working great so far

[SpartanLV]

Man, you saved my money... Thanx!

[micprn]

robot atopcy lol

[cyberslick50]

From reports by other owners this gearbox is sealed, glued or otherwise basically airtight when it is recieved. If this guys robot was not, it was most likely a manufacturer defect that would be rectified by warranty. Otherwise - bogus. I can appreciate the marvel of some gearheads and thier desire to take apart something sold as a robot, but videos like this seem to be misleading.

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

Sealed? Glued? Airtight? It is none of the above and has a very poor (basically non-existent) seal where the brush-ends socket into the gears. This is the point of ingress of hair. Please see the follow up video.

[JBDragon1]

I've had my 550 now for a month running daily, and it's been fine. It runs when I'm not home, and sometime when I do get home I just clean it out really quick. I'm still surprised at how much stuff it picks up just overnight in my small place. I will keep a look out and make sure I don't start having this problem. I think though that if it fills up to max capacity and now stuff is just hanging around the brushes with no place else to go, that it will end up even more so around the shaft ends.

[wellsmall]

I have the 580. This part is flush against the brush guard. Looks like a faulty lot is all. Get your money back...If cleaned properly (and assembled properly) it's a great little machine. This little thing cleans under large furniture that have never seen a vacuum (and never will). My 580 docks without problem, runs quietly, & I personally bought it because my cousin has one & swears by it. Conclusion: Don't get the 570, try a different model. Return faulty Roombas immediately for refund/repair.

[TeamYankee2]

eh? The 500 series (530,560,570 etc) are all the same models.. the 530 doesn;t have the onboard clock/scheduler that the 560+ does.. but they are all designed off the same chassis.

[10000Monkeys]

Damn... I was thinking of buying one of these but I think I won't now. I don't like the idea of my robot vac melting and burning my house down.

[nzer19]

I doubt most of the fluff is getting in through the small gap in the end plate. There are massive holes on the other side -- where the brushes mate with the drive cogs. The brushes deposite the fluff directly into those holes.

[phillb9]

I have the exact same issue. I used a soldering pencil to reform the spindle holes in the plastic. It is a temporary fix only. This is the weakest link in the design.

Since everything voids the worthless warranty, buy on ebay without one. Why pay more for a warranty that is worthless.

[mralph69]

Thanks for the video. You have definitely saved me some money. I'll put the $349 dollars towards the Electrolux Trilobite. What good is a vacuum that is always out for repair during the warranty period??

[min47pgl]

Where from??

[SubZeroService]

Well, Proudly made in China, but, who is the designer and engineer? So sad - it's no more quality any more and anywhere...

[realitydeviantt]

yes, there is a warrenty on the robots for one year. assuming this guy didn't mess up his robot for the purpose of the video, the warrenty department would most likely send him a new robot... they are really good about that.

[jameschew001]

I think he void his warrenty in this case,I think once open up the machine, they likely will not change a new set...

[jameschew001]

Is there any warranty for this machine???

[boomguy12345]

yes 1 year warrenty i think

[venik4]

I was actually looking online to buy the Roomba 580 when I stumbled onto your video. Thanks for saving me $500. Looking at the design holes and poor quality of construction you pointed out I can't believe they charge so much for these units. An unsealed plastic gearbox for something that's supposed to clean carpets and pet hair? This is ridiculous.

[jimbob150555]

I thought its a good idea, but it isnt very good - it cant hoover the stairs or under most sofa's, so you would still have to manually hoover - thus making it pretty useless.

[jenner1952]

The funny thing when i contacted tech support , i was told do not unscrew NOTHING , for i will void my warranty. New Customer DO NOT BUY THESE PRODUCTS FROM eBAY they have NO WARRAANTY. DO GET CAUGHT LIKE ME.

[holdenyj]

Excellent video. It has been linked on iRobot's forum and people are viewing it.

And in regards to nckwrn's comment - of course they're made for hair. That's what vacuums are for.

[OttoCarryUs]

Thanks for the heads up M8, I will check mine accordingly. BTW great use of YouTube on this topic.

[nckwrn]

Theyre not made for hair.The pet one is made for hair.

[neavissa]

Dude, thanks for the video. Great job...

[bsoverns]

Looks like he just got one with a defect. I've had one for 4 months with no problems. All I've done is regular maintenance of the brushes to remove hair and dirt. I have lots of pet hair too. I run it 3 times a week, M W F. My gearbox is also sealed. Don't know why he thought it would be a good idea to open it the gearbox, that's the one part that voids the warranty. Should have just sent it back and got a replacement unit.

[davidleeroberts]

Excellent analysis and trouble shooting video. My friend and I both purchased the 560 at the same time. We are both mechanical / technical freaks. Our 560's are only 2 weeks old so we are still monitoring their performance. I lost 2 brushes so far, otherwise, great performance with 4 small dogs adding to the challenge. I perform daily cleaning with the advantage of a small air compressor to gently blow the thing clean, and believe me it needs it with 4 dogs. Praying it keeps working!

[gizmobits]

My 550, don't have that holes.. the gearbox is completely sealed, i bought it in costco for 280 dlls.. (and here i have a lot more warranty time).

[Member1000000]

Thanks for the information in the video, I was considering the 560 but I'll wait till irobot can confirm they've fixed the gearbox. They should make one out of carbon fiber ;)

[softailjeff]

I have a 580 and have the same problem. I was thinking about using some clear silicone to seal it shut.

[0urGaia]

Excellent diagnoses.

[steingratten]

you can buy that brush deck module from Irobot, i think. But you can defiantly get it from roomba exchange.

[Doggieman1111]

thanks for that vid, very graphic.

[J298]

Thanks for posting this video. I was about to buy the roomba this week, but I'll wait around until they fix this problem. You seem like you know how to diagnose mechanical problems pretty well.

[Hottoddyt]

I am having the sme problem, the sent me a replacment, now the replacment is having the same symptoms.

[randagino]

I saw your video information.I decided to open and check immediately my 560. My roomba works every day since 2 months.I have opened the gear box and i find it like new. No dust, or burning. But i discovered another design bug. The motor wich drives the gear box is totally unprotected from dust.

The motor of my Roomba 560 was totaly full of dust. And in the motor there are 2 slot for ventilation totally unprotected too! The dust go in the motor! What a hell of design is this?

[freemandiaz]

Can you buy replacement parts?

Are there authorized service centers or do you have to mail it back each week?

I hope the engineers are openmined enough to take your design advice.

[freemandiaz]

I'm going to alert my wife, just bought one two days ago. I hope it's not too late!

I think you saved us lots of money, hope it works out for you.

[EUTEPREUTE]

my friend sale roomba's ..;but he stopped last week because there are too much problems and mad clients...no he only sale

: the rc3000 of karcher ,the robotcruiser of siemens (the same..just different collor,and the best of all :the trillobite of electrolux.....and no problems in the last 2 years

[roomba560]

once again I wish you knew how to spell and knew what you were talking about. That's a great new story to add to the many you told about your "friend".

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

...It's a shame because the thing works really well for a few days before it dies. As eelillies pointed out, dismantling to the point where you are cleaning the debris from inside the gearbox voids the warranty! It needs doing every day anyhow and takes about 30 mins to do which is useless.

Until iRobot acknowledge this problem and do a recall/free upgrade I'd say don't waste your money.

[rosdikasim]

So PaleBlue.. has the manufacturer responds to this? have you got a replacement? You make me think twice of buying this vacuum cleaner.

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

...The gears inside come from the factory with a light smearing of grease which, naturally, attracts all that debris and causes failure. With our single pet dog, it means one or two days and it's toast. Basically this thing, which is advertised to cope with carpets and pet hair is doomed to break the very first time you send it out. continued....

[PaleBlueDotCitizen]

Update - after examining another 570 (which had a better fitting end plate on the gearbox) it appears that the main point of ingress for debris is around the white, square sockets that the ends of the brushed fit into. Hair and fluff gets wrapped around the ends of the brushes and forced into the gearbox. continued....

[EKLUND12526]

tee he heee heee

had over 12 roombas in past 18 mos.

so far only one really functionable over 2 weeks is the 560. happy with this tho when it got stuck something soft, i must admit the brushes all 5 of them have twirped shall we say? they are all twisted and not round.

does go over throw rugs that the discovery didnt go over nor the white one. sold em all at a huge loss. only have 560 for now. very disappoinsted. also had 5 scoobas...alll worked about 3 days before distressing.

[EUTEPREUTE]

i try already 3 roomba's and they are NOT GOOD ,just a toy...

i have at my home already 2 jears the robotcruiser of karcher and the trillobite of electrolux and thre are NO problems with them...they coast more yes...but they are realy verry good real vacuums and not just some cheap peace of plastic on weels that the roomba is !!!

(also my latest roomba the 560 will not run on black carpet !!;?....stuppid)

[eelilles]

Irobot would not help, They said by fixing it once I voided my warranty. These robots are toys not tools and irobot won't back them up!! Don't buy get a good non-robotic vacuum you will be much happier in the long run!!

[eelilles]

Update, my 570 has begun failling in the same way. I have disassembled the gear box and found lots of debris. I believe it is getting in the gearbox via inadequately sealed drive cogs! you can see the white drive cogs which the square end of the brushes insert into when removing these brushes for cleaning. These are not sealed with any gasket and over time debris ends up between the gears resulging in failures as described by PaleBlueDot.

[wpgw]

Thanks for this Tip! But I don't have this gap on my roomba 560! I believe they already fix this problem!!! BR

[haleymarie12983]

I agree. After watching the video, I checked my 560 out, and there is no gap. Sorry about your bad luck! I guess thats why I always wait a little while to buy new toys; I let everyone else get the quirks worked out!

[wpgw]

Thanks for this Tip! But I don't have this gap on my roomba 560! I believe they already fix this problem!!! BR

[eelilles]

Hi PaleBlueDot, excellent analysis of the problem with your roomba. When I saw this video I had my 570 on order. When it arrived I had a screwdriver and sealant in hand anticipating a repair job but when I took it apart I could not see any way anything could get into the gear box. For now I am hoping mine will last. A gasketed metal gears and gearbox would be much better. I hope irobot helps you out!!

[freemandiaz]

is the gearbox still plastic??

[eelilles]

yes

[abercrombie100000]

tell irobot support customer service or just get a new cleaning head module

my roomba 530 has a diffrent gearbox than the 570 and ive had it for about 2 months and no problems

[thefubbz]

Thanks very much for the information, I was just

about to buy one of these!

[nutterireland]

i did there great ,you just have to clean the brushes well after using it .