I love my Roomba. I have had it since 2009 and it is still going strong- mind you, I have probably spent enough on parts over the years to have purchased another one, but that's one of the things I like about Roomba- it is easy to swap out parts on. Nowadays most electronics and appliances need to be tossed when something goes wrong because it is cheaper to buy new ones than to replace them, but with Roomba you can buy the parts and swap them out with just a few screws.Here is the last major clean out I did in April but forgot to post about. I had gotten some new parts, most importantly a replacement battery, since the one that was in it held enough of a charge for it to back away from the charger about a foot before running out of gas!(Image removed from quote.)I always start by pulling the dust cup and flipping it over- try doing it the other way around and you'll have a mess on your hands! Then remove the spin brush and the nosewheel and start to back out the screws. The screws are actually clipped on to the bottom panel, so they won't come all the way out. Once they are loosened enough to disengage from the body you can just lift the bottom plate off and teh screws stay in it where they belong. No lost screws, and no trying to remember what screw goes where.(Image removed from quote.)As you can see, once the back plate is off it is easy to pull the battery out to replace it- no clips, no springs, no covers or anything else. Just pull the old one out and drop the new one in.Once the plate is off you can see a pile of wonderful spots where dog and cat hair plus some dust bunnies get caught in- each of these clumps of hair and crud can cause resistance and/or heat build up, neither of which are particularly good for electronics, so you want to make sure you pull any and all dirt out as you go.(Image removed from quote.)Next I pull out the dust brushes and clean them up. I could probably have done that before removing the back plate, but there's really no harm in doing it now either. After the brushes come out and are cleaned, the basket is the next bit to come out. You'll find a lot more hidey holes for dust and crud when you pull it out!(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)I swear, the Roomba almost doubles in weight because of all the crap that gets caught in strange places! (Image removed from quote.)Most importantly, make sure you get all of the dust and hair away from the motor for the brushes. Electrical motors are absolutely not the place to have hair and dust built up!(Image removed from quote.)It's amazing just how much you can clean this thing and still find clumps of dust and hair all over! Of course, I have two large dogs and a cat, so this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.(Image removed from quote.)This next part is pretty important to take note, and is not really part of the usual Roomba maintenance manual, but it is something I always do. This is the gear box that takes the spin from the motor and, through a series of sprockets turns the beater bar and brush- and while it looks sealed up, it isn't. This is the replacement basket that I bought a number of years ago after the fur from my old husky stripped the teeth off the gears and gummed them up so bad that the resistance caused Roomba to think it was trapped on things when in fact it wasn't.(Image removed from quote.)Pay attention to which screws go where on this part, as they aren't clipped on like all of the "user serviceable" screws. Opening this part may void any warranties you may have, so if that is a concern for you, just buy a new basket instead. My Roomba is 8 years old, and mostly built of replacement parts, so I am not too worried about my warranty! (Image removed from quote.)As you pull out the gears (I suggest going one by one to ensure they go back in the right places) you will notice that in addition to the spaces between gears, and in the teeth, there are also crevices in the gears themselves that fill with gunk, and it's worse in here because there is a petroleum jelly like grease used in here that causes all of the crud to gum up.(Image removed from quote.)Small hairballs form, get saturated with the grease and either get into nasty spots or form balls, and all of it will cause resistance in the gearbox, so it all needs to come out. Use the awl on a SAK or multitool, a toothpick and/or a Q-Tip, whatever you need to get all of the crud out from in and around the gears and any empty spaces. Don't keave any crud in there.(Image removed from quote.)And there will be a lot....(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)Once all of the gunk has been cleaned out of every nook and cranny you can find, reassemble the whole thing. It's not that difficult to clean it out, and, with a new battery your Roomba will run like it was brand new again, saving you several hundred dollars from buying a new one!Def
I imagine the life expectancy is probably about three years- at least that's what I assume or most technology. Any more than that and there's probably a new one that is faster, better, smarter and they want you to buy that one instead. If that's the case, then mine is the grand daddy of the one I should have now. What went wrong with yours? About the only thing on these that isn't replaceable is the main board- everything else can be swapped out with a new one.Def