Bought a rebuilt vacuum online to save $140 and it ate its own motor in 11 days
My old upright finally died in March so I grabbed a "factory refurb" off a deal site for $89 instead of paying $230 for a new one. It worked great for about a week, then started smelling like burnt hair and just quit mid-pass on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of a three bedroom job. I pulled the bottom plate off and the belt was fine, but the motor housing was full of fine gray dust and the windings looked scorched. Turns out refurb units often skip the filter seals, so all that fine dust goes right into the motor instead of the bag. Anyone else had this happen, and is there a way to check the seals before buying a refurb, or do I just eat the cost and go new?