Servicing a robot vacuum cleaner (2019)

Not quite as old, but my Roomba 620 has been going since February 2014. The battery, a wheel, and the normal replacements parts have been replaced over the years, but otherwise it still works great.<p>It’s now going into its retirement home, we are getting a modern one with a station for self-cleaning and a more advanced navigation than the chaos mode, while the old one will take over cleaning my parents’ bedroom.<p>For those interested in modern vacuums, but want to avoid the cloud, there is Valetudo: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;valetudo.cloud&#x2F;pages&#x2F;general&#x2F;supported-robots.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;valetudo.cloud&#x2F;pages&#x2F;general&#x2F;supported-robots.html</a>

Was a beta tester for some of the early generations.<p>They were a joy to repair: every part was made to be easily replaced, not &quot;engineered&quot; with glue, or pegs that break.<p>Could tell it was tech started at the MIT AI Labs.

My Eufy vacuum app helpfully tracks runtime hours and notifies me of different maintenance tasks as they become required, like wiping off sensors (every 35 hours) or cleaning filters and brushes (every 20 hours) or replacing filters (every 350 hours.)<p>Maybe it’s a ploy to sell more replacement parts, but the notifications do help remind me since overall I hardly think about the vacuum.

One additional improvement he could make is upgrade to a aerovac bin, it will work on a 500 series. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.irobot.com&#x2F;en_US&#x2F;replacement-aerovac-bin&#x2F;4359682.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.irobot.com&#x2F;en_US&#x2F;replacement-aerovac-bin&#x2F;4359682...</a><p>I have been using 500 and 600 series for almost 10 years to clean my garage, they do a great job and are incredibly tough.

Our S7 basically went into a shutdown sequence every time we&#x27;d try to run it. After disassembling it and replacing the serviceable parts, I can only assume it was something with the logic board. I assume after enough troubleshooting and parts, I presume I could have fixed it, but I threw in the towel and replaced it with a Roborock.

Got a different make and it has done 4 years no dramas and I dont feel like i particularly service it or take good care other than detangling and bin emptying. Reckon it&#x27;ll do 10 years. It has been notifying many different smartphones in its time :)

Mine works fine after replacing the battery, except that this little 3 armed rotating brush thingie keeps falling off. It has a screw, but I can&#x27;t figure out how to correctly screw it back on in such as way that it doesn&#x27;t fall off again...

Cheaper alternative spares are often available for nearly all the iRobot range on Ali Express.<p>There is a slight difference in parts to the iRoomba ones e.g. the paper filters are visually a little different, or the rubber rollers have a slight change to the dimple designs. They still perform the same imho.<p>As for the app, just use something like PiHole or another DNS service to block IoT devices, or specific IP ranges or domains. Your hoover will still function just as well.<p>Far too much built in obsolesence and social media shills serving upgrade culture these days.<p>Buy. Use. Service til it dies.

Note that this article is from 2019.<p>Coincidentally, I got my Roomba in 2019, and it still works just as new, with less maintenance than described in the article. My problem is that this &quot;just as new&quot; isn&#x27;t particularly impressive - I&#x27;d expect it to be less dumb. It keeps getting lost since it continually redraws the apartment map (hallucinating corridors where there aren&#x27;t any), it keeps getting stuck etc.

Which kind of oil does the engine need?