iRobot Roomba 560 Robotic Vacuum\015 Bought Roomba 560 for Xmas present. Using it for first time – it keeps stopping during cleaning and says “please remove and clean brushes”, yet, brushes are clean!! keeps doing this approx every 10 minutes. I have another Roomba 560 which does not do this and works perfectly on the same carpet without stopping and asking for brushes to be cleaned. Please help!!!\015

How to Identify and Fix Common Vacuum Problems ?

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Error 2 means the rubber brushes in your Roomba are clogged and need to be cleaned.
Clogged with hair or other debris

If the Roomba seems to not be cleaning well, inspect the bottom for hairs clogging the device, and remove them. Compressed air may also be used to rid the cleaning system of hair. If the problem persists, you may have to disassemble the bottom and replace the fan.

Once they have enough battery power, they will continue cleaning. When it finishes its cleaning session: The robot vacuum knows when it is done cleaning your house because it has a mapping algorithm that knows the size of your house, the size of the area swept, the cleaning speed, the collisions and turns it makes.
Besides regularly cleaning the brushes on your Roomba, you`ll also need to replace them from time to time. iRobot recommends replacing the two main brushes every six to twelve months.
It`s the grit/dirt being rubbed against the floor by the brushes that can scratch, rather than the brushes themselves which are soft. Running the Roomba without brushes will do nothing, it`s more a sweeper than a vacuum… but if he runs it daily the prevent grit buildup he`ll have better results.
If the Side Brush is not spinning after cleaning, you may need a replacement Side Brush Module. Please visit the iRobot Store – Parts and Accessories, contact iRobot Customer Care, or use an authorized retailer or partner.
If the LED on the Clean Base is solid red, this means the bag in the Clean Base™ Charging Station + Automatic Dirt Disposal is full.
In the iRobot app, click on the map. You`re going to create a couple of what are referred to as Clean Zones: In my home I have the Work Triangle in the kitchen. Tap Zones to add or create a new zone. Choose Add a Clean Zone and you`ll be presented with a square.
Factory reset on a Wi-Fi Connected Roomba® and Braava jet®

e Series Robots: Press and Hold the Home and Spot Clean and CLEAN button down for 20 seconds then release. 900 Series Robots: Press and Hold the Dock and Spot Clean and CLEAN button down until all LEDs illuminate.

It`s the grit/dirt being rubbed against the floor by the brushes that can scratch, rather than the brushes themselves which are soft. Running the Roomba without brushes will do nothing, it`s more a sweeper than a vacuum… but if he runs it daily the prevent grit buildup he`ll have better results.
If the red full bin indicator is illuminated or blinking, it means Roomba® senses that the bin is full. Please empty the bin, and clean the full bin sensors and sensor ports thoroughly.
Besides regularly cleaning the brushes on your Roomba, you`ll also need to replace them from time to time. iRobot recommends replacing the two main brushes every six to twelve months.
If the red full bin indicator is illuminated or blinking, it means Roomba® senses that the bin is full. Please empty the bin, and clean the full bin sensors and sensor ports thoroughly.

Relevant Questions and Answers :

the most relevant questions and answers related to your specific issue

Roomba keeps saying clean brushes yet are clean!
ANSWER : Make sure you take off the little cap at the end (the one that spins — just grab it and pull it straight off) and clean under it too. The rest of the brush may look perfectly clean but what happens is that hair gets stuck under spinning cap and, like a slowly growing washer, it pushes the whole brush toward the gear box. When it gets pushed over enough, the large yellow ring starts to rub against the side of the brush deck making it harder for the motor to turn the brush and you get that “remove and clean brushes” message.

Roomba Discovery My Roomba turns on and moves but the brushes won’t turn. Someone told me that I had forgotten to put in the yellow and black end bearings, but I did. Help, I miss my Roomba
I have a Roomba 530, I have had it for 2 weeks and really loved it. I have followed all the cleaning instructions etc.. Then the Roomba wanted it’s brushes cleaning “please clean Roombas brushes” So thinking that something was stuck I removed and cleaned the brushes, (yellow tabs on and in place by the way)
ANSWER : I read somewhere that you need to clear the software in case there is a glitch. To do this, take the battery out and then, simultaneously hold down the “spot” and “clean” buttons for 30 seconds. Replace battery. This has worked for my Discovery model.

Roomba keeps saying clean brushes yet are clean!
ANSWER : Remove the Yellow connectors on the end of the brushes and clean around the pin well. If there is too much there, the roomba thinks there is something stuck and goes into clear mode (as if there is a chord stuck).

My Irobot Roomba keeps saying that I need to clean Roombas brushes. I have cleaned the brushes…they are spotless. Still the Roomba will go for 2 minutes and shut itself off stating once again to clean the brushes. What up?
ANSWER : Perform the troubleshooting found at the iRobot website: http://tinyurl.com/nh5c8a (I promise that really does go to the right site.) That troubleshooting will enable you to determine exactly what’s causing this problem. (The Easy Way: Run the Roomba minus the dustbin and look in the back. Is the brush turning? If not, there’s the problem. Give support a call at 1-877-855-8593 and they’ll let you know how to replace the necessary part.)

Brushes are clean, but Roomba stops and says clean brushes
ANSWER : I decided to take it apart and see if I could fix it because even if something inside went “SPROING” and I couldn’t get it back together, it wouldn’t be any worse than it was already.
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.FIrst, remove the dust bin part and the brushes. Then, there are four screws on the bottom gray panel which have to be removed first in order to get to the gears which hold the brushes. I did not remove the little sweeper brush on the front, but I just slide it through the hole in the gray panel.
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.Then in order to get out the orange section which actually holds the brushes, there are four screws which must be removed. The orange section is attached to a blue section. This entire unit comes out by sliding it toward the area where the dust bin goes, being careful not to tear the light gray rubber gasket which covers the side.
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.Once that section is removed, there are two screws on each side. These screws hold the orange thing to the blue thing. Once the screws are removed, lift up only the side which has the white squares into which the brushes are inserted. These are actually the back side of little gears. There is a face plate on the outside of the orange part on this end. The other end contains a bunch of wires and I was careful not to disconnect any of them.
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.The face plate has six screws which must all be removed. Use caution when removing the face plate. Hold it up so that all of the stuff doesn’t fall out. It has a bunch of gears, little brass looking fittings and grease. Take care to only remove the gears which have the squares which hold the brushes AND do it one at a time unless you like working jigsaw puzzles. I used tweezers and a pin to clean the “gunk” consisting of hair, fuzz, etc., out of the little gears.
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.Reverse the process to put it back together. Hazel, my little Roomba, played me a happy little song and immediately went back to work. She seems as good as new.

My roomba keeps telling me “error and to clean the brushes. I have cleaned the brushes and when I turn the roomba back on it keeps clicking underneath the roomba. I’m not sure what else to do.
ANSWER : I had the identical problem. I cleaned the brush but the problem persisted. I then put in a new brush that was provided in the box and the problem vanished. I have since used the cleaning tool on the old brush and will try and reinstall it to see if my cleaning worked. In any case a new brush will do the job.
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.Tim B

My Roomba stops within a few minutes of starting it and when I press the button, it says “Remove and Clean Roomba’s Brushes.” I have removed the brushes and cleaned them thoroughly, but within a few minutes, it stops again and says the same thing.
ANSWER : Hi,

Accumulation of hair, dust and dirt in the Gearbox that prevents normal operation of the brushes. As a result, a power output is required to keep the brushes turning. As turning the brushes requires too much power, it constantly stops and tells you to clean the brushes – even if the brushes themselves are already clean..
In case your product under warranty contact iRobot before attempting any surgery, If Roomba is no longer under warranty. You can perform invasive surgery into your Roomba.

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The surgery involves taking out the CHM and cleaning the gearbox.

First you’ll need to take out the four screws holding the bottom plate onto the Roomba, (you can take off the spinning front brush first, if you want – it saves some effort), and pull that plate off. Then there will be four screws holding the purple frame around the brush box in place. Unscrew those and take the brush box and purple frame out of the Roomba. on one side there’s red gearbox. Unscrew the four screws holding that side of the purple frame together, and remove that side of the frame. Then, unscrew the six screws holding the gearbox cover on and carefully pull it off. Clean the gears inside however you want, if needed re-grease the box with white grease (use sparingly), and put it back together..
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.I hope this will solve your problem.
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.Thanks for using fixya.
.Good luck and have a nice day.

My Roomba 560 is making a clunking noise when it is on and it keeps stopping saying that I need to clean the brushes. I’ve thoroughly cleaned the brushes and I’ve cleaned lint from other small crevices but I’m still getting the error. Any suggestions?
ANSWER : I’m having the same problem with my 560 after a day of use. For me, it’s caused by the little yellow spacer that’s clipped onto each side of the bristly brush. When the brush assembly is closed, it wedges rather tightly next to that yellow spacer on the left. This causes a lot of friction and heat, and mine’s worn away quite a bit already.

My solution was to just unclip that spacer and leave it off. It’s probably not an ideal long-term solution, because dirt and hair will be more likely to get into the drivetrain. But at least it works now.

Another thing that these roombas apparently suffer from is clogged up gears. If you aren’t having the same problem as me, you could try the instructions here to clean the gears:

http://www.robotreviews.com/wiki/cleaning

Hope that helps!