Dyson DC24 Buyers Guide

By | November 30, 2014

So you have decided you want a Dyson DC24? The baby ball?

Dyson no longer produce them new, but they are a great reconditioned/refurbished buy if you get it right.

Before I explain to you where to get one from, you should make sure a DC24 is for you.

Dyson marketed the DC24 at everyone. Families with big houses, people with cats and dogs, people with kids, etc.

However, in the real world, that isn’t entirely accurate.

The DC24 is a small, lightweight machine. They weigh just 11.7 pounds in old money. That is 5.3 kilos if you think in European.

However, the compact size and the fact that it is lightweight means a trade off in performance if you have had a bigger Dyson. You cant have both. If you want a lightweight machine, it wont suck like a big one would.

That doesnt make it inadequate though, as long as you know what you are buying.

The DC24 is well-liked by those with hard floors through the house.

Dyson DC24 Girl

On hard floors it is a capable machine you can whizz around with quickly.

It is less suited to picking up socks, pens, sweet wrappers and the general detritus that kids leave behind. Used like that, it will soon clog up.

We generally recommend a DC24 for older people without kids and five dogs. It is very suitable for a couple in a bungalow or an apartment.

Many people use them in family homes as the ‘upstairs’ machine, to save the lady of the house carrying the larger, serious Dyson up and down the stairs.

Indeed, in the Dyson Medic household, there is a Dyson DC24 upstairs and a Dyson DC14 downstairs.

The DC24 does have a back hose like all Dysons, but it is short compared to its bigger brothers. So it only lends itself to cleaning items nearby.

Dyson DC24

The hose isn’t long enough to reach all the way up the stairs unless you buy an extension tube. If it is your ‘upstairs’ machine, or you have no stairs, this isn’t an issue.

For those in smaller properties, the handle slides down into itself so it can be stored in small cupboards, etc.

Dyson DC24

That is really handy!

Anything to be aware of when buying a DC24?

A couple of things worth a mention.

You MUST familiarise yourself with how to use the machine. There is a red pedal that one must depress to recline the machine to use it. If you dont do this, and force it, you will break it. All you need to do is read the instruction manual. You can download a free one of those >>here<<.

They have two motors, one in the ball and one in the cleaner head. The one in the cleaner head is known to fail occasionally. There is a topic on this >>here<<. There is a DIY fitting tutorial >>here<< and you can buy one for about twenty quid >>here<<. So it isnt the end of the world if that goes later on when the machine is out of guarantee.

Worn cleaner heads can have wear to the brushbar and/or end cap, in common with the DC25. There is a topic on that >>here<<. Worn machines can have a clunky ball that needs a bearing; there is a topic on that >>here<<. A simple DIY job again with a 99p part, but not one you want to be doing on a recently acquired machine.

Do these ‘known issues’ make the DC24 a lemon? 

Not at all. You can buy a £100,000 Mercedes and it also will have known issues – except nobody will tell you about them. All domestic appliances have known issues that come to light a year or two after launch.

A good DC24 is a great little machine as long as you don’t expect it to do more than it is capable of.

The essential element is buying a good one in the first place. 

You will find them for about £50 – £75 or so on sites like eBay and Gumtree. These will have been cobbled together from old machines from the tip by amateurs in a damp garage somewhere with all used parts and may work for a while. Some will be electrically unsafe. You are taking pot luck buying off such sites unless from a known specialist with high feedback (over 3000 and 98%+ satisfaction rating) who charges more than £75 and knows what he is doing.

Consider this: A new cleaner head for a DC24 costs typically about £70. So how can someone sell a machine at less than £100 if it has some new parts and has been reconditioned properly?

Certainly, if they can deliver it and pay 13% eBay and Paypal seller fees from the gross (which is what small eBay sellers pay) they cannot. Unless they cut corners.

Where to buy. 

We all know the old saying, “You get what you pay for” don’t we? That saying has its own variants around the world. Russians say: “Greedy pays twice”. This applies very much to the DC24.

ONLY buy a DC24 from a seller that you are confident knows what they are doing, isn’t a fly-by-night and doesn’t have only a mobile number. A bricks and mortar shop, many years of trading, a good reputation and a landline is ideal. A proper Dyson specialist is better. This way, you can be sure it has been refurbished by people who know what they are doing, is electrically safe, known faults checked and addressed, and warranty issues if they arise won’t be a headache.

You can typically expect to pay between £130 and £160 for a properly reconditioned Dyson DC24.

Today, we got the heads up on some going for just £125 including (non-highland and island) UK delivery. A combination of overstock and no space makes them this cheap. If you click through and they have gone back to £159, then you missed the boat @ £125 and this is no longer late 2014/early 2015.

Here is the deal. Click the little guy below to go to the page.

Click here to buy a Dyson DC24 Vacuum Cleaner

 

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Not at all. You can buy a

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