Please can you help me? I want to cry/vomit!

[ArgyMargy]

Sorry for the dramatic title. I turned on my cylinder Dyson on Sunday and noticed a horrendous faeces-like smell. On inspecting the contents of the cylinder there was dark grey/black stuff and a bit of liquid. I spent half an hour cleaning it out with disinfectant as best I could given the design of the cylinder. I came to the conclusion that something must have died in there (I can only recall hoovering up a spider). Anyway it still smells totally vile and I would like advice on how to get rid of the smell - I tried to find some Shake & Vac yesterday but Sainsburys don't stock it (who knew?)! I am seriously contemplating getting a replacement and I haven't budgeted for a Dyson as my Christmas present!!

[StoptheRavelry]

Oh it wasn't - it was jettisoned from on high due to extreme pungence.

I'd have hoovered it up if I'd thought it would get rid of it quicker though.

[ArgyMargy]

Well I'm just delighted that a thread of mine has extended to 2 pages (ok so I contributed heavily).

I can imagine the meatballs thing - when you wonder whether you bought dog food by mistake..?!

[cozietoesie]

Oh I can imagine the 'orrible meatballs right enough. It was just the managing to get them inside the hoover that stumped me.

[Adarajames]

You can take them apart and was more or less every part of a dyson, ive done that before, including washing the filters, and they clean up really well, including getting rid of nasty smells

Dead mice STINK! I had one that got into bck workings of fridge, took couple days to work out where coming from, and cleaning it up, including black sludge like you mentioned, is one of the worst cleaning jobs ive ever had to do!

[TotalConfucius]

Is it an upright?
If you have the washable filters, I'd put them in a sink of water and squidge up and down with an old utensil for a while, then do it under running water, then pop the filters into a water/zoflora solution for a little while before squeezing gently and drying them on a radiator. Fill the canister with strong zoflora solution and leave it till the filters are dry. There are very few parts of a Dyson that aren't accessible via the big coloured bolts, so you can take most of it apart - just take pictures on your phone as you go along to help with putting it back together. With a sponge and a pair of tongs you can get virtually everywhere (ooo-er missus).

[ArgyMargy]

In case anyone's interested, I followed the advice to soak the canister in water with vinegar and bicarb and changed the filter. The smell is pretty much gone so thank you! Mind you, having looked at getting a new one I am seriously tempted !!

[Fugghetaboutit]

My mums cleaner once hoovered up dried cat shit. The smell it emitted from her dyson was rank.

Boiling water and bleach sorted it