Electrolux UltraActive ZUA3861P (Power)

Another failed Elexctrolux vac – Our previous Electrolux vac liberality disintegrated due to fatigue of the plastic parts on the wand and motor brush head although the motor assembly continued to work well. Perhaps stupidly I bought another Electrolux vac but this failed as well after about a year and now has intermittent operation of the brush bead motor even with very minimal… Read more

use in a 3 bed apartment. I have now replaced with a Dyson stick that has been working well for over a year with no such quality problems.

Three years and the power nozzle snapped when I bumped it against a chair leg – Just had my third year of use with this machine (can't find the model number anywhere) but the owner guide says Ultra Active. I have been happy thus far with the machine which I only use once every two weeks as we have no pets and no kids. I was vacuuming around my dining table when I bumped the power nozzle into the leg of one of the chairs. … Read more

The base of the power nozzle snapped. When I looked at it the electrical piece was all that was holding it to the handle. I realized how cheap the plastic was. I have a five year warranty. I will be looking to get the part replaced.

I have been married for 35 years this May and have always owned second hand Electrolux machines. After fixing my last one for the last time I decided to spoil myself with a new Electrolux machine. I'm disappointed to say the least. I will see how responsive Electrolux is to replace the broken part. I'm hopeful that they will. I'm not confident that this machine will last as long as my last two second hand Electrolux models.

Hope that I won't become a dissatisfied Electrolux customer.

Good but some flaws, support from Electrolux was good – The vacuum cleaner is quite good, the problem is that is quite fragile, the handle of the wand snapped in two and I had zero support from Godfreys in Ultimo, but I must say that when I contacted Electrolux they were very prompt in sending a replacement part at no cost. I may consider to buy again from Electrolux but not from Godfreys

Buyer beware! – I have had consistent problems with this vacuum since I bought it. It has been into repairer for warranty inspection several times and I have spoken to an Electrolux rep and they refuse to acknowledge and fix a basic design fault. I paid $650 for a vacuum that the floor sales person talked me into (entered the store to buy a Dyson). There is an… Read more

electrical cord that runs the full length of the wand and at the handle junction it connects to the electrical inlet so you can control the functionality of the vacuum at your fingertips (great function, but flawed). It is at this junction that pet and human hair (the major selling point of this machine is its effectiveness at picking up pet hair) get caught and therefore block the hose, which in turn decreased the suction power, making this selling point a waste. At first the suction is great, but by the second or third room it is terrible and won't even pick up a fingernail for example! I clean both filters at every use, yet find that I need to be doing this twice in one house clean to compensate for the fact the wand is clogged. To clean the wand I need to insert a knife to cut away the hair. A knife is the only cutting implement long enough to reach the area where hair is trapped, to use a blunt object like a chopstick for example simply does not remove the hair which is wrapped around the electrical cord in the wand. This of course has its dangers in that I could cut the cord. It also takes me about 10 minutes each time as I hold a torch in my mouth to shine it down the wand as both hands are required to carefully remove the hair. This is a terrible machine!

When its working, it's great, especially for pet hair – Purchased the ZUA3861P four years ago. Went with this model as we have a cat which leaves lots of fur on the couch and had started a family so wanted something that could handle some good use. The motorised power head is great, really does do wonders with the cat fur and everything else on the carpet and couch. I just turn it off on our wooden… Read more

floors.However, it's always been quite temperamental. Works for a while, then turns itself on and off during use sometimes. Sometimes works on forward motion only, turns off on reverse, or you have to hold it quite straight and push down firmly for it to work! What a pain!

Then eventually it stops altogether. Have had it repaired once, can't remember how much, just under $100 I think. Now, it's happened again. I was advised to consider a brand new head if it happened again ($200!). We only use this once a week, clean the filters regularly, and apart from that I think we use it just like a regular family, nothing too heavy. Unfortunately without the power head, it's quite a useless vacuum, leaves fluff everywhere and picks up barely anything. I don't expect them to last forever but 4 years later I'll have almost shelled out the total cost of the vacuum in repairs, and that to me is unacceptable. I also would expect it to still be pretty good without the power head (with the exception of cat hair as I admit that can be tough), but no, it's just terrible.

And it is soooo heavy to lug around. Not great for me with a bad back.

Next time it's Dyson for me.

Does a good job when it works but breaks down frequently – This vacuum has excellent suction and the power head does a great job. Unfortunately, it is very unreliable. We have had overheating problems from the very start. At first we thought the filters only had to be cleaned every 3 months but soon found that they have to be washed every time we empty the vacuum. We bought a second set of filters so… Read more

that one is drying while the other is in use. The machine still overheated, the rear filter is too hot to keep your fingers on it, but we could usually complete our vacuuming before the machine shut itself down.

After a few months the handle connector broke and had to be replaced. After that, we were very gentle when handling this machine. You always fear that something else will break.

Now, it shuts itself down with 2-3 flashing. It does this even when the machine is just sitting there with filters removed.

After years of faultless service from our last vacuum, we unwisely associated the Electrolux name with quality. We are now being a lot more careful in choosing our next vacuum cleaner.

every component failed, some multiple times!!!! – In two years: 1 x power head failed - $129 to replace 1 x motor failed - $89 to replace 1 x main power board failed (under the digital display) - $55 to replace 1 × circuit board failed (circuitry deteriorated) - $55 to replace 1 x circuit board failed (something with cheap capacitors) - $55 to replace Hose pins loose so power head stops… Read more

when I drag the vacuum around

Apart from this, great suction and powerhead is amazing.

Vacuum stopped this morning after I heard a 'pop'. I think it's time to move on. Total vacuum hours: 40 in two years. $750 purchase plus $375 repairs = $1125/40 hours......... it only cost me $29 per hour to vacuum my apartment!!

I love my electrolux ultra INactive

ANY WONDER IT'S DISCONTINUED! – Very disappointed :( especially after reading many reviews which have experienced the same faults. Mine overheated and frustratingly hand many time outs over the 3 years I had mine. Worked quite well until the motor blew up from the overheating. Initial cost $680 harvey norman/repair cost $300/& repairman said "LEMON"

Complete waste of money – I purchased this product but only used it for a short amount of time and I then moved to a place which already had a vacuum so I kept it in storage. Like most other people have mentioned it overheats and the power head started malfunctioning and now doesn't turn on at all. I contacted Electrolux regarding this and was called back today and they… Read more

said people don't push and pull the head when vacuuming properly and that destroys it! Obviously it is us who need to change our vacuuming technique. We've been doing it wrong all these years.

Our family has had Electrolux vacuums for decades with no problems. There was obviously not enough product testing and quality control done with this item.

Electrolux offered for me to buy a new power head at a discounted price of $145.00. How generous of them. I think I will decline this tempting offer.

Great when it worked-for the first 6 months – I couldn't have been happier when I first tried my new (and expensive) vacume cleaner. Picked up the dog fur and cleaned up after us beautifully. This lasted 6months Max. The power head was replaced under warranty- the person that was in the warehouse was abusive on the phone to me demanding I pay a service fee for him to replace filters etc when… Read more

I had already purchased new ones the week prior. I have had the vacume cleaner for two years and wish I had never spent the money on it. Power head broken again- useless!

POS avoid like the pox – Yep, as like other posts should get the lemon award, Brush can jam with hair breaking plastic drive components. Plastic crap used in places that fail (brush roller "driven sprocket", part of brush, break easily - just did another today). 2 cent plastic drive sprocket for roller is another culprit. Not available separately, whole power head… Read more

replacement about $180 - save your money for better vacuum.

Horrible filters that MUST be cleaned regularly or machine will fail. Air compressor works well ladies.... you do have one? LOL

And failures will occur outside warranty period.

Having said that, it CAN work well, does pick up hair (pet and human) and filter system is good.

However, I DO NOT RECOMMEND!!!!!

No surprises here - I have exactly the same issues as everyone else – After having the vacuum repaired (loose connections apparently), and then trying again to get it repaired in warranty, only to find that the first service centre closed down and there are consequently no more records of my first repair. Time spent waiting for responses, meant my vacuum is now out of warranty. Biggest waste of money ever spent.… Read more

It worked well for about two months - on a brand new house, new carpets etc. Still struggling with the unit that works intermittently, and has to be on speed 5 permanently, to achieve any sort of suction. Powerhead doesn't work, filters pop out, power cuts out for no reason, limited suction. Just a fancy looking unit really. Thats all.

Very disappointed Electrolux. Even more so, reading the feedback here, and your poor response to fix it.

Will never buy an Electrolux product again – We purchased this vacuum cleaner with money we received as a wedding gift. We were going to purchase a Dyson but were persuaded by the sales rep at Harvey Norman to get this top of the range Electrolux model instead and we thought we could trust the Electrolux brand. After 2 years of not-so-regular use (I'm a bit slack with my vacuuming!) the… Read more

plastic where the hose connects to the handle began to split and has now completely broken off. Not good enough for a vacuum cleaner that cost us $648.00!!!! We have taped it back together with duct tape just so we can do our vacuuming. After reading through some other reviews on here I am now waiting for more things to go wrong with our vacuum cleaner. Should have bought the Dyson!

Never buy this vacuum unless you want to buy a replacement power head every 3 months – The first couple of weeks of buying my new vacuum I love it but by week 4 I had to go without it for a week while they fixed it. The power head had gone on it. Than things was going great until about 4 months later, the same thing had happened and this continues to happen about every 3 months. It's a real pain having to drive almost an hour to… Read more

drop the vacuum off to be repaired than do the same thing when it's ready and to buy the power head it is around $150+

What annoys me most is this wasn't a cheap vacuum and both my partner and I are always cleaning the vacuum and replacing the filter when needed and still it breaks down way to much.

Without the powerhead working this vacuum is a pile of crap!

If I could turn back time I would never of listened to the lady at Harvey Norman who told me not to buy a Dyson as it would of been to rough on my hardwood floor and said this one would be a lot better. I guess in a way she was right coz I can't even use this vacuum so no chance of it scratching my floor

showing error 2 and 3 – Trying to fix it myself as its the 3 rd time to fix it always with problems I always make sure that I clean filters but still with problems + power head I brought it because with money I paid I though should be a good one but I was wrong I will throw it away next hard collection

Absolute worst ever vavuum we've had – Barely out of warranty. It keeps stopping during use, the power head doesnt work anymore and it's seen mainly light duty on timber floors.Will never ever buy an electrolux product again.

An expensive, short lived, unreliable, disappointing and now binned Electrolux product – I am very disappointed with the reliability and lifespan of my UltraActive ZUA3861P. I purchased the model less than three years ago from The Good Guys. In terms of what you could pay for a vacuum, it was well at the higher end. Initially, the unit performed reasonably well. It has a very good cord length and it picked up cat hair and dust… Read more

well. However, the turbo head was a workout to push around and the unit was clumsy in terms of its maneuverability. It generated a lot of heat and the hose always felt that tiny bit too short for a taller person.

Within 6-12 months the motorised head stopped. It appeared to be a loose connection issue as the head would work when push in a forward direction. I transferred the unit to the hard floor head (brush) which has kept things going since then. I couldn't be bothered in fixing the head noting the muscles needed to operate it. The power cord also become progressively more and more twisted and would not retract properly.

Over the last three months the suction of the unit has fallen away considerably. The washable filter between the bin and the unit was badly clogged and presumably the lower suction was not causing debris to become trapped in the bin. I cleaned everything but the unit has not restored to adequate suction. With a wheel coming off the hard floor head I have decided its time to write this machine off.

My comments here mirror all other reviews. This Electrolux product is expensive, unreliable and a blight on their normally quality brand. Not recommended!

Powerhead failing AGAIN – This expensive vacuum cleaner will be 3 years old in June 2015. The powerhead failed once and was fixed under warranty. I understand that the Telescopic tube was replaced as it had a faulty electrical connection in it. The same problem is happening again where the powerhead will only function on the forward motion. It stops when pulling back. … Read more

Disappointing ? Sure is. Electrolux "thinking of you" slogan fair dinkum ? hmmm maybe not. This problem has been going on for years. When it works, it works well though.

Breakdown – Wiring in stem appears to have bad connection so no power head working. Unit gets very hot. After reading reviews not a good buy. Unit 3months out of warranty. Sent to repair agent, more expense.

Crap Crap Crap – After 20 years using old Electrolux, decided to buy new Electrolux ultra active. First one over heated and kept throwing errors (even after cleaning filters). After repairs, the power head broke down. Store replaced with brand new model....powerhead broke down in one week. Took back and replaced power head.....after 1 year has broken down again. Do not buy Electrolux of vacuum cleaner...

surprise, my powerhead failed too! – At the price I paid I thought this would be a top quality product. Alas like most other reviewers I have found that the power head has failed after 3 years of light use. After a few test I have isolated the issue to what seems to be faulty connectors in the extension tube. Yes I could buy replacements but an extra $100 on top of the hefty price… Read more

of this machine is disappointing.

Surely Electrolux could provide high enough quality wires and connectors that this doesn't happen!

Other than this the machine is quite powerful and works well...

Although the need to regularly clean the filter gets quite tedious. For me this has been a weekly or fortnightly event if I want to.maintain suction.

Do NOT waste your money! Worst vacuum ever!!! – I have had nothing but trouble with this vacuum. Total rubbish! I wouldn't recommend this product even if it was free!

I would definitely not recommend this model of Electrolux vacuum cleaner – From the beginning I had trouble with this machine. The head is heavy and there is a rolling brush on it which is impossible to clean if there is long hair on the floors. I have always had to use the plain brush which makes it hard to use because there is no smooth rolling of the head on carpet at all. The machine has become progressively less… Read more

efficient and it throws a lot of heat out.

I clean the dirt container out almost every time and wipe it over with a clean cloth - not because it's full but I like to have it clean. I have washed the sponge bag filter every now and then.

Today it stopped working altogether and was extremely hot. I pulled the filter cover off at the back and pulled the odd piece of foam that is around the air filter area. Everything was red hot.

This machine is a worry and I am concerned about using it at all now. I bought it last year.

I have written to Sarah who replied to a number of entries above. I shouldn't have to pay to have it repaired.

Electrolux has always been such an excellent product. It's supposed to be the best on the market. My mother used Electrolux all her life. Certainly could not recommend this model to anyone though.

Nothing but trouble – Good guys change our mind from dyson to electrolux. Last time I listen to them. 3x power head repairs under warranty. Still never worked properly. Only coming up 3 years and now the hose has fallen apart. Just when we r moving house too. Our $100 one from big w lasted 6years. Never again

Depressingly inefficient – Don't buy it, I thought It was hard to use and maybe I would just get use to it, after 2 years of massive struggles I discover it was the fault of the vacuum cleaner power head and now have no warranty. I also find out from this rating site that its a complete dud of a vacuum cleaner and should be totaly recalled. I am disabled pensioner and have… Read more

been ripped of foe $500 and still dont have a cleaner that works right, shame on you electrolux shame. I am appalled the sales rep told me this is the best vacuum cleaner going and talked me into buying it. They too should be ashamed. quite difficult to manoeuvre.

Disappointed – Looks and goes great when you get it home. Constant filter cleaning... Just about to replace second tube as there no power to Powerhead. Powerhead repaired once... By the noise when operating, it's about to go again. Suction great after filter clean then dwindles after short period. On/Off and cord retract buttons on the main body get stuck when… Read more

pressed. We seem to be lucky compared to others. Sorry Electrolux... You've lost another customer. We will research a lot more next time

So So – Did have to take it to service centre to get repaired. Would not start. Ever since then all went ok until one day it stopped, overheated. Was my fault, the hepa filter had clogged not allowing are through. Would not buy another Electrolux product again as the ones I have purchased failed and need repairs within the first year. Power head and dustless air from exhaust Filters need cleaning often

Broken – Unfortunately our vacuum has died one month out of warranty. Very poor considering the cost. I Will take it up with Electrolux as they must obviously be aware of the many disgruntled purchasers that have purchased this product. This review site certainly provides some terrible reports on this product. Unlikely to buy Electrolux again.

Great - love the ZUA3861P – Our old Miele was really showing its age and although it was still working well, our three pets were taxing it and it was becoming quite noisy. We could not find a shop that stocked the Electrolux UltraActive range so we were guided by the reviews on this site. Decided on the ZUA3861P which replaces the ZUA3860P and I don't think there are any… Read more

obvious differences apart from colour, and I'm trusting that some glitches with the electronics in early models are all sorted now. This is the unit with the power driven head.

We did the test of vacuuming with the old unit and then re-doing with the new Electrolux and an amazing amount of dust and hair came out of the carpets.

The rotating brushes really are effective and can be switched on and off with buttons on the handle on this model. Also the 5-speed motor can be adjusted in the same way.

This is our first bagless. With the bags, whenever it wasn't empty the old dust made a bad smell each time we used it. Now with the empty canister the smell is gone. Also the vacuum seems much more powerful.

Update: Be sure to clean out the filters, including the HEPA filter, as needed. I'm told that if you don't and then burn out the motor from clogged filters, this could blow your warranty. But it has much more vacuuming power when they are clean, so it's a no-brainer really.

Update #2: Usage on standby of the vacuum is only 2W. Apologies, I earlier had posted a high figure on standby, but since then I have a new meter and the usage when plugged in and not running is definitely only 2W. Bagless, effective, easy and fun to use. The motorised head on carpet. Long cord. Buttons on handle. Having to change heads when moving from carpet to hard floor.

The others are too kind – This is undoubtedly the worst electrical item I have ever purchased. It is in my Sydney apartment where I rarely stay and used at most once a month. I went to buy a Dyson and the sales assistant talked me into one of these instead. It was fine for the first 3-4 uses then I noticed it was very hot when moved, then it started to smell. This morning… Read more

the thing emitted a large volume of smoke and set off the smoke alarm bringing a neighbour to the door. I had no knowledges that The Electrolux name had been bought and this thing is made in Hungary. Do I go to Consumer Affairs or just buy a Dyson ? A seriously dangerous piece of junk ! All of the failings are the same as other bloggers so this is not a one-off lemon it has inherent design and build problems. I don't think I even want it back repaired.

Unreliable, keeps breaking down, having to replace parts – I bought this vac cleaner in Feb 2012. The two year warranty has just expired. Machine is heading for the dump. First part to go was the telescopic tube. Problem was no power was getting to the motorized nozzle. Fortunately the part was under warranty. Second part to fail was the Parketto nozzle. The arm that fits into the nozzle broke off.… Read more

Fortunately the part was under warranty.

Third part to fail was a circuit board. Error displayed was E3. Fortunately the part was under warranty.

The above failures happened over a period of 18 months. I have wasted a lot of time and expense taking machine to and from to be repaired.

On 6th Feb 2014 warranty expires.

One week after warranty expiration the fourth part to fail was Parketto nozzle again with the same fault as above.

Now, two weeks after warranty expiration, the fifth part to fail was the circuit board again with the E3 error.

Only positive was the motor suction worked well.

I am not going to waste time and money getting it repaired only to fail again so in the bin it goes.

I would recommend highly DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE OR ANY OTHER ELECTROLUX VACCUME CLEANER.

Cheap parts used poor design. Electrolux used to be a good brand but not anymore. We just bought a new fridge and did not even consider Electrolux.

I hope this review was helpful to you in making your choice. I can assure you that this review is definitely not exaggerated. Powerful motor, suction works well. Telescopic tube power to motorized nozzle failed. Parketto nozzle broke twice. Circuit board failed twice (displayed E3 error)

Worst Vacuum Cleaner I have purchased - Would not recommend – I have just read a number of the reviews found on this website and they all confirm what I thought. My story - I purchased the machine from The Good Guys in April 2013 after being convinced how good they were by sales. I started to experience what I thought was a electrical short in the motor. The motor would stop suddenly. I noticed that the… Read more

motor was clearly overheating and blew the filters off the back of the machine. I replaced the filters as per instructions in the manual, but again same thing would happen. What took me normally 1 hour to complete would take 3-4 hours as I would have to wait 30-40 mins for the motor to cool down and restart. I spoke to electrolux who passed me to the Service Repairer. He took 8 WEEKS to get it sorted, and when I got it home, I had found he had been testing it with the powerhead and wrapped carpet strands through the head.Before using again, I removed all of this rubbish. It was definitely not from my carpet. This was red and I have cream carpets!!!!!! Anyway, started to use the cleaner again. It seemed to be OK for a week, then the whole problem started again. MOTOR OVERHEATS. There is clearly a fault in this machine and needs to be recalled. I want a refund as I now have to go and find another vacuum cleaner. Extremely disappointed with Electrolux. Buttons on handle Motor Overheats

Worst vacuum cleaner – I purchased Electrolux Ultraactive model no. ZUA3861P in September 2012. Used it about 6 times since then. It will not suck up dirt on tile floors, let alone the dog hair. No carpet in my home. Have done all the troubleshooting. Motor runs, then turns itself off. Have owned Electrolux vacuum cleaners since the 1950s AND they worked overtime… Read more

and never faultered. Does not warrant a rating in my opinion, but had to so this review could be posted. ZERO Everything.........