I saw some Tineco vacuum users complaining about a tiny “o” symbol flashing repeatedly on the display. They had no idea what it meant, or how to get rid of it.
According to the manual, the “o” indicator pops up when there’s a dust sensor malfunction within the Tineco vacuum. Here’s a guide on what that really means, and how you can make it go away.
Read: Tineco Vacuum Mop Please Place Appliance on Charging Base: Ways to Fix
I’ve also made a short video about this topic which you can watch below. In the video, I demonstrated how I solved this problem when I encountered it on my Tineco vacuum.
I clean the dustbin filter with water and dry it. If this doesn’t work you can also clean the filter to make the airflow more smooth. Hopefully, this should solve this issue.
How To Fix A Tineco Vacuum Dust Sensor Malfunction
In the manual, you can see that this indicator has to do with the dust sensor malfunctioning. That’s a vague statement though, and there isn’t much more context given for it.
I also looked it up online and saw that not many people were giving solutions for it. Even Tineco’s support doesn’t have many helpful answers about the matter.
However, I’ve noticed that most of the time it doesn’t even have to do with a dust sensor. There’s just something wrong with the vacuum’s bin that causes the indicator to come on.
To be more specific, the dustbin on your Tineco vacuum may be loose. The last time you took it off and put it back on, you might not have placed it properly.
Remove the bin from your Tineco vacuum, the same way I’m doing below to start fixing this. After taking it off, use a cloth to wipe any dust around its housing.
When you’re done wiping away dirt, empty the bin and get rid of any junk inside it. Then, put it back into place to see if that makes the indicator on the display go away.
In most cases, that should stop the “o” from flashing. But, it might not be enough for some users. In that case, you might have to remove the filter from the dustbin.
Use a brush to get rid of any dirt on the filter’s surface. Take a look at how dirty this filter I’m cleaning below is. If yours is anything like that, it would explain why the indicator is there.
People that have a super dirty filter that hasn’t been cleaned in several weeks might need to wash it. You’ll need to put it under a running sink and brush all the dirt away.
Give the filter at least 24 hours to dry off after doing this instead of shoving it back into the dustbin. A wet filter will completely ruin your Tineco vacuum otherwise.
After putting a completely clean dustbin and filter on the device, the “o” indicator for the dust sensor malfunction should disappear. If it still doesn’t, there may be a more technical problem at hand.
I believe the dust sensor is somewhere inside the dustbin of the vacuum, along with all the wiring inside it. Dismantling the dustbin and exposing its wiring might help you find it.
No information in the manual tells users about where it is exactly. Worse than that, there’s no info on how to deal with the “dust sensor malfunction” on a Tineco vacuum manual either.
The reason why I believe it’s inside the dustbin with the rest of the wiring has to do with the potential solutions. I mean, just think about it for a second.
It can’t be a coincidence that the two biggest solutions for this issue both have to do with the dustbin. But, I haven’t had a reason to dismantle my dustbin yet.
Whenever I’ve had this problem, or other users too, the two solutions I shared above tend to work perfectly. Give them a shot, and I’m sure they’ll work for you too!
