Shark Vacuum Handle Wont Lock [How To Fix It For Good]

Published by Ahmad Jamal on May 24, 2023

Shark vacuum thrives on how well built its vacuums are. Whether they are the upright/ canister strong vacuums, or the cordless/ robot ones.

However, with the powerful upright/ canister vacuums, you have many components to connect and assemble before getting to work, and sometimes the shark vacuum handle wont lock regardless of how hard you tried.

This issue isn’t that common, but it’s a deal breaker as your vacuum won’t work at all if the handle or the extension wand won’t connect.

So what can you do? You can go for the expensive and tiring solution of getting yourself a new handle that doesn’t suffer from the same fate, and that means checking different models and different replacement parts or waiting for the delivery guys to get you the new handle, taking much needed time, effort and money in the process.

Or simply go for the fix this CleanersAdvisor guide is presenting you with.

In this guide, powered by the expertise of CleanersAdvisor experts who have tried, tested, and reviewed tens of vacuums as a daily job, here’s what they found would fix your Shark Vacuum Handle Wont Lock problem.

---

What Causes the Issue With the Handle?

We can easily diagnose the issue by taking apart the whole handle and the hose, then inspect the interiors of the handle and the hose.

Sometimes it’s a faulty little red release button, other times it’s accumulating dirt over some locking positions, other times it’s a complicated problem with different faulty parts.

In conclusion, inspect the interiors, check the specific part that’s causing this issue, this will help you determine the perfect fix, out of the list of fixes we provide you next.

---

Shark Vacuum Handle Wont Lock … The Fixes

If your Shark Vacuum Handle Wont Lock, the best fix is to unplug the vacuum off the electricity, and clean the interior of your handle from accumulating dirt and dust that prevents the handle from clicking, or replace the release button/ the whole handle if the problem is more complicated.

First, once you encounter the Shark Vacuum Handle Wont Lock issue, you assume it’s just a problem with the little red release button, a few clicks or hits on it will fix it, but afterward you’re wondering, why isn’t it working properly now?

It’s a matter of more delicate issue, but the fix isn’t hard, here’s a step by step fixing methods of your Shark Vacuum Handle Wont Lock:

1. Don’t try to take the short road out of the problem

Some people feel that the simpler the issue the simpler the fix should be, but that’s not the case here.

The whole handle may be broken, but it may also be a plugged vacuum that needs to be unplugged from electricity, simple or complicated, take the matter seriously.

2. Unplug your vacuum

As simple as it may seem, some of our customers had this problem solved by simply unplugging their vacuum from electricity, as the want gets completely stopped from being either removed or clicked in with the vacuum plugged in.

However, if this simple fix doesn’t work, then you have other fixes to check, read through.

3. Clean the shark vacuum handle’s insides

The accumulating dirt and dust can prevent the handle from locking in properly.

You can notice the accumulating dirt by simply inspecting the insides of your handles, and you can obviously see that the shark vacuum handle wont lock due to the presence of such dirt, as it stops in the path both the locking.

Using a simple butter knife (or any other tool you may be convenient with) scrape away the dirt and dust, then try again.

This is by far the best possible fix to the issue, and worked with 90%+ of our customers who reported this issue.

This video showcases this fix in detail, check it out:

---

Shark Vacuum Handle Release Button Broken

We’ve disclosed the instances where the main cause of a shark vacuum handle wont lock was how dirty it was.

However, in other instances, it’s just broken, and the release button doesn’t work at all, regardless of how well you tried to clean it.

Therefore, if you notice that the Shark Vacuum Handle Release Button Broken, then you’ll need to either try to super glue it for shorter-term results, or replace it at once by getting yourself a new one.

Broken release buttons usually have no other fixes than to super glue them back, and this will give you 1 or 2 more vacuuming attempts, but they’ll be broken again, and this time super glue won’t fix the problem.

This is the time you need to check for replacement parts, how compatible they are with your vacuum model, and how soon they will arrive.

The sooner the better, as you’ll get your issue solved soon, and don’t forget to check the compatibility with the official Shark website, as they are the number #1 source for such information, not your newly arriving neighbor.

---

To Wrap Up

If your shark vacuum handle wont lock, then we have 2 types of fixes for you, one that’s cheap, effortless, and provides short term results, and the other is costly and would take more time that you’d like it to take.

However, this is all based on how complicated the issue is in the first place, so, follow this CleanersAdvisor guide for fixes depending on how complicated your shark vacuum handle wont lock issue is.