A friend of mine has a DC04i - grey and turquoise. The hose is unclutched and has got holes in it now. I couldn't find a replacement hose, but a clutched hose fits into the base. If I get a clutched wand/handle (for plain DC04) will it fit?

Answer: When I said "clutched" I used the wrong term (although the DC04i is indeed unclutched, that's to do with whether the rollers are permanently engaged or not). What I meant was, when the wand/handle is fully extended, if you want to unclip it, there is no button to press and no groove in the DC04i hose to stop the wand/handle from coming out completely.

So if you get a hose for a DC04 with a groove, the DC04i wand/handle won't fit. But if you get a DC04 wand/handle (I got a replacement from manchestervacs.co.uk) with a button that disengages the groove (if you see what I mean), bingo! the new wand and hose fit the DC04i.

Sadly in my case the motor bearings had given up as well. I nearly went to manchestervacs.co.uk to get a replacement (the description tells you which kind to get), but my friend pre-empted me - she got a new vacuum cleaner.