Repairers, not users!

We have a Hotpoint machine that is about 4 years old, with three kids snotting on their clothes and my biking gear it gets absolutely hammered with about 8 washes per week. It has been getting noisier on the spin recently, each wash seems to get louder. It sounds to me like bearings have gone but this is a bit of a guess. How do I diagnose this and is it something easy to sort out myself or do I need to get someone in?

Ta

That was bearings in out LG (10 years old, and similar wash levels with 5 of us…).
It was a long, but simple job. Simple few spanners and screwdriver. Bearings, new door seal and clamps all came to about £50, and good for another decade I hope. Youtube has lots of video’s how to – we found the exact model howto – http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=washing+maching+bearings&sm=3
Ours mid way through…:

Sunday’s fun 🙁 by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

We had this with our 6 year old hotpoint about a month ago. It was so loud you could barely hear each other talk in the next room. I read up about the bearings and the best way to test if it’s them (apart from the racket) is to see if there is excessive play in the drum – in all directions. If there is then combined with the noise, chances are it’s the bearings.

I looked into changing them myself (YouTube and the like) and I’ve no doubt I could’ve done it if I’d taken my time. But the parts came to around £150 quid so we decided to get a new and more economical and quieter spin one which only cost £250 anyway. I figured the time I would spend fixing it was worth another £100 for a new one.

Thanks, will have a look and maybe cost up parts for DIY before getting quote for repair. Machine was really expensive so can justify repairing rather than replacing!

Replacing drum bearings (except as below) is do-able as a diy job, but it’s not the easiest of jobs.

A lot of machines these days have a one-piece outer drum, which means you can’t take the inner drum out to change the bearings. If you have one of these you’ll need to replace the whole drum unit.

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/forumsphpbb3/ is a good forum.

Thee other possible failures apart from failed drum bearings are:

1) The machine supporting feet are incorrectly adjusted leading to either the entire machine bouncing up and down, or the “twist” causing parts of the outer cover to rattle together (especially if on a wobbly floor)

2) Some of the drum support springs and/or dampers have failed. Need to pop the lid or back off for a look. (means drums vibrates excessively, often smashing into the internal stops making a right racket

3) Heavily worn brushes or commutator on the motor – Can cause wining / whiring or clicky sounds at some motor speeds

PS to check bearings: Open door, spin drum by hand looking / feeling / listening for notchy / or harsh movement as you rotate it. In really bad cases the drum will actually feel “Loose” on the bearings and you can move it around inside the outer drum

check there isnt anything trapped in the gap betwen the drium and the door, in the rubber seal bit, empty the filter, take top off mc and check the springs are still holding the drum in place, and the concret weight is still secure.