Sounds like the bearings have gone in my washing machine. Quick google shows I should be able to get a new pair of bearings for about £25, and a drum seal for another £7.
So is it easy to replace them? And will cost more than its actually worth to get someone to do it?
if its knackered now, have a go yourself, I found the cost of repair not much less than a new machine (we have a cheap machine). If its fairly new, or a bespoke titanium SS washer, take it to a repair shop.
IME washingmachine DIY is either easy or next to impossible depending on access. Have a go and if you can get the old bits out, replacement ought to be a doddle.
I bought a Haynes washing machine workshop manual years ago but it doesnt really tell you anything that's not obvious
its of questionable age - it came with the house 5 years ago.
Any idea for online instructions how to do it?
It is easy enough to do. You will need to take the drum out of the machine before spliting it - lots of undoing 8mm bolts. The bearings press in easy enough. It is a good idea to invest in some of the white waterproof grease.
This how to video is useful
google on make/model, it's often been done before. You'll often get an exploded diagram - which can be really handy.
you can check the bearings- get hold of the drum and rock up and down etc - it will wobble on the back if you see what I mean
when I took the back off mine the trail of brown stain was also a clue as the grease was being washed out the back
I needed various spanners, and a rubber hammer and a hammer and I had to hit the spider (*the bit with arms on that holds the drum a lot harder than I wanted), as a hint if you take before disassembly photos of any wiring/bits that look tricky that might help when putting it back together - defintely doable though
Jon replaced the bearings in ours yesterday, having taken it apart and discovered that one of the bearings was in about 4 pieces. If you have a headset press, it makes life easier, but from what he said, taking it apart was the hard bit - it's a Zanussi, also of questionable age (had it 7 years, but it was second hand then...). Judging by putting it back together, having a second person around can be useful at some points in the operation, but it was a case of undoing everything till he could get the drum out, getting the remains of the bearings out, and then reversing the procedure.
Alternatively, Sainsburys' cheapest washing machine was £179 or thereabouts!
Wow.
4 hours into a stw washing machine thread and nobody's told you to bin it and get a Miele. What's going on??
im 90% certain that washing machines can store a charge even when unplugged.
the local paper did an article after a bloke died trying to service his.
be carefull pal.
Jon replaced the bearings in ours yesterday
...so now go and stick the washing on...! 
If you got somebody in to do it, it probably would be economically unviable - took me maybe 3 hours to work out how to get it to bits, then maybe another 2 hours cleaning it up (7 years of shitty bike kit, london water and then grease from the bearings), plus 3 hours to get the bearings in and reassemble. So for a pro, still a mornings work (say 3 -4 hours) = easily £100+. About £17 in parts though.
If you're mechanically handy, well worth a punt. Changing the bearings is no harder than doing a hope hub, they're just bigger. I cut a couple of discs of 18mm ply to the same size as the bearings, then (having chilled the bearings in the freezer and heated the housing with a heat gun) used my headset press to wind them in. Worked pretty easily.
My washer drier went, well it stopped drying so the mrs said we NEED a new one. Anyhow, multi meter plus google = 55p purchase of a new resistor and bang, fixed.
They dont seem to be complicated, just annoyingly fiddly to get into things.
okay i will take the bait, bin it and buy a Bosch! I had a washing machine with said bearing problem and the "engineer" took 4 hours to take apart replace and build the thing again. Oh and he needed to phone about 5 other "engineers" to help him out. Lucky it was still under warranty it did make me chuckle at such an attempt as it didn`t look that difficult of a job.
Remember, if all else fails;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lIR2NKY98c
is it integrated as my hotpoint bwm 129 you do not need to split the drum took me to hrs start to finish easy
Just had to fix mine. Would rather try and repair it myself rather than call someone given call out costs. Take photos / notes as you're undoing it to avoid spares at the end!
if you fail then you could turn the drum into a document bruner or patio log burner.
Was in a similar situation once. Bought the correct bits from e-spares and started to dismantle the machine.
Alas the way this thing was factory assembled did not lend itself to home servicing. Lots of weird bracketry and poor access to the bearings themselves scuppered my chances.
After much swearing and skinning of knuckles I gave up and we bought another machine.
I replaced the bearing in my Hotpoint a year ago, it was easy enough just a bit time consuming. Think it took me about 4 hours to get the machine in bits and the old bearing out, and about an hour to get the machine back together again. Parts cost me £25. 
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