Mrs V mentioned that the washing machine (4 years old) has been playing up. It's been sitting in a puddle after some/most washes, and has more recently started to wander around the room.
I had a quick look at it the other week and removed a few bits and bobs from the pump/filter whatchamajig at the bottom/front of the machine, and assumed that would sort it.
Yesterday she mentioned it was doing it again (I admit to rarely using it), so I had a more involved look.
From the front;
- There appears to be some limescale dribbles from the detergent drawer.
From underneath;
- There were no obvious leaks from the pump or the hoses in or out of it.
- I could see that the shock absorber on the left side of the drum was VERY rusty, the right hand one looks brand new.
- There were other lime-scale dribbles down the left hand internal side, and that side of the drum was a little wet too.
- I disconnected the drain hose from the pump and blew into it, I think there may have been a little resistance initially, but then it blew freely.
With the top off;
- I could see that the tray that the detergent drawer sits in has a large rectangular hole on the side, I assume this is an overflow, but it seems quite large and just empties into the inside of the machine, there's no drain from it.
- I poured water into the tray and it seems to drain quite freely from the tray into the drum as normal
From the above observations, I assume something is causing water to come out of the overflow in the tray, it is then running down the inside of the machine, via the shock absorber and has left a puddle on the floor. The water has caused the shock to rust and possibly seize, making the machine bounce around the room . Some has dribbled out of the front of the drawer too causing the limescale marks.
Does that all sound right/plausible?
My main question is, what could be causing the tray to overflow in the first place? I mentioned that there might have been a blockage in the drain hose (can't be certain), but the machine seems to drain after a wash, and even if it didn't, I didn't think it would use enough water to fill the machine from the drain hose to the tray (I could be wrong). I guess it could have been draining slowly, which could cause water to back up that far...
Looking at spare parts, the replacement tray, doesn't appear to have that overflow window which seems strange. Also the replacement shocks are made from some kind of plastic, rather than metal, as if there's been a known issue...
Anything I've overlooked, or anything else I should check?
Normally shocks fail by either snapping or wearing out until they have no damping. This creates the freedom to jiggle across the floor. new ones are very stiff to move by hand.
Take the tray out and see if the jets in the roof of the chamber are on the squint with limescale. This will involve lots of hilarious water splashing as you observe it in action - pics please.
My current and all previous machines have had a complete box around the detergent drawer, is there a bit missing?
Thanks for the comments/suggestions.
Take the tray out and see if the jets in the roof of the chamber are on the squint with limescale. This will involve lots of hilarious water splashing as you observe it in action - pics please.
I did take the whole tray out last night, although it was a little gungy the jets in the roof appeared to be clear. I ran the tap into it and water seemed to come out normally.
My current and all previous machines have had a complete box around the detergent drawer, is there a bit missing?
I wish I'd taken a photo of it. The opening seemed excessively large and relatively low, making it look as though water would slosh out of it fairly easily. I wonder if you're right about something being missing, but it looked like a deliberate hole and I can't imagine anything in it would be water tight.
I gave the rusty shock a good clean up, and lube, but I suspect it'll be knackered. Tempted to order a (windowless?) tray at the same time as the shock.
Run it with the lid off and watch?
(Obviously keep hands and cats away from moving parts.)
OK, here's my take as this happened to me and took a bit tracking down.
My machine very near the end of the fill cycle would overflow out of the detergent drawer. At the start of the cycle the water flowed in as it should but then began to back up. I could see this happening with the drawer removed. The backed up water that hadn't spilled out the front slowly glugged down the filler into the drum. Bubbles out-water in. This led me to think the water was being stopped by an air lock as the water entering the drum obviously displaces the air & this shouldn't be coming out the water inlet from the drawer. Once I had the top off the machine access to the corrugated breather hose was easy as it was at 12 O'clock on the drum. This hose was full of gunge/detergent/slime & effectively blocked preventing air leaving the drum. Once that hose was cleared the air could leave the drum & the water went where it was meant to go.
In the absence of other leaks I'd suggest checking the breather from the drum.
Good luck.
Once I had the top off the machine access to the corrugated breather hose was easy as it was at 12 O'clock on the drum. This hose was full of gunge/detergent/slime & effectively blocked preventing air leaving the drum. Once that hose was cleared the air could leave the drum & the water went where it was meant to go.
Thanks very much for that. I'll check that out tomorrow night 👍
This shows the hole in the side of the tray I mentioned
I've got a Bosche and a Zanussi for spares/repair free to collect from the Tweed Valley if theytr any use to anyone. Off to the tip next week so be quick
The plot thickens.
Mrs V set off the machine on a delicates wash earlier (stinky, muddy bike gear #tmi), and I sat and watched it (should this be in the "you know you're getting old" thread?).
Almost straight away I could see a trickle of water from the drawer, but weirdly it seemed to drip out of the handle (arrow) then trickle down the face of the drawer (line).
Since taking the pic I've managed to shift that lime-scale under the drawer 🙂
Link to Video of dripping water, for added excitement: https://photos.app.goo.gl/utvsmt853AhJwsw66
This next pic shows the inside of the drawer, I can only assume the tray is filling up and then the water is working its way through where the black and white plastic meet.
I waited for the rinse-cycle and removed the drawer, water seems to come into the tray area without any issue, and it seemed to drain away in to the cylinder quickly too. I had assumed it would be slow to drain away, causing it to back up, but that doesn't seem to happen - well, not when the drawer is out, at least.
I still plan to get the lid off and check for a blocked breather pipe, as suggested above. But currently I'm no clearer about what's going wrong...
Roll on the day when this can be added to the "What's the last thing you mended" thread!
Get it taken apart - and look for clogged pipes or air breather pipes near that draw.
Honestly, as long as they are unplugged they are pretty simple things mechanichally.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/off-topic/i-only-used-the-yorkshire-screwdriver-once/
I spent years with a similar problem - used to sit with my feet holding the machine at an angle to stop the water flowing out of the front of the machine, moved house to somewhere with lower water pressure and the problem went away, if there is a valve on the cold water filler for the machine, try partially closing it.
I've confirmed there's no blockage in the short hoses from the tray to the drum.
There's no breather pipe either.
Only thing left is water pressure as suggested by toby1 above. There's an isolator between the pipe and the inlet hose for the washing machine, I've half closed that and will see what it does. If that works I'll get it proper flow restrictor.
I've also run a bead of sealant where the tray connects to it's fascia to hopefully give a bit of resistance to any water splashing up against it.
Tune in for tomorrow's exciting installment of washing machine dissection
This keeps popping into my YT. prob cos i fix stuff. Washing machine repairs and parts identification so might be of use.
https://www.youtube.com/@How-to-repair/shorts
On this morning's wash, no water was trickling out of the drawer!!! Success!
So after dismantling it several times, probing multiple hoses, inspecting all kinds of crevices, the fix appears to have been to adjust the rate the water flows into the machine...
A solution almost as exciting as the original problem..........
Thanks for the various comments, especially toby1 👍
Edit: I still plan to replace the rusty shock/damper as I suspect that was playing a part in it wandering around the room, although that's not been as bad since I adjusted the level of the feet and cleaned up the shock. I'll add it to the list of things that need doing, but I probably won't get around to 🙂
You are going to clean it too at some point?
You are going to clean it too at some point?
My wife's pretty hot on cleaning things, so the second the tray and housing were removed from the machine it was straight into the sink being scrubbed within an inch of it's life.