Very loud noise from washing machine?

tina92

Hi there,

I have a hotpoint washing machine 12 years old working ok but I have noticed a really loud noise now when its doing last fast drying spin. I wonder what is the cause of this, its washing fine otherwise just when it goes into the really fast spinning cycle its terribly noisy.

any ideas gratefully appreciated

tina

gettingbetter

hi
i had one that did that it was the drum and i had to get new one
kas x

sparky883

If its lasted you 12 years you done well,A Spring might have come off the concrete thats around the drum making the noise its an easy fix to someone who knows what they are doing,But i would NEVER advise anybody to mess with washing machined as even if they are switched off,They can hold an electricity charge inside that can be dangerous unless shorted out by knowing how to do it.

laughingnome

I've had this problem recently, and the engineer said the one of the weights around the drum had come loose. Took him a few mins to screw it back on, didn't see what he did though as our kitchen is about 2 foot square, sorry. Might be cheapest to get an engineer out?

Ebe_Scrooge

As others have said, it may be the weights or the springs have come loose. If you take the top off, you can easily have a look ( please make sure it's unplugged from the mains first ! ). If it's just a bolt that need tightening then it's easy to fix.

I had a Hotpoint and the suspension struts went. I got some new ones from the internet and managed to replace them myself - cost about £12 if I remember correctly, rather than £80 odd for an engineer to come out. I won't say it was a piece of cake, but it's not particularly difficult if you're fairly used to DIY. Took me about 3/4 of an hour, and the machine lasted for another 7 years after that :-)

ormus

could be the main bearing.
check it by rocking the drum up and down. the should be no movement in the spindle/bearing.

James_Robertson_1963

The most common cause of this is the main drum bearing seal has failed and water has washed all the grease out of the drum bearing and knackered it. You will hear a loud roaring noise on the fast spin when this has happened. As it's certainly not a 5-minute-job, it's not economic to have this fault repaired on an older machine if you are paying for the repairs yourself. Get a new machine.

It is fairly unusual for balance weights to come loose as they are usually held tight by locking nuts. I've seen it happen but not very often. Sometimes they break off the drum completely. Symptoms of this are loud knocking noises, the machine attempting to leave the building while on a fast spin and a heavy piece of metal/concrete on the floor under the machine!

fortune_pete

I agree with James' answer above. I've had the same fault on my previous old Hotpoint machine but what a job to remove the old bearing - the air was blue in my house that day!
Sourcing the part not a problem, fitting it though, as James says, "it's certainly not a 5-minute-job".
Time for your new Hotpoint machine methinks!

calleyw

I would highly recommend a haynes washing machine manual. Cost about £16 ish and is a god send if you have older machines.

And do agree it is most likely the bearings.

When I last got a quote for new bearings on a machine 15 years ago they wanted £120:eek:

Unless you can do it yourself it would be better to get a new machine. I did that last year as my husband has now become disabled and unable to do any DIY and there was no way I was able to do it. So rather then spend silly money on having it fixed. I got a new machine for £250 and paid for it on my credit card that had 10 months 0% so it allowed me to pay for it at £25 a month.


Yours


Calley

sparky883

Me and my brother changed the main bearing on our moms Hotpoint it took us 3 hours and half the garden space its a pig of a job,We knew what we were getting into but did it anyway.

tina92

Hi again,

Thanks for all the helpful replies. Well my hubby has tried to move the drum up and down to find out if its the drum bearing as stated above. He couldn't do it with one hand, and only could do it if he used both hands and levered his elbow off his knee.

Do you think its still the drum bearing i.e should there be upwards movement in the drum if you use enough force?

I have booked a guy to come and look but its a £20 call out charge, wonder if it is worth it. Its washing now fine only problem is when it starts to spin there is going to be a hell of a noise.

kind regards
Tina