washing machine not emptying - help!

whitevanwoman

I'm sitting here listening to the sweet sound of my washing machine spinning having sat on the wet floor for the past 15 minutes watching it fill, rinse and empty without any problem. Hurray!!!!

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who gave me advice - I was able to find the panel at the front and remove it to locate the filter which I then removed although gravity got the better of me and I soaked myself and the floor in doing so. I discovered that the filter had a bright shiny 1p stuck in the middle of a solid lump of washing liquid / soap which had also backed up into the pipe leading up to the drawer.

At the same time I gave the drawer etc a good clean out (first time in 4 yrs) and discovered to my horror that the conditioner drawer was full of black mould so another lesson learned there.

After cleaning it all and putting everything back together I've poured about quarter of bottle of vinegar into the drawer and then put it on a rinse programme to check it and everything is fine.

I am so relieved - I really couldn't afford to get someone in to do a repair and would have been so annoyed if having done so, that was all it was. I really thought I was going to have to be using the launderette for the next month or so, which because I live rurally would be a huge inconvenience and both time and money cost.

Thanks again - not only for the money saving advice but also for giving me the confidence to tackle it as now I really feel quite pleased with myself!

x

rachfriar78

Your welcome. So glad ya got it sorted, easy when ya know how :-) maybe you will have confidence to tackle other things now too x

basmic

Can I be the first to recommend you run a maintenance wash?

Put the following in the detergent drawer, and run the hottest (95c usually) cottons wash on your machine with extra rinse and stains/power wash if available:
- Your usual dose of biological soap POWDER or TABLETS - not liquid! It has to be a non-colours powder and biological - ie: standard powder, which contains bleaching agents.
- A dash of bleach.
- Approx 100g of soda crystals.
- Cup of vinegar, but add this while the machine is filling up.
- Some vinegar where you usually put the fabric conditioner.

Once the machine has digested these, it should help clear some of the gunk you described - only what you probably don't realise, is some of that sludge is present in most of the machine, and you're washing your clothes in it each time. That's what using liquid detergent results in! Although I use liquid myself sometimes, I still run the above maintenance wash once every couple of months.

You might need to run the above maintenance wash another couple of times to make sure that the majority of the gunk is gone.