Washing machine - repair or replace?

dander

Hmm, thanks all, perhaps I should have mentioned I don't know the first thing about washing machines, so don't know how to find any of these things mentioned - so it's pretty much a case of calling a man out or buying a new machine - so which of those options do we think is cheaper? - although cleaning a filter sounds feasible if anyone could give me a hint of where to find a filter !:rotfl:

Oh, and it's not that it's not doing the spin cycle - it goes through that section and reaches the end of the whole wash as though it's completed successfully - it just does it slower than it should - from the descriptions above (to my washing machine dunces mind) the brushes description seems to match the symptom most closely - it's like it wants to spin, it just doesn't quite find the energy to do it properly, poor old thing.

Rolandtheroadie

At 15 years old, I'd buy a new one thats more efficient.

sunshinetours

Tricky one as at 15 years old it doesn't owe you anything and a quick easy fix may be all that is required BUT it could also be the start of other parts gradually failing as well

Indesit 15 years ago probably , like many other well known traditional brands, still made reasonable machines .The equivalent budget Indesit now I bet would struggle to give you that same longevity, although it would cost less in electricity and water useage

Unless you can get it fixed cheaply I would consider a new one but just avoid Chinese tat like Haier, Proline etc. Plenty of other threads on here about new washing machines if you search

imaginarynumber

If it is jut the brushes I would just replace them.

My 4 year old Miele had something similar recently- would go thru the cycle but not spin.

I rang them and they wanted a couple of hundred minimum to fix it (fixed fee). It was the second time it was being "repaired"- PCB died after 18 months!!! So i turned to google.

Someone at the DIYNOT.COM forum suggested that it might be the brushes. They even posted advice for stripping down the machine.

Took me half a day but only cost me a tenner. Sure enough one brush had worn down.

A pro familiar with the machine would have taken an hour tops.

Google "washing machine spares" and ask a local firm who they recommend to fit their parts.

Not sure where you are but I got my brushes from Capital Repairs or capital spares in Rayners Lane.

muckybutt

Brushes are not the answer!. If it were the brushes then the motor wouldnt spin at all.....doh !

Could be one of three things, the pressure switch as has been stated, sometimes you find that washing detergent gets into the air pipe to the switch and bungs it up or it could be the switch itself that gone booboo.

The second could be the programmer, the part that tells the motor to step up a gear when the fast spin is required.

The third and most costly could be the high speed windings on the motor - unlikely though as its doing a slow spin if it were the windings then it just wouldnt spin.

My best guess would be the pressure switch, easy cheap fix for a white goods engineer, £50 tops, cheap ones on ebay have a look and you'll be able to recognise what a pressure switch looks like.
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=washing+machine+pressure+switch&_sacat=See-All-Categories

imaginarynumber

muckybutt wrote: »

Brushes are not the answer!. If it were the brushes then the motor wouldnt spin at all.....doh !

Not true.

My miele turned in both directions but would not enter the fast spin until I replaced the brushes.

In general all beter quality motors with safety/wear cutouts built into the brushes act in this way

dander

Well, oddly, one wash it decided to do the full spin as normal - and on another I kept moving the dial back to the spin slot and on about the 4th attempt it picked up and spun properly, so all hope is not lost.

One thing I've definitely learnt from this thread is that washing machines aren't expected to last 15 years nowadays, so I reckon I'm going to try and hang on to this one for as long as I can as it would be a bit of a false economy to chuck it away, just to replace it with something that isn't built to last in the same way. Especially when a 4-year-old Miele has already had two faults - I thought they were the brand everyone recommends!

I just have to decide now whether to call a repair man or watch some internet videos and try my hand at fixing my own!

imaginarynumber

To be fair to Miele i did shame them into repairing the first fault- a duff PCB- for free. It would have cost upto £300 otherwise.

I told them that with the repair costs the total cost of ownership for the first two years would have been more expensive that buying and ditching a cheaper washing machine every 6 months.

I suspect most other brands would have told me where to go...

The brushes are wear and tear but the motor is evidently misaligned because only one of the two brushes had worn down.

The build quality on the Miele is vastly superior to any other unit I have seen and i still hope to get 15 years out of it. I just think that their repair policy sucks- they wont give you price estimates or even tell you the cost of the spares- it is down to the discretion of the engineer??? All they are willing to do is offer a potentially very expensive fixed fee repair option.

If you buy at the right time you can get long warranties thrown in- I didn't

2010

scotsman4th wrote: »

At 15 years old, I'd buy a new one thats more efficient.

The most sensible reply of the lot.
You can get a brand new one for under £200.
No one will come and repair it for under £100 no matter what`s wrong with it.
At 15 years old it`s had it`s day.

Here you are: £169-99

http://www.coopelectricalshop.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?ProductCode=BEK-WSH-WM5101W-W&x=40&y=15

imaginarynumber

Actually if I were the OP and I was sure that it was just the brushes I would keep the machine.

At less than a tenner for a pair the total cost should be £40/50 tops.

Inspite of its age it is an known entity, the OP knows that it doesn't have a history of leaking etc.

If the machine is good for another 5 years then it will work out far cheaper than the Beko which may only last a couple of years.

With regard to efficiency I am not sure if it is a level playing field given that the machine is probably hot and cold feed rather than the current cold feed only units.

Just my 2 cents worth...