Broken washing machine. Repair or replace?

sparkiemalarkie

My 8 year old Bosch washing machine has just conked out.


I local repair man will take a look for £40 and that will include labour naturally I will have to pay for any parts on top of that.


He will not consider putting a reconditioned motor in (if the motor has failed) New motor - £160
If it's the brushes they will cost between £25-£40 a pair
It might be the circuit board cost????


Is it worth spending money on an old machine or should I put it towards a new one.?
This is the first time it has ever broken down.


any thoughts please?


sparkie

Alikay

Try googling the fault and see if you can diagnose it before deciding. I once clicked around on the internet and diagnosed worn carbon brushes on our washer....replacements cost about £5, so we had a go at fixing it ourselves and it worked. Might be worth a try with the help of youtube videos or similar!

angelcake

I too googled the fault, turned out it was the motor, I paid £35 for a new one and fixed it myself. That was an 8 year old washing machine, however if I was in the position to buy a new one I probably would have, although it lasted a couple more years

thorsoak

It's eight years old, could go wrong again in the next year or so - a new Bosch (which is probably more efficient now, than your eight year old machine) would be £249 from AO - see:-
http://ao.com/product/wab24262gb-bosch-washing-machine-white-30246-1.aspx

LilElvis

I would buy another Bosch, but from John Lewis - price match and better customer service if there is a problem. Machines these days aren't designed to be repaired, the cost is disproportionate for the extension on the life of the item.

HappyMJ

I just recently had mine repaired and it's 10 years old. It was the carbon brushes. Drum would not spin any more.

Although a new machine is £249 you've got connection charges (£20 unless you have a friend who can help you) and removal charges (£15 unless your council can remove for free) to consider so repairing your own should be economically worthwhile.

Make-it-3

I lost my dear washing machine two years ago (RIP) and my fridge has just passed too ...

Its always worth doing a bit of research to try and figure out what the likely problem is, you can find spare parts online too. I also found a guy who did a free diagnosis and would let you know honestly if it was worth doing the repair.

I have found having had to replace both items that the old saying "they don't make em like they used to" becomes truer and truer. Unless you pay top whack then the expected life of newer appliances is quite shocking and they are designed for obsolescence with few parts that are hugely costly to replace.

If its not too expensive you might get nearly as much new life out of your old machine than buying new.

sparkiemalarkie

Thanks for your comments.

I keep changing my mind about what to do. I spoke to a repairman this evening who is highly respected locally.

He said that it could be one of 3 things, motor , brushes or circuit board.

I have twice replaced brushes in Hotpoints but the motor needs to be taken out of this machine to get to them.

I will look at youtube.

I didn't get the grating noise with this washing machine though.
I had the following symptoms....

3 washes ago- squealing noise at the start of the spin cycle- disappeared when the drum was emptied of clothes - improved when the spin speeded up.

2 washes ago - squealing started sooner in the cycle
last wash - squealing started on the rinse part of the cycle then the drum stopped turning.

The machine will fill and empty ok. The belt is ok no smell of burning.

thanks

sparkie

pogofish

I know people can get very attached to their Bosch but is it not a little disturbing to post about it in MRF? Surely "In my home" or the Tech forum is less inappropriate?

VfM4meplse

OP, I was in your position about 3 months ago.

I wish I hadn't dithered and gone with my instinct to replace. Instead I paid a callout fee to be told the drum was dead and that was that.

The next stupid mistake I made was to order through Currys. Don't do it!!! Needless to say they didn't come up with the goods and even getting a refund involved a lot of hassle. You can't argue with stupid, I was stressed as hell.

I then ordered via AO. For me, their system was nothing short of perfect, a full 10/10 (even better than JL, and they are good!). AO keeps you updated every step of the way, and it means you don't spend the whole day waiting for your delivery.

sparkiemalarkie

Well, I have finally made a decision!

From the encouragement here, I have looked at Youtube again and found a video about replacing the brushes on my machine.
It looks very easy to do - remove 2 bolts and a wire connection to remove the motor and then flick out the brushes.

If the brushes need replacing, then it's job done,
If not, it's something much more expensive so not worth spending money on.

Now, where's my spanner

thanks again..

sparkie