Finding issue with friends washing machine.

dekaspace

History is he bought it for next to nothing on Gumtree as the seller said it was making clothes very hot (not quite burning to touch though) after a wash, he decided to risk it in case the seller plugged into hot instead of cold pipe.

Seemed to work ok but I noticed almost straight away every time clothes were washed there was a fish/damp like smell especially right after a wash.

Friend didn't notice that but tried some soda crystals, this stopped the fish like smell but still clothes never smelt clean, I have used it a few times on occasion like when doing favours for him or I had to wash something too wide for my drum, I noticed even with scented washing powder, fabric conditioner, even white vinegar clothes have no scent to them they just smell like they have been soaked in water.

I was using his machine earlier noticed a damp smell when I opened the door, put my wash on and heres a seperate issue which may be related.

Whenever anything like a thick towel, or dressing gown etc is put in the clothes come out soaked as if they haven't spun dry, the machine does spin as it gets very loud and vibrates it just seems to only make clothes come out ok if a wash is about 1/4 full even then they don't smell scented/fresh but not sickly either.

I did keep an eye on the wash for 15 minutes, I couldn't see any water in the drum or anything draining and the drum felt cold to touch compared to when he first got it, it felt almost boiling to touch.

Could this be a thermostat issue? Could it also be blocked pipes on top/instead? Or is it even getting enough water?

I assume its getting water if the clothes are coming out soaked but i don't notice any.

elsien

You've asked this before. Has he tried all the suggestions made then?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5700835

EssexExile

Bought for next to nothing over 6 months ago? I think it's done well.
It's hard trying to find a fault if you don't know what it was like before so you can't compare. Not spinning properly but loudly sounds like a blockage or faulty pump, which could also explain smells. If the temperatures are not right then I doubt it would go through the programme so I expect that is a red herring. Also you won't see much water in modern machines.

dekaspace

EssexExile wrote: »

Bought for next to nothing over 6 months ago? I think it's done well.
It's hard trying to find a fault if you don't know what it was like before so you can't compare. Not spinning properly but loudly sounds like a blockage or faulty pump, which could also explain smells. If the temperatures are not right then I doubt it would go through the programme so I expect that is a red herring. Also you won't see much water in modern machines.

It looks like its spinning fine but I wasn't around to witness the spin cycle as it takes over 3 hours to wash on this (not sure if thats a sign of a fault either) only stayed for 15 minutes to see if it started ok

The pipes do gurgle when the machine is draining, and there was a damp smell in the machine earlier despite it being empty


And when I say loud I mean loud compared to mine but doesn't sound faulty i.e unbalanced.

elsien wrote: »

You've asked this before. Has he tried all the suggestions made then?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5700835

Yes im well aware I asked questions before, but last time I didn't notice the lack of water or the door not feeling warm but thanks anyway

I don't know if relevant but friend never has hot water, he lives alone so just uses a fan heater when cold for a hour or two on coldest days and has a electric shower so his gas meter hasn't had credit in for a year, there is a hot and cold feed under the sink and its tubed into the cold. and I mean never has hot water as he doesn't top up the meter.


Also forgot to say the water when I wrung it out was salty looking not sure if thats because I added soda crystals or not it didn't look dirty and I couldn't find a single piece of dirt on the things washed in fact they looked whiter.

rach_k

The lack of smelling 'clean' i.e. lack of product fragrances could just be a sign that the machine rinses particularly well. Some are better than others.

If the very wet items are heavy ones like towels and dressing gowns and other items in with them, check the machine is completely level and evenly loaded. It may have sensors that reduce the spin speed when it's unbalanced and so would leave things wetter than expected. Mine does this when I wash a particularly heavy bath mat. I tend to load the machine with lighter stuff to fill it up and ensure the bathmat is evenly spread round the drum before the spin.

dekaspace

Thanks, I still have a feeling the thermostat isn't working right, and/or a weight thing myself, I had a beachtowel and a smaller one in today doing friends wash, and two handtowels,


Everything was soaked though including the hand towels, I noticed the fan was spinning as normal with filter off and only at most a cup/mugs worth of water came out in the spin cycle after the drain and it was clean.


The difficult thing is the machine takes so long and its hard to tell if thats natural or not, I mean about 3 hours 15 minutes to do one wash, when you manually spin it takes about 25 minutes as it starts slow.


I had it on almost 20 minutes on manual spin and it never sped up in the past it has sounded far louder than my machine (but mine has small drum) but not uneven/unbalanced.



As for the wetness, its not soaked right through more like if you hand wash something and just need to wring it out.

phill99

Just buy another one.

rach_k

Modern washing machines often take longer to wash, rinse and spin because they're water and energy efficient (so you have to increase the the time to still get a good wash). A standard rinse takes about 25 minutes on my machine, and a standard spin is 16 minutes. A normal wash is around 3 hours, more for more intensive cycles or higher temps. If the load is unbalanced it gets loud and never reaches full speed, but doesn't come up with an error or anything. If you don't see it in action, you only realise when the washing comes out wetter than usual (sometimes sopping, sometimes just a bit wetter than you'd expect as it will spin as fast as it can safely go, which varies depending on the load).

This is a machine bought last year. The same was true of my previous machine which was maybe 6 years old.

Is this actually your issue though? Is your friend happy with it? You can spend as long as you like discussing it but if he's happy, you're wasting your time. There's no point borrowing trouble, as they say.

dekaspace

rach_k wrote: »

Modern washing machines often take longer to wash, rinse and spin because they're water and energy efficient (so you have to increase the the time to still get a good wash). A standard rinse takes about 25 minutes on my machine, and a standard spin is 16 minutes. A normal wash is around 3 hours, more for more intensive cycles or higher temps. If the load is unbalanced it gets loud and never reaches full speed, but doesn't come up with an error or anything. If you don't see it in action, you only realise when the washing comes out wetter than usual (sometimes sopping, sometimes just a bit wetter than you'd expect as it will spin as fast as it can safely go, which varies depending on the load).

This is a machine bought last year. The same was true of my previous machine which was maybe 6 years old.

Is this actually your issue though? Is your friend happy with it? You can spend as long as you like discussing it but if he's happy, you're wasting your time. There's no point borrowing trouble, as they say.

I am aware of different times for things but this one seems to be around double most other machines I have ever used, most spin cycles I know are 10-20 minutes depending on fast/slow spin, full spin etc, most machines take 90-150 minutes.


The machine isn't get loud anymore nor spinning up past a certain speed.


Hes happy in the sense that the clothes are coming out clean, but he did notice himself they weren't coming out fresh but was far too much hassle to sort.

kinger101

You bought a heap of junk. You get what you pay for.

getmore4less

there should be faster washes and just rinse/spin options.

What model is the machine.


check inside the door seal if door has been left closed or with washing in it could be full of mould.

make sure the door is left open when not in use and in a cold house a wipe down will help.