Banging washing machine

d0nkeyk0ng

Bosch WM now 6-7 years old. But a couple of years ago it started rattle for no reason. Thought it was the bearings and figured once it had gone, we would replace the unit. The noise became knocking and then banging. Currently, with the kitchen stripped out, it's on concrete flooring and we're still using it. The builders put some concrete blocks on top and now the unit is whisper quiet. So I suspect not the bearings but maybe something else?

Any ideas?

aoleks

How handy are you? You could remove the top cover and see what happens underneath. The fact that heavy weights on top makes it quiet tells me something is loose/broken, probably the counter weight.

the good news is they’re dirt cheap and you can replace them yourself without special tools.

basill

Are the feet properly adjusted?  if they don't all touch the floor and the machine can rock even a little it can cause the machine to bounce around and walk around the kitchen.  

d0nkeyk0ng

basill said:

Are the feet properly adjusted?  if they don't all touch the floor and the machine can rock even a little it can cause the machine to bounce around and walk around the kitchen.  

They were fine when I installed the machine, made sure it was level etc. As I said, for the first four years, it didn't make a single sound. I used to have to go check to make sire it was on, even when spinning!

Slinky

d0nkeyk0ng said:

basill said:

Are the feet properly adjusted?  if they don't all touch the floor and the machine can rock even a little it can cause the machine to bounce around and walk around the kitchen.  

They were fine when I installed the machine, made sure it was level etc. As I said, for the first four years, it didn't make a single sound. I used to have to go check to make sire it was on, even when spinning!

Four years is a long time and a lot of washings ago. I'd suspect that you'll find it's not level now.

EssexExile

Unplug it and take the lid off. See if there is anything flopping around, any broken springs, etc. Look underneath, anything loose, like a big lump of concrete, anything out of place one side compared to the other?
If it's been banging for years something may be terminally damaged by now.

d0nkeyk0ng

Slinky said:

Four years is a long time and a lot of washings ago. I'd suspect that you'll find it's not level now.

Did not know washing machines would come out of level

EssexExile said:

Unplug it and take the lid off. See if there is anything flopping around, any broken springs, etc. Look underneath, anything loose, like a big lump of concrete, anything out of place one side compared to the other?
If it's been banging for years something may be terminally damaged by now.

I'll have a look. We were planning on buying a new washing machine as part of the kitchen extension anyway.

MalMonroe

It does sound as if the drum has broken loose. We had that problem once, years ago. The machine sounded as if we were washing a couple of bricks. We bought a new washer. I'm a bit disappointed to see that yours is a Bosch, though. They're supposed to be a really good make and last for longer than yours has. Still, these things happen. If electrical goods lasted for decades, how would manufacturers and retailers ever make profits? You were planning to buy a new one, I'd say that's the best idea.

MarvinDay

MalMonroe said:

It does sound as if the drum has broken loose. 

There's not the slightest chance that the fault is due to the drum having broken loose. If that had happened, putting concrete blocks on top of the appliance wouldn't have made the slightest difference as the drum would still be able to bounce about.
By putting weight on the top and having this cure the problem means that as already mentioned by others is either the internal weight come loose or possibly one of the feet having broken or gone out of adjustment, both of which as fairly cheap and easy to fix and wouldn't require the OP to spend money on a new washer.

Alanp

It could be a broken foot or something like the shock absorbers, one could be broken, or a spring at the top of the drum

Ganga

We had a Bosch washing machine did the same ,it was the spider that was rivited to the back of the drum ,it had a shaft that went thru bearings ,only found out when i stripped it fully and then found out it still had a couple of weeks left on the extended warranty ,put it all back and kept stum