Washing machine door seal

orangecrush

Hi moneysavers,

tl;dr - do you wash all kids clothes in mesh bags to stop them getting jammed in the door seal of your washing machine? I mean ALL kids clothes, not just socks! 

I have a Samsung washing machine bought last August. I have an ongoing issue with stuff getting jammed in the door seal during the cycle, which catches all the dirt and stops it draining properly. I’ve just had a Samsung engineer out who says that’s normal. I’m perplexed! 

I bought the washing from John Lewis and they said I needed to get an engineer out before they’d talk to me about it…

Anyhoo. The issue is that anything smaller than an adult t-shirt can get jammed in the door seal. I have two kids, so that comprises pretty much any item of kids clothing. Almost every wash - regardless of load size or cycle used, guaranteed at least 5-6 items end up in there. Socks for sure but also kids dresses, joggers…

The engineer said I needed to use mesh laundry bags - ok for baby socks I can see that, but for kids joggers? And the other issue is that even the detergent dispenser gets jammed in there and then doesn’t empty, so you have a cycle sans detergent. Engineer said I should use powder. 

The engineer is probably technically correct but I’ve owned 5-6 washing machines over the last 30 years and I have never had this issue before. The engineer said all washing machines do this, so even if I ask John Lewis to replace it, I’ll probably have the same issue.

Is that really true? Does everyone wash all kids clothes in mesh bags? Am I deluded that I should just be able to chuck the clothes in, add detergent and let it do it’s thing? 

(Edited as posted half way through a sentence!)

rob7475

That sounds like a design fault to me. I never use mesh bags and never had the door seal eating any of my son's clothes. Our current washer is a Hoover which is about 5 year old.

I'd get onto John Lewis again and argue that the machine isn't fit for purpose. I don't suppose you paid on a credit card did you as the credit card company may provide some assistance if you did.

cc58

yeah sounds like nonsense to me OP, we have an indesit thats about 8 years old now, came with our old new house and has migrated to our new one. Only issue we've ever had with it is my partners underwire once made it out of the bra and into the drum but never anything to do with door seals and certainly nothing because of kids clothes. our washing machine is on constantly - its like a chinese laundrette here and never had an issue you mentioned. Definite design flaw, would ask for a non samsung replacement, perhaps do a bit of googling to see if theres alot of people complaining online about similar issues with their model. 

orangecrush

Thanks both! I did buy on a credit card as I bought online, so is good to have that backup. 

I’m going to call John Lewis again and see what they can do. I was just so surprised the engineer said it was normal to wash kids clothes in mesh bags! 

For reference, and anyone else googling the same issue, the model is Samsung WW90TA046TT. A few reviews on the JL website have mentioned similar so I think it may well be a design flaw.