Unbalanced washing machine? it is taking double time it should to wash and sometimes tears

dekaspace1

Ok its a LG 9kg washing machine 2 or 3 years old (can't remember)

I think it is a little unbalanced but not sure if thats due to an uneven floor or any damage but didn't have any noticable issues until a few months ago, I did now and again have tiny holes in t shirts or underwear but assumed that was down to dog.

A few weeks back I had a pair of underwear that had hardly ever been worn and it was fine when I washed but was at relatives and when they washed it, 2 holes came in, I had some underwear about 6 months old that multiple pairs had holes in recently and 1 or 2 t shirts.

But the most consistent thing is the timers, I have a hygine wash that takes about 2 hours 35 minutes but it reached the 4 and a hour mark and was stuck on the final part of the cycle which took 20 minutes for about 90 minutes so I cancelled it and then put it onto a regular spin cycle that was meant to take 14 minutes and it took about 30.

When it spins, it does spin as normal which is the confusing part.

I don't know if its uneven, its a pump or drain issue etc, it does have a 10 year warranty for the manufacturer for the drum though.

I haven't checked the filter.

MorningcoffeeIV

Checking if it's uneven is the easy bit, so do that first and adjust if necessary.

Ganga

We had an issue of holes appearing in some of our clothes with the last washer we had ,i checked the drum for sharp edges or anything sticking out of the holes but found nothing ,suggested to my wife to put delicate clothing in one of those mesh bags you get for use in the washing machine and it cured the problem ,it seemed on a high spin ,about 1600 rpm it was trying to push the delicate cloth thru the holes ,as a bonus we use the mesh bags to wash the granddaughters soft toy in the washer ,it keeps it safe and in one piece .

EssexExile

So many possibilities. Feel around the drum for any sharp edges. Careful, those sharp edges can be sharp! Are you using the right program, delicates in a cotton wash for example (see Ganga's post above, delicates shouldn't have a 1600 spin)? Are you overloading it? To be honest anything we say on here is guesswork.

dekaspace1

To be honest I always put things on fastest spin which is 1400 regardless and I just put things in together as I only do 1 main wash a week as I am a single person so its just a few t shirts, underwear, and like 2 pairs of tracksuit bottoms and put in a kitchen towel and sometimes bedsheets.

Still wouldn't explain the timer issue though.

Bigphil1474

OP, we had one of those LG 9kg washers before our current one. Great machine that we ended up getting rid of as the computer just said no in the end.

Is it on a suspended floor or a concrete floor - if it's suspended (like ours was), they are difficult to balance. I had to keep redoing mine every couple of months as if it moved just a little bit it would be off balance. The second thing is load size - from memory, if the machine is struggling to balance the load before the spin, it will keep moving it around until it is balanced, then spin - something to do with the LG motor system which has the 10 year warranty. Does it have the problem with the timer if you only put a small load in? If so, could be that.  We started doing half washes rather than a full load, and didn't have a problem after that, or try on a lower spin speed setting. 

DullGreyGuy

If the machine is on an unlevel floor you just need to adjust the feet to get it stable. 

When you dump clothes in the bottom of the drum and then it fills it with water the chances of everything being evenly distributed around the drum as it spins is next to nil hence why if you open a washing machine there is a massive block strapped to the top of the drum to give it mass and offset the uneven distribution and hence why washer are so much heavier than dryers and why there are transit bolts for when moving them. 

As to the timing thing... you really need to be looking at the instructions for your machine and what wizardry it claims it has to work out what could be going wrong. Our old machine said it took X hours for a wash it would take X hours exactly, until the water pump got damaged and then it got stuck at 1 minute left for 20+ minutes. 

Our new machine instead says it will take Y minutes which is supposed to be the longest possible time but then it adjusts the time based on its calculations on the size of the load etc after it gets going so 10 minutes in a 3 hour eco wash can drop to 90 minutes. I imagine if whatever sensors its using to do those calcs gets clogged/damaged then it may extend the time incorrectly. 

dekaspace1

The timer makes no sense I don't do big loads but have done bigger loads in the past with little difference bar about 4 months ago when it kept giving me a UE (uneven) error with heavier loads i.e pillows/cushions.

Like when I did that wash last week it said about 2 hours 35 but got stuck on around 50 minutes for at least 2 hours then it was around 33, then stuck at that for around another 2 hours.

It does seem to slow spin continiously until it finally starts at which point the timer goes down.

I'd say it has been uneven since the start but may of got worse, when I first got it installed after moving it was louder than it should be but if you put pressure on top by your hand the machine went near silent, its just so heavy and no room to move it out unlike old flat.

dekaspace1

Ok so last night I moved the washer a inch or two forward and sat next to it when it was getting to its final spin cycle which was set at 1000, it did start but then went on the slow spin after about 30 seconds and stuck at that for 10 minutes,

When it was spinning at the faster speed I did notice I had a small item on top and it was rattling so much the item was moving about, looked like the front right corner of washer was a little more off the ground than the left side, put my hand on right side and the sound/vibration was far less, put my foot gently on the front base of machine and it helped too.

I then cancelled the final spin and put it on a 800 and it spun fine I think its unbalanced at the back of machine.

cpbackhouse

I can't comment on the balance or holes part but with our washing machine (3 year old Bosch) we had a similar issue with the cycle timing. It turned out to be a blocked filter which was causing the machine to struggle (and eventually give up) trying to drain the drum. We'd then have to do a separate drain and spin cycle to get it to finish.
Given it's getting stuck on the spin part of the cycle this might be worth a look if you haven't already. For us the filter was pretty clogged (even though I had relatively recently looked at it) and clearing it sorted the timing problem.

dekaspace1

Hi, an update haven't checked filter yet, put it on a spin Sunday evening on a 1 hour 35 minute cycle, it got to about 29 minutes seeminging correct (not sure what happens then) left it a hour and it was still at 29 minutes, another hour still at 29 minutes so what I did then was empty as much water as I could from the mini hose/tube next to filter, filled about 6 containers of water, then I cancelled the cycle and put on a 15 minute rinse and spin at 800, it spun for a few minutes which filled another 2 containers of water then stuck for about 15 minutes then decided to bring water in so I cancelled again straight away, drained about 2 more containers of water and just put it on a 10 minute spin and this time it spun fine.

What I did notice is I think the back left of machine is wobbly, when it was spinning I put my weight on my hand on each corner after moving machine a little forward, the top left corner was only one that seemed to wobble a little when I did so.

And when the machine was empty same thing, so next thing I will do is check the filter and either way see if I can balance the back, but I posted this as even though it feels silly to ask, but if the back left is the most wobbly is that the part I should adjust the balance?