(AE230) drum stiff to turn slowly, fine at fast!!! Motor OK.

[G6JPG]

Hoover AE230 (Quattro 1300) - _very_ strange fault!

It's almost as if it has a centrifugal clutch or something.

The drum is very hard to turn from stopped - until you get up to a certain speed (not very fast - I can achieve it by hand; well below a turn a second): then it turns easily! Until it slows below a certain speed - then it's as if a brake is applied.

This applies whether it is being turned by me, or the motor. The motor seems to have plenty of power, but it really strains during the start-stop phases of the cycle - the room lights flicker! It's fine on the medium speed or spin parts of the cycle.

This evening it was _very_ stiff to turn by hand (I've been in the habit of making sure it will turn at all before setting it going), and the motor is not turning it. Loud hum, and occasional squeaks as if a belt is slipping.

Is this a common fault, and if so what (if any!) is the cure?

 

[foxhole]

Bearings may be seizing up.

Don't know what area of Kent you are but my local repair engineer gives free estimate, will strip and find faults then quote, if you don't like the price no fee.


http://khwashingmachinerepairs.co.uk/

 

[G6JPG]

Bearings may be seizing up.

Don't know what area of Kent you are but my local repair engineer gives free estimate, will strip and find faults then quote, if you don't like the price no fee.


http://khwashingmachinerepairs.co.uk/[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that. I'm between Ashford and Maidstone, so I suspect I'm outside their area (they're an 0208 number, so London really); I've emailed them anyway though.

Could well be bearing(s?) as you say, though seems odd that it's OK once you get it turning!

Since then, the under-kick-panel drain cover has disintegrated on me: I was going to drain so that I could open the door, but it fell apart as soon as I touched it (brittle plastic shards). And I've (now that I could get hold to lift the machine out of its fitted place!) opened the back panel and removed the belt, and it is definitely the drum that's almost locked, not the motor. (It isn't the brake either - there is a little thing that obviously pushes against the wheel as a brake, but that's clearly not in contact.) I've undone the nut on the back, but that doesn't seem to have released anythng: The pulley wheel (behind which I presume the bearing is) still seems firmly attached.

I think the machine's telling me to replace it - which is a pity, as it all looks pretty clean inside.