Hoover VHD8143 D washing machine / repair or replace?

[maxinc]

Hi Guys,

We had our VisionHD 1400 AAA machine for 3 and a half years. We do about 3-4 cycles a week. We bough it from EmpireDirect with 5 years warranty for their club members. Unfortunately the company has gone bust and the washing machine started to make an incredible noise while spinning. So loud you can't hear yourself shouting in the kitchen.

It seems the main bearing is gone as there is a bit of play between the inner and outer drums.

I called Hoover and they want about £180 to fix it (perhaps a new drum) which will include a 12month warranty on repair and future faults.

We are not sure what to do. We could pay the £180 for the machine to break down again after 12 months and then get a new one anyway, or just assume this was a bad choice and get a better machine now (which one btw?).

Anyone had experience with these machines, how reliable are they? Have we been unlucky or this is about the time we expect a machine like this to last. I'm a fairly competent DIYer, is this bearing something I could attempt to fix myself?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[maxinc]

After calling 4 different repairers in the area, they all said they are a pain to repair and reliability on these machines is pretty bad so I ended up ordering a brand new Bosch which now has a generous cash back offer and 4 years guarantee.

 

[bhm1712]

unless you have 6 hours spare, and can do this kind of work yourself its never an economical job to do bearings so i think you made the right choice. 3 years though?? jesus they dont last long these days. My mums washing machine bought in 1983 was still going strong in 2007! she only got rid because the bearings finally went after 24 years. That was a hoover electron 1100!