My Hotpoint Aquarius WM13P washing machine (13 years old) was making a terrible banging when spinning, so today my wife decided to buy a new machine.
So I decided to strip down the old machine to see just what was wrong. I got the Haynes Washing Machine Manual (2006) from the local library and followed the instruction for replacing bearings. The manual was spot on for about 95% of the instructions. The door seal was held in by a wire ring and not a plastic spacer. And although it noted than the spindle securing nut had a left hand thread it actually undid in an anti-clockwise direction. I managed to get down to the bearings in less than 1 hour. It really isn’t that difficult (I surprised myself!).
What greeted me was horrendous. The spider holding the inner drum had sheared off all three legs. I am amazed that the poor machine actually managed to do its final spin.
So persuaded my wife to hold off on the new machine. I checked on the web and found new spider and bearings for £40.00. Oh! and I needed a new door seal and gasket £15.00. The new machine was off I was going for the repair. It was then I noticed that the uncontrolled spinning of the drum had sawn halfway through the heating element (£20.00). This put it outside economical repair and I scrapped it.
I stand corrected, but this Hotpoint looks easy to repair and prices of some of the spares look quite reasonable. Admittedly, when stripping the machine, it was in the middle of a concrete driveway with access available from all sides and no deadline and no worries because it was due to be replaced anyway.
So I decided to strip down the old machine to see just what was wrong. I got the Haynes Washing Machine Manual (2006) from the local library and followed the instruction for replacing bearings. The manual was spot on for about 95% of the instructions. The door seal was held in by a wire ring and not a plastic spacer. And although it noted than the spindle securing nut had a left hand thread it actually undid in an anti-clockwise direction. I managed to get down to the bearings in less than 1 hour. It really isn’t that difficult (I surprised myself!).
What greeted me was horrendous. The spider holding the inner drum had sheared off all three legs. I am amazed that the poor machine actually managed to do its final spin.
So persuaded my wife to hold off on the new machine. I checked on the web and found new spider and bearings for £40.00. Oh! and I needed a new door seal and gasket £15.00. The new machine was off I was going for the repair. It was then I noticed that the uncontrolled spinning of the drum had sawn halfway through the heating element (£20.00). This put it outside economical repair and I scrapped it.
I stand corrected, but this Hotpoint looks easy to repair and prices of some of the spares look quite reasonable. Admittedly, when stripping the machine, it was in the middle of a concrete driveway with access available from all sides and no deadline and no worries because it was due to be replaced anyway.
