I've spent most of today dismantling our (fairly old) Phillips Washing
Machine in order to get at the drum bearings that have totally collapsed.
Upon doing so, however, it has become apparent that the whole machine is
completely caked in limescale. The worst component was the heating element,
which came out as one big blob of crud!! I can't believe that this has been
heating the water for a long time.
My question is, would it be worth my while completely cleaning and descaling
every part of the machine (it is already in bits and accessible), or would I
be just wasting my time?
I have already paid £40 for a new set of bearings which will now be no
problem to fit.

Thanks
Paul