Fixing washing machine?
 

Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

Can I fix it myself if I get the part, they've quoted in the advert
£97.00 to get it fixed.

I know it's not new but I don't want to shell out hundreds on a new
machine for a couple of washes a week etc. when I could be buying diy
materials. :-)

Mark S.

Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

Can I fix it myself if I get the part, they've quoted in the advert
£97.00 to get it fixed.

I know it's not new but I don't want to shell out hundreds on a new
machine for a couple of washes a week etc. when I could be buying diy
materials. :-)

Mark S.

if you replace the spider, you should also replace the inner and outer
bearings, and the seals - £97 dont sound bad if it includes labour, so I would
consider the following:

A)Do you know what you are doing and might you find you have to replace other
parts too, and
B)Is it worth spending that kind of money on a machine whose history you do not
know.

But then, what do I know, I only worked on washing machine development at
Hoover for eight years!

In article ,
Mark S. writes:
Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

Can I fix it myself if I get the part, they've quoted in the advert
£97.00 to get it fixed.

I know it's not new but I don't want to shell out hundreds on a new
machine for a couple of washes a week etc. when I could be buying diy
materials. :-)

I would say a non-working machine is worth nothing.
You are saving the owner from having to cart it to the
nearest tip/ditch/pond/layby. You certainly shouldn't
be paying for the privilege. Might just be worth it if
it's free or they are prepared to pay you to take it
away.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 22:07:25 +0100, Mark S.
wrote:

Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

Can I fix it myself if I get the part, they've quoted in the advert
£97.00 to get it fixed.

I know it's not new but I don't want to shell out hundreds on a new
machine for a couple of washes a week etc. when I could be buying diy
materials. :-)

Mark S.

97+20 = 117 plus agrravation
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/49_149403.html = £160
including warranty. You know it makes sense.

nuj

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:42:40 UTC, (Paper2002AD)
wrote:

if you replace the spider, you should also replace the inner and outer
bearings, and the seals - œ97 dont sound bad if it includes labour

Bearings, seals and spider for my Hotpoint were about 20 quid from CPC.

Took a couple of hours and a bit of swearing...but still going fine
several years later...

Mark S. wrote:

Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

Can I fix it myself if I get the part, they've quoted in the advert
£97.00 to get it fixed.

I know it's not new but I don't want to shell out hundreds on a new
machine for a couple of washes a week etc. when I could be buying diy
materials. :-)


Not worth it in any way. It'll be old and knackered, you'll spend well
over £100 on it and still have an old, knackered machine that works for
a while then breaks.

Now if your post had read something like "my parents have an old machine
which hasn't been abused too much but needs a new spider, should I take
it for free", it might be a different story.


--
Grunff

Paper2002AD wrote:

But then, what do I know, I only worked on washing machine development at
Hoover for eight years!

Really? Interesting.

So tell me, why is it Hoover make such crappy machines these days? ;-)

--
Grunff

In message , Paper2002AD
writes
But then, what do I know, I only worked on washing machine development
at Hoover for eight years!

Aha!!

Just as a matter of interest, I let a few flats and the Hotpoint
machines vibrate like hell on any spin, whereas the Hoover are almost as
smooth as silk.

Any ideas?

My current thoughts are that Hotpoint are crap, and I will never buy
anything else from them. It might also be because you spent 8 years
developing the Hoovers g

--
Richard Faulkner

"Richard Faulkner" wrote in message
...
In message , Paper2002AD
writes
But then, what do I know, I only worked on washing machine development
at Hoover for eight years!

Aha!!

Just as a matter of interest, I let a few flats and the Hotpoint
machines vibrate like hell on any spin, whereas the Hoover are almost as
smooth as silk.

You neveer seen a Hoover clasica then !!

Peter

In message , Bob Eager
wrote
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:42:40 UTC, (Paper2002AD)
wrote:

if you replace the spider, you should also replace the inner and outer
bearings, and the seals - Å“97 dont sound bad if it includes labour

Bearings, seals and spider for my Hotpoint were about 20 quid from CPC.

Took a couple of hours and a bit of swearing...but still going fine
several years later...


I would also guess that if the spider has broken the bearings need
replacing.

I've just replaced these parts on my washing machine (parts less than
£20 from CPC). I took a few hours longer and there was probably a lot
more swearing.

I got some clues about how to do it from instructions found reading the
newsgroup archives at http://groups.google.com/ and from a Haynes
Washing Machine manual[1] which was somewhat out of date (the copy I
have is 12 years old). Instructions such as tap lightly to release shaft
from bearing actually mean hit hard with a lump hammer.

{1] Don't bother buying the book unless it's 20p at a local boot sale.
The book is well described at
http://www.shartwell.freeserve.co.uk/humor-site/real-haynes.htm
--
Alan

In article ,
Richard Faulkner writes:
In message , Paper2002AD
writes
But then, what do I know, I only worked on washing machine development
at Hoover for eight years!

Aha!!

Just as a matter of interest, I let a few flats and the Hotpoint
machines vibrate like hell on any spin, whereas the Hoover are almost as
smooth as silk.

Funny, my experience was different when I switched from a
Hoover to a Hotpoint. The Hoover used a drum speed when draining
out which was just fast enough to keep the cloths stuck to it
at the top of the drum, so as the water level dropped, the cloths
were evenly distributed around the drum, mostly. However, it had
no check for this, and on occasions where it went wrong (like if
everything else in the wash somehow got itself inside the pillowcase
you put in), the Hoover would still go on to spin at top speed and
dance across the kitchen floor.

The Hotpoint doesn't use this critical drum speed whilst draining,
but instead, once drained out, slowly increases the drum speed
with the intention of again getting the cloths evenly distributed
by the stage it has got fast enough that the cloths are sticking
to the drum without tumbling, and then switches to the spin speed.
In my mind, this doesn't work quite as well as the Hoover method
of doing this whilst draining the water, but the Hotpoint does use
a means to measure the unbalance of the load in the drum. If it's too
bad, the Hotpoint gives up, stops the drum and rotates it backwards
a bit to break up the ball of cloths, and then tries again. It has
up to 3 goes at getting the cloths evenly distributed, before going
on to spin. If all 3 attempts fail, then it still goes on to spin,
but will not take the spin up to the top spin speed (1400 RPM in
mine -- I think it was slightly faster in later models).

Another machine I have experiance with is a Zanussi. This is much
worse than either the Hotpoint or the Hoover. This drains out with
the drum stationary, leaving the cloths in a clump at the bottom.
Then it just starts spinning, with the load pretty much guaranteed
not to be distributed around the drum.

None of these are new machines, and manufacturers may well have
changed how their program cycles work. I would suspect some of the
techniques may be (or may have been) protected by patents.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 08:48:30 UTC, Alan
wrote:

In message , Bob Eager
wrote
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:42:40 UTC, (Paper2002AD)
wrote:

if you replace the spider, you should also replace the inner and outer
bearings, and the seals - Å“97 dont sound bad if it includes labour

Bearings, seals and spider for my Hotpoint were about 20 quid from CPC.

Took a couple of hours and a bit of swearing...but still going fine
several years later...


I would also guess that if the spider has broken the bearings need
replacing.

That's why I said "bearings, seal and spider"!

The only problem I had was that, as I was told, I wasn't hitting the old
bearing hard enough!
--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 00:11:03 +0100, Grunff wrote:

Mark S. wrote:

Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

Can I fix it myself if I get the part, they've quoted in the advert
£97.00 to get it fixed.

I know it's not new but I don't want to shell out hundreds on a new
machine for a couple of washes a week etc. when I could be buying diy
materials. :-)


Not worth it in any way. It'll be old and knackered, you'll spend well
over £100 on it and still have an old, knackered machine that works for
a while then breaks.

Now if your post had read something like "my parents have an old machine
which hasn't been abused too much but needs a new spider, should I take
it for free", it might be a different story.


Thanks for all the replies. :-)

The bearings have already been replaced it says.

New one it is then. ;-)

I'll get myself off to ebay to list a few notebooks then I can buy a
halfway decent one, buy cheap buy twice...


My parents wreck their machines, the one they have now dances about
and is very noisy and it's not that old.

Mark S.

But then, what do I know, I only worked on washing machine development at
Hoover for eight years!

Really? Interesting.

So tell me, why is it Hoover make such crappy machines these days? ;-)

It was OK when I left it, many years ago

Just as a matter of interest, I let a few flats and the Hotpoint
machines vibrate like hell on any spin, whereas the Hoover are almost as
smooth as silk.

Any ideas?

My current thoughts are that Hotpoint are crap, and I will never buy
anything else from them. It might also be because you spent 8 years
developing the Hoovers g


Mind you, Hoover has for many years now been owned by Candy (all happened after
my time)

In message , Mark S.
writes
Been looking for a cheap washer to get me started when I move in now I
can get broadband.. ;-)

Seen one on Ebay that is local to me for £20.00 - says it needs a new
spider? Assume that's the metal bit on the back of the drum.

And I chucked one away last week which just needed a new bottom hose

I advertised it here a few months ago, free to a good home - no takers

--
geoff