Washing Machine...broken or fixable?

[mtemm]

my washer was working fine in my old house. We moved in november and ever since it is not spinning right or something...the clothes are usually ringing wet when the cycles are over. I'll run an extra spin (or 2 or 3), which usually helps, unless I have more than 2 or 3 towels in the load. Literally water is just soaked in and I'll just wring them out before putting them in the dryer.

Does this sound like a fixable problem? The washer itself is only 4 years old, but it has gone thru 4 moves. We have heard that washers are not exactly invincible when it comes to moving.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[C.Ann]

The drum could be out of balance - I've heard of that happening when washing machines are moved..

If it's only 4 years old - and a fairly expensive machine - I would call around and get estimates on having a repairman look at it.. My old Maytag was 20 some odd years old before it broke.. You should get way more than 4 years out of a washer - no matter how many times it's been moved..

 

[ChristmasElf]

I think washers are like refridgerators and big screen TV's, you buy them, they get delivered and then they are supposed to sit in one place for the rest of their lives!
You could try that service that Sears offers. They charge $55 to come out and tell you what's wrong and then they fix it. If you need a part, they even sometimes have the part with them. If not, they can order the part, and you are good to go in a few days.

 

[ahutton]

We had a problem like that recently. DH got into the drain area and found one of our DDs socks in it. The drum would spin a normal cycle but the sock acted like a very thick filter and slowed the process way down. Might be worth a look, or at least a diagnostic call from a local repair person. I believe our call (for a fuse issue) was just under $100, and the person showed us how to fix it if the fuse blew again making it well worth the trip!

 

[mtemm]

thanks all. interesting about the sock being in there...now we just have to figure out how how to get into the drain area. lol. I wonder if its something as simple as that...it sounds so similar.

 

[golfgal]

We had to get a belt or something like that fixed on our washer when it was doing something similar to that. It wasn't an expensive repair, we have a nice retired guy that fixes such things in our town.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

My washing machine was doing the same thing this summer. We had two problems. The drain line was clogged with lint. So we snaked that and it still wasn't draining properly. I have an old house and the drain line is small so the pump was working properly but it wasn't powerful enough. Our washing machine has an extra helper pump accessory. We bought that and installed it and the machine has been working fine ever since. It was about $80 and we installed it ourselves. Hope this helps.

 

[PlutoPony]

Before being moved, washing machines need to have their drums "blocked" i.e. bolted down to keep them from moving around. I think the instructions that come with them have info about how to do this. I'd have a repair person come out and take a look....if they tell you the bearings are shot, it's an expensive repair (I was quoted $500 for that on a Neptune) and you're probably looking at a new machine.

 

[Chicago526]

My father used to work as an appliance repair man for Sears (yes, my father was the Kenmore Man! ). He told me once that if you call Sears out, and they tell you that your machine can't be fixed, that they will credit the cost of the service call to a replacement appliance if you buy it from Sears. You should call them and find out if they still do this. That way you're not out the cost of the service call if they tell you it can't be repaired.

 

[Sleepy]

Last year our washer stopped spinning. It would remove the water, but everything was sopping wet. Turned out a small plastic piece needed to be replaced. Took about 20 minutes to repair.