Washing Machine "Not Working So Well"?

Factual Questions
1

The other day I got a call from one of my tenants. Her clothes have not been getting so clean lately and she’s been doing everything the same as always, so she’s wondering if it’s the machine.

I asked if the machine is doing anything different. Is the water on the hot setting not hot? Is the agitator not agitating the clothes at that part of the cycle? Is the rinse not spinning properly? She didn’t know. So I said to pay close attention to these items and get back to me. She called back the next day and spoke to my wife who told her specifically to pay close attention to the agitator, and she said she would and that’s where it stands now.

But my question is whether there is such a thing as a washing machine just failing to clean other than the above aspects? Because I can’t see sending a repair guy down with nothing more than a vague description that it’s not cleaning so well. I would think you need to tell him something specific is not functioning.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe some part of the machine has itself collected some dirt which is getting back on the clothing. But if that were the case then the clothes wouldn’t be “not getting clean” - they would be uniformly dirty (meaning the parts that started off clean and the parts that started off dirty would come out the same). I didn’t think to ask her this at the time, but it didn’t sound like this was what she was describing.

Any thoughts or expertise would be appreciated.

[I didn’t put this in IMHO because it seems like a technical question about the functioning of washing machines to me, but the mods can use their judgment as always.]

2

I’m not sure how the tenant is supposed to tell if the agitation cycle is working correctly - when you open the lid, agitation normally stops immediately.

Possible it’s not draining properly, so, no clean rinse water is being added. Clothes just swish around in the same dirty water.

3

what brand of washer? If it’s one of the Whirlpool “direct drive” models, the motor/transmission drive coupler could have broken. The machine won’t agitate or spin (and might make a whirring or grinding sound while trying) but it will fill and pump out the water.

4

If you are the landlord, why not take a basket of laundry there and run it thru a cycle? That is what i would do.

5

If there’s been a water line break or they are just flushing the water pipes, dirty water could be getting into the washer. However this should only last a day or two plus show up in the tap and toilet water also.

Another slight possibility is the softener dispenser. They sometimes get clogged up with a layer of gooey softener which sometimes breaks loose all at once. That can dirty up a load or two of laundry.

6

The inlet screens on the machine’s water valves may be clogged, so laundry isn’t getting enough water.

Agitator’s gone pacifist thanks to a broken belt or blown transmission.

Someone else washed something vile (grease, glue, ink, etc.) and the remains of their goo are still in the machine.

Other questions - is this a rental house or an apartment building? How old is the washing machine? If it’s getting old, it may be better to just replace it, and consider upgrading to a front-load machine, especially if you’re paying for the water. For an apartment building, have you looked into laundry services such as Coinmach, WASH or Mac-Gray? It might cost some more, but these companies turn laundry into a utility service where they provide the machines and more importantly for you, they provide the maintenance and repair.

7

My top-loading clothes washer decided to stop spinning yesterday. I don’t think I can fix it myself.

8

Thanks, guys.

I think you can tell from the noise and vibrations, but if that fails you can manually depress the thingy which informs the machine that the lid is closed.

I would think in that case it would be apparent at the end that the clothes were wetter and not just dirty, and plus the dirt would be more evenly distributed than when it went in, as above.

Yeah, but if it’s something that I can see then it’s something that she can see, so I don’t know what benefit there would be. My question is if it’s possible for the problem to be something that no one - not me and not her - can see by simply observing the functioning of the machine.

She says it’s been a couple of weeks.

It’s a two family townhouse, built about 2007 or so (the machine would have been new at the time).

9

My old washing machine also had a switch the lid would hold down. You could hold it down with a finger if you wanted to open the lid and not stop the agitation or spin cycle. (My new one has a window). If the water is there, right level and temperature, properly drained and rinsed 9with agitation) and spin-dry - Well, I can’t imagine anything wrong. Usually failures are simple stuff - like won’t drain, won’t spin, etc.

The washing machine (for towels and uniforms) at my wife’s restaurant would frequently stop draining because of stupid stuff left inside the towels or uniform pockets clogging the pump.

10

If one takes the assumption that the washer is seeing double usage in a two-family home, it may well be time to consider replacing it as the average lifespan of a washer in a single-family home is about 13 years. On the assumption that the number of loads, rather than pure passage of time is what wears it out, the lifespan in a duplex will be closer to six and a half years.

Have your repair guy take a look at it. If it just needs a minor part like a belt or water valve, it’s worth fixing for now, but just keep in mind to start stashing money away for a replacement. In general, it’s cost-effective to spend up to 30-40% of an item’s replacement cost in repairs.

11

Each apartment has its own washer and dryer.

12

Sometimes the agitator was not built solidly enough … basically either it loses the veins (the wings or flippers that push the water around… ) and the agitator spinning doesn’t do much… Or the guts of the agitator wears out and the agitator isn’t being spun.

… its really not spinning the clothes enough… there’s the engine noise (buzz buzz ) so the tenant thinks its working, but its not going to make any water/wet clothing noise (swoosh, slurp, wop, swoosh ,slurp,wop )

13

When it comes to troubleshooting, all observers are not created equal. The same evidence would be there visible for you or her to potentially see. But that’s no assurance she could ever see what might be casually obvious to you.

So there is still probably be a lot of value in you stopping by to run a load of clothes & to see her laundry first hand. You would also get a chance to see what she’s trying to wash, what soap she uses (or doesn’t), and what insane standard she expects for cleanliness. Heck, she might be expecting rejuvenation of old, tattered, and stained clothes. People are far less cluefull than you probably expect.

14

…

15

Huh.

Did you confuse yourself as much as you just confused me? 'Cos I can’t figure out how any washer pumps water out without spinning. Is there a diagram of such a system I could see?

16

with said washers, when the motor spins one direction it engages the agitator and the pump runs backwards (no water leaves the drum.) reversing the motor will engage the “spin” gearset in the transmission and run the pump in the forward direction, pumping water out of the tub. But, during the agitate cycle the transmission lifts the “neutral drain” latch out of engagement, so when the motor initially reverses the transmission is in “neutral” and only runs the pump. if you stop the motor, the latch engages and restarting the motor in the same direction will start the spin cycle with the pump also working.

the newer Whirlpool models just have a separate pump motor, and are a completely different design.

17

I have been dealing with a washing machine issue this weekend, and I think, for the time-being, I have solved it. YouTube can be a big help with identifying troubleshooting steps you can take. My washer is an LG front loader bought in late 2008. It started to make grinding noises and stopped spinning up to speed, though it would still agitate and spin slowly (presumably to balance the load).

I called the LG customer service line to set up a technician visit, but they suggested (to their credit) we go through a few troubleshooting steps before setting up an appointment. The first was to empty the drain hose and filter at the bottom of the unit. There was indeed a lot of gunk in the filter, but not enough, IME, to cause a malfunction, but what do I know? The next thing was to run a “tub clean” cycle to clear out any residue from soap or whatever else. That seemed to help, but I still had a problem of the countdown clock stopping at 10 minutes or so before the end of the cycle. In other words, the drum was still moving, but still making bad noises, and the program was stuck and wouldn’t finish.

Via various websites and YouTube videos, I came across the suggestion that there might be a loose bolt that normally holds the drum motor, rotor and other parts in place. It was a simple matter of removing the back panel and tightening the bolt*. Now the washer works. It took a while for it to resume counting down correctly, and I spent a lot of time “watching the kettle boil” as it were, but now the clock works too. Don’t know how long this fix will last, but it’s a start. We’ve done 4 or 5 loads today without incident.

It helps to read the owners manual when the washer is new. We found out the hard way. Yes, there are buttons on the washer that presumably indicate various functions, but it turns out that when we thought we were performing a proper tub clean cycle, we weren’t, because we didn’t know that to activate that particular function, you had to hold the button down for three seconds until the tub clean display came on. We also handily ignored the hose and filter.

All of that said, these steps worked for my particular model, but who knows about yours? But I would definitely plug a few search terms describing your problem, however vague, into Google or YouTube to see if there are any insights on repairing. Be aware (*), though, that if there are any parts still under warranty, you could void it if the authorized repair service finds out you messed with anything. In my case, the drum motor assembly is guaranteed for 7 years, which is not yet up. I went with the DIY option because even if I got the parts for free under warranty, the labor probably would run me more than it is worth.

I know this is a long and boring post, but I’m not normally that handy, and I’m overly proud of the fact that, at least for now, we do not have to shell out for a new washer, and we don’t have to go to the in-laws’ to wash our clothes anymore. Knock on wood.