Washer Dryer Has Died

Grimley said:
It probably was :D Its a shame they have gone out of business. Things have moved on since I was in that line of work, been a driver for almost 23 years now & I don't miss the the old days. Your old firm's part of Whirlpool/Haier now & I never liked selling their stuff either, especially their 'self combusting' tumble dryers ;) Now I'm the customer I find it hard to choose what to buy that's value for money and reliable as the handful of manufacturers left have made it hard sadly.
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Even this Samsung is made in Poland :(
Hopefully Samsung sent their Quality Engineers over there but when Merloni went to Poland me and my team refused to go.
Even my Bosch was made in Poland but I know the Germans went to oversee quality.
 
I think if you searched you may be able to find a local repair specialist who is cheaper, at least to do an initial assessment.

That said, it's old, and will probably break again, so I would be strongly considering replacement. If so, LG would be my recommendation. There's a list of washer dryer manufacturer websites here.
 
What's the make and model of the machine? With this maybe somebody can tell you if the motor is brushed or brushless. If it's brushed, it's honestly a fairly easy job to replace the brushes - back off the machine or go underneath, undo the belt from the drum pulley, undo the two bolts holding the motor.

Then it's usually a case of unclipping the brushes from the motor, pay attention to the angle of the brushes as you take them out, put new brushes in and gently bed them in by running a long (cottons?) cycle.

I know people here are saying buy a new machine, it will be quieter and more efficient. But I wouldn't think machines you buy these days will last much longer than the warranty - even the likes of Miele and Bosch have nose dived in quality recently. :(
 
jaybee said:
What I normally do in these situations is spend most of a weekend taking it apart, gradually disassembling it in the middle of the kitchen whilst more and more tools and parts build up around me. The wife obviously thoroughly enjoys this, especially the part where I tell her on Sunday evening "yeah it's definitely ******".

It's then that I start to question life itself on a higher level. Inevitably I arrive back online egging myself on that there is in fact hope. Somewhere will have a new PCB or motor or random part which will help me. Ebay? Chinese websites? The hunt goes on for a few more days until one day I come home and all my carefully ordered screws and parts have been swept into a pile and unordered! With the appeal to fix now at it's lowest, I get kicked whilst down as she tells me that I need to cook for myself tonight unless I buy a new one. Days pass... sex is now a distant memory (excluding with myself) and everybody has their breaking point... I go online and spend £700 on a new appliance with next day delivery. It has wifi connectivity and uses half the power of the old one. It's shiny. Meh.
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This feels like a personal attack but I like it very much.
 
AndyCr15 said:
It's an Indesit IWDD7123.

Honestly, it already sounds like the kinda thing I could get wrong... :cry:
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It almost certainly is a brushed motor, so you can buy new brushes on eBay for ~£20 or so. But you need to check what brushes you've got currently, as some of the brush holders look different to others for your machine.


3:04 is an important part to pay attention to, where they mention different makes of motors.

Probably a generic video really, but the principle should still apply. I forgot to mention to unplug the wiring harness for the motor, but you'd have worked that out for yourself anyway.
 
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Yeah, I get that it's not a huge job, but it's still not something I'd want to embark on by myself tbh. Maybe if the machine was younger or more expensive I would.

Interestingly, I don't know if it was just because he had opened it up, but I couldn't hear any of the sparking noises with mine.
 
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Fair enough.

Ten years isn't bad, you might find a newer one is slightly more efficient on the old ever growing electric bill.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Yeah, I get that it's not a huge job, but it's still not something I'd want to embark on by myself tbh. Maybe if the machine was younger or more expensive I would.

Interestingly, I don't know if it was just because he had opened it up, but I couldn't hear any of the sparking noises with mine.
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It could have been something else then. If the drum turns without a load but fails to turn with even a small load, that could be a sign of brushes - the only way you'd know is to look.

But I get that you don't feel comfortable, especially given the age of the machine. But if you plan on buying a new machine anyway, I'd be sorely tempted to just have a look for curiosity. ;)
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Anecdotal evidence seems to be that they have become more reliable over time.
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Anecdotal evidence:

Our old (factory second) LG washer lasted 10 years without missing a beat, despite being used almost daily washing clothes for a baby -> toddler -> messy kid -> messy kid + baby. Only replaced because the drum bearing went and it became extremely loud (plus we "needed" a dryer).

Our new (3 years old now) LG washer dryer has had an engineer out twice so far. Once because a couple of segments in the display stopped working (after 6 months) and just last week because it started making a very loud rattle/vibration on the highest spin cycle - a bolt on one of the weights had snapped, causing it to spin out of balance. Credit to LG, they sent someone out straight away and replaced all the bolts with an updated design (obviously a weak point).

So, out of a sample of 2, the washer dryer is far less reliable. Thankfully went for one with a 5 year warranty, but not going to lie, not confident it's going to last as long as the previous one :(

Unfortunately, like the OP we don't have the space for both, and while in summer we can do without, in winter it's a choice of using the dryer, filling the house with damp, or keeping all the windows open and freezing to death/spending a fortune on heating.

dlockers said:
Can you get washer dryers that are heat pumps nowadays?
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I think there are a couple of (very expensive) options, but when I did the calculations, it would take about 15 years to break even!
 
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I wouldn't be paying £200-300 to repair a 10 year old machine, it sounds like it's served its time well but odds are more faults will start to occur.

I think the trick with a washer-dryer is to get as large a drum as you can afford (within reason), many with smaller drums simply don't give your laundry enough room to move around so drying results are poor and it takes ages. Either that or you end up having to dry in batches which is annoying.
 
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radderfire said:
What is your maximum budget for a replacement?
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You understand, a replacement has already been ordered? It cost £430 if that's useful to you?

Someone mentioned to me to check the filter, which I didn't think it would be, but today I did... wow... what a smell! There was quite a lot of **** in there, but it made no difference, apart from the smell...
 
Woo hoo!

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A little surprised at its first load, set to Eco and it's telling me 2 hrs 45 mins! That doesn't even include drying. I need to actually read the instructions...

**EDIT** It looks like 'Mixed Fabrics' is probably the one for me. 1 hr 21 plus drying.

**EDIT2** Educate me please people. I don't get muddy, a lot of my washing is from exercise (gym, cycling etc) and just day to day wearing things. How important is the pre-wash?
 
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