Washing machine door seal metal wire - advice?

Angilion · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:43

I noticed a piece of very rusted metal wire poking out of the door seal on my very old washing machine.

It appears to be part of a ring going around the seal, inside a flap, and it appears to have just rusted through over the years.

My washing machine doesn't leak, so the seal itself is still fine. I can find parts and videos on replacing the entire door seal, but that doesn't seem to be necessary. Can I just replace the ring? Do I need to? It seems to work fine without it, but I'm assuming that it must have a purpose.

isonomicjedi · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:46

Ah! My precious. I see you have my ring.

kPATm · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:47

I had this happen to our machine a few months ago although it never rusted it just popped out somehow. I dont know if I would risk running the machine without it TBH in case it suddenly started to leak. Just google for your model of machine and you should find a replacement?? I would just replace the ring piece (snigger snigger)

Werewolf · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:48

You can replace the wire on it's own (IIRC the actual rubber seal doesn't come with it), but from my experience with changing the rubber door seals on a few washing machines, it's a real PITA to get it back in place.

And by PITA I mean the sort of thing you can spend ages doing, and end up swearing like a sailer whose just had his wallet nicked by a Thai ladyboy.

Angilion · 12 Jun 2013 at 19:04

isonomicjedi said:
Ah! My precious. I see you have my ring.

Thanks for that, it gave me a bit of a giggle.

Angilion · 12 Jun 2013 at 19:08

Werewolf said:
You can replace the wire on it's own (IIRC the actual rubber seal doesn't come with it), but from my experience with changing the rubber door seals on a few washing machines, it's a real PITA to get it back in place.

And by PITA I mean the sort of thing you can spend ages doing, and end up swearing like a sailer whose just had his wallet nicked by a Thai ladyboy.

I was hoping that wasn't the case. What's the problem with fitting a new one? Is it under a lot of tension, so it's very hard to get it properly positioned without it popping back out over and over again? Is it something that can be made easier with appropriate tools? I've had loads of bother with various jobs because I didn't have the right tools for the job.

Greebo · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:16

I know with our machine, an indesit, the wire was easy to take off and replace. I just needed pliers to grip it.

You jkust slide the wire into the groove all the way round and clip it back together. Some have springs depending on the machine.

Changing the seal itself is a job designed to punish people in hell.....lots of swearing, the washing machine in 100 bits, chunks and cuts to the hands.

The wire is there to stop the seal moving and popping out so best to replace it. Just replacing the wire should be a 2 minute job max with pliers.

Danthus · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:25

You can just buy the retaining wire.

Werewolf · 13 Jun 2013 at 01:28

Greebo said:
I know with our machine, an indesit, the wire was easy to take off and replace. I just needed pliers to grip it.

You jkust slide the wire into the groove all the way round and clip it back together. Some have springs depending on the machine.

Changing the seal itself is a job designed to punish people in hell.....lots of swearing, the washing machine in 100 bits, chunks and cuts to the hands.

The wire is there to stop the seal moving and popping out so best to replace it. Just replacing the wire should be a 2 minute job max with pliers.

The last time I tried it, I must have spent about 30+ minutes

I may have been doing it wrong, but my father commented he'd always hated doing that bit as it either went in straight away, or would turn into a struggle

Oddly enough the seal itself was never a major problem..

Angilion · 13 Jun 2013 at 06:36

Cheers for the advice. I'll pop into a spares place tomorrow and see if they have the right one for my machine. Then I'll do the fitting that's an easy/hard 2 minute/30+ minute job

Maybe it depends on the washing machine and if so maybe I'll be lucky.

Greebo · 14 Jun 2013 at 11:43

Werewolf said:
The last time I tried it, I must have spent about 30+ minutes
I may have been doing it wrong, but my father commented he'd always hated doing that bit as it either went in straight away, or would turn into a struggle

Oddly enough the seal itself was never a major problem..

On ours to change the seal you need to remove the top cover, remove two concrete weights and then try and undo a strap in a blind position before pulling off the old seal. Fitting the new one, even harder.

Like I said, the wire round the seal was the easy bit. 30 seconds max after I had watched a video on youtube on how to do it.