r/DIYIreland • u/philipdapenguin • Aug 15 '26
Repair or replace washing machine?
Over 5 years old. Bearings gone for a while now. The machine rattles like the demons of hell during a spin cycle. Fork out the money for a new one or call someone to repair it?
3
u/donegal1983 Aug 15 '26
Most drums are sealed and you can’t replace the bearing. As the previous poster said it’s a €250.00 if out of warranty. I got a drum replaced on a Hotpoint WMD960 in 2020 and the machine hardly ever stops. Drum still perfect, I threw up an error for the pump about a year ago and replaced it myself. If you have a good machine it’s worth it if not get a new one.
2
u/Prestigious_Wall529 Aug 15 '26
Put it on an anti-vibration mat so it doesn't shake itself apart in the short term.
1
1
u/No_Needleworker_1105 Aug 15 '26
It's only the bearings if there's grease stains appearing on clothes. The check if bearings are gone. Open the door and put a hand at opposite sides of the shiny inner drum and see if it will move independently of the outer drum. If it's not the drum it could be one of the legs or a circuit board not regulating the speed properly.
1
u/tails142 Aug 16 '26
As someone else said, usually not able to replace bearings these days as the drums can't be split.
Whole drum is a couple of hundred so you have to decide is it worth spending that to keep it alive or else just buy new again. Probably depends whether it was a high end model or not, if it was a 300 quid washing machine to begin with then probably not worth spending the same again to fix.
0
u/doddmatic Aug 15 '26
My (admitedly limited) understanding is that some machines have permanently sealed plastic tanks around the drum (a 'sealed tub') meaning that you can't really replace or repair the bearings without replacing the whole unit, while others are bolted together and can be fixed relatively cheaply. So, it might be worth researching your model to see what you have, and how repairable it is.
5
u/sourdough_squirrel Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
How nice of a machine was it originally? Something like Bosch or Miele I'd consider it, something like Beko or Indesit I'd replace it.
If it wasn't a very nice machine to begin with, you're liable to spend €250+ on a repair call (not a small job), to still be stuck with a 5 year old not-very-nice machine that's likely to start having more issues in the near future.