How much detergent should I actually use?

Less than the cap suggests, but matched to your water. Follow the dose on the packet for your load size and hardness rather than filling to the top. If the drum smells or the door seal feels slimy, the dose is too high regardless of what the packet says.

Why does my washing machine walk across the floor?

Either it is not level or the load is unbalanced. Check with a spirit level and push each corner in turn, since no corner should move. If it is level and still walking, the cause is usually one heavy item lumped on one side of the drum.

How often should I clean the drain pump filter?

Two or three times a year for most households, and always before reporting a drain fault. It is behind the small panel at the bottom front. Put a tray and a towel down first, because considerably more water comes out than most people expect.

Are the rubber fill hoses worth replacing?

Usually yes if they are old, or if their age is unknown. Rubber hoses perish from the inside where you cannot see it, and a burst one under mains pressure does serious damage. Braided stainless is the standard replacement and the job takes minutes.

Can drum bearings be replaced?

On some machines, yes. On many modern front loaders the outer tub is sealed and the bearings are not sold separately, so the whole tub assembly becomes the part. That is what usually makes a bearing failure the point at which replacement wins.

How to Extend the Life of a Washing Machine

A washing machine is a heavy, wet, vibrating thing bolted to nothing. Almost everything that shortens its life comes back to movement it should not be making, or water sitting where it should not sit. None of what follows is difficult, and none of it needs the machine opened up. It is mostly a matter of doing four or five dull things consistently.

Levelling is the single biggest factor

A washing machine that rocks during the spin is destroying itself slowly. At full spin the drum turns fast enough that a small imbalance becomes a large force, and that force goes straight into the bearings, the spider arm and the suspension.

Check it with a spirit level on the top panel, front to back and side to side, then push down on each corner in turn. If the machine tips, adjust the feet until all four sit firmly on the floor and the cabinet does not move at all. Most machines have adjustable rear feet as well as front ones, and some self-level at the rear once the machine is tilted back and set down again.

Recheck after moving it for any reason. It takes five minutes.

Detergent: less than you think

Excess detergent is the most common self-inflicted fault we see. High-efficiency machines use a fraction of the water older ones did, and the rinse cannot clear a full old-style dose. What is left builds up as a film in the drum, the outer tub and the drain pump housing, where it holds moisture and feeds the smell people usually blame on the machine.

Use a detergent marked for high-efficiency machines, and dose for your load size and your water hardness rather than filling the cap. In hard-water areas the correct dose genuinely is higher than in soft ones, which is why the packet gives a range at all.

If the drum smells or the door seal feels slimy, the dose is too high.

The door seal, and the fold it hides

On a front loader the door gasket has a fold in it that traps water, hair, coins and detergent residue. Left alone it grows mould, the rubber degrades, and eventually the seal tears and the machine leaks at the bottom of the door.

Once a week, pull the fold open and wipe right around it with a cloth, then dry it. Check for objects while you are in there. An underwire or a coin sitting in the fold will cut the gasket, and can work its way through into the outer tub, which is a much larger job.

Leave the door ajar between washes so the drum dries out, and take the detergent drawer out for a rinse every month or two.

The drain pump filter

Almost every front loader has a small access panel at the bottom front, and behind it is the drain pump filter. Most owners never learn it exists until the machine stops draining.

Put a shallow tray and a towel down first, because there is always more water than expected. Unscrew the cap, let it drain, then pull the filter out and clear it. Expect coins, buttons, hair and grit. Turn the impeller behind it with a finger to confirm it spins freely.

Do this two or three times a year, and always before reporting a drain fault, because a blocked filter is by far the most common reason a machine will not empty. Top loaders generally have no such filter; the equivalent check is the pump hose.

Inlet hoses and screens

Where the fill hoses meet the machine there is a small mesh screen inside each connection. In hard-water areas these silt up with scale and grit, and the first sign is a fill that takes noticeably longer, or a cycle that pauses waiting for water.

Turn both taps off, unscrew the hoses at the machine end, and pick the screens out with fine pliers. Rinse them, brush them, and refit.

The hoses themselves are a separate matter. Rubber ones perish from the inside where nothing shows, and a burst hose under mains pressure does serious damage. Braided stainless is the standard replacement and is worth fitting if the current hoses are old, or if you cannot tell how old they are.

Load size, and what overloading actually breaks

An overloaded drum cannot tumble, so the wash is poor, but the real damage happens at the spin. A load that cannot redistribute stays lumped on one side; the machine either shakes hard or aborts the spin and leaves the washing soaked, and either way the bearings take the punishment.

Fill the drum to about three-quarters, leaving room for a flat hand above the load. Wash heavy single items such as a bath mat, a duvet or a rug with something else in the drum to balance them, and expect the machine to spend time redistributing before it spins.

Underloading has its own cost on a top loader with one heavy item, for exactly the same reason. Balance matters more than quantity.

Noises, and which ones mean stop

Machines make noise. The ones that matter are specific.

A rumbling or grinding that rises and falls with drum speed, loudest during the spin, is usually the drum bearings, and it only gets worse. A machine at that stage should be used gently and looked at soon, because a bearing that fails outright can take the drum and the shaft with it.

A rhythmic knocking during the tumble often means something loose in the outer tub, frequently an underwire, and it is worth removing before it works through the drum.

A whine during drain is normal on many pumps; a rattle from the same place usually means debris in the impeller. A bang at spin-up is almost always an unbalanced load or a machine off level.

Where do-it-yourself stops

Everything above is done with the machine unplugged and no panels removed, or with one access panel at the front. Past that point the picture changes.

The motor, the control board and the heating element all carry mains voltage, and a washing machine combines that with standing water. Drum bearings require the outer tub to come out and, on many designs, cannot be bought separately from it. The door interlock is a safety device and should not be bypassed to open a stuck door.

If the machine trips a breaker or a ground-fault device, stop using it and have it looked at. That is not a nuisance fault. It is the machine reporting that current is going somewhere it should not.

What you can check yourself

Set a spirit level on the top panel and adjust the feet until no corner moves under hand pressure.
Switch to a dose marked for high-efficiency machines, matched to load size and water hardness.
Wipe out the fold of the door gasket weekly and dry it afterwards.
Leave the door and the detergent drawer open between washes.
Clear the drain pump filter behind the bottom access panel two or three times a year.
Turn the taps off and clean the mesh screens where the fill hoses meet the machine.
Replace perished rubber fill hoses with braided stainless ones.
Load to about three-quarters of the drum, and balance single heavy items with something else.

Questions

How much detergent should I actually use?: Less than the cap suggests, but matched to your water. Follow the dose on the packet for your load size and hardness rather than filling to the top. If the drum smells or the door seal feels slimy, the dose is too high regardless of what the packet says.
Why does my washing machine walk across the floor?: Either it is not level or the load is unbalanced. Check with a spirit level and push each corner in turn, since no corner should move. If it is level and still walking, the cause is usually one heavy item lumped on one side of the drum.
How often should I clean the drain pump filter?: Two or three times a year for most households, and always before reporting a drain fault. It is behind the small panel at the bottom front. Put a tray and a towel down first, because considerably more water comes out than most people expect.
Are the rubber fill hoses worth replacing?: Usually yes if they are old, or if their age is unknown. Rubber hoses perish from the inside where you cannot see it, and a burst one under mains pressure does serious damage. Braided stainless is the standard replacement and the job takes minutes.
Can drum bearings be replaced?: On some machines, yes. On many modern front loaders the outer tub is sealed and the bearings are not sold separately, so the whole tub assembly becomes the part. That is what usually makes a bearing failure the point at which replacement wins.

How to Make a Washing Machine Last