Washing Machine - damage to clothes
Hello,
I wondered if anyone could help me please. My 2 1/2 year old washing machine has stained all mine and my children's clothes It’s ruined clothes that I bought them for Christmas too.
I have cover for the repair (I pay insurance) and they said the drum has gone and is organising for it to be replaced (due to be done in 3 days time). They said that the stains are caused by oil? It’s been repaired a fair few times over the last 18 months through the additional insurance I have on it.
My question is… is this normal for a machine that is still quite new? I wouldn’t expect this after 2.5 years, and it’s now going to cost me a fortune to replace all our clothes If not, what can I do about it please?
The make is Hoover Candy.
I’m looking into the possibility of claiming on my house insurance for the ruined clothes, but don’t yet know if this is even a possibility.
Any help or advice is most appreciated please to solve this problem and avoid in the future (I do about 4 loads of washing a day to avoid overloading).
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Hoover Candy washing machine staining clothes, likely from failed drum bearings
- The problem
- A 2.5-year-old Hoover Candy washing machine stained and ruined clothes, including recent purchases. The machine had already needed several repairs over the previous 18 months, and the insurer had advised that the drum had gone and arranged a replacement.
- Likely cause
- The accepted explanation was failed drum bearings, with brown staining likely caused by rust after water entered the bearings. The original poster had also been told the stains were caused by oil, but the forum’s accepted answer supported rust from bearing failure as the more likely cause.
- What fixed it
- The insurer had already arranged for the drum to be replaced. Forum advice also noted that 2.5 years is not old, but very heavy use of around four loads a day can shorten the life of a modern washing machine considerably. No further repair outcome was confirmed in the discussion.
- Checks to try
- Insurer/repair provider diagnosed that the drum had gone
- Accepted reply identified failed drum bearings as the likely source of staining
- Usage level stated as about four loads per day
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Drum
- Drum bearings
3 Answers
Hi. If the drum bearings have failed it's usually brown stains from rust caused by water getting into the drum bearings. Drum bearing failure is more common than it should be these days. 2.5 years is not very old at all and you shouldn't expect them to fail so soon. However, if it's on 4 times a day it's not too surprising. Most average modern washing machines only last around 7 years and at 4 times a day it's probably done a rough equivalent of that.
Any washing machine that needs to do a lot of washes is likely to not last too long at all. You would need to invest in a Miele to get a washing machine built to cope with heavy use.
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Thanks Andy, that’s much appreciated.
I will look into a Miele for my next purchase 😊
Without a doubt Miele are the best washing machine to cope with heavy use. Unfortunately though they are extremely expensive, and, if they do develop a fault they can be extremely expensive to repair. Miele have always had a reassuring, "built for 20 years use" phrase that they use. However, over recent years I have lost quite a lot of confidence in that phrase because of the number of people who have contacted me saying that their Miele appliance had developed a fault and it was going to be too expensive to repair. This has happened on Miele appliances as young as 10 years old.
Having said that, my Miele washing machine is 14 years old and it is only broken down twice. In both cases it was caused by the way it had been used so technically it hasn't failed yet. One breakdown was caused by a colour catcher blocking the pump (colour catchers can block your washing machine's pump) and the other was caused by a blockage of gunge in the pressure system. This was caused because the wife did not use the correct amount of detergent for years. Some context though, we only wash about four times a week!
My Miele washing machine still sounds and works like new. So if you do a lot of washing and need a well-built washing machine you can't beat Miele. Even if it only lasted 10 years it is a lot better than 2 to 3 years. Alternatively if you prefer to stick to "normal" washing machines I would go for Bosch. Which? rate them quite highly and their customer satisfaction and appliance reliability scores are surprisingly close to Miele. But they can be bought for about £300. So you could buy three of them for the same price as a Miele. An interesting dilemma 🙂
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