Sticking Halfway Through Wash
I have a Hotpoint aquarius 1100 (wm63) which is fairly heavily used (2-3 washes per day). A few days ago it seemed to be stuck at the beginnning of the rinse cycle and so I turned the dial on a notch. It then gave a loud "bang" and shifted itself a couple of inches to its right (it couldn't go any further as there was a dishwasher blocking its path!) It then carried on and finished the cycle.
I thought (probably foolishly) that something had got caught in the drum and then had pinged free, so used it again. It again got stuck at the beginning of the rinse cycle - although this time it was on a gentle spin program - and although it spun, it did not remove water from the clothes to any perceptible degree. I have now stopped using the washing machine.
I have a couple of numbers for engineers to call but would very much appreciate some advice over what could be the likely cause and a rough idea of what I might expect to pay for parts/repairs - so I don't get myself ripped off.
Solution Summary
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This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Hotpoint Aquarius 1100 WM63 sticking at rinse due to blocked sump filter
- The problem
- Hotpoint Aquarius 1100 (WM63) was sticking at the beginning of the rinse cycle. On a gentle spin programme it would spin but leave the clothes very wet. The machine had also made one loud bang and moved sideways after the programme dial was advanced manually.
- Likely cause
- Confirmed blocked filter in the sump hose/filter area. The loud bang was only suggested to be caused by the programme being advanced into spin before the load had settled; this explanation was not confirmed.
- What fixed it
- Check whether the machine is failing to empty water quickly enough when it sticks. The accepted advice was that a partially blocked filter was the usual cause, with pump fault mentioned as a less likely possibility. The original poster then found and removed a sock from the filter, which resolved the issue.
- Checks to try
- Advised to run the machine empty and, when it sticks, check whether water is still inside the machine
- Filter area checked and a sock was found in the filter
Safety: Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.
4 Answers
Washing machine sticking mid cycle can be caused by different things. However, spinning but not removing much water is usually caused by a partially blocked filter (or more rarely a faulty pump) As this can also cause a washing machine to stick on the rinses, it's a possibility that you have a blocked filter.
Hotpoint put a filter in the sump hose where customers can't easily get to it themselves. It's easy enough to get to from the back but you need to be DIY minded to mess around with it and things could get pretty wet.
If it is just a blocked filter, an engineer can fix it in half an hour or so altogether including draining the machine and testing. The cost should legitimately be anything from about £35 - £65, or if you call Hotpoint themselves it could be £90.
Unfortunately, many customers think they've been ripped off it they don't have any parts fitted and it doesn't take long to fix. Engineers can get so fed up with complaints and sarcastic comments (such as, "£50 for half an hours work? I wish I was on £100 an hour") that many decide to fit a new pump instead. Ironically, this way customers are happy and don't complain. I think it's very sad, and of course many engineers (like myself) would never do this but I know for a fact that it happens so it's best to call someone you know to be reputable - Find an appliance repairman
A pump for this machine is roughly between £20 and £30 To check if your fault is to do with not emptying the water fast enough, try it without any washing in and when it sticks, look to see if there is any water still inside the machine.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Thanks for all that, very useful information. I will test it as you suggested. What did you think of the loud banging noise? Could that be caused by something getting into the filter? It was pretty loud and caused the machine to move quite violently.
The banging was possibly a result of you moving the programme timer on. You could have just made it go into a spin before it had settled the clothes and it thumped about a bit.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Great - worked a treat. In actual fact I found a sock in the filter !
Cannot understand how it got there and the wife could provide no further detail !
An excellent site - have already passed the detail on to a colleague.
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