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I have a 3.5 year old Hotpoint Aquarius Extra WMS38 1200 Spin washing machine. Recently the spin cycles have been making me wince (im a mechanical engineer and fairly practical woth it) as the main drum bearing seems to running a bit rough!
There is a low rumbling noise during the higher speed spin cycles and the drum doesn’t rotate as freely as before, in fact, the rotation feels slightly lumpy when done by hand.
That said, i can ‘give it a spin’ by hand and it will rotate freely pretty much as much as before, but it just doesn’t seem right. I would also like to point out that there is no play in the drum, apart from the obvoius ‘suspension’ of the whole assembly.
So, ONTO MY QUESTIONS:
1. Do i need to change the bearings now, or wait maybe for a long time for them to expire completely?
2. If i need to change them myself (wont be a problem) can somebody tell me if i will need just a bearing kit or a spider too? If someone could point me to the shop part that is required i will get it from here if necessary. I am confused to one part being labelled as a bearing kit for all hotpoints prefixed WM, then finding another different part labelled for WMA hotpoints. So whats up here? Surely a WMA hotpoint is prefixed with WM and therefore the WMA part isn’t necessary? If WM parts are for WM onbly (no other letters, just numbers after it) then where is a link for a part for my WMS type? Heeeeeelp!!Thanks for the advice. Sadly i am also posting on the dishwasher forum tonight too, two white goods probs in one day, and my Dyson Vacuum is also up the swanny, and im getting married next year, god i’m gonna be skint!
Jon Kimber
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
Ring Hotpoint ASAP. you have a 5 year parts warranty. They will replace all the parts required for their labour charge of just under £90, At the very least you will get a rear drum assy or even a complete inner/outer drum replacement.
Do not attempt to do this repair yourself.PS. WM & WMA/F/S are two completely different machines.
Phone 0870 9066066
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
Many thanks for the reply. I have checked the ‘bumpf’ that came with the washing machine and indeed, a 5 year parts guarantee.
How can i be sure its just the standard call out charge i’m going to pay, i.e how will the engineer know to bring the right parts with him etc? I’ve also read of some horrible horror stories on this forum (maybe unfairly publicised as people are less likely to write about a good experience).
Will I even get an engineer out if the washing machine is in fact still working, which it is, all be it a bit rougher than usual.
TIA – Jon
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
It is a well documented fault. The later drum has a different type of bearing seal, this does appear to be more reliable. You should not leave it to get worse, it could leak onto the motor and do further damage. It is unlikely that the engineer will repair the machine on first visit, understandably, they will want to diagnose and confirm the fault themselves. You will not be charged for two calls, just the one labour charge on completion.
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
Great fast response, thanks.
I’ll wait to see if my dishwasher fault has been remedied for more than a few washes and maybe take the plunge with this problem instead! Funnily enough just been to town, chatted to a mortgage advisor and worked out i can save £70 a month if i remortgage with the same terms and conditions, so, the lomg and the short of it is, i might be able to afford these repairs and get married after all!
THANKS FOR THE ADVICE ONCE AGAIN, TOP WEB SITE / FORUM.
😀
JonRe: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
jonokimber wrote: so, the long and the short of it is, i might be able to afford these repairs and get married after all!
Get the machine repaired, much more important. 😀 won’t cost you as much in the long run either 😉Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
Well, here’s the latest in this saga..
I got round to calling for an engineer, thought it best to let the experts do it, just in case there were other problems that might have caused me grief if i tried to do it myself.
Apologies if anyone knows these engineers but two animals duly arrived at my house and proceeded to rip the washing machine apart to get to the drum. There was quite a lot of water on the laminate floor which they didn’t wipe up when i gave them a towel. There were clips flying everywhere, cable ties all over the place etc. Anyway, they finally got the drum assembly out and went outside to tease the inner drum from the outer.
Of course the method for this was to use a large hammer to hit the end of the shaft. Eventually it came out, but only after a struggle and they almost gave up. This is where the problems started though as they had whacked the shaft so much they had knackered the tapped thread which holds the pulley in place. No worries, we’ll drill out the top few threads said one of the animals. Ten minutes later it was truly knackered and i expect they were glad to get out of my house onto their next callout.
So, at the end of the day i now have bits of washing machine in my garage, shed and kitchen. I am waiting for a new part to come in to the UK i believe, but its been weeks already.
I have some general questions if anyone fancies answering or commenting..
1. Is it not terrible management for a service company to not have spares available, if not immediately but within a few days? It will have been 14 working days before the part is even in UK stock which is when i’ll get a call to arrange the next visit, which will probably be another 10 days or so.
2. Is it common practice for engineers to smack the hell out of everything? As a mechanical engineer i felt compelled to watch the ensuing nightmare yet wanted to turn away. Do engineers not get taught standard fitting principles? How about protecting the thread from the hammer, or maybe even tapping out a new thread if you knacker the old one?
3. These guys have effectively cost Indesit more money by needlessly breaking more parts, requiring another callout and ruining another day for me where i’ll need to be at home again. More speed less haste i feel.
4. Is there anything I can do or demand to get the part quicker? I actually have a dishwasher callout due next Monday (Indesit warranty repair). The engineer booked for that is the engineer booked for the washing machine when the part finally arrives. Wouldn’t it be great if the two could be fixed together? I only have to spend one day at home, and he only has to come out once, or is that too simple a concept?
Thanks for reading, glad i got my rant out of the way, i’m stil very angry though. Complete ineptitude from all involved in my opinion.
Jono
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
I have all these parts in my garage, I’m afraid the lump hammer is the only tried and tested means but I insert a bolt with the correct thread to protect the end of the shaft. Even so the odd one will just not come out without doing serious damage. I have on occasion had to cut away or break the rear half of the drum to get at the bolts that secure the drum support spider to the inner drum. It can be such a pain to do , so much so that I do not do the bearing or drum shaft repair on the premises, I build up a complete inner/outer drum assembly in my garage and then I can change the whole unit in less than 1 hour. I believe that Hotpoint/Indesit are in the middle of a two week stocktaking exercise, it sounds as though the ‘parts coming into the UK’ was a load of flannel.
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
Every Hotpoint engineer has a vanstock of 3 rear halfs and 3 drum spiders but if they have not been allocated 2 slots i’m afraid they wont do on the first call.
Re: hotpoint WMS38 bearing change required?
Thanks for the replies fellas, i’m not meaning to be too disparaging to the engineers. Ive just had a conversation with a friend and we both agreed they (you) have too much work to get through in a day and its easy to just come back if something goes wrong. Obviously in my case something did go wrong. maybe it was preventable, maybe not, but now im left without a washing machine for what will be approaching 5 weeks since it was semi butchered.
The fact that i may have been told lies about the stock or that if the correct amount of time had been allocated makes me worry all the more.
Can I reasonably expect to get some discount as compensation? Just how long can it go on before i demand something be done, like a loan machine?
Just how long will they let me mucj them around when it comes to payment? After all, we dont have a written agreement yet, the work might not be satisfactory, especially if something gets scratched or prevents me from signing the job off? I wonder?
Jono
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