Washing Machine Drain Pumps

Much like many other spare parts for washing machines, most people assume that a drain pump for a washing machine or washer dryer is a simple thing, there’s little or no difference between them from one to another, other than the price of them, but there is.

The bottom line is that as with many things in life, you get what you pay for and cheap drain pumps can come with, well, issues. We’ll explain and explain why not only is it better to buy a good drain pump but also why it is, in some cases, potentially dangerous not to do so.

  Testing a Washing Machine Drain Pump

Below is a short video showing how most modern washing machine drain pumps operate as well as how to test them for failure. Do take time to read through the article though as it will offer you much more information and may help you to save money buying a replacement drain pump.

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  Cheap Washing Machine Drain Pumps

People generally don’t realise or think that many brands, even the largest in the world like Whirlpool, Indesit or Electrolux don’t actually make a lot of the components that go into their machines. An awful lot of it is outsourced to other manufacturers that specialise in the production of specific components such as Plaset, Askol, Coprecci, Hanning and a host of others for pumps. Most appliance manufacturers don’t actually make these components themselves.

What does this mean and why should you care and what has it to do with the price?

In most cases this process means that the washing machine maker sends over the specification of the drain pump that they require to a factory and that specialist producer will build the drain pump as specified in their thousands ready to be fitted on the production line as an assembly. They invest quite heavily in the moulds and tooling and so seek the best return on that investment that they can. This means that the original producer of the drain pump will often sell them to a third party, so long as you are prepared to buy enough of them, at a relatively low price as you cut out the middle man, the brand owner.

This means that, in a lot of cases, we can supply a washing machine or washer dryer drain pump cheaper than the manufacturer’s price but of the same original high quality. We sell a lot of these sorts of pumps to save you money but without us having to compromise on the quality of the part we supply.

  An Even Cheaper Washing Machine Drain Pump

Of course you can also, especially when it is a very common pump, get them made elsewhere for even less just as we’ve explained for many other parts. These are known in the trade as “patten”, “pattern” or “bojack” spare parts. Basically they all mean, compatible but not original.

What happens is this, a spares distributor sees that he’s selling bucket loads of a certain part (in this case a washing machine drain pump) and decides to see how cheap he can get it to beat all his competitors on price. So, in order to get the price down they start to cut corners as they don’t care about the brand, nor do they care about the quality particularly, this is purely an exercise in getting the lowest possible price and the highest possible profit.

So we end up with ludicrously cheap pumps that are often not as easy to fit as the fittings are not correctly moulded, safeties are removed (this is the dangerous bit) and they don’t perform as well as they perhaps should.

These sorts of spare parts are often woefully bad. They break quicker and can, if safety cut out thermostats are not specified to cut the price, be a potential fire hazard as they can over heat and burst into flames. We have seen cases where whole appliances have been destroyed due to fire damage caused by just such cheap spare parts.

Even the magnetic pumps, commonly from either Plaset or Askol, are often supplied with the correct fitting but the wrong rating on them. This means that they either work too hard and the coil burns out or they under perform and drain too slowly.

For re-circulation pumps such as those used on Zanussi Jetsystem washing machines and washer dryers and almost any washer dryer where the pump will run for an extended period of time, the correct rating and safety cutout is absolutely critical. Unless of course you want to end up with a charred washing machine!

Most people would be thinking that this is surely illegal, surely there must be some control over this sort of thing? Well, no there isn’t in this industry for replacement spares. So if you do come a cropper with a bad spare part that isn’t up to the grade you’ve no comeback other than against the seller and even then, it’s a civil matter so it would cost you to pursue them.

The original manufacturer will disown you as soon as they find that you have fitted a part that wasn’t an original as you have changed the specification. So again, you’re on your own.

But with the onset of the internet and folk on Ebay selling spares purely on the strength that they are the cheapest these sort of parts can easily be found sadly and most sellers won’t tell you. I’m sure, after reading the above that won’t exactly come as a surprise.

But, if you want the cheapest possible price, these are the sorts of risks you run, just make sure your home insurance is good. You have been warned.

  The Washing Machine Drain Pumps We Supply

We supply quality drain pumps at the best price we can. We will not compromise on the quality of the parts we sell so, we don’t do the cheap rubbish ones, we’d rather lose the sale in all honesty than sell garbage to people. It is after all our reputation and we’re rather proud of it.

Where there is no reasonable low cost quality alternative we will supply the original part only to provide you with the same as original quality. And, if we find an alternative part we don’t like, we won’t sell it.

We have to guarantee the spares we sell and we can’t run away like many internet sellers, or simply refuse to replace a faulty part without good justification and so we supply quality parts.

Just as with door seals and other critical parts such as drain pumps, since we were all field engineers, we know that the cheapo ones are rubbish and we know that they fail sooner as well as being a lot harder to fit which, for a novice, isn’t exactly what you want. What most people want s the least hassle possible and the easiest replacement possible which is why we take this view.

Of course we’re happy to advise you on any aspect of the drain pumps we supply, simply drop us a line on spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk and we will try to answer any questions you may have about your washing machine or washer dryer drain pump. For fitting advise or instructions it is better to use the forums for specific advice on a particular model but there are articles to guide you available in the Self Help area of this Help & Advice section, such as this tutorial about washing machine drain pumps.

  Washing Machine Model Number Required

For a lot of washing machine and washer dryer drain pumps you do need the model number to make sure you get the correct part.

For most you will find the model number printed on the control panel of the machine, as Zanussi, Beko and others do or, more often, on the rating plate that you will normally find inside the door, on the filter flap or on the back.

Without the model number and, sometimes even the serial number or PNC, it may not be possible to identify the correct pump that you need.

Once you have that if it is possible and are not sure which seal that you need simply email us on spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk and we’ll point you in the direction of the correct pump for you washing machine or washer dryer.

  Finding A Washing Machine Drain Pump

Finding a door seal in our online shop is dead easy, simply go to the shop using this link that will open a new window or tab (or the ones below) then type in the model number of your washing machine or washer dryer into the “Search” box. Press search and it will bring up all the parts we’ve used on that particular model.

You can of course narrow the returns by adding “pump” to the search, just as you would in the likes of Google, to look for a specific spare part.

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  Washing Machine Spares Delivery Times

Many drain pumps that are in the online store we physically hold in stock and are often shipped the same day that we receive your order. Even if it is a drain pump that isn’t so common we would usually have most within a day or two and it would ship the same day it was received.