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I’ve got a 6 month old Smeg WM16aaa that suffers from an occasional “shrieking” bearing noise when spinning – it is very loud & shrill when it occurs but is intermittent. It sometime happens several times during a wash cycle and can go a week or more without any problem. Due to the intermittent nature of the fault I’ve not yet reported the problem or requested a service visit. Is this likely to be a major repair?
Re: SMEG WM16AAA bearing noise
Given the age of the machine and the high pitched nature of the noise, this sounds like a motor bearing fault. I would arrange a service call quickly – the manufacturer will replace the motor rather than the bearing – out of guarantee this will cost an arm and both legs………
Regards,
Penguin45.Re: SMEG WM16AAA bearing noise
Thanks Penguin45, I’ll be on the phone first thing in the morning. I’m a bit disapointed to have had a fault already on a fairly new machine but then again I do seem to get through a machine every 2 – 3 years 🙄
In the past I’ve kept to the cheaper brands but finally decided this was a false economy so wnet for a slightly more upmarket brand this time. Oh well, at least the machine is still under warranty, I’d be even more annoyed if it started playing up when it was just over 12 months old!!
Re: SMEG WM16AAA bearing noise
I wouldn’t worry too much – it sounds like a “bad luck” fault more than anything; bearings are generally pretty reliable in motors. Bear in mind that when your machine hits 1600 rpm, the drive motor is doing 24,000rpm( 😯 ). After replacement it is worth considering backing the spin off to 11/1200 rpm (if you have the option) – you gain nothing with the higher spin and are encouraging component wear.
Regards,
Penguin45.Re: SMEG WM16AAA bearing noise
Limiting the max spin speed sounds like an excellent idea, thanks again Penguin45.
PS I was more than a little amazed that anyone was still around to answer my question after midnight, that has to be service beyond the call of duty :tup:
Re: SMEG WM16AAA bearing noise
Well I called Smeg and they arranged for a local engineer to come and take a look. He found that the machine was quite a way off level, with the front lower than the back so he made a quick adjustment although he did say that this should not be the cause of the problem. He then tested the machine and of course there was no unusual noise. The machine was fine for a couple of days but just when I thought it might have fixed itself the noise came back. Further testing has shown that the noise now only occurs with a full load, so I’m now waiting for the engineer to come back and listen when (hopefully) I can get the machine to misbehave.
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