Hotpoint BWD129 – drum intermittently not spinning

[SRussell]

Hello, apologies in advance for the long explanation.

I have a Hotpoint BWD129 which stopped draining and spinning last week. I opened the filter at the front and cleared out a sock so now it drains perfectly. I tried a test cycle with the machine empty which seemed to work fine except that the drum didn’t turn at all during the cycle but I could easily spin it by hand. I opened the back of the machine and the belt had come off but was in perfect condition. I reconnected it and ran a test spin cycle which completed fine. I then tried a full cycle with a load of washing. It seemed ok at first but then started to struggle to turn. I stopped the machine and opened the back again to check the belt but couldn’t manually spin the drum anymore. I took the belt off to check if this was because of the motor or the actual drum. The motor turns fine but the drum is really stiff and will only turn about 10 degrees in either direction before becoming too difficult to turn. I took the clothes out and tried again but it was still really stiff. I left it overnight and tried again in the morning to find that now it freely spins with no problems.

My question is – could this be because the machine is not balanced? I had to pull it out from the wall to get access to it. Would this explain the erratic behaviour of the drum? I believe it must be something mechanical causing it to stop but it’s very strange that it only happens sporadically. Would the machine intentionally seize up in these circumstances and then, after it has been turned off and left for a while, free up and let me spin it again?

My plan is to test the empty machine with a full cycle. I will go through the manual instructions for the initial set up of the machine to make sure that it is balanced correctly beforehand.

Does this sound reasonable? Or is there anything else that would cause this?

Thanks very much for your help!
Sophie

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint BWD129 – drum intermittently not spinning

Nothing to do with balance, there is possibly another sock or something similar stuck inside the drum.

If you are very lucky you may be able to extract it via the sump hose, or by removing the heating element from the back. If not then this Indesit machine has a totally sealed outer drum and you are stuffed. 🙁

[Author]

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