Hotpoint WD71 – E15 & Won’t Spin

[electrofix]

The Captain wrote:Ahh, righto. Is that grease a bit like this as I have some already in: https://www.wickes.co.uk/FloPlast-Lubricant-Gel—800g/p/175654

not sure on that one, if its a silicone base then maybe

Dave

[The Captain]

Yes it is silicone based but is a gel not grease. Not sure whether it is thick enough to stay put… What about Copper Grease or CeraTec used for Car brakes? Thick, water resistant, high-temp, metal(Cu) or Ceramic grease?

[iadom]

Only a couple of revolutions suggests that it is more than a seal problem, sounds like the new bearings are not seated perfectly tbh.

I hardly ever put grease on Hotpoint bearing seals and I have done many hundreds over the years.

[The Captain]

Aaargh!… I didn’t want to hear that! 😡 Well, I’ll take the drum out and see if I can get it to settle better and grease it up

[iadom]

We had special tools to remove and refit the bearings. Even with those you occasionally got a set that was stiff, I also seem to recall the Hotpoint bearing seal already had a very fine coating of lubricant on the inside when new.

[The Captain]

Update….

So I undid the pulley and tapped the end of the spider spindle just to start to take the drum out and it went in 10mm. At that point the drum was rotating freely, spindle still in both bearings but the brass collar was out of the seal. I did a spin test and waited, and waited, aaaand waited… For a minute there I thought I’d inadvertently invented a perpetual motion machine as I couldn’t even see the speed of the drum decaying and after about 45 seconds, stopped it by hand! So its not the bearings, just the seal making it feel tight and squeaky. I took the drum out and decided on copper grease for the seal, greased the bearings anyway and popped the drum back in. Still only a few revolutions but no squeak so I’m guessing the new bearing seal just needs to settle in a bit with the new spider.

Stuck the machine back together, all ok. proceeded to test with all the towels I’d used to keep the floor dry and voila, all is working again!… It lives!! 😀

I just wanted to thank you both for the great advice and info as it helped massively. 🙂

Finally, what do you guys suggest to get the really caked-on limescale off completely from the washer as I’d really like to get it all off?

[iadom]

I live and worked in an area with very soft water, whilst it severely rots alloy drum supports I never had to deal with limescale.

[Author]

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