Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

[spadge]

evening all,

we inherited this 7+ year old washing machine from the lady we bought our flat from, and i think that its long-ish life is probably down to decent treatment and low use. sadly we’re using it a bit more intensively and seem to have broken a drive belt or something inside. the motor goes well enough and water seems to fill up, but theres no movement of the drum itself. grateful for an expert opinion on the likely cause and whether this should be left to an engineer or could be self-fixed?

cheers,

tom

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

BRUSHES 😉

Be sure to pull the plug first.

Jim.

[cockney steve]

“the motor goes well enough”

you seem to have missed this, Jim!

If the motor DOES work, but the drum neither agitates nor spins, then most likely it’s the drive-belt.
usually an easy job, you need to access the back UNPLUG FIRST!

pulley about 18″ diameter, concentric with the drum…other pulley on the motor -shaft,about 1″ diameter….belt stretches on, in the absence of adjuster-slot in one of the motor-mounts.

OTOH, if the motor’s making a “BRRRRR”-noise,it’s likely as Jim said…contact “spares at” on here,superfast delivery,reasonable prices,good quality parts….and they’re nice people ‘cos they run this forum!

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

Didn’t miss it at all Steve but trust me, in 99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of cases the customer says the motor is running, what they actually mean is the pump is running. A simple test of the belt is to open the door and spin the drum, if it keeps spinning for ages then it may be the belt, unless of course the machine has been very noisy for some time, in which case the belt may have come adrift due to the bearings collapsing.

I also assumed that Tom would be savvy enough to spot if the belt was adrift as soon as he took the top off. 😉

I would guess I change brushes to belts at a ratio of 50 to 1 or higher.

Jim.

[cockney steve]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

that’s ME told! 😳
yea, I made that assumption that he’d distinguish between the motor-noises,that’s a very good point, as is the “drum spin-test” something the savvy person does without thinking….guess that’s where trade experience counts,-being able to see the picture through the eyes of “the man on the street”

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

Whats the betting he comes back to tell us the belt has snapped. 😀

Jim.

[helo_75]

ive never seen one snap, unless the drums jammed solid

[cockney steve]

Erm, recently saw an Electrolux where the main pulley was smashed due to the (ignored) loose concrete weight finally ripping the remains of the last mounting-post out of the tub.

It apparently “stopped with a loud bang and rattle”!
The belt,apart from a liberal coating of concrete-dust,and a few nicks, was still “usable”

Another recent interlude concerned an integrated Electrolux W/D…belt had shed a cord which had whipped around ripping out any bits of wiring-loom within reach of it’s flailing end.

IIRC it took the heater and drain-pump before the motor-harness succumbed. Funnily enough, all the snapped/frayed/disconnects were OC, so it didn’t blow the fuse!
gotta love the build”quality”.

[iadom]

helo_75 wrote:ive never seen one snap, unless the drums jammed solid

Thats because you haven’t been around as long as me. 😥

Over the years Hotpoint used belts from several different manufacturers.

You did get the odd belt that had a clean, straight break in it, these days its usually when the belt is very loose or the drum is jammed and the belt burns through as you say.

Jim.

[Penguin45]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

Get a lot like this these days:

Note motor shaft at the bottom. This one miraculously missed the wiring.

Penguin45.

[spadge]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

well the answer was you were both right really… i hadnt had time to get it out and get the top off to look but i was pretty sure it was a motor spinning fast with little resistance that i could hear and that did turn out to be the case. belt had slid off somehow, seems in ok condition with just a bit of fraying on the back in places… should i get a new one regardless? in the meantime i shall fit it back on as per instructions.
hopefully should be the end of things but presumably if it comes adrift again i’ll have to investigate further to try and find the underlying cause.

many thanks for your wise words,

tom

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

The belt should be fairly tight, no play in it at all. also when you refit it or fit a new belt check that the motor mountings are OK.

This machine does not use a stretchy belt, you can adjust tension via the nut & bolt at the top. From the model number I would guess that your machine may well have an FHP motor, the adjusting bracket can snap occasionally.

Sometimes the motor mounting at the front nearer to the timer can cause problems, either the pin or bolt comes adrift or even worse the motor casting can break, this allows the motor to flex and causes the belt to slip off.

If you spin the drum by hand without the belt on is it virtually silent? If it is noisy then it would suggest serious bearing failure.

Jim.

[spadge]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

belt on, pretty tight yep. checked motor and mounting – all secure. no noise on drum; now working on its first load 😀 just begs the question what caused it to fall off?

thanks again,

Tom

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

Rarely come off without a reason. Sometimes the belts distort slightly, if you take the belt off and lie it on a flat surface you can see if the belt is out of shape.

Might be a good idea to get a new one ordered just in case. This is the one you need.

Jim.

[Penguin45]

Re: Hotpoint WM68P – drum doesnt spin

Slow drain due to choked filter can throw the belt off when spin starts – rather like driving your car with the brakes on when the spin ramps up.

Penguin45.

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