Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

[Silvio]

I’ve had my AEG washing machine (with an 8 kg drum, Jet System, inverter motor and a spin speed of 1600 rpm) for about a month now, and for the most part it’s quite silent – during the washing phase, I never hear the motor at all, only the splashing of water and clothes inside the machine when the drum is moving (as well as a slight humming noise from the Jet System).

However, during the final spin phase, the machine is quite noisy IMO. I’ve therefore adjusted the feet in order to ensure that the machine is level. Haven’t used the machine after that, so not sure whether it’s helped yet.

Now I’m considering putting rubber pads below the feet, in order to hopefully reduce noise and vibrations and thus keep the neighbours happy :).

However, are rubber pads like these of any use? Do they have any positive effects, and most importantly, can they do any actual harm to the machine (e.g. put further strain on bearings, dampers, etc)?

My washing machine is placed on a tiled concrete floor, and seems to be quite sturdy (i.e. it doesn’t “walk” when spinning).

[kwatt]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

With the solid floor the rubber feet would make little to no difference I expect.

K.

[Silvio]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

OK, thanks.

[Applianceman2010]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

Could be worth checking balance weights,they could be loose if it has suddenly started making knocking noises?

[Silvio]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

It’s not making knocking noises, and I’ve been told by others that the machine is not really unusually noisy (I’m not really that familiar with washing machines yet, I guess :)).

[Silvio]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

I made a YouTube video of my AEG during the spin phase (the reason for the dark room is that a fan will turn on in the room if I turn on the light, causing more noise, and I only wanted to capture the noise made by the washing machine):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh2uN0WLjvE

Does this machine sound noisy to you guys, or is the noise level normal? On two occasions I’ve tried using rubber pads underneath the feet of the washing machine, with little success (in fact, it seemed to make the machine wobbly and did nothing to lower the noise level).

I’ve noticed that a lot of the noise the machine makes during the spin, seems to come from the “side walls” of the machine vibrating, is there anything that can or should be done about that (cf. this post at WasherHelp)?

[clockworkone]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

have transport bolts and sleeves been completely removed or has that waste pipe been secured to floor as it could be vibrating off tiles.is that machine in a bathroom.

[Silvio]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

Not sure what you mean by sleeves, but I imagine that it’s maybe the white plastic things that can be seen e.g. in this picture. If so, yes those have been completely removed.

Do you think the machine sounds noisy, or is this level of noise normal? (By the way, I’ve noticed on my crappy laptop speakers that I don’t really hear the “bass range” of the noise, so it doesn’t sound all that bad when I play the clip.)

The waste pipe is not secured at all, it’s just lying on the floor, but I haven’t noticed any vibration from that (not that I’ve really thought of that possibility). The machine is indeed in a bathroom.

[clockworkone]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

yes i do think it is loud and is probably exagerated by the accoustics of the tiled bathroom.the reason i mentioned the question about bathroom is it is something i would never ever recommend.apart from the obvious personal danger aspect modern electonics do not cope well with moisture or condensation.

[Silvio]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

Do you have any idea why the machine might be loud? Is there something wrong with the machine and/or with the installation of it, or are these machines just generally noisy during the spin cycle even though there’s nothing actually wrong with them?

(It’s very common in my country to have the washing machine installed in the bathroom, by the way, it’s pretty much the default choice, because of the floor drain. If there’s not a separate laundry room (which there usually isn’t in a flat), the only other alternative is the kitchen, which usually doesn’t have a floor drain, and because of potential insurance problems in case of water leaks the washing machine is usually not installed there unless there’s no room anywhere else.)

[clockworkone]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

its going to be very hard to diagnose noise without seeing m/c.could be one of many things.are floor tiles laid on concrete or timber floor.is there a loose tile under one of the feet.does drum turn manually ok or does it feel different at any point(turn more than one rotation).also as applianceman has said could be a loose balance weight.the waste pipe can make noise if it is loose as vibration will be transferred from waste hose on m/c.

[kwatt]

Re: Rubber pads – a good or a bad idea?

And again with noise levels…

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/buyi … evels.html

😉

K.

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