dave21478 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 The machine is about 18 months old I would say, and not a fancy brand name. Every time I use it, it tries to escape by vibrating its way along the floor.I have tried less stuff in it, more stuff in it, slower spin cycle.... all to no effect. The feet are adjusted and it sits squarely. I have tried it perfectly level and also tried it tipped slightly backwards, again no change.I have had the lid off it and nothing seems amiss internally. Springs are all connected and the counterweight (breeze block) is fine.Its not under a counter, but free-standing next to a sink unit in the pantry. I tried ratchet-strapping it to the wall, but it didn't like that and threatened to pull the pantry wall down.Normal state of play at the end of a cycle is to find it part way across the floor, limited by its pipework. I have had to tether it with a rope that is shorter than the pipes to stop it pulling them out.Any suggestions? I see BricoDepot sell a square "vibration damper" which is a rubber pad that it would sit on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Perhaps it might like some music, say for line dancing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Yup a bit of mat should do it (I used to have this problem when we had smoothe tiles in our old conservatory!). I bought one of those washable doormats with the rubber backing . Worked a treat and cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Zoff Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 An engineer told me that a front-loader auto washing machine was being asked to do an awful lot, rotating at speed with a variable heavy load and "suspended" by a bearing attached to one side. Added to that, consumers want bigger and bigger drums with large openings. The strain on the bearing and the centrifugal forces are immense, particularly if the machine doubles as a tumble drier. Clearly, some manufacturers are better than others at overcoming this with strong, high quality bearings and sophisticated damping. But if you want a machine to last without spending a fortune on it, he recommended choosing a smaller drum size and putting up with smaller wash loads.Our current (wash only) AEG stays put but we previously had a Hoover combined washer/dryer that danced all over the floor and almost shook the house down. At one point, I contemplated chopping a square out of the suspended wooden floor and setting a block of concrete on car springs to act as a plinth for the machine. (Years ago, I had seen something similar done with a professional machine in a commercial laundry.) But the Hoover expired before I got around to it.Alternatively, it's probably a case of you get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 "Washable doormat with rubber backing" - sounds like a waterproof husband!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 [quote user="woolybanana"]"Washable doormat with rubber backing" - sounds like a waterproof husband!![/quote]If it does it's somebody else's husband. Can't be doing with doormats of either sex myself! Good point, Alan. Our top-loader doesn't budge, even on the tiled floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyv Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Maybe stating the obvious, but you have removed the shipping locks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 This brings back memories! When we were just married (over 40 years ago [Www]), an aunt gave us an ACME washing machine, front-loader automatic. I've only ever seen ACME mentioned on Tom and Jerry!! It used to do exactly the same thing, walk across the floor, and one day it went as far as pulling the hoses off the wall taps and flooding the kitchen!Every machine we've had since then has been fine, and our current Zanussi has been fantastic, very quiet and hardly even vibrates at all. I think it must be poor damping. I'd check the transit bars mentioned above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Had exactly the same problem, it's really frustrating.Got an engineer out to have a look. He ran it with no cloths in and it still did the same. Took the top off, snipped something inside which killed it and gave me a Devis saying it was not economical to repair and told me to claim off my insurance. Two weeks later I had a new machine that knew it's place and stayed there. We have AXA insurance, some say they are cr*p but I had my cheque in five days, it took longer for the new machine to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Department71 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 We have a top loader automatic in our home in the UK also in our home in France. The one in France doesn't move at all ( we have a solid tiled floor there) The one in the UK could win Strictly come dancing, it is sitting on a suspended wood floor. We tried one of those mats mentioned that's sold especially for washing machines, waste of money all it did was make the machine even more unsteady.I think the flexibility of the wood floor has something to do with the movement. We put some laminate floor strips around the bottom of the machine nailed to the floor, these hold it in place now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 If you have levelling feet on it you could try building a slight ramp under it inclined to the rear, relevel the machine with the feet and when it vibrates it wont want to walk uphill, it will probably bash hell out of your rear wall though.My bathroom like many I build is tiny and dose not have a mm to spare, the machine is enclosed all around by vertical and horizontal members of 28mm worktop, its such a tight fit that I had to wedge it in with my feet with my back against the wall behind.Not satisfied with that i then stood a 150litre ballon on a trépied on top of it, its fixed to the wall behind but all the weight goes down through the worktop onto the washing machine now that things have settled a bit, in short it is well and truly wedged in!Normally it does its business without any perceptible moise or vibration but when it gets a heavy unbalanced load it tries to bring the building down, the last time it ripped the connector clean off the motor, it was even harder to extricate than it was to push in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltamike Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 [quote user="tonyv"]Maybe stating the obvious, but you have removed the shipping locks?[/quote]Good point, I had exactly the same problem with the machine vibrating violently - it even loosened the worktop! Fault - forgot to remove the transit bolts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Me too. I had a machine delivered and installed by a local trader in the UK, and it waltzed all over the utility room. Got him back the same afternoon, and he removed the L-shaped transit brackets - which he should have thought to check when he installed it earlier.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've had the same problems with a dancing machine when we installed it out in the new utility room. Once we had installed a worktop over it and had a cupboard against it on both sides, it hasn't done it since. It drove me mental for a few weeks because it happened with every single wash and it is a large machine which wasn't cheap. We spent hours adjusting the feet and standing it on things but none of those worked yet when it was in the kitchen in the main house, it never moved at all and both rooms have a tiled floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Its a tiled concrete floor in there, and yes, the shipping screws have been removed!I guess a bit of rubber matting is all I can do really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 [quote user="dave21478"]Its a tiled concrete floor in there, and yes, the shipping screws have been removed!I guess a bit of rubber matting is all I can do really.[/quote]....AND the plastic doo-dads that the shipping bolts screw through?p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've had another thought... our previous machine (well-known make) worked well enough for about 4 years, then developed a fault whereby it tried to spin before all the water was out of it, which threw it out of balance and off it would go, doing a fair impression of Ann Widdicolme on Strictly..So...Has it always done this? Does it ever settle down (ie, when the load has spun most of the water out of it) ? My new machine is unbelievably still, but then it does have a gas tumble dry sitting on top of it !p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now