washing machines

I was sitting eating my lunch in my kitchen yesterday, with the
washing machine going.

I heard a sort of trickle sound, which quickly became a gushing sound
and noticed water pissing out of the bottom of the door. I quickly
grabbed a towel which happened to be handy, and shoved it on the floor
in front of the machine, which I switched off, turned the selector to
drain, and then turned back on again. So, not too much of a mess (good
job it happened at lunchtime).

Anyway, when it drained, and I opened the door, I see there's a 3cm
chunk missing from the outside edge of the door seal - that'll explain
the leak then. I presume it's been weakened over the years, and
something like a trouser waist button caught and ripped it.

Anyway, the machine's a 6 year old Bosch, that's survived a house
move, and never had any other problems. Is it worth paying someone to
fit a new door seal at whatever this costs (I'd guess somewhere
between 50 and 100 quid), or just buy a new machine?

If the latter, any recommendations? It's hard finding reviews for
white goods on the net, because searches seem to mainly bring up price
comparison engines.

I was thinking this:

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/...nsale2M&cm_pla=product&cm_ite=hotpointwasher#

Anyone got one, or any other recommendations at a similar price?

 

Personally I'd go for the seal.


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my concern is whether this is the start of a general decline - I don't
want to pay x to repair it, and then something else goes wrong in 6
months time requiring a further outlay of cash.

 

Seconded. A seal is 5 quid on Ebay and it is verging on a DIY job. On
the other hand, darsy could get Pimlico plumbers in.

PF
news.demon.co.uk FUBAR

 

Not IME of Bosch gear. Our WF2000 had to have a new seal, but is still
going stong after nearly 10 years.

PF
news.demon.co.uk FUBR

 

I found http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/ a pretty good source of
information recently.

And Bosch door seals don't appear to be silly amounts of money...

http://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/index.php?cPath=24_596_949

Might be worth attempting to fit one yourself.

 

Unlikely. Bosch & Miele are consistently the most reliable washing
machines, whilst your linked choice (Hotpoint) is consistently the most
unreliable, along with Hoover & Dyson.

I'd give Bosch customer services a call & say how disappointed you are
with such a premature failure, given Bosch's reputation. They may well
do a freebie good will repair, or at least cover the cost of parts.

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Six years old? What sort of energy rating does it have? If it's AA I'd
go for the seal. OTOH new machines use much less leccy and much less
water. If the latter is metered a new one may pay for itself in reduced
utility bills quite quickly. Just my 2p.

 

Might be worth going down to your local library and seeing if there's
a recent Which? test.

 

OK, noted - it has been fine otherwise.

that's a good idea - cheers.

 

heh.

 

brilliant - thanks.

me?

heh.

 

no idea.

water isn't metered, but with 4 people in the house, including two
teenage boys, the machine is on pretty much constantly at the weekend.
I'll check out the rating (I'm sure we still have the manual etc.
somewhere).

 

They are easy to fit , i replaced one on my machine last year shouldnt
take you more than 20 minutes

Got my seal from bosch servivce department , it even came with idiot
proof fitting instructions

--

 

When our old machine split a pipe at the back, I went to one of those
online washing machine spares places, identified the part, ordered it,
waited 24 hours for delivery, and fitted it. I was amazed how easy it
was. If you google on this ng there's a posting about it.

But if Bosch sends them out with fitting instructions, yeah, go for
it. The worst that can happen is that it still leaks and then you can
GAMI.

Our machine subsequently died with other ailments, but then it was 15
years old or summat. Replaced recently with a Bosch.

 

FFS, I'll fit it for 100. You'll have to supply the part though.

 

I had a door seal go on a 10-y-o[1] Zanussi, which I then fitted
myself. Required no more than a screwdriver and a pair of pliers for a
circlip or two, IIRC. Certainly became obvious how to do it, once I'd
got the top off. Seal was sourced at around a tenner, again IIRC, and
duly fitted, from which point on the machine was in weekly use for at
least another ten years.

Of course, with no kids it wouldn't get the sort of usage that your's
may, but from my experience I'd say it's definitely worthwhile having
a go yourself - after all, what have you got to lose? If it's fucked
atm you're hardly going to make it worse if you fail to fit the new
seal correctly.

[1] Just a guess, but I'd had it for 'ages'.
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I have come to exactly that conclusion - thanks everyone.

 

That's quite wierd, as Hotpoint and Bosch always used to be simple
rebranding of the same machines. May have changed now, of course, but
even at a cursory glance of their various offerings the resemblance
was obvious.

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Are you sure?

Until relatively recently Hotpoint was a GEC/Marconi brand. It's now 50%
owned by Indesit.

I've got a GEC era Hotpoint and it looks nothing like anything in the Bosch
range.

The "quality" brand that Hotpoint is allied to is Ariston