The washing machine wasn’t broken
It wouldn’t drain, it was eleven years old, and we’d already looked at new ones. Then I took the filter out. There was a 2p, a hair clip and something I have chosen not to identify.
Anna had already looked at new ones. There were two tabs open on the laptop and a conversation had been had about whether we could stretch to the one with the bigger drum.
The machine was eleven. It had stopped mid-cycle with about a third of a drum of water in it, and it had done the same thing twice the week before, and both times I had run it again on a different programme to see whether it would sort itself out.
It does not sort itself out. Nothing sorts itself out. I know this and I did it anyway, twice, because running it again is free and getting on the floor with a torch is not.
The filter
There is a small door at the bottom front of nearly every front-loading machine. Ours had a laundry basket in front of it and had done for about four years.
Behind it is the pump filter, and behind the filter is everything that has been in a pocket since the machine was installed. Ours had a 2p, a hair clip, three screws that are definitely mine, a quantity of dog hair that I would describe as structural, and one object that I looked at for a while and then put in the bin without further investigation.
Ten minutes. The machine is fifteen now and still going.
Do this bit properly
Turn it off at the wall.
Then put a towel down and a shallow tray, a roasting tin, something like that. Beside the filter on most machines there is a short hose with a bung in it — that is there specifically so you can drain it in a controlled way, and it is the thing I did not use.
What I did was unscrew the filter, in one movement, with nothing on the floor. I would estimate four litres. It went under the units and it went under the cooker and I was still finding it three days later, and Anna, who had come in at the noise, said nothing at all, which was worse.
Release the hose first. Fill the tray, empty the tray, fill the tray again. Then the filter.
What I’d say to anybody about an old appliance
Age is not a diagnosis. Eleven years old is not a fault, it is a number, and the two get confused constantly because the shops have an interest in confusing them.
Find the model number — it’s on a sticker inside the door on ours — and put it into a search along with what’s happening. Somebody will have had it. Half the time it’s the filter and it’s free; a decent proportion of the rest is a pump, which is usually under thirty quid and about half an hour if you’re not in a rush.
I’ve no arrangement with anybody and I’m not recommending a brand. Ours is a Bosch, which I mention only because when I searched the model number I found a video of a man doing this exact job on the exact machine, and that is worth more than any review.
The diary
Every six months now, same week as the smoke alarms — and, since that winter, the same week Anna goes through the medicine drawer. It takes five minutes when it’s routine.
Anna closed the tabs.
Things people email to ask
- Why is my washing machine not draining?
- A blocked filter, most of the time. Coins, hair clips, screws and bits of tissue collect in the pump filter behind a little door at the bottom front of the machine, and once it is blocked the machine cannot empty and will usually stop mid-cycle with water in the drum. Check that before you consider anything more serious — it takes ten minutes and no tools.
- How do you clean a washing machine filter?
- Turn the machine off at the wall, put a towel and a shallow tray in front of it, and open the small hatch at the bottom. Most machines have a short drain hose beside the filter — release that first and let the water out into the tray, refilling as needed, before you unscrew the filter itself. Then clear it, rinse it, and screw it back in firmly.
- How often should you clean the filter?
- Every six months is plenty for most households, more often if you have children who leave things in pockets or a dog that sheds. Ours is in the diary alongside checking the smoke alarms, which is the only reason it happens at all. It is a five-minute job when it is routine and a two-hour job when it is an emergency.
- Is an eleven-year-old washing machine worth repairing?
- Usually yes, and age on its own tells you very little. Ours was eleven when it stopped draining and it is fifteen now. Before you replace anything, find the model number, search the fault with it, and check what the part costs — a pump is often under thirty pounds and half an hour’s work. Replacing a machine that needed a filter cleaned is the expensive version of not looking.
Tom
Carpenter. Writes when something in the house breaks and he has an opinion about why. Types with two fingers, which is why there are fewer of his.
If this was any use
The chair I fixed four times
Three of those fixes were wrong and one of them was wrong in a way that took a year to show up. What I should have done on the first evening, written down so I stop doing it.
Three tools fix nine things out of ten
People ask me what to buy and expect a list of twenty. It’s three, plus a torch, and the money is better spent on one decent version of each than on a set of forty in a plastic case.
The radiator that was cold at the top
Cold at the top, hot at the bottom. Anna had put a jumper on and mentioned it twice and I had said I’d look at it, twice, over about five weeks. It took four minutes and a fifty-pence key.
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