I repair it myself: why doesn’t the washing machine spin the clothes?

Modern household appliances are a necessary condition for a comfortable life. Therefore, when my wife reported that the washing machine did not spin out the clothes after washing, I had to quickly take action. A search for information on the Internet showed that you will have to pay 1200–1500 rubles to call a specialist. Since there was no extra money, I decided to try to cope with the problem on my own.

First step: causes of malfunction

I decided to start working with the washing machine by studying the user manual for the model, as well as thematic sites on the Internet. After studying this material, I learned that the fact that the machine has stopped spinning things is not always due to malfunctions.

Here are the reasons for insufficient spin, which can be easily eliminated without calling a specialist:

• Drum overload. If you push too much laundry, its weight will create excess load on the axle. To avoid its breakdown, the electronic control board will block the spin program or prevent the machine from working at full capacity.
  
• Error when selecting mode. Some models do not have a spin cycle for delicate or hand washing. You can find out whether the machine spins clothes in a particular mode by reading the instructions.
• Accidentally pressed the “Do not press!” button. Most automatic machines have such a button on the control panel. If it is pressed (by mistake or due to a child's prank), the electronic unit will skip the spin cycle and the laundry in the drum will remain wet.

Loading too lightly can also cause the spin program to fail. This occurs due to the imbalance of the drum. The sensor cannot adequately estimate the weight of the laundry in this situation, and therefore does not allow starting the spin cycle.

After reading all this information, I decided to observe the machine. Alas, even when performing all the actions strictly according to the instructions, the laundry in the drum remained wet. This means that the solution to the problem had to be sought in some kind of malfunction.

Second step: clean the filter

The next problem that can lead to stagnation of water in the drum and insufficient spinning of the laundry can be a clogged drain system. If debris has accumulated in the filter or drain pipe, water will have trouble leaving the system. This problem cannot be ignored: over time, the blockage will become denser, the water will begin to find its way, and it is not a fact that it will not leak out.

The first thing I did was open the door on the front panel and pull out the drain filter. I won’t say that it is very dirty, but it is better to do this operation with rubber gloves. You need to wash the filter regularly: with this simple procedure you will extend the life of your machine.

I was just as easy to check the connection to the drain siphon, but I had to tinker with the drain pipe. This video found on Youtube helped:

In this video you will see the procedure for cleaning the drain system on an LG machine. With its help, I was able to drain the remaining water from the system, pull out the drain filter, and then get to the attachment point of the pipe. After this, the part can be easily disconnected, checked for blockages and cleaned if necessary.

You can move and turn over the car alone, but it is better to ask someone for help.Without an assistant, it can be difficult to handle a heavy and not very grippy unit.

Third step: check the control board

All processes that the machine carries out during washing are controlled by a control board. It is relatively easy to get to, but only professional repairmen can diagnose, let alone repair, the “brains” of your machine.

All work on checking the control board can only be carried out after completely disconnecting the machine from the network!

Since my machine was connected through a regular tee without a surge protector, I decided to check the integrity of the board. To get to it, I had to do this:

1. Remove the top cover of the machine.
2. Remove the detergent dispenser by pressing the latches.
3. Remove the screws securing the dashboard.
4. Remove the panel by pressing the plastic latches.

Visually, I did not detect any swollen or melted elements, so I put everything back together and moved on to checking the next unit.

Fourth step: checking and replacing the pressure switch

A pressure switch (level switch) is a part that should inform the control system board about problems with water drainage. If damaged, this part may produce false signals. Then the “brain” of the machine will not give the spin command. You can get to this part from the bottom of the machine.

There are two types of pressure switches: mechanical and electronic. Depending on the design, they are checked in different ways:

• To check a mechanical device, you will need a tester with a ringing mode. Inside the relay, one pair of contacts is closed in a quiet position. If you blow lightly into the tube of the device, the second pair of contacts will close instead of the first (this is accompanied by a click). If you don’t hear a click, it means the pressure switch has failed.
  
• It is difficult to check an electronic pressure switch.The test requires an oscilloscope, which is unlikely to be found on the household of a person who does not repair household appliances at a professional level. Therefore, the only available test method is to install a known-good relay.

I was lucky: my friend has the same machine, and he kindly allowed me to remove the pressure switch from it and use it to test my machine. The replacement confirmed the suspicions: with a known-good relay, the machine worked the given program, completed the spin cycle on time and efficiently squeezed water out of things. All that remains is a trifle: order a new pressure switch online and install it in place of the burnt unit.

Useful information about repairing a washing machine yourself

Finally, I want to share some useful information that I found while I was sorting out my washing machine. For convenience, I have organized this knowledge into question-answer pairs.

What the machine can report: error codes for LG, Samsung, Indesit

Finally, I will give the main error codes that are used by the most common manufacturers on the Russian market:

I hope that my story will be useful to everyone who is faced with spin malfunctions in their washing machine. Good luck with your renovation!