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Most of the time when your washer is making a noise that sounds like a freight train going ninety miles an hour you more than likely have a bearing issue, but not always. Sometimes it can just be a simple problem.
Last week I ran a call for a Maytag washer that was making a loud noise and the homeowners were almost sure the bearing was blown and had in fact already started looking for a replacement washer. However they had just had twins, so needless to say they weren’t looking to spend another sizable chunk of change to replace their washer, and they were frantic to get a working washer on premises.
Luckily this was one of those cases where the washing machine noise didn’t signal the end of the machine. All that had happened was that the bolt which held the main pulley in place had not been tightened properly when it was first assembled and had worked loose allowing the pulley to slip down and grind against the plastic protection cover. Luckily they had cut it off when they first heard the noise ( always a wise policy ) and so the parts had not been too badly damaged, I was able to put it all back together, tighten the bolt securely and get everything back to normal in about 45 minutes.
So we were able to get their home laundry back in business at a reasonable cost. Needless to say, they were happy!
The reason people jump to the conclusion when they hear their washer making noise is that this in most cases means that your tub bearings are going or are already gone. Usually when a washer reaches that point, it is a better investment to go ahead and purchase a new washer than to attempt replacing the bearings. A smart rule of thumb is that if it is going to be 50% of the cost of a new appliance to repair an old one, you’re probably better off going ahead and getting a new one.
However, it may be worth paying a tech the service charge to come out and verify that you do have a bearing problem, at least it was in this case.
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