Washing machine troubles

The belt has come of on my parents washing machine, the problem the thread of the old belt as rapped itself round the spindle on the motor, and it seems impossible to get off? I can't really replace the belt until I get the old lot off.

Anybody got any ideas?

Also do washing makers really think they can stop consumers opening them up by fitting the screws with star type screw heads? It took me seconds to get all the panels off

 

try a scalpel or craft knife and keep cutting until belt falls away.

The star type screws you talk of nare more commonly known as "Torx"

BTW make sure you get the tension correct when reffiting old belt.

 

I got if of using a pin in the end, the old belt is fit for nothing so I will have to buy a replacement, they are only £10 or so though. How do you adjust the tension because there dosn't seem to be any way of tensioning it. It is just literly two very crude pulleys, one on the motor, and a large one attached to the drum, there dosn't even seem to any proper bearings, although I assume there must be some.

I've never seen such a basic washing machine before, but we bought a simple £200 one on the basis that there can't be much to go wrong, its certainly been more reliable than any £400 hotpoints we have had.

PS I forget the name of those screws. It is not very often I come across them.

 

There may not be any tension adjustment in it, but if it does have, then mosy likely you would move motor on cam similar to tightening alternator belt on a car.

 

Had to repair our washing machine last month as the bearings finally fell apart and the belt on it had no adjustment. So I just put the old one back around the pulleys and it hasn't come off yet.

 

the motor housing probably has a sliding mount for the feet,.
The simple pulley setup is there because that is all it needs.

 

Would have thought there would be some adjustment if only to facilitate easy belt removal/refitting.

 

On mine the motor simply slid in to some mounting points on the drum housing, held there with four bolts and had no adjustments. I'm thinking that there is no adjustment needed as all the washing machines come off the production line the same and so long as the belt is correct for the model then the tension will already be 'built in'. It was not a problem getting the belt on or off.

 

Our washing machine is very cheap, after lots of unreliable crappy hotpoints we decided to buy a very basic cheap make washing machine as a lot of parts are shared withthe more expensive flashier models, but electrical and machanicaly its a lot more simple.

All there is to our washing machine is a very simple timer, a pump, an element, inlet valves and of course the drive motor, oh and I think it has a heater.

Its going to be a nightmare finding what belt it needs though, the writing on the old belt has gone when the bellt threaded itself to pieces, and I checked on the internet and nobody seems to sell the belt for our machine, but its fairly new, so I am hopeing the shop will be able to cross reference it.

 

you need make, model and possibly serial number. The supplier or manufacturer will be able to supply part number from that info. If the appliance is under 7 years old spares will be available.

 

blimey AM - whats your surname..? - Steptoe..?


only joking...

 

Fixed it now, the belt was the snap on type so we had to use screwdrivers to pull it over the pulley and then quickly spin the pulley and it went into place. It was quite difficult to to though, it seems to work fine though.

Cost £19 for a bit of rubber, no wonder they make more money of spares than they of the actual washing machines them selves.

 

if they're 6 pointed stars they're called Torx

 

my view with washing machines is buy one, wait for it to go wrong then buy another. they seem to last six/seven years.

 

You're lucky but then we do have the washimg machine on about 3 times a day. This is kind of what we do, but my biggest problem with this is the evironment, usualy all a washing machine needs is a new timer, pump or belt. However I suppose after a 7 years you might just fancy a new one anyway.

I know we're on hour second washing machine since 1998, and he have had our current one for two years.

Its the same problem with cars, its amazing how well older cars can run when they are well looked after, my dads car is 10 years old now, has 82,500 miles on the clock, but it still runs like new. Yet some people literly through cars like this away.

Its not that stuff dosn;t last these days, if anything things are built much better now, but it never seems ecomonical to get things fixed. I have done it myself, I have thrown out broken TVs when all they need is a new input control micropressor.

 

And you use the machine 3 times a day

 

Not me, my mum does