Washing machine problem

hoody

The GF in her infinite wisdom put some couch throws in the washing machine, not sure what material they were but they left behind pound after pound of fluff behind them. This stuff has been clogging up the drains since, no matter how often I clean the filter etc.

From shining a torch around inside the drum, I can see that there's loads more of this stuff sitting between the inner and outer drum, which will obviously continue clog up the machine every time I turn it on. At this stage I've turned on the machine about 10 times, only for it to stop when full, meaning I have to turn it off and physically drain the water, clean the filter, and mop the floor.

Any ideas as to how I'm going to get rid of this stuff without dismantling the WM? Have tried vacuuming it but no joy with that... any thoughts?

steamengine

hoody wrote: »

The GF in her infinite wisdom put some couch throws in the washing machine, not sure what material they were but they left behind pound after pound of fluff behind them. This stuff has been clogging up the drains since, no matter how often I clean the filter etc.

From shining a torch around inside the drum, I can see that there's loads more of this stuff sitting between the inner and outer drum, which will obviously continue clog up the machine every time I turn it on. At this stage I've turned on the machine about 10 times, only for it to stop when full, meaning I have to turn it off and physically drain the water, clean the filter, and mop the floor.

Any ideas as to how I'm going to get rid of this stuff without dismantling the WM? Have tried vacuuming it but no joy with that... any thoughts?

Do you have any where out of doors where you could bring the machine to flush out the drum ? Fill the drum with a hose (or bucket) through the door and remove the filter to drain and repeat until it's clear. Prop the machine back at a reasonable angle to get the max amount of water in, then close the door. Return it to the upright position and remove the filter - repeat. Can't guarantee anything but I reckon it's worth a try !!!

Solair

Just keep flushing it out. There's not a whole lot more you can do.

On older machines it's possible, but extremely difficult and expensive, to open the outer drum and clean it out.

On new machines, this may not even be possible.

The best you can do is just rinse and rinse.

If that doesn't work, and it's just totally gunked up. You might be better off just buying a new machine!

If it's some kind of synthetic material, run a very hot wash after you've degunked as much as you can. It might cause the fibres to shrivel up and be pumped away.

(Do not do this and leave the machine unattended as it could fail to drain)

If the machine does not empty after the hot wash, leave it over night and empty then - There is a very serious risk of scalding yourself if you open the filter and it contains near-boiling water.

knighted_1

flushing it out through the filter is pointless

you must disconnect the sump from underside of outer drum (easy) and flush to get maximum amount of fluff out (powerhose if you have one )

reason is there is a floating ball system that wont let most of the fluff pass by to reach the filter

you probably wont get all the fluff out ever by using this method as it tends to clog atound bearing and shaft .only way is to split drum ,depends on make and model