Tonight I was relaxing in the living room watching tv when I heard a terrible commotion coming from the laundry room. When I asked my wife about it, she shrugged and said that it was just the old Kenmore washer acting up. I went to take a look and found the washer in its spin cycle shaking like crazy. The only way I could get it to stop shaking was to lean on it with my body weight. The Kenmore washer is about 10 years old. Is it something easily repairable or has it seen its better days? If I have a repair person make a house call, about how much should I expect to pay for the repair? Thanks for any advice.
It could be a spring that holds the drum or something along those lines. Expect to pay $100 or more for a service call, plus parts. At 10 years, it is nearing the end of its life, but could still work another 2 to 5 years too. How well does it clean?
It seems to clean well enough. My wife says now that it has been shaking like this for a long time. Guess I just wasn't paying any attention to the noise before. I hate to sink money into the old machine. Maybe we'll just keep using it as is and replace it when it doesn't work well anymore. Since it is only the two of us (kids are grown), it's used only once or twice a week anyway.
. Some washers seem more prone to unbalancing of the still wet clothes during spin cycle and then shake or even move around. Stop the machine and manually redistribute the clothes. But replacing that restraining spring should not be a big job?
And gee if it still washes ok you might avoid replacement by the purchase and installation of a $5 dollar part?
Our washer is now some 25+ years old and incorporates the tub from a washer that was thrown out** by a relative about ten years ago!
Noticed recently a slightly wonky timer contact? that sometimes causes the washer to not complete its spin cycle. Even if it's necessary to replace the timer we've got a scrapped one somewhere or can fix that contact of the existing timer for another four/five years use!
Our dryer btw is 44+ years old. We bought it when our first child, now the departmental manager of large company, was in diapers and they were freezing onto the clothes drying line back in 1962!
On the other hand if you are going to have to pay someone to repair it maybe just as well to buy new? Those Chines/Italians/Mexicans/Indians etc. make some pretty good stuff anyway. Cos even if your machine is 'assembled' in, say, North America, many of the components come from elsewhere. We were told by people within the appliance industry that one reason that** certain washers were scrapped some ten years ago was because of a bad batch of steel in the agitator shafts from IIRC, Brazil!
See if you can rock the machine. If you can, the fix may be as easy as adjusting the legs with a thin wrench to make the washer level. It should sit squarely on the floor with all four legs taking some appreciable weight. You should do this step anyway, even if it doesn't get rid of the shake.
Reach inside the machine and see if you can move the drum around equally in all directions. If the drum doesn't move as much in a certain direction, or it requires more/less effort to move it in a certain direction, there may be something blocking/broken/loose with the suspension system. The drum has to be free to move within limits to compensate for unbalanced loads. I've seen bolts and other debris wedge between pieces and prevent movement in that direction. If there is limited movement it might be any easy fix and if you're reasonably handy you might want to give it a go. Locate a specific manual online, or a DIY site to walk you through opening the machine up and troubleshooting.
Service calls aren't cheap, and an older machine might not be worth the expenditure. Call up Sears appliance repair service - they'll tell you the specific costs and conditions of service.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.