Yikes! Washing machine expelled a white plastic ring

[Skylark]

Help! My 6-year-old Hoover WA100 (Performa 1100) ate a bra wire Thurs morning. It made a terrible metallic clanking noise while spinning. At first I thought it was just a jeans zip, but it was too loud. I stopped the machine, extracted the clothes and noticed a wire missing from my bra. No sign of the wire itself. Also, in amongst the clothes was a narrow, stiff yet flexible white plastic ring that closes with a set of little teeth. Suspiciously, it is about the diameter of the drum where it meets the door seal. I am afraid to run the machine now in case it floods my downstairs neighbour, so I don't know whether it still works.

What is the plastic ring and will the machine work ok without it? Can I put it back in myself? Is there any way I can get in and find/remove the bra wire?

Thanks, Skylark (drowning in dirty laundry)

[Skylark]

Help! My 6-year-old Hoover WA100 (Performa 1100) ate a bra wire Thurs morning. It made a terrible metallic clanking noise while spinning. At first I thought it was just a jeans zip, but it was too loud. I stopped the machine, extracted the clothes and noticed a wire missing from my bra. No sign of the wire itself. Also, in amongst the clothes was a narrow, stiff yet flexible white plastic ring that closes with a set of little teeth. Suspiciously, it is about the diameter of the drum where it meets the door seal. I am afraid to run the machine now in case it floods my downstairs neighbour, so I don't know whether it still works.

What is the plastic ring and will the machine work ok without it? Can I put it back in myself? Is there any way I can get in and find/remove the bra wire?

Thanks, Skylark (drowning in dirty laundry)

[Guy King]

The message from "Skylark" contains these words:

It sounds a lot like the retaining ring that holds the seal to either the drum or the porthole. Personally I'd pull the machine out and tip it up and investigate.

[Graham]

I would buy a new bra Alison.

-- Graham.

[Skylark]

Ho ho ho!

Have been tempted to try putting the white plastic thing into a bra. It was a sort of fairy exchange. You put something in, get something else back.

Do you have any more practical suggestions, though?

S

[Skylark]

Forgive me, but what good will tipping it up do? Is the access to the door or drum from the back? (Difficult to do unless absoutely necessary, in which case will ask friend to help.)

[Guy King]

The message from "Skylark" contains these words:

Actually, the more I think about it, the less I think it can be the seal retaining strap. They're outside the rubber, not inside.

[The Medway Handyman]

If you are not familiar with the innards of a washing machine, it has an outer drum - which stays still, and an inner drum which spins. A rubber seal between the outer drum and the door stops the water getting out.

Said bra wire is between the inner & outer drums. It will eventualy find its way into one of the holes in the inner drum, poke through, get jammed and start shredding whatever you wash - it has to be removed. I speak from experience! It happened to our machine twice.

Get one of those mesh bags to wash bra's in future. If a wire come loose the bag stops it getting away.

It sounds like it might hold the door seal. Without it the machine might well leak badly.

First, feel around the inside of the drum. You might find it sticking through and may be able to pull it out with pliers.

If not to remove the bra wire you have to remove the door seal and if lucky you might get at it. If not the front of the machine has to come off and the front of the outer drum has to be removed.

HTH

[<me9]

The soap dispenser outlet has an internal retainer in ours. It's much larger, has a flange, and can only be extracted from above.

[Skylark]

Thanks to all who replied. It seems most likely that this is the retaining ring that holds the door seal against the outer metal skin of the machine. The ring goes into a groove there of just the right size, and its little angled teeth lock it nicely at about 7pm.

Though how it got in with the laundry is a mystery, for the (closed) porthole should have kept it firmly in place and excluded it from the drum...

I have run the machine, watching it carefully, and it did not leak. Nor the the spinning noise recur, so the bra wire must have got lodged somewhere harmless (for now?!).

This does make me suspicious that it might have come from somewhere else. But I don't see where, because the door seal is well connected to the outer drum and the door. The only other suitable-looking place I can see is the inner edge of the door seal, where it mates with the drum. Is a locking/sealing ring needed there?

Skylark