Hotpoi nt Aquarius WMF 760 - Qs.

Just another EU directive like the Vacuum Cleaner one.

no. Try John Lewis.

The Bosch WAX32GH4GB is 1600rpm.

A quick check on Google brings up

ao.com has filter to select 1500rpm and above.

Why? It not too bad a job, the bearing kit, including seal can be had for less the £20. I did it a few months ago..

I think that one that one (most later Hotpoints) you have to replace the drum. A few years ago, that was about £130. I got a fixed price repair from Hotpoint for under £100.

Not seen any EU limit on spin speed. There are EU limits on noise during spin, and on total power consumption per wash cycle.

"Ye Cannae Change the Laws of Physics." So spin speed (and drum diameter) affects spin efficiency. How much that matters depends on how you dry the clothes - and how much you care about wrinkles.

All covered by the science group that did the research on WMs and TDs for the EU's Directive on labelling etc

FFS why do you need a Directive on Labelling?

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Have since discovered there are plenty of 1600 rpm washers around. Including what looks like a drop-in replacement for the Hotpoint we have. From Hotpoint - the "Hotpoint NSWM 965C W UK N 9kg 1600rpm Washing Machine - White".

With 13 years behind it, and a replaced readily available, the challenge of DIYing it seems a bit extreme. The video I saw makes it clear it is not a trivial exercise. And with the need to reseal, the risk to reward ratio doesn't make sense.

The fact we've run it on average 3 times a week for 13 years seems to rebut any suggestions that 1,600 is a Bad Thing. Especially when you factor in the %age less water entering the atmosphere to dry.

My remaining question is the piece of string one about how long from noticing the bearing noise to failure ? If this was car wheel bearing I know the answer is thousands of miles (the noise would make it impossible to drive before the wheel fell off .....). This affects whether it's worth waiting for a sale or something similar (Black Friday ?).

Difficult to tell. Bearing failure often means the seal has failed, which means that grease etc. might come the other way.

I would probably wait until Black Friday, although there are good prices from the likes of Appliances Direct and ao.com, often with next day delivery.

A long time ago, when I had a bearing fail on a Hotpoint the first sign was black grease marks on the washed clothes.

Manufacturers might otherwise advertise e.g. "Our washing machine uses only 0.9 firkins of water and .7 kBTU" - those being the figures for a short, cold woollens cycle. Think of the arts students!

I try not to. Anyone that stupid deserves to get ripped off.

It affects performance. I'm not sure it improves efficiency.

Higher speed does give more wrinkling. I can't think of any drying method that's a problem at 1200 but not 1600rpm.

I've not seen that, got a link or keywords? I'm wondering if they looked at spin speed's effect on machine life.

How do you deduce the bearings are going? My old hover went as the bearing got water in it and started to rust, however the Service that followed it eventually failed due to the pcb and sequencer blowing themselves up. Thus far, the Panasonic seems to be more reliable in these areas, but its getting more difficult to find them with proper knobs so blind people can use them. I think shortly, the rubber seal round the drum might need to be replaced though. Brian