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AIBU?

to ask you what on earth I am doing to my washing machines...

18 replies

whoneedssleepanyway · 29/04/2013 12:39

I am now on washing machine number 5 in 10 years.....

When we bought our house 10 years ago we inheritted a machine, it was quite old and packed up after a year so we bought a new one.

This one caught fire 4 years later and so we moved onto machine number 3.

Number 3 was awful, it was cheap but very noisy, 3 years later after we moved house it flooded the place so we moved onto machine number 4.

Machine number 4 has just packed up whilst in warranty thank god so they are replacing it but the repair man said he had never seen a machine this young and this particular brand have such a terrible fault (whole drum would have needed replacing and wasn't worth repairing hence providing a new machine).

I don't do a crazy amount of washing probably maximum 10 loads a week. My mum says it is how I use my machine, I don't do 1 or 2 loads a day but will say do 3 loads 3 days a week but I am sure lots of people do this too.

Other than that I can't think why I have such bad luck Angry

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Mabelface · 29/04/2013 12:42

Which brands are you buying? I do shitloads of washing and my machines last me a long time.

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whoneedssleepanyway · 29/04/2013 12:45

Number 2 (fire) and Number 4 (drum needs replacing) were both Bosch....number 3 was Hotpoint. Number 1 can't remember....

What brand do you use Madlizzy?

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Mabelface · 29/04/2013 12:49

I've got a hotpoint aqualtis and it's brilliant. It gets overloaded occasionally and a bit battered generally, but we've had it for a good 4 years and it's going strong. We had a Whirlpool before that (when Philips still made them) and that lasted 7 years. I've got 4 kids so we go through a lot of washing.

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MrsLettuce · 29/04/2013 12:49

Could you be massively overloading them? Confused

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WMittens · 29/04/2013 12:51

Could it be something to do with the environment it is in? Excessively dusty, not on a level surface, not enough cooling? I don't know if the latter would even be an issue, but as you say you sometimes do 3 loads a day, it might be generating more heat and wearing out quicker.

Other than that, is it the size of the loads? If it's a 6Kg capacity, do you always fill it with 6ish Kg?

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UnChartered · 29/04/2013 12:51

it can be due to a number of things

over loading, really hard water, power surges, even just bad luck

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SavoyCabbage · 29/04/2013 12:53

You must be putting too much stuff in. Or it's a series of unfortunate events.

If you were doing a wash that solely consisted of school sweatshirts, how many would you put in? Disclaimer-I don't know the right answer.

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Bunbaker · 29/04/2013 12:54

Wow! That's unlucky. We had had two washing machines in 31 years of marriage. First one was Zanussu and the current one is a Bosch, is at least 10 years old and never needed reapairing. I do about 4 washes a week.

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Fairylea · 29/04/2013 12:58

My dh used to be a washing machine engineer. He says most problems are caused by overloading, not using a hot wash once a week to clean out mould etc (you can do this whilst washing bedding or towels ) and also using liquid detergents which build up in the system. He recommends Bold powder as it one of the only ones that is clay based so breaks down easily in the machine and doesn't build up. Liquid detergents also encourage mould which can rot the machinery of the machine.

But it could just be very bad luck !

We have a Hoover machine and I love it :)

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whoneedssleepanyway · 29/04/2013 13:06

Maybe I do over-load it...not sure on the school sweatshirt thing but I would say a full load would be:

Super king douvet cover, super king fitted sheet and 2 pillow cases....that surely isn't too much.

Whilst I do some big loads (towels etc) I do some small loads which definitely aren't full.

Maybe less is more in this case so will be careful not to put too much in but could I really have done that much damage to my existing machine in a year?

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ExcuseTypos · 29/04/2013 13:12

We have super king bedding and I do 2 loads. One for e duvet cover and then one for the sheets and pillow cases.

I found I had to really cram it in if I did it all together. I worried it wasn't all getting washed properly.

We also have huge bath sheet towels. I only do a couple on each load.

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badtasteyoni · 29/04/2013 13:15

No idea but you will hate me - I have had the same one for the last ten years, it was the cheapest I could see in the shop at the time. I probably do a load every two or three days and stuff it so full I have to force the door shut. And I live in a hardwater area and have never used descaler in it.

But I have had four tumble dryers die on me.

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Mspontipine · 29/04/2013 13:17

'Super king douvet cover, super king fitted sheet and 2 pillow cases' that sounds way underloaded to me - is that your prob?

I usually stuff mine and I'm on my 3rd ever machine in 22 years (1st one was 8 years old when we got it. Usually do approx 6 washes/week.

As for the sweatshirts - I'd say about 12. If it fits it's in for me Grin

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forevergreek · 29/04/2013 13:19

We just fit a kind size duvet/ sheet and pillow cases but machine is 9kg. Any smaller and it would be two loads

I would say overloading when you mention the drum breaking. 10 super full loads sounds a fair bit. We only do 4 ish with a large drum but there's plenty of space left in each so it can move and wash.

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diamondee · 29/04/2013 13:23

I do (at least) 2 loads a day full, but not jammed it. I've had my machine about 5 years. I'd guess you were over loading as well

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whoneedssleepanyway · 29/04/2013 13:31

So single size bedding would you say 1 douvet cover, 1 fitted sheet and 1 pillow case is a load or would you say you could do two lots of that (I have an 8kg machine).

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Rooble · 29/04/2013 13:31

We get through lots too. Ours is in a fitted kitchen and the kitchen fitters didn't really allow enough space for it - apparently not enough ventilation (?) space at the back, so we're on about the 4th in 7 years. We're really constrained about what we can ever use as a replacement, too. As a result I dream of moving to a house with a utility room. Never imagined my life would come to this!!

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Fayrazzled · 29/04/2013 13:38

I do about 10 loads a week and when I bouht my last washing machine they told me that counts as semi-professional use (as opposed to just domestic!) I bought a Miele and it has been fab. 10 year guarantee too. The price of it I expect it to last 20 years though. I had a Bosch before which lasted 7 years and the build quality of the Miele is much much better.

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