Why is my washing machine going crazy?

[Kittybythelighthouse]

Hi, I got a new washing machine (Samsung adwash) and it is going NUTS every time it gets to the spin cycle. It is dancing all over the floor and actually managed to burst a pipe by pulling it away from the wall. Why is this happening and who do I call to fix it? Plumber? Or is it a warranty issue/fault with the machine? It washes wonderfully and is a good machine that came highly recommended, so I suspect it’s a balance issue. We tried stabilising the legs, I even got a spirit level. We even tried a stabilising shock absorber mat but it’s still going absolutely wild in the spin cycle. I just want to wash all these clothes 😭 any ideas? We’ve just had the floor retiled during a pretty major renovation and I worry that the floor is not level. That’s a possibility as the builders were absolute cowboys. Any and all help gratefully received!

I think there are circular feet on screws underneath mine that were adjusted to make mine balanced when new. Leaning the machine side to side you may see these underneath. Also I put some padding at the top.

Thank you. We already tried the adjustable legs and even bought a spirit level to make sure we got it level. No dice. It’s still dancing and when I ‘dancing’ I mean full on waltzing 10/10 on strictly type dancing, moving several feet by itself. Not just an annoying wobble or whatever. It’s extreme.

We got a shock absorber mat that’s specifically made for this but I thought I supposed to put it on top rather than underneath? I can be clueless about this kind of thing sometimes but I assumed underneath?

Who installed it? You need to get them back!

Have you taken the bolts out that are used for holding the drum still when transporting it?
If you haven’t then it will dance across the floor and be such a racket.
Also it will damage your machine.

I was just coming on to suggest what the PP did. It’ll be the packing bolts.

Omg! Maybe it’s that. Where would those bolts be? How can I find them? My husband installed it himself - long story but our builders were really terrible. We had paid for curry’s to install but the builder told the guy he would do it because they hadn’t yet finished tiling 6 weeks deep into a supposed 2 weeks job, of course he never did do it and left us totally in the lurch with a terrible renovation and no washing machine or dishwasher installed even though installation had been paid for for both.

They’re at the back of the machine. Ours did the same thing, installers had left half the bolts in

Not my photo but to give you an idea

Flipping heck. How did I never know about this? I have read so many posts about this issue and not a one suggested this! I’ll look into that first thing. I’m 100000% sure it must be that as we didn’t take the back off. Had no idea you have to do that

Have a look and see if it's the transit bolts. They are easy to remove. If they have already been taken call Samsung. They will get an engineer out.
You will need probably need the model and serial numbers when you ring.

Thanks so much. As we were the ones to take the packaging off and we didn’t touch any bolts at the back it is probably that. If not it is a brand new machine so hopefully Samsung can send an engineer.

You don’t need to take the back off, just remove the bolts. They’re to hold the drum steady when the machine is in transit. So it’s trying to rotate the drum at 1200rpm or whatever whilst the bolts are trying to hold it in place, hence the jumping about. You should be able to just pull the washing machine out and unscrew them

Thanks GingerAndTheBiscuits I will have a look in the morning 🙂

What if your machine does this but has previously been fine? Mine does now, and it's not new.

@bitoffun that’s probably the bearings on the drum if it’s not new. If it’s loud but less movement than described here, just dancing and not gymnastics across the kitchen. Unfortunately very expensive to fix.

@bitoffun - if it is not the bearings (you may also get a grinding noise with this) it may be that one of the springs that support the drum has come unhooked or has broken. If you can get the top off the washing machine (sometimes just two screws at the back and the top slides off) you can look inside and see if the drum is supported correctly. Another indication of a broken / disconnected support can be the the drum does not appear central in the door and so the rubber seal is askew.

Something to investigate, thank you!

It will be the transit bolts. How many times have you used it with them still in.

We had this issue. DH insisted he didn't need to look at manual before plumbing it in. Then it went beserk and jumped it's way out of the space between the units, breaking a side panel and causing DH to try to hang onto it as it leapt across the room. He shouted 'its possessed...turn it off' - with hindsight it was hysterical. He was a bit sheepish (only a bit) when looking in the manual revealed REMOVE TRANSIT BOLTS in huge letters.

Op, do come back and tell us if it was that. I'm sure we didn't have them on the last machine we bought but that will have been 15 years ago, but perhaps they have always existed and the delivery man usually removes them....certainly if you have the plumbing in service as part of the delivery, the fitter would remove them.

Oh and keep the transit bolts once removed. If you move house, they go back in for the move....they can cost £20 to replace.

Is it pathetic that I’m dying to know the outcome of this? Hope it all went worked out OP?

If so, then I'm pathetic too...

Transport bolts for sure. They're still on and need to not be.....