Common Appliance Faults - What to Look Out For?

White goods are fairly cheap these days and a washing machine or dishwasher is no longer considered to be a luxury for most families. We can visit out local store or go shopping online and pick up a cheap washing machine or tumble dryer. All being well, it will then be delivered in a couple of days. Unfortunately, cheap is not necessarily cheerful as most modern appliances last no more than a few years.

Appliance services and safety checks are available and are definitely worth considering for premium brands, but if your appliance has already bitten the dust, you need to know whether the fault is fixable before you call out an engineer. Here is a quick breakdown (pun intended) of the main faults to affect white goods.

Spin Problems on Washing Machines

Washing machines need to spin in order for water to be removed from the drum. If your clothes are still sopping wet when you take them out, the spin mechanism is at fault. Some washing machines will stop spinning when the fluff filter clogs up, but more often than not, worn out brushes is the cause. These can easily be replaced by a washing machine engineer.

Noisy Washing Machines

Check there are no objects bouncing around inside the drum. Screws, coins, and any other metallic debris will cause a huge amount of noise on a spin cycle. If you don’t find anything, the washing machine’s bearings could have worn out.

Tumble Dryer Not Drying

Tumble dryer’s dry clothes. That is their only role in life, so when you pull out a load and it is still wet, you are bound to be unhappy. Usually the main reason why a condenser tumble dryer has stopped working properly is because the lint filter is clogged or the condenser unit is full of congealed fluff. Clear the fluff out and rinse through the condenser to clear the blockage and it should work. In a vented machine, check the vent hose to make sure it isn’t blocked.

Dishwasher Not Draining

Have you ever opened up your dishwasher, only to find that it is still full of nasty water? If so, you need to check the filter at the bottom of the machine. This may be full of food debris, which will cause a blockage.

Smelly Machines

Nasty odours emanating from inside washing machines and dishwashers are usually caused by a build-up of bacteria. To clear the smell, run the machine on empty, on a hot cycle with some detergent or a propriety cleaning product. This will kill the bacteria and remove any debris.

My Appliance Won’t Switch On

If there are no lights on the machine at all, the first thing you should do is check the fuse. If this is not the problem, it may have overheated, so give it time to cool down and try again.

There are some faults that just can’t be diagnosed without taking the machine apart. If your machine has stopped working and you don’t know what’s wrong, call a service engineer.