Before you call
Washing machine will not drain or spin
Draining and spinning are linked: most machines refuse to spin until the water is gone, so a spin problem is usually a drain problem wearing a disguise. Almost everything below is reachable without tools.
- 1
Open the drain pump filter, usually behind a small hatch at the bottom front.
Put a shallow tray and towels down first — there will be water. Coins, hair grips, and the wire from an underwired bra end up here and stop the pump dead. This is the single most common cause of "will not drain", and it is a ten-minute job with no parts.
- 2
Check the drain hose is not kinked and does not run too high or too low.
A hose pushed too far down the standpipe siphons the machine as it fills; too high and the pump cannot lift the water. Either produces symptoms that look like a failed pump. Kinks happen whenever the machine gets pushed back into place.
- 3
Redistribute the load and try a spin cycle on its own.
A single heavy item — a bath mat, a duvet — hits one side of the drum and the machine aborts the spin to avoid damaging itself. That is the machine working correctly, not failing.
- 4
Check the machine is level, with all four feet on the floor.
Rock it corner to corner. A front-loader that is out of level walks across the floor on a high-speed spin and, worse, loads its own suspension unevenly until a bearing goes. If it has ever been moved, check this. On a garage slab it is almost always the answer.
- 5
Make sure the door or lid is latching, not just closing.
The machine will not spin without the interlock confirming the door is shut. A latch that has worn or a strike plate knocked out of alignment gives you a machine that fills and washes but never spins.
Where to stop
When to call a technician
Not for our convenience. These are the points where carrying on is either unsafe or makes the repair bigger.
- The filter is clear, the hose is fine, and the pump makes no sound at all when it should be draining.
- There is a grinding or rumbling noise on spin that gets worse — that is usually a bearing, and running it makes the repair bigger.
- Water is appearing under the machine rather than inside it.
- The display shows a fault code that returns after a power cycle.
An on-site diagnosis is $65.00, credited toward the repair if you go ahead. If this page has already fixed it, better still — you owe us nothing.