Washing Machine Help - Minneapolis,MN

I have had this trouble for a while too. I have a maytag ( whirlpool) front load and just had the repair man out today. he pulled the bottom panel off and opened the drain plug thing and found several infant socks in it that were clogging the drain partially. He said that this was why my clothes were wet still and after several months of dealing with it had spin cycles of 30-40 minutes..... The repair man said that small objects often slip through the small drain hole in front loaders or go over the top in top loaders. He suggested using a laundry bag for smaller items.....
Hope this is helpful.
K., SAHM of 6 yr, 4 yr and 9 mo old

There are probably something wrapped around the pole that spins the clothes (Sorry I don't know the name of the part). The same thing happened to me and my husband and I tore it a part and found the "black hole" where all the missing socks go to! Good Luck P.

Every once in a while my clothes will come out like that, I just set the spin cycle on again. I have noticed it happening if I have a really heavy load.

It is most likely that your spin cycle has slowed down, your washer probably needs a new belt. If the spin cycle slows, the clothes don't wring out as well, leaving them wetter. It is an easy fix, my husband could do it, but if yours or yourself are not mechanically inclined, a repairman is needed.

I am a full time preschool teacher with six children ages 21 months to 13 years. I do buckets of laundry every day.

Hey....just a quick note...I had this same problem just last week. I had talked to a friend and she mentioned that not too long ago she had the same problem! She had someone come out to her home and it was just a simple belt that had worn out and had it replaced for less than $30, as she remembers. But, as I was doing my next load of laundry I noticed that the setting on the spin cycle was on delicate! So, check your settings, make sure they are where they need to be and if they are where they need to be, call to get your belts checked! Hope this helps!

We did have the same problem. A Quarter (which could spin and let most of the water through) was in the drainage tube.

I have a friend tht does repair work. I also had the same problem. It was a couple of screws that came loose because the machine wasn't balanced right. The screws were way out of sight.My advice call. B. G

Sounds as if your machine could have some lime in the mechanism. Without any items in the machine, run a cycle with Lime Away (a cupful should work) in the tub. Be sure to run the full cycle. See if this helps.

check to see if it is on the perm/press cycle; clothes are wetter on p/p but yours sounds very wet. When this happened to me it was because someone bought the wrong detergent. We can only use HE (high efficiency) because its a front load machine and any other detergent makes so many suds that it plugs up the hose. I just have to rinse and rinse until everythings back to normal.

My washing machine will not do a complete spin cycle if it has to work to hard to empty. In my case, my washing machine water drains into my laundry sink, then goes out of the house. If my laundry sink drain is running really slow, the back pressure of the full sink will cause the spin cycle to stop early. When I fix that, my machine starts running smoothly again. If yours drains right out of the house directly, you may have a semi clogged drain.

Socks do not disappear in the dryer, they disappear in the washer.

I had a problem about 9 months ago with my washer. It stopped before it would even drain. It turned out that one of my daughter's tiny socks had gotten sucked into the pump. This then burned out the controls. My husband is handy, so he fixed it, but since you have a service plan, I would call someone. I would recommend putting all small clothes in a mesh bag to wash them.

Hi S.,

This EXACT thing just happened to us 2 weeks ago. All the clothes were wet (just like you said) then eventually the spin cycle just never ran at all. My husband bought a new belt and it works great again. I cannot guarantee that the belt is your problem but it was a quick and cheap fix. Good luck!

Same thing happened to me - if it is a front loading high efficiency, it may just be as simple as using less soap.

Hi S.-
It's probably your pump.
We've had service out 3 times- telling us the new high effic. do this. You have to use half the soap it says to use- or it burns out pump- gums it up- have them check that.
Good luck-
B. J- mom of 6yo twin girls

I had this issue before and my washer was just unbalanced. Apparently there are legs on the bottom of washers that can be adjusted. If that does not work and you need to make a service call I suggest Jim/Jacks Service on North Ave.

We had that happen. The washer still spins, but the clothes don't get dry. I think what the guy told us was that the piece that attaches the tub to the part which spins it was broken. My DH and I can't for the life of us remember the name of the part. Anyway, we have a maintance plan with Centerpoint Energy for some of our appliances. (We live in an old house with an old furnace, water heater, etc.) At the time, the washer wasn't covered, but for a small fee we added it and it's saved us money because it happened again not that long ago. Anyway, I would call them because I have NO idea how to fix it, but I guess it's a pretty common washer problem.

Could be the belt. We had this happen and my hubby replaced it (although he's pretty handy around the house most people would probably have this fixed by a service person.)

We had this happen, even after the belt and we realised that the motor was bad so we ended up buying a new one because the motor will cost almost as much as a new one.

How does your washer drain?

Mine drains into a basin sink, next to my washer. When the drain of that sink gets clogged, and water moves slow, less water gets removed from the clothes. Which makes total sense, cause the water level fills up so high, that there is no where for the water from the washer to go.

So my first step is always to check where the washer is draining to see if it is moving water fast or slow.

If that looks good, it could be the parts that make it spin. (I hesitate to say belt, cause I am not sure what kind of washer you have.) =)

Good luck!

I had the same problem! And I could hear the spin cycle as well, but I decided one day to lift up the lid and press down on the button so it thought the lid was closed to see how fast it was going. Turns out that the internal drum was spinning but it became disconnected to the drum that the clothes were in, so they weren't spinning dry, just sitting in the bottom of the drum while the water drained out. I would check and see if it is actually spinning or not. :) Good luck!

Hi
Mine has been doing that lately, I found that I am getting alot of unbalanced loads. Try doing smaller loads, thats what I had to do....

Hi - I recently had a similar problem with my front-loader. We found a small plug on the front of the machine that you just unscrew (I think we took the bottom panel off first - just a couple of screws). When we pulled the plug out there was a filter of sorts that came with it - it had all SORTS of things in there, including a baby sock. Once we cleaned it out my spin cycle was back to normal. Good luck!

I had that happen a while back to me. I had the Sears guy out and the pump wasn't pumping all the water out I think it was a water sensor? Have you tried not putting in so many clothes and seeing if they do the same?

Could be several issues. One of the first would be to make sure that you didn't have too large of a load that has caused the drum to become off balanced and it didn't go through the fast spin. It could be that your drive belt is getting old and slipping and it isn't doing good spins, or the drum bearings are worn. It could be that you have blockage and it's not draining properly during the spin cycle or a combination.
This happened to me, and it was an early indication of the belt getting old, and it snapped and the entire drum would not spin.
Here's a great site that has good info on pages 3 and 4:
http://www.washerhelp.co.uk/diy-repair-help_3.html
http://www.washerhelp.co.uk/diy-repair-help_4.html

We had that and it turned out to be the cluch on the motor. If you have the warrenty, I would call the repair man as it would of costed us $140, we opted for a new machine.

Hi, I had the same problem last week, and I had no service plan on my washer but My Transmission went out in the washer. My clothes spun but not all the water went out, then it would not spin at all after a few days. The repair man came out and took the tranny out and had to rebuild it and it cost 192.00 all together. It would be a good idea to get it check out before it goes out all the way then your stuck without a washer for a few days. The day before the repair man came my cat hacked up a hair ball on my bed and I had to spend 10.00 at the laundry matt. Laundry matts are not to fun. But if you have a service plan its a great idea to have someone come out and take a look. Its better than going to the laundry matt for a few days. Hope this helps and good luck
Good luck

I'm definitely no pro or repair woman, so take this with a grain of salt, but I've had that happen to me several times and it was because my load was not balanced (heavy things get swished to one side). Once I readjusted the clothing and ran the spin cycle again, even for just a couple of minutes, it rang them out like normal. If your machine is doing that with every single load, though, unbalanced loads may not be the only reason. Just something to try.....

Check your belt, it may be going.

We actually just had this happen. My husband took the back of the washer off and the pump that goes to the outside was clogged with coins and stuff we had missed in our pockets. It was really simple and now working great!

This happened to me as well only I had a pool of water in the bottom of my front loader. Called a service guy. Turns out there was a hairpin (of mine, embarrassingly) stuck just right in the pump causing it to not work, i.e. pump out the water. He also found some other goodies in the pump as well, coins, screws.

Word to the wise, always check pants pockets before you wash:)

Do you take the clothes out right away? We had a washer that would do a slow drip and if clothes left in for an extended period would be wet.

I do not know if this will help with your problem but I had a problem like that with a washing machine we used to have. The lid had gotten loose so as it was in the spin cycle the lid would vibrate to the side. It would move off of the part that has to be pushed in so it would stop spinning. I did not want to mess with it so I just wedged something by the lid hinge when I would close it. Then it did not move out of place.

Good Luck

If it a front loader try using less soap. There is a sensor that detects the water level. If there are to many bubbles it will trigger it to shut down leaving your clothes soaking wet.

Our machine does the same thing, although it leaves a bit of water in the bottom. It's a problem with the spin cycle, you may hear it but it must not be spinning properly. Just run it through spin again and you should be good to go. My husband works on appliances, but has decided to wait on fixing ours, because if it's a switch issue (likely) it will be a hassle to take apart, and may prompt other things to quit (whenever you open a can of worms...). Large appliance repairs usually run at least a third of replacement cost to get a guy out to work on them. I'm just re-spinning laundry until the whole thing dies - then getting a new one!

SAHM of seven

We have had the same thing happen. We called a repairman and it was a childs sock caught. Definately call the repairman, it is probably something very simple.

J. Diaz

I would call for service. When a washing machine is not spinning out as dry as it used to it, likely does have a problem that a service tech can resolve. I have had this happen in the past to a machine and mine needed a new belt and then worked fine.

have you checked the space around the drum and your drain line. if you have little ones, their socks and washcloths get sucked in and clogs things up...not enough to stop it completely, but often the first sign is the water not draining properly.

Hi S.

is your washer direct drive?
or have a belt?
over use, especially small loads and unbalanced loads, the belt wears and gets loose. like belts on a car. so the spin works, but not as fast or well. sometimes there is a place to adjust the belt to be tighter, if it is several years old, may be good to replace, they are not expensive

J.