washer shakes the house

[Lorne]

Do those rubber vibration pads really work?

I see them in the list of stuff to buy here.

The waaaaaaaaaaasher is running right nooooooow.

Any thouuuuuugghts?

[Yanita]

Hi Lorne,

Sorry for the delay in getting an answer. I was hoping someone that has used them would respond. I personally have not used them.

If you have the typical washer are you sure that it is level? There is another current thread about this already, be sure to read that one as well.

If you have one of the larger newer front loaders...LOL, I seem to recall that these do not work for those machines...now IF I am wrong someone will certainly jump in and tell us both differently.

Thanks and have a great day!

Yanita

[Greg]

The pads couldn't hurt! Mark has "invented" a few cures, one was a styrofoam sheet sandwiched between the floot & a sheet of plywood (this one is in his book) and it seems like he also made a spring loaded platform also. Greg

[Lorne]

It's a top loader and older.
Who could afford one of those new tall types anyway.

I have some 2inch blue Styrofoam Insulation sheets that I can try.
I forgot all about his book. I'll dig it up and read.
Thanks to you both.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Before you go to all that hassle, did you see the post about adjusting the legs on washing machines? It might be as simple as that.

Yanita

[Sylvia]

I'd work on the legs first. You can do anything you want if it's not level its probably not going to operate properly. We have a "tall" type front loader and we've had a regular washer as well.

The old kind was like having a freight train run through the middle of the house. Scared the dog, alarmed the neighbors, etc. The new one was better but until the house was levelled because of the basement foundation it was always a problem.

Have you made sure your home is level? That might be a better place to start.

[Lorne]

The house is level, but I'll double check the leg levelers. The wife doesn't usually stop the washer and shift the clothes around if it's shaking though.

I saw an ad for some washers where they say that it self levels an unbalanced load.

I told her that we could put it out on the lawn, hook up the garden hose and it would water the lawn and not shake the house at the same time.

Our own little outhouse clothes washer.

Thanks for the ideas.

[homebuff]

I helped mine out alot by reinforcing the floor by screwing down a sheet of 3/4" plywood. If the floor is not stable enough it will do this. My washer is a direct drive unit & just replaced it w/ a newer one. Shift the cloths around a bit when it does this in the spin cycle.

[klm9707]

I have a front loader that is about a year and a half old and nothing has helped. It is going to make two singles out of this double wide before its all over. Even went to the feed store and bought this super thick horse stall matt and put under it, i think it actually made it worse. The sad part about it is that this thing cost a fortune and I cant afford to get rid of it now! Never again though. Good luck to finding a solution and let us know how it goes.

[geraldk]

on the old top loaders use the legs to level them out andif that dont work you need to put pads under it this is assuming the floor is good and solid
for the new front load washers if you pick them up instead of getting them delivered they usually have 2 bars bolted to the drum for shipping down low behind the panel that dont let the shocks do their job then it will bounce around worse than the older ones..

just one of the few diff. things ive ran across

[Manitoba Bill]

Another thing to check is the damper springs have not broken or come loose from the btm of the tub.
A quick check is to see how far the top rim of the tub will move in 4 directions. Some are damped.

This is just one picture of a washer spring, there are more, click next. Yours may look diff.

http://appliancejunk.com/forums/index.p ... iew;id=309

[jubangy]

Another thing to check is the damper springs have not broken or come loose from the btm of the tub.
A quick check is to see how far the top rim of the tub will move in 4 directions. Some are damped.

This is just one picture of a washer spring, there are more, click next. Yours may look diff.

http://appliancejunk.com/forums/index.p ... iew;id=309

Also if your washer is belt driven the belt being loose and worn will make it bounce around. I have fixed washers in the last 2 weeks that needed nothing more then a belt, one was laying on the floor when I lifted the washer.

[mrfixit64857]

Another thing to check is the damper springs have not broken or come loose from the btm of the tub.
A quick check is to see how far the top rim of the tub will move in 4 directions. Some are damped.

This is just one picture of a washer spring, there are more, click next. Yours may look diff.

http://appliancejunk.com/forums/index.p ... iew;id=309

This is an excellent reply, IMO. I have dealt with this very issue many times!
Had one tenant move in and complained that my unit must not be level since hers shook so much... I checked the place out and figured the only thing out of whack was my Tenant... erm, her MACHINE! I popped the top and looked down in ( I REALLY don't like trying to look up from the bottom, and neither do my knees...) and I saw all the springs were THERE, but old and rusty. I could also see that the whole tub assembly looked off kilter, so I pulled the unit away from the wall and tilted it forward to rest on my toolbox, double-checked the springs, which all looked fine and solid... but the rusty part bothered me so I gave em a shot of WD.

I set the machine back up and in place, wiggled the agitator around a bit, and got it where it looked more "centered" and ran it thru a cycle of towels. NO VIBRATION!
As I left, she was sheepishly thanking me, and I said,"It's OK... I can go tell the wife I was just doing laundry"