Menu
Washer Repair
Nothing else in a home throws that much wet weight around, which is why bearings, seals and suspension are always the first parts to tire. In this part of the city the laundry usually sits inside the living space rather than down in a basement, so a leak becomes a flooring problem before it becomes an appliance problem. Leaks therefore jump the queue on our schedule, and the standpipe and the shutoff valves behind the machine get a look on every visit whether you asked for that or not.
The order of a washer visit has been the same here since 1979, and it is worth stating plainly because not every shop works this way. The appliance is tested first. Only once the technician has taken live readings and read whatever the machine has stored about itself does anybody name a part, and only then is a price given. On this appliance in particular, the distance between an inexpensive repair and an expensive one is frequently a single measurement, and taking that measurement costs a great deal less than guessing wrongly about it.
What the appointment involves
You are given a two hour arrival window rather than an open ended day, and the technician contacts you before setting out. Once the washer has been tested you will be told what has actually happened, described in language you could repeat to somebody else, and given one price for the part and the labor together. Nothing is taken apart until you have heard that price and agreed to it.
Around three washer repairs in four are finished during that first visit. That is not luck. The vans are loaded from our own service history for this appliance in this part of the coast rather than from a generic parts list, so the things that genuinely give out here are already on board. Where something does have to be ordered, you are told what it is, what it costs and when it arrives, and the return appointment is booked before the technician leaves rather than chased afterward.
Why the manufacturer matters
The makes from our list that build this appliance are set out further down the page, Miele, Asko, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, Maytag among them. Who built the machine changes the work more than most owners expect. A Miele and a GE can display precisely the same behavior for entirely unrelated reasons, and the sequence of tests that gets to the answer is different on each. That is the reason we ask for a model number when you book: it tells us which platform we are dealing with before the van is even loaded.
Repair it, or replace it?
Ask us and you will get the numbers rather than a recommendation dressed up as one. Two things settle it: what the repair costs set against a comparable new machine, and how far through its working life this one already is. Once the repair passes half the price of the replacement and the appliance has used up two thirds of the years it was built for, buying new is the better use of the money. Anywhere short of that, and on essentially every built-in or professional appliance whatever its age, repairing is the sensible call. Turning down an afternoon of work costs us less than selling somebody a part they did not need.
Where this work is available
Washer Repair runs in all nine towns on our route: Long Beach, Naples, Belmont Shore, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Lakewood, Rossmoor and Signal Hill. The price, the warranty and the arrival window are identical in every one of them, weekends included, and there is no travel charge inside the ZIP codes named on our service area pages.
Book a washer repair
Pick a day and a time that suits the household. The shop confirms your two hour window afterwards.
Included in every visit
- Full testing before any price is quoted
- One price for parts and labor together
- Thirty days on our labor, in writing
- The appliance left level, connected and running
Common errors
What we are called out for on a washer
Nothing else in a home throws that much wet weight around, which is why bearings, seals and suspension are always the first parts to tire. In this part of the city the laundry usually sits inside the living space rather than down in a basement, so a leak becomes a flooring problem before it becomes an appliance problem. Leaks therefore jump the queue on our schedule, and the standpipe and the shutoff valves behind the machine get a look on every visit whether you asked for that or not.
It washes normally and then refuses to spin
On a front loader the door lock is the first thing to test. A lock that cannot report itself closed will let the machine wash quite happily and then decline the spin, because spinning an unsecured door is the one thing the control will not risk. After that come the belt, the motor control board and the speed sensor on the motor itself.
Water still in the drum when the cycle finishes
The pump filter is behind the kick panel and most households have never opened it. Coins, hair grips and buttons stop the impeller without harming it, and clearing them is often the entire repair. If the filter is clean, look at the pump, at the pressure switch hose, and at the drain line behind the machine, which is easy to kink when a machine is pushed back into place.
The machine walks across the floor on a fast spin
On a new installation, check for shipping bolts still in the back panel. On a top loader the suspension rods have worn. On a front loader the shock absorbers have. On tile in particular, getting all four feet properly level matters far more than most people expect, because there is nothing underneath to absorb what is left over.
A grinding noise that rises with the spin speed
Tub bearings, and the timing of the repair changes its size. Dealt with early it is a bearing and a seal. Left running, the seal admits water into the bearing housing and the job grows into an outer tub assembly. Of everything on this page this is the noise that rewards acting quickly.
Laundry coming out of the machine smelling stale
Biofilm has taken hold in the door gasket, the detergent drawer and the drain hose, fed by more detergent than the machine can rinse away and by a door kept shut between loads. We strip and clean those three places, and then show you the habit that keeps it from establishing itself again.
The door will not release at the end of the cycle
The lock assembly itself, a board that still believes there is water in the tub, or a drainage problem keeping the interlock engaged. Nearly every machine has a manual release behind the kick panel, and we will show you where yours is before we pack up, because that is worth knowing at eleven at night.
Makes we service
Makes we service for washer work
These are the manufacturers from our list that build this appliance type. Each one has a page of its own with the problems we see most often on that make.
AskoDishwasher, WasherBoschDishwasher, Oven and RangeElectroluxRefrigerator, WasherFisher & PaykelDishwasher, RefrigeratorFrigidaireRefrigerator, Oven and RangeGERefrigerator, Oven and RangeKenmoreWasher, DryerLGWasher, DryerMaytagWasher, DryerMieleDishwasher, WasherSamsungRefrigerator, WasherWhirlpoolRefrigerator, Washer
How it works
How the appointment works
Three steps, the same on every job, so you know what the visit involves before anyone knocks on the door.
- A two hour arrival window, confirmed in advance
- Testing carried out before any price is given
- Most repairs finished during that first visit
- Thirty days on our labor once the work is done
01
Tell us what the appliance is doing
Call the shop or book online and describe the behavior: the make, the model number if the plate is reachable, and what happens when you run a cycle. The more of that we have in advance, the better the odds the right part is already on the van.
02
A technician tests it properly
The van arrives inside your two hour window. The technician reads whatever the appliance has stored about itself, meters the circuit that points at, and then explains in ordinary language what has actually happened.
03
You approve one price
One price for the finished job, parts and labor together, given before anything is taken apart. Most repairs are completed on that same visit, with thirty days on our labor written onto the invoice.
Where we work
Where we handle Washer Repair
The same service runs across every town on this list, at the same price and with the same warranty.
Questions
Questions about washer repair
Are front loaders more trouble than top loaders?
They are not more trouble, they ask for different habits. Three of them, in fact: leave the door and the detergent drawer open between loads, use a fraction of what the detergent box recommends, and run a hot maintenance cycle once a month. Households that do those three things essentially never telephone us about odor.
Nine years old and it needs bearings. Worth doing?
On a Miele or an Asko, yes, without much hesitation. Those machines are built for two decades and the bearing parts are available. On a mainstream machine where the bearing is pressed into a sealed outer tub, the parts and the hours together approach the price of a new washer, and we will put both figures side by side and let you choose.
Do you work on stacked laundry inside a closet?
Yes, and in the apartment buildings along Ocean Boulevard it is routine. Reaching most parts means separating the pair, so the appointment is booked with the extra time already allowed rather than discovered halfway through. While the closet is open we also check that air can actually move through it, since trapped heat is what shortens the life of these machines.
Book your washer repair
Tell us what the appliance has been doing and we will tell you when somebody can be at the door.