washing machine - repair or replace?

[chicane]

Apologies in advance for the incredibly mundane nature of this thread - I appreciate that it's verging on Wilmslowesque.

Our 3.5 year old washing machine (Hotpoint) gave up half way through a cycle with a load of warning lights on the front and a small puddle of water underneath. Warning lights disappeared after switching off and back on, but I'm reluctant to try running another wash in case the puddle becomes something a little more severe.

Am tempted to sell it for a tenner on Ebay as faulty and buy a brand new one, but there's the obvious alternative of getting it repaired. Would appreciate any words of wisdom on which route to take and any things I need to bear in mind if I go down the repair route. I'm hopeless at anything DIY by the way so diagnosing and repairing the fault myself is out of the question!

[Mich the Tester]

Buy a Miele. Ours has lasted 17 years and my mum’s lasted 23 years.

Plenty cheapness = many headaches

http://www.miele.co.uk/

[Chugnut]

No answer to this one, you need a crystal ball. The repair could cost £50, £100, etc. and it may fix the problem just for another component to fail.

Bin it and get a Miele. 10 year warranty on quite a few of them if I recall and built like tanks.

[BoredBloke]

Why don't you do what any self respecting bloke would do and take it to bits to track down the problem? It might be leaking simply because a hose has worked free. Ours went on the blink over the weekend. It started leaking from the front door and not pumping water out. The pump was easy to sort out because the filter that stops all manner of crap getting into the pump was clogged with bits of paper and coins and other rubbish. Once I'd cleared that it pumped all the water out. I tested it again and the door stopped leaking - but that might have been caused by something in the wash being trapped when the door was closed.

I know full well that if I'd called somebody out to it then it would have needed a new pump at the very least.

[lilelvis2000]

A call out for an engineer would cost minimum £35-50. It might be worth it if its just a £5 part. It could just be a clog on the drain hose/pump which are usually easily rectified....plenty of Hotpoint forums around I'm sure could also help.

[TCL]

Buy a Miele. Ours has lasted 17 years and my mum’s lasted 23 years.

Plenty cheapness = many headaches

http://www.miele.co.uk/

WHS

Hotpoint: bargepole, etc

Get something decent. Our Hotpoint packed up after 2 years, total waste of money. Ours was a combo washer/dryer which refused to put out any heat when drying. Turned out the temp sensor had blown, so I replaced it with a new one but that blew too, then another one after that. Figured there was something else wrong but couldn't be bothered to dig into any further.

We bought one from John Lewis, their own brand which are rebadged AEG ones, plus you get a 5 year warranty for free. Ours has been in daily use for coming up on 2 years and hasn't put a foot wrong yet.

If we could have afforded it at the time, would have been a Miele. I hear they are very very reliable.

[Mich the Tester]

If we could have afforded it at the time, would have been a Miele. I hear they are very very reliable.

10 years free parts and labour on many of them, 5 years on the cheaper ones. Get the most expensive you can afford; it'll work out cheaper.

[expat]

Buy a Miele. Ours has lasted 17 years and my mum’s lasted 23 years.

Plenty cheapness = many headaches

http://www.miele.co.uk/

Ideally you want to have already bought a Miele years ago, when they were still built like tanks.

[chicane]

Thanks all for your responses.

No answer to this one, you need a crystal ball. The repair could cost £50, £100, etc. and it may fix the problem just for another component to fail.

A call out for an engineer would cost minimum £35-50. It might be worth it if its just a £5 part. It could just be a clog on the drain hose/pump which are usually easily rectified....plenty of Hotpoint forums around I'm sure could also help.

Seems like a pretty high-risk strategy getting somebody out to fix it. I've been drawing parallels between washing machines and cars in my mind - they get to a certain age and things just start to go wrong regularly. As with older cars, I think it's only economical having an older washer if you have the skills to fix it yourself.

10 years free parts and labour on many of them, 5 years on the cheaper ones. Get the most expensive you can afford; it'll work out cheaper.

I think this is what I'll do. I'm a big fan of expensive things that work well and last for ages - to me there's nothing worse than the feeling of helplessness and hassle that accompanies things always going wrong in and around the house.

Why don't you do what any self respecting bloke would do and take it to bits to track down the problem?

If you knew me in person you wouldn't be saying this! I seem to have the capacity when dealing with anything mechanical to either damage myself or the thing I'm trying to fix. Hopeless I know - I can only apologise for my lack of self-respect

[swamp]

Hotpoint are tulipe.

Mielle are the only 'proper' washing machine, but are expensive and make the best sense for big families.

Try upper-mid range: Zanussi, Bosch etc.