The drum in my Samsung washing machine won't spin.
If your Samsung washing machine doesn't spin, it doesn't necessarily mean it's broken. There may be various causes, but the difficulty is that you'll have to analyze all of them, determine the most likely ones, and then deliberately repair the machine. In this article, we've tried to describe all the possible causes of malfunctions that lead to the drum stopping spinning. We hope you find this information helpful!
What could have happened?
If your Samsung washing machine suddenly stops spinning, don't panic. First, unplug your "home assistant" to avoid making the problem worse, and then begin inspecting the troubled appliance. Before turning off the washing machine, you need to look at its display and make sure there are no symbols on it. Perhaps the washing machine itself is telling you what's wrong with it.
If nothing similar happens, you need to open the door, remove most of the items, and restart the washing machine. Generally, all malfunctions that cause a Samsung washing machine to stop spinning can be roughly divided into two groups: simple household issues and complex technical issues. Household issues are often caused by the user, but they are not always user-remediable.
- Clogged drain hose or pipe.
- A solid foreign object enters the tank.
- Overload of laundry.
The list of complex technical problems is longer, but these problems are generally not critical, and in some cases they can be fixed without professional help. However, it's still important to consult a specialist first. Here are the reasons.
- The drive belt has stretched and become loose.
- The drive belt came off.
- The belt broke.
- The carbon brushes of the commutator motor are worn out.
- The engine slats are worn out.
- The engine winding broke down.
- The engine coil burned out.
Important! If your Samsung washing machine model has an inverter motor, problems with the brushes, windings, and slats can be ruled out, as can problems with the belt, as this type of machine does not have a drive belt.
Everyday reasons
Modern washing machines are very sensitive to various kinds of malfunctions, even minor ones. There are many sensors inside such equipment that, at the slightest deviation from the norm, can stop the rotation of the drum of the “home assistant”. If the display of your Samsung washing machine does not show anything and the drum does not spin, you need to do the following.
- Remove most of the laundry from the Samsung washing machine drum and restart the wash cycle. You may have simply overloaded the machine with laundry. If the drum remains stationary, proceed to the next step.
- We turn off the power to the Samsung washing machine and try opening the door. If the door won't open, we look inside. If we see water inside, there's a 95% chance the problem is a clog.
In about 5% of cases, the problem may lie in a faulty pressure switch, but if the pressure switch is faulty, then most often the drum will rotate, albeit slowly.
If the machine's drum doesn't spin before filling with water, and the wash cycle stops, even though the door can be opened, a foreign object may have gotten into the drum. To check if the drum is jammed, simply spin it by hand, and the problem will become clear.
If you encounter a clogged drainage system, the first thing you need to do is drain the water from the tank. This can be done through the debris filter, which in Samsung washing machines is located in the lower right corner of the body. Lay down as many rags as possible to prevent water from spilling all over the place, and slowly unscrew the filter.
Once you have successfully drained the tank, do the following:
- Unscrew the debris filter completely and remove all dirt and foreign objects from the hole;
- If this does not solve the problem, then disconnect the washing machine from the utilities and lower it onto its left side;
- Next, we'll be focusing on the part of the Samsung washing machine we've circled in red in the image below—the pump and drain pipe. We'll need to unscrew and disconnect both in order to rinse and clean them.
- Below, we can disconnect the drain hose from the drain pump to clear it of any blockages. After this procedure, the machine should operate normally.
If a foreign object has gotten into your washing machine's drum and jammed it, preventing it from spinning, consider yourself lucky. Things could have been much worse.
Due to user oversight, many small, and even not-so-small, objects end up in washing machine drums, which can simply sit at the bottom of the drum, causing no trouble. But things can also be different. What if a large iron button or metal object ends up in the drum? bra underwire, which is larger in size than the space between the tank wall and the drum wall, and this is where the problems begin.
A foreign object simply jams the drum, preventing it from rotating, and in the worst case (if it is a sharp bra underwire), such an object damages the wall of the tank. The tank starts to leak and all this ultimately leads to expensive and time-consuming repairs.
If we detect a jammed drum and suspect a foreign object is preventing it from spinning, we should immediately stop all attempts to spin the drum or turn on the washing machine. Next, lower the washing machine onto its left side, remove the drain hose from the washing machine's tub, and use our fingers to remove the foreign object through the drain hose's opening, which is quite large.
In most cases, the foreign object can be removed through the drain pipe hole; if not, you will have to remove the front panel, pull out the heating element, and then, through the large hole that is formed, remove the excess from the tank.
It's all about the belt
Older and modern Samsung washing machines with belt drives and brushed motors are a real pain. Both the brushed motor and the belt are the washing machine's weak points. And we know that "where it's weak, it breaks," and in our case, this proverb can be taken literally.
The first situation we'll consider is a broken drive belt. Belts break either because they were over-tensioned at the factory or because they have worn out over time. In either case, the belt must be replaced. You need to buy or order the original spare part and start the replacement.
There's nothing complicated here. Take a Phillips-head screwdriver, unscrew the screws located on the back of the service hatch, remove the service hatch, remove the remains of the old drive belt from the housing, and install the new belt first on the small engine pulley, then on the large drum pulley.
If you open the hatch and discover the belt isn't broken, check to see if it's stretched. This may be the reason the drum isn't turning. Grasp the belt at one end and rock it back and forth, then try turning it. If there's obvious slippage, remove the stretched belt and install a new one.
The belt may be intact and simply slipped off the pulley. In this case, it's also best to replace it, as drive belts don't just slip off; the belt is either stretched or frayed. If the belt is fine but still slips, check the condition of the drum pulley.
Let's look at the engine
If the problem isn't the belt, a blockage, or a foreign object, the washing machine's motor may be the cause of the drum not turning. Start checking the commutator motor with its brushes and coil. To do this, follow these steps.
- We lay the washing machine on its side, preferably on the left.
- We remove the engine from the bottom of the car by unscrewing several bolts and disconnecting the wiring.
- Using an ohmmeter, we measure the resistance of the coil. If the coil burns out, it needs to be replaced.
- Unscrew the small screws and remove the brushes. If even one brush is significantly worn, both need to be replaced.
If the coil and brushes are intact, the reason your Samsung washing machine's drum isn't spinning may be due to more serious motor issues, such as damaged fins or a broken winding. To confirm the motor is truly faulty, connect it separately and test it. How to connect a washing machine motor You can find out in the article of the same name.
So, the motor is connected and doesn't work—my worst fears have been confirmed. Now I need to decide what to do. I can have the motor reamed or rewound, depending on the problem. Both are expensive and don't guarantee results, so, as unfortunate as it may be, it's wiser to buy a new motor and install it in place of the burned-out old one.
Finally, it should be noted that some experts claim that the drum stops spinning altogether when there are problems with the washing machine's electronics. Specifically, due to a faulty control module. This assertion is unfounded, as in this case, the drum spins in test mode, meaning it stops for a minute, then makes one rotation, and then stops again.
In this case, it's more accurate to say that it's rotating unstably. In our article, we discussed cases where the drum doesn't rotate at all, but we'll discuss unstably rotating drums in a separate publication, as they involve completely different malfunctions and their causes.
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Hoping for an answer. The drum spins, but only for 5-7 revolutions, then it creaks and stops. I cleared the drain. It spins by hand without any creaking.
Thanks for the article
Spins the drum for 5 minutes.
Then exactly 10 pathetic attempts to spin the reel and the program stops.
There is nothing on the display.
I'll check for a blockage, although this isn't during rinsing or spinning, but during the wash itself...
Thanks for the article!
Mine just tries to spin. Then it stops.
The belt is in place, but the drum is moving.
The drum does not spin even manually and there are some hard pieces in the drum.
Thanks, I changed the brushes and everything is ok. The car is 10 years old.