My washing machine is shaking so much during spin cycles that it moves off the floor. What is wrong with it?

Question

My washing machine is shaking so much during spin cycles that it moves off the floor. What is wrong with it?

Answer 1

Sounds like it's off balance, or you are filling it too much.

Try smaller loads and checking the "legs".

Answer 2

How old is your machine. We had one of the old 1950's models that shook so badly that I had to finally bolt it down to the floor and shore up under the floor -- and then it shook the whole hutment. (my wife and I lived in a two apartment shot-gun, back-to-back, plywood building mounted on concrete piers while I was attending college).

The new models have automatic adjusting counterbalancers built in to compensate for off centered bunching of the clothes when the machine goes into the spin-dry cycle; but if too many clothes wind up on one side of the spin basket for some reason, the machines will vibrate -- sometimes quite hard -- enough to make them bounce on the floor.  Usually, stopping the spin cycle by opening the lid of the washer, and rearranging the clothes into a more perfect circle will smooth things out greatly.

Answer 3

WELL YOU NEED TO LOAD YOUR WASHER EVEN, IT'S NOT WELL BALANCED BECAUSE YOUR LOADING YOUR LAUNDRY ONE SIDE HEAVY TRY TO LOAD YOUR CLOTHES OR WHATEVER YOUR WASHING ALL AROUND EVEN SO THIS SHALL RESOLVE YOUR PROBLEM :GOOD LUCK

Answer 4

machine is probably off balance try this first. pick up on back of washing machine to allow the legs to drop down many time this works.

Answer 5

Its not level....there are 4 legs that you can adjust under the machine...it takes two people to do this.Tip machine towards you and turn legs in or out , then tip towards the wall and turn legs in or out...use a level with a bubble in it to figure out which legs to adjust up or down.,also make sure clothes are distributed evenly when spinning.

Answer 6

The machine may just be out of balance.  Make sure it is level and all of the floor adjusters are supporting the machine.

Answer 7

or it could be as simple as one of the legs on the washer has gotten uneven..  maybe look and see if it is setting level.. and if not, then you know what is wrong.

Answer 8

It is unbalanced, or you have broken one of the springs that keep it centered during spin. Remove the top and inspect the springs around the tub.

Answer 9

The wash tub is mounted on "shock absorbers" that get sloppy when the machine is old and nearly worn out.

Answer 10

If you have tried obvious things like making sure it is level, the load is distributed evenly, and it's not very overloaded then you may have a snubber problem. If you open the lid and look in toward the back you will see a rubber pad on a metal holder. That rubber pad ("the snubber") is there to dampen any vibration by rubbing on the tub as it starts to vibrate from an unbalance or overload. It tends to wear out and eventually needs to be replaced with a new one. That is easy because usually a couple of bolts hold it in place. The test is if you can easily shake the empty tub back and forth with your hand then your snubber is worn out.