The washing machine drain pump is leaking

You don’t need to know the washing machine perfectly or have extensive experience in repairing this household appliance to understand that a drain pump is needed to drain dirty waste water. And it is also obvious that if the pump of the washing machine is leaking, then it is better not to use the “home assistant” if you do not want to flood the floors and neighbors below with dirty water. In such a situation, you should diagnose and repair the damage yourself or with the help of a service center technician. We will analyze in detail the causes of the leak, and what should be done in this case.

In the first minutes after detecting a problem

If you find that your washing machine's drain pump is leaking, then you need to take decisive action as quickly as possible. This is due to the fact that not only the mentioned drain pump can leak, but also the pipes, tank and other key components of the device. But immediately after discovering a problem, there is no time to look for the cause of the leak, because a number of urgent actions need to be taken.

• Unplug the washing machine. If there is no access to the plug and socket, then you should turn off the power to the equipment by turning off the lights in the house in the electrical panel.

For safety reasons, never touch the equipment with wet hands or step into a puddle under the machine.

• After de-energizing the equipment, you can disconnect it from the water supply.
• After removing the water from the floor and placing rags under the washer, remove the garbage filter and drain the liquid from the equipment into a previously prepared container.
• When the hatch locking device opens the door, you need to remove all the clothes from the drum.

The snail with the filter is located at the bottom of the washing machine in the front part.Often the part is hidden by a decorative panel, which can be easily removed with your own hands. Behind the decorative baseboard on the right you will find a filter that looks like a round hole with a large plug.

Let's get to the pump

Disconnecting the equipment from all communications and eliminating the consequences of the leak is only the first step. Next, you need to remove the drain and inlet hoses connected directly to the water and sewer pipes. Most often in washing machines, these components are hidden at the bottom of the machine, hidden by a decorative panel or a small hatch.

If you cannot open the element with your bare hands, then use a small flat-head screwdriver to carefully pry up the lower part of the unit and remove the panel.

Next, you will see an area with a drain filter. It looks like a plastic structure that protects the pump impeller from dirt and foreign objects. You need to remove the garbage filter and thoroughly clean it of dirt and debris. Before cleaning, it is better to place a rag near the washing machine, because dirty water could remain in the garbage filter and pipes, which will begin to flow onto the floor immediately after dismantling the filter.

In the hole that appears, you can see the impeller of the drain pump. You should try to rotate it with your finger, a toothpick or a cotton swab - the impeller should rotate easily without any obstacles to movement. If rotation occurs with difficulty, then most likely hair, threads or other debris has gotten into it and needs to be removed. This can only be done after you remove the pump.

The next step should be to lay the washer on its side, which must be done as carefully as possible so as not to scratch the body.First place a carpet, a large towel or something soft under the side wall of the machine so that the machine does not lie on the floor. Now, looking under the base of the equipment, you can find the drain pump, volute and pump.

We find the leak and fix it

The next step is to diagnose and directly repair the damaged unit. It is not always possible to find the place where the washing machine pump is leaking the first time, so you should carefully inspect all possible areas. First, pay attention to the screws connecting the pump to the volute - are they intact, are they screwed securely, is their rubber seal in place and is it not damaged. When the rubber seal wears out or simply moves out of its seat, the drain pump will leak due to the resulting gap.

Due to the fact that the volute and the pump body are made of plastic, which has seams, the parts may become depressurized over time due to increased vibrations during washing and spinning. In some cases, these elements serve the user well for many years, but sometimes they fail after only a year or two.

Additionally, it is worth examining the pipes located next to the volute and the pump, because leaks often appear precisely because of them. If the leak is caused by a failure of the pump or volute, then it is better to immediately replace the elements with new ones - repair in such a situation is impractical, because the soldered part can quickly become unusable again.

The filter is actually leaking

A garbage filter is screwed into the “home assistant” snail, so it is possible that the problem is not in the pump, as it often seems at first glance, but in the garbage filter. Typically the filter fails for two reasons:

• the plug was not screwed in correctly. This can happen in a situation where the filter was initially installed incorrectly in its place, so a small gap appeared in the machine, through which liquid began to penetrate. This can also happen if the plug was loosely tightened;
• rubber seals have become unusable. We are talking about rubber bands placed along the edges of the snail and on the garbage filter. Thanks to these elements, water does not penetrate through the cracks, however, the rubber parts dry out and wear out during operation, which also causes the seal to be compromised.

If the fault is caused by an incorrectly twisted filter, then solving this problem will take a matter of minutes. To restore, you need to first cover the floor in the kitchen or bathroom with towels, prepare a container for water from a garbage filter and then follow our instructions:

• first you need to remove the decorative panel from the washing machine;
• carefully and slowly unscrew the filter;
• Carefully install it in its place, making sure that the part fits evenly into the groove.

Despite the fact that this is a simple action, many housewives suffer from leaks precisely because of this problem. The thing is that this part is often pulled out in order to clean it of debris and drain the remaining liquid, and then, due to carelessness, it is carelessly installed back.

At the same time, it’s easy to deal with not only the first cause of leakage with your own hands, but also the second one, associated with damaged rubber bands. In this case you need:

• take spoiled parts to the store as an example, or contact a sales consultant for help;
• use our instructions for dismantling the garbage filter;
• replace damaged rubber seals with new elements;
• Carefully install the filter into its seat.

Thus, if the drain pump in your washing machine is leaking, there is no reason to call a service center specialist. You can cope with this problem yourself if you have patience and our detailed instructions.

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