Opening the washer to a drum of gray, soapy water is a bad start to the day. The good news is that a washer that won't drain is often blocked rather than broken, and the blockage can be anywhere from a sock in the pump to a clogged laundry tub across the basement.
The trick is to work from the outside in. Check the drain the washer empties into before you blame the machine.
First, get the water out safely
Unplug the washer before you do anything else. You'll be working close to the floor with water, and some of the parts you'll touch are powered.
How you empty it depends on the design:
- •Front-loaders almost always have a small access panel at the bottom front corner. Behind it is the drain pump filter, and on many models a short emergency drain hose with a cap. Lay down towels and put a baking dish or a shallow pan under the hose. Pull the cap and let it run out a little at a time. There may be several gallons, so expect to empty the pan many times.
- •Top-loaders usually have no filter access. Bail the tub with a pitcher and a bucket until the level is low enough to lower the drain hose below the drum and let gravity do the rest.
If the water is hot from a recent cycle, wait. Scalding water on a basement floor is a real hazard, and the drum will be much easier to empty once it cools.
Look at where the water goes
Many Pittsburgh homes do their laundry in the basement, and the drain arrangement down there is often older than the washer. The washer's hose usually empties into one of two things.
A laundry tub
If the hose hooks over the edge of a utility sink, fill that sink partway from the faucet and see whether it drains. If it's slow or doesn't drain at all, you've found your problem. Lint, soap residue and the odd hair tie build up in the trap and the pipe below it. Clearing the tub's drain or trap usually solves the washer's symptom at the same time.
Some basements have a laundry tub fitted with a small pump because the house drain is higher than the tub. If that pump fails or its switch sticks, the tub fills up and the washer can't drain into it. Listen for the tub pump when water reaches it.
A standpipe
A vertical pipe in the wall or rising from the floor is a standpipe. Pull the washer hose out and pour a bucket of water straight into the standpipe. If it backs up, the clog is in the house plumbing and a plumber, not an appliance technician, is who you need.
While you're there, check how far the hose goes into the pipe. Pushing it too deep can cause the washer to siphon water out during fill, and a pipe that is too short or too tall for the machine can cause drain errors. The installation instructions give the height range for your model.
Check the hose itself
Pull the washer out from the wall and follow the drain hose from the back of the cabinet to its end. It's common to find:
- •A kink where the washer was pushed back against the wall
- •A hose crushed behind a shelf, a water heater or a support post
- •A lint trap or mesh bag on the end of the hose that has filled up completely
In an unheated or partly finished basement, a hose that runs along an outside wall can freeze during a hard cold snap. If the washer drained yesterday and it's been brutally cold overnight, give the room time to warm up before assuming a part has failed.
Clean the pump filter
On a front-loader, the pump filter catches coins, buttons, bra wires, hair and lint before they reach the pump. After you've drained the water through the emergency hose, unscrew the filter slowly counterclockwise. More water will come out, so keep towels ready.
Clear out anything you find, rinse the filter under the tap, and look into the opening with a flashlight. With the washer still unplugged, reach in and turn the pump impeller with a finger. It should move freely, with a little resistance. If it won't budge, something is lodged behind it.
Screw the filter back in snugly. A cross-threaded or loose filter leaks.
Most manufacturers suggest cleaning this filter every few months. In practice, households with pets, small children or lots of towels may want to do it more often.
Top-loaders without a filter
On a top-loader, small items can still get past the basket and into the pump or the hose between tub and pump. Access usually means removing the front or rear panel, which is fair game for a handy homeowner with the service manual, but not a job to guess your way through.
Test the machine
With the filter clean and the hose and drain clear, plug the washer in and run a Drain & Spin or Rinse & Spin cycle with no clothes. Listen near the bottom of the machine.
- •The pump hums, but no water moves: the impeller is jammed or broken, or there's still a blockage between pump and drain.
- •The pump runs and water drains, but the washer then stops with an error: the pressure sensor, the lid lock or the control may be misreading the water level.
- •Complete silence at drain time: the pump motor, its wiring or the control that powers it is suspect.
- •The washer drains, but won't spin: on top-loaders this can be a lid switch or lock; on front-loaders, a door lock, an unbalanced load, or a motor fault.
On machines with a display, write down the error code before you clear it. On many brands, codes like OE, 5C or F21 point toward drain problems, but the meaning varies, so check the manual for your model.
When it's time for a technician
Call when the pump hums without draining after the filter is clear, when you can't reach the blockage, or when the machine drains but stops with an error again and again. A technician will check the pump, the hose between tub and pump, the pressure system and the controls, then quote the repair before any work starts.
If the laundry tub or standpipe is what's backing up, that's a plumbing job and we'll tell you so.
To get your washer looked at, call or book washer repair online.