The most common cause of when a washing machine jumps and bangs on spin is an uneven load. Occasional jumping around may not be anything to worry about if it isn’t banging too much. However, regular or severe banging on the sides should be a cause for concern and can cause expensive damage to your washing machine if ignored. A general rocking around of a washing machine on spin may just be caused by an uneven floor, or an un-level washing machine.
When does it bang?
Observe when the banging occurs. If it’s at random parts of the wash cycle that’s bad news. It may have an intermittent fault that really needs an engineer to diagnose. If it jumps around and bangs as soon as the motor starts then the washing machine may have lost control of the motor. Some faults can cause the motor to only spin and lose all the slow wash rotation speeds. That could be something to do with the tacho coil and/or magnet on the motor. Check this article to see what a tacho coil is.
However, if it only bangs during a proper spin, especially when it just starts up or is dying down from spin, then the chances are it’s related to the load inside.
New washing machine?
If a newly installed washing machine is jumping and banging on spin, make sure the transit packaging has been removed. Transit packaging holds the suspension solid. If the tub can’t bounce up and down then the movement created on spin is translated to side to side movement. The washing machine will move about and shake. See the instruction manual for instructions on how to remove the transit packaging.
Are you loading the drum properly?
Don’t cram the drum full of laundry. Overloading is not good, but surprisingly, under-loading is more likely to cause out of balance loads. Likewise badly mixed items of laundry can cause an unbalanced drum.
Before a proper spin the drum should revolve slowly for a couple of minutes. If a load is out of balance you can often observe the inner drum lurching from side to side. You might even see it gently thumping the sides of the casing a few times whilst it’s trying to distribute the load prior to fast spin.
At this stage you may see large flashes of metal drum on each revolution. This would be where laundry has settled around the drum but there wasn’t enough to cover all of it. If this happens the drum will be out of balance. It may refuse to spin, or if allowed to spin the drum could thump around and hit the sides of the casing. See the best way to load a washing machine drum
Loading washing machine correctly but still bangs & jumps
This is unfortunately a difficult fault to diagnose. It could be various things including a faulty connection somewhere on the motor or pcb, especially if intermittent. It can be caused by a part overheating, cutting out and then cutting back in causing loss of control. Or it could even be something like a faulty shock absorber. If this fault isn't caused by the loading you really need to get an experienced engineer to look at it. Find a washing machine repairer on Whitegoodshelp
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WMUser says
March 6, 2013 at 12:38 amIt’s a good idea to check the levelling feet are not loose and making the machine wobble when spinning.
Andy Trigg says
March 6, 2013 at 11:56 amThanks for that WMUser. I hadn’t mentioned that because I was thinking of proper out of balance loads, but I’ve now added an extra sentence advising about levelling at the beginning of the “Recognising an out of balance load” paragraph because a lot of people may only be experiencing excess shaking and movement, which as you say can sometimes be down to something as simple as making sure the floor and washer are properly level.
Donna says
March 29, 2013 at 1:34 pmMy problem its that my washing machine is leveled, but my tub isn’t.
Andy Trigg says
April 2, 2013 at 11:49 amDonna: The tub should be held centrally in the machine with the suspension legs and top tub springs. If it’s leaning forward or to one side the suspension or top springs may have a problem.
Tony says
September 30, 2013 at 9:40 amHi Andy,
I have a similar problem to those above. The machine is a Siemens of 10 years vintage and the drum has recently started banging when starting the spin cycles. I had the back off yesterday and found that drum bounces on the shocks and that the shocks feel oily/greasy. Could it be that the shocks have stopped damping that is causing the “bounce”.
Thanks
Tony
Whitegoodshelp (Andy Trigg) says
September 30, 2013 at 12:26 pmWashing machine suspension always used to be just a greased metal rod set on big springs so free bouncing worked fine. If the load is balanced properly the movement should be turned into up and down bouncing on the suspension instead of side to side and banging on the casing. Banging on first part of spin which soon settles down is often caused by an unbalanced load – but if you haven’t changed anything and it’s banging on every spin it’s possible the suspension is worn. Without knowing how new suspension feels in comparison though it’s hard to tell.
tracy says
October 16, 2013 at 4:15 pmdoes using a spin clcle on the washing machine weck it
?
Whitegoodshelp (Andy Trigg) says
October 16, 2013 at 5:49 pmAre you meaning using it separately, without going through a wash cycle first?
tracy says
October 16, 2013 at 7:38 pmhi mysister says ilkl weckthe washing machine if I handwash my clothes then use justthe spin clycle onit……well I wecjkk it
or is it ok
Whitegoodshelp (Andy Trigg) says
October 17, 2013 at 2:05 pmNo It’s fine, although I know why she might say that. A long time ago there were problems associated with just using the spin cycle even though washers were and are clearly designed with programmes to allow that. The problem was that they often had difficulty balancing hand washed loads and sometimes could start to spin an unbalanced load which caused it to bang about very violently.
Sometimes it would be so violent it could damage the washing machine – sometimes seriously. These days though (and for many years) washing machines have built in out of balance protection, which means if you try to spin a load that it can’t balance it should just refuse to spin instead of going violently out of control.
So hand-washed items can be spun, it’s just that they may not spin if the washer can’t balance them properly – washer won’t spin just one item or very small loads
Noam says
February 20, 2014 at 5:38 amJust wanna say THANK YOU! My machine had too many heavy items in it (towels etc) which caused an imbalance during the spin cycle. Took some things out and it works perfectly again :)
Mike Stuckey says
May 27, 2014 at 1:02 amVery good article. Very useful.
One problem that causes a machine to jump violently is:
A broken Motor Speed Sensor Magnet. It fits onto the spindle at the back of the motor and rotates within the centre of the Motor Speed Sensor, which has two leads connected to it. The Ring Magnet pushes onto the spline of the motor spindle.
You may find that the broken Ring Magnet is on the kitchen floor under the machine.
The magnet is an essential part of the Motor Speed Sensor, and if it isn’t in one piece – it will cause the machine to jump!
Whitegoodshelp (Andy Trigg) says
May 27, 2014 at 11:05 amThanks Mike. The tacho magnet breaking or dropping off used to cause instant loss of speed control and a washer would freak out jumping all over the place. Fortunately manufacturers seem to have redesigned the circuitry so that the motor actually stops running if the magnet comes off. Not sure how many still allow a dangerous spin but it’s possible some might though there will undoubtedly be some old washers still out there that go crazy. The symptoms in such a case would be that the machine would appear to act normally, except that when the drum turns to wash it would spin constantly, pause for several seconds and then spin again. Each time the machine would thump about violently.
Mike Stuckey says
June 4, 2014 at 10:55 pmI ordered a new tacho magnet from Amazon – costing 10 euros + 10 euros P&P. It was the correct size except that it was a little loose on the motor spindle spline, so I used superglue to secure it. The Hoover CA230 works fine now, no jumping of the machine at all and very smooth running NB. The magnet had come off completely, but on this particular machine – the motor continued to run without it!
Whitegoodshelp (Andy Trigg) says
June 5, 2014 at 1:00 pmThanks Mike. How was the magnet attached? The used to have a circlip that pushed on top of it.
Alfreda says
July 1, 2014 at 2:04 pmThanks a ton!!
This article has been a great help.
Good to know that i wasn’t the only one struggling with the violent spins :)
darleen says
September 3, 2014 at 4:20 amHi washing machine drum is banging against the side even thou we have no clothes and just fill it with water to see if it has been corrected after leveling its feet have taken top off springs suspension s look fine! What could it be ? Thanks for any info !
Andy Trigg says
September 3, 2014 at 12:17 pmHi darleen, it shouldn’t be possible for the drum to bang on the sides without any laundry inside as it’s only the weight of laundry that can cause the outer drum to swing over to hit the sides. Even if the outer drum was leaning on one side there’s normally no movement in the drum without anything inside. Is there by any chance a drum weight that’s broken off? They can be fitted at the front of the drum and or underneath the drum as well as on the top.
The only thing I can think of is if the washer has lost control of the motor and it is spinning instead of turning at wash speed. That could cause the drum to move around when it has water inside. Is the outer drum definitely swinging and hitting the casing or is there just a horrible noise coming from it? Is the drum turning normally on wash or is it doing a short fast spin?
natasha says
October 21, 2014 at 5:04 pmHi I recently brought a new washer well Anyway its in a little space where washers go in my kitchen when its spins its so violent the whole washer moves banging on both sides of the cupboards and moved bk so iv panicked and stop it iv only used it twice and this is what its doing any idea ??
Andy Trigg says
October 22, 2014 at 12:05 pmHi Natasha, have you taken all the transit packing out? That would account for a new washing machine jumping around on spin and shaking about a lot because the transit packaging stops the suspension from working. Otherwise a new washing machine just shouldn’t do it because they have out of balance protection which should stop the washer spinning if it goes out of balance.
Jacob M Dyer says
October 27, 2014 at 1:04 pmHello, I have a Whirlpool Oasis washer that bangs very violently when in spin, i have just leveled it again, didn’t help. I have rebalanced and redistributed the load 4-5 times now. I bought these machines used, at first when they were in spin they would just make a loud spinning noise, i thought maybe the bearings were going bad, now almost everytime i do a load wether its heavy or lite, full or half-full it bangs violently. The suspension is all in good order, however, if i push the top of the drum down against the bottom it makes the same sound that it would when it spins. Any Ideas?
Andy Trigg says
October 27, 2014 at 4:04 pmHello Jacob. When it bangs, if you can see that the drum is swaying about violently and the outer drum is hitting the sides of the casing then the fault you are troubleshooting is related to suspension or load balancing faults. If not, and it just makes a loud knocking noise on spin try reading this article carefully to try and work out the most likely cause – washing machine is noisy
Another possibility is a faulty suspension leg, if when you bounce the drum up and down you can hear the noise try to see where it’s coming from with the back panel off. Loose tub weights can cause a loud knocking noise and this is explained in my noise washing machines article.
Peggy says
November 2, 2014 at 12:43 pmHi. I have a one year old 8kg load LG washing machine. It jumps all over the place on a 1000 spin. It is so heavy that I have trouble pushing it back into place. I have tried the little squares which you stick to the floor which came with the machine but it has just broken those up. I have a wooden floor and wonder if this is part of the problem.
Greg says
November 13, 2014 at 8:58 pmMy washing machine works fine with a small load, about an hour for full cycle. When I add a few more pieces of clothing the washer gets stuck in the spin cycle taking several times longer to complete the spin cycle. The clothes are balanced and relatively light, no towels. Is the spin cycle that sensitive to a few more pieces of laundry or is there something else I can do?
Thanks Greg
Andy Trigg says
November 14, 2014 at 4:37 pmHi Greg. Under-loading causes unbalanced loads but there is a point where the load is so under weight that it doesn’t cause out of balance because the laundry just isn’t heavy enough. As you add more laundry it’s possible for it to become heavy enough to cause out of balance issues but still “under-loaded”. Try adding even more laundry to see if it then becomes an optimal load. As long as there is a reasonable amount of space at the top of the laundry as described in my article loading a washing machine you should be ok.