Rubber seal damage between inner and outer drum - usable while waiting for repair?

[jbromley]

Hi,

 

I've tried the troubleshooting guides for common problems, but haven't been able to work out the answer to this.  I'm hoping someone here can help.

 

I recently completed a wash in my Samsung Eco Bubble washer only to find both the seal around the door and the clothes themselves covered in small pieces of grey rubber residue.

 

Further examination showed that the rubber door seal had started to disintegrate near the metal rim of the inner drum, about half way up from the bottom of the drum, I'm guessing that maybe something got stuck between drum and seal and friction then caused the seal to wear away.

 

Now I know very little about washers, but from what I can glean from the articles, I think I'm right in believing that the metal inner drum I can see is actually surrounded by an outer drum.  The damage to the seal (see pictures) is only at the point where the seal meets the inner drum, that is (I believe) it is in the region between the inner and outer drum.  While it has made the seal very loose around the edge of the inner drum, I've checked the seal closer to the door and it still seems to be held tight to what feels like the edge of the outer drum (where I guess the inner restraining band is) and also around the front of the machine (where I can see the outer restraining band if I peel it back a bit).

Am I right in thinking this means that the damage will only be letting water into the gap between the two drums, where water is supposed to go anyway?  And does this mean it will be safe to continue using the machine while I wait for an engineer to come and replace the seal?  I realise that it may not work anyway, as the seal may just disintegrate further all over the clothes.  But it is my daughter's Birthday party in a few days so if there's a chance I can use the washing machine still that would be extremely useful.  But obviously at the same time I don't want to risk it if there is any chance of water getting into the electrics, motor or anywhere else it really shouldn't.

 

If anyone could check over the attached photos and advise me, it would be extremely helpful!

 

Thanks in advance...

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Yes water goes past this gap into the main drum anyway. This damage can be cause if an item of laundry gets caught between the drum rim and door seal and gets dragged around at speed during spin. It's friction damage. However, it could also be cause if the drum bearings are worn and there is excessive play on the inner drum causeing the drum lip to close closer. If the latter is the case though you would expect the drum to be rumbling when you spin it by hand and you should be able to lift the drum up and down on the shaft.

[MrsH]

Hi, 

I have the same issue with my Samsung Eco Bubble. 
I’ve noticed it’s worn through on a couple of places around the drum, I will get a replacement seal. Would I also be ok to use mine until it arrives? 

Have I understood right; that if I spin the drum by hand it should be smooth but also that it’s normal to be able to lift the drum slightly. 

I can’t understand why the rubber has worn away on a 3/4 year old machine and I had my previous one for 15 years and I never had an issue like this. (Although it was a different brand). I am convinced something is not right with the drum if it’s rubbing the seal and it shouldn’t move as much and my husband is sure it’s fine. 
Any other ideas? 
I do notice it’s not on every load and thought perhaps it’s the weight of the washing not being evenly disturbed when spinning. 
Would this be enough to cause this level of damage? 
 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If there is excessive play in the drum it can damage the door seal. The drum should be able to be lifted slightly up on the drum shaft at the lip of the drum no more than half a mm or so.

[ecotrubble]

I have the exact same problem with a Samsung Ecobubble. We replaced a disintegrated door seal (rubber bits all over the laundry) only 6 washes ago and it is happening again already. The drum has now seized solid. I am reluctant to spend time and/or money on it as I suspect it is just a bad 'un and the drum will never sit concentric in the door seal.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If the door seal breaks apart where it is close to the lip of the drum it can be caused if the drum is overloaded and items of laundry get stuck between the gap and the drum then drags it around. It can also be caused by excessive play in the drum if the drum spider is cracked or the drum bearings badly worn. 

[ecotrubble]

3 hours ago, Whitegoodshelp (Andy) said:

If the door seal breaks apart where it is close to the lip of the drum it can be caused if the drum is overloaded and items of laundry get stuck between the gap and the drum then drags it around. It can also be caused by excessive play in the drum if the drum spider is cracked or the drum bearings badly worn. 

Thanks for your quick response, Andy. I have taken the machine apart and split the outer tub to find a melted lump of rubber/plastic jamming between the inner drum and the outer tub. Also there are serious rub/melted plastic/burn marks inside the bottom of the rear outer tub. Looks like the inner steel drum has been rubbing around on it for quite a while. Not sure what the initial cause was but I too suspect overloading - she who must be obeyed disagrees as it is she who does the laundry (no, I'm not a chauvinist, we just split the chores!). The cost of replacement parts is between 3 and 4 hundred so we won't be pursuing that avenue - time for a new machine (and smaller loads!).

Edited June 13, 2020 by ecotrubble
used wrong word to describe a part

[Silverspread]

Hi, I have read all of the above and have a similar problem.

The samsung ecobubble 8kg was on a spin cycle with a light load, with 3 minutes to go (probably on 1400 rpm) my son heard a loud pop and the machine carried on to the end of the cycle a bit noisier than before the pop.

Upon opening there was a amount of shredded rubber and a separate long strip from the door seal.

I looked on line for door seal replacement videos and proceeded to disassemble, I find that the seal has been rubbed deeply at the side (where the strip came from) but don't know weather I am looking at the cause or the effect!

The outer drum is still supported by the springs and shocks, I have therefore not found anything broken that might of caused the pop.

I can see a lot of buildup of just muck on the back of the seal but nothing else, I cannot detect any movement or noise in the bearings, but when I rotate the inner drum it does not rotate concentric to the outer drum by a maximum of 10 mm (that is looking at one spot the gap goes from 10 mm to 20 mm)  but the two retain a minimum distance of 8 mm.

I have checked the inner drum for bends or folds and nothing. I am reluctant to fit a new door seal if the off center inner drum is 'out of tolerance' and would ask if there is anything else i should look at from a cause perspective?

[LynneK]

Hi all,

I've had an absolutely catastrophic rubber seal issue.  I was washing 2 small cushion pads at the time so nothing  out of the ordinary and definitely not overloaded. 

Before this I occasionally found a sock stuck at the bottom of the seal at the end of the wash, and maybe the end of an arm of a top. These seemed like minor inconveniences. Just a bit of unexpected sopping wet washing, I thought. Until now. 

My machine is 11 months old and Samsung are saying that the rubber seal is not covered by the warranty. 

The rubber seal is much wider than I've seen on any previous washing machines. My theory is that this is a design flaw. 

The wide rubber seal allows clothing to fall in during the wash. If it is the end of an arm or leg, in the spin cycle the trapped clothing gets dragged around the inside of the rubber seal, creating abrasive damage. So that's the little pieces of rubber you're seeing.

In my case, going by the damage to my cushion pad, it was the corner that got caught, and because this was stiff piping material, it just ripped the seal to shreds.

As I mentioned, Samsung are trying to shirk their legal responsibilities under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and make me pay for the repair. 

However, I thought I'd start looking around to see if this was a bigger problem than just my machine. I've also posted this content on a similar thread in the Samsung community website (hoping to get the attention of their customer services as their actual customer services have been shocking).

From other consumers it would be useful to know how old your machine is, and whether you have been finding socks or other items trapped in the rubber seal at the end of the wash. 

To any repairers I'd like to ask whether you repair more rubber seals on Samsung models (possibly Ecobubble specifically) than on other brands. 

Thanks

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that. That’s something I would have thought couldn’t happen. 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

The door glass in a washing machine is supposed to be designed to prevent items of laundry getting into the door seal. If only because once there they no longer get washed properly. 
 

It’s probably impossible to have the door glass low enough down to prevent socks and say very small underwear. They are the only items I’ve ever seen fall in there. How big was the item that got jammed in there?

[LynneK]

Hi Andy

It absolutely shouldn't have happened. I was washing 2 small cushion pads - they are for dining room chairs. There's some damage on the corner of one, where there is some piping detail so its a bit stiff. I can only imagine that the corner got stuck and the spin cycle pulled the cushion around but where the corner was stuck in the rubber it's caused immense abrasive damage. 

The rubber seal on this machine is quite soft, wide and flappy. The door glass tapers off at an angle and sits some distance away from the seal and drum edge when the door is closed, so seems to me to be a potential design flaw.

Anyway, Samsung are trying to say this isn't covered under warranty, so I'm trying to get some more information on whether this has happened before (or even seals breaking more often due to more regular but less catastrophic rubbing of trapped laundry) as I'll happily take this to small claims if necessary. 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I find it hard to understand how it's possible for something substantial enough, to get trapped far enough past the door glass, and then be dragged round and round so many times it cut through the seal. If that had happened anywhere before the final spin it would have flooded the kitchen when it filled up with water.

The difficulty with anything like this, on any product, is proving a design flaw when the manufacturer denies it. I've had my own experience with a car and it cost me several thousand pounds. The only thing I can suggest is that if the items you washed have wash labels on them instructing what temperature to wash them on and doesn't say hand-wash only then you have every right to be able to wash them in your washing machine. 

[King]

My washing machine was only 5 months old. I found some shredded grey particles on my washing so i checked and found out the rubber seal was damaged. I rang Samsung and was shocked to know i needed to pay £150 for repair, even though it's under 5 years guaranteed. Definitely there must has a design issue with this model as we all have the same problem here. Samsung must already know the issue but just deny it....what can we do??!

Edited September 9, 2021 by King

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

The manufacturers just blame the user, which is convenient. This is definitely a design issue because I know of 2 different brands of washing machine where this is impossible to happen because they designed differently (and more expensively of course). One was Asko (who also made some of the top of range ISE machines) and the other was the short-lived Dyson washing machine.

None of them had a normal door seal. It's very hard to describe, but they had 2 casings, one inside the other, and just a short door seal around the outer door opening rim like that on a tumble dryer. There was no large flange of rubber, and at the front of the revolving drum there was hard plastic instead. 

99% of washing machines have the exact same  type of door seal that is prone to getting holes in the large rubber surface, often gets horribly gunged up and caked in mould - as well as being prone to this friction damage when an item of laundry gets trapped in the gap and dragged around.

So it is possible to design washing machines where that can't happen, but at much greater cost. So you could argue the common door seal is a poor design, but it's been like that for over 5o years. 

Manufacturers claim it's caused by overloading but I think although probably correct the design is such that random items can just get trapped and that's a weakness of the design.

[Emz]

We have had our Samsung washing machine for around six weeks and it’s fell to bits same issue as everyone else Samsung want to charge 250 absolutely scandalous will never buy a Samsung product again 

[Ladytelita]

This evening my daughter was using the washing machine for a few items and we had noticed the rubber bits for a while despite nothing obvious causing any rubbing or overloading and tonight was the last straw, so to speak. I could very loud banging near the end of the cycle and stopped it immediately. When opened you could see the rubber around the drum was gone entirely at the bottom and the drum was far too mobile. There is no way it can be used any more despite being under a 10 year warranty and from what I have read on here probably not worth even bothering to contact Samsung about the problem if all they are going to do is charge me to have it repaired despite the cover. It was a costly machine for me so I am very disappointed. 

[Stanley Rooney]

Our 9yr old m/c chewed its door seal into filings today. It can be removed without disassembling, the internal retainer is accessible when the outer retainer is removed. Look at espares UT refitting is easy. HOWEVER! Before replacing the seal, check the drum is revolving concentrically!! When refitting the seal I discovered it was not, but offset, so chewed up the new seal too! To repair it requires a new “spider” and bolts, costing £150 plus another seal over £200. Ordered a Bosch for £450 today