What's this coming out of my washing machine?

[MrCake]

Today we had our old automatic washing machine taken away. When I say old, about 15 years or so old I think. When it was taken out from under the worktop we found a few bits and pieces – fridge magnet, hairclips, mousetrap – but also some strange small piles of stuff. The piles were a bit bigger than you might get from say drilling a hole in the wall, and more or less one pile in each corner of the floor space. When the machine was taken out of the kitchen, some of this stuff kept dropping on the floor. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from inside the machine or off the bottom. The stuff was comprised of two different materials, one (about 2/3rds by volume) a very small sized (< 1mm), darkish brown soft material, the other perfectly round 1mm sized hard balls. A magnet showed that the hard bits were metallic. Both materials were uniformly sized, so it can’t have been stuff chewed up by a mouse. I've never once seen it in the house before, let alone near the machine. Mrs C and I are completely stumped as to what it might be. Any ideas?

[Breelander]

...magnet showed that the hard bits were metallic...

You don't say why it was 'taken away' but I'd guess because it had stopped working, or was starting to make worrying noises. I suspect that it had been tearing itself apart for some time - the metallic bits probably being worn away from its bearings and/or other moving parts.

[MrCake]

That's possible. But it did still work and wasn't making any untoward noises.

[bionichamster]

some strange small piles of stuff. The piles were a bit bigger than you might get from say drilling a hole in the wall, and more or less one pile in each corner of the floor space. When the machine was taken out of the kitchen, some of this stuff kept dropping on the floor. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from inside the machine or off the bottom. The stuff was comprised of two different materials, one (about 2/3rds by volume) a very small sized (< 1mm), darkish brown soft material, the other perfectly round 1mm sized hard balls. A magnet showed that the hard bits were metallic. Both materials were uniformly sized,

Four corners suggests it may be associated with the washing machine feet. After fifteen years the material they are made from might be disintegrating, that could be the brown softish stuff, which might be rubber or some softish plastic alternative, the very small metal balls possibly bearings incorporated into the feet either related to how they were attached to the machine or perhaps embedded in the plastic to assist with sliding it in and out on a kitchen floor?

Or alternatively it was the mangled remains of some internal parts wearing down and coming out some holes that were strategically placed in the bottom corners as part of the manufacturing process .

Given it was still working I'm leaning towards some disintegrating feet.

What make and model was the machine?

BH

[MrCake]

Disintegrating feet sounds convincing, but the piles were formed as if the stuff had been dropping down from somewhere rather than, say, being rubbed off the feet from friction with the floor. Machine was an AEG Oko Lavamat 72630. The reason we got a new one was quite simple - Mrs C said we were getting a new one.

[bionichamster]

Disintegrating feet sounds convincing, but the piles were formed as if the stuff had been dropping down from somewhere rather than, say, being rubbed off the feet from friction with the floor. Machine was an AEG Oko Lavamat 72630.

I wasn't suggesting that the stuff had rubbed off the feet, more that after fifteen years and all that vibration going through them that perhaps the material from which they were constructed had perished leaving four distinct piles of crumbs, or indeed a loose mass of crud stuck to the bottom of the machine that dropped off as it was being moved.

The reason we got a new one was quite simple - Mrs C said we were getting a new one.

I believe that is commonest reason why a washing machine requires to be replaced.

BH

[marronier]

Sounds like it might have been dust particles from the concrete weights that are bolted around the drum to counter-act vibrations as it spins at speed.

Had a similar residue when a bolt sheared andd loosened the weight on our machine.

About half the weight of a washing machine is concrete.

[bungeejumper]

A magnet showed that the hard bits were metallic. Both materials were uniformly sized, so it can’t have been stuff chewed up by a mouse.

Jeepers, you must have some tough mice around your part of the world. (Although, having said that, we did one have a mouse try to chew through a bottle of wine while we were camping. Having eaten through the foil on the neck, he'd left his sharp little teeth marks in the glass.)

The fact that the piles were in the corners, and not just happening in straight lines around the edges of the machine, does suggest that they've dropped through some sort of aperture, either in the floorpan or in the castors. Could the brown bits be simply dust that's been congealed into balls by the damp atmosphere? And you're quite sure that they're not woodlice embalmed in detergent?

BJ

[jfgw]

And you're quite sure that they're not woodlice embalmed in detergent?

Magnetic lice?

[bungeejumper]

Magnetic lice?

Fill of zinc, I think. WLTM copper bugs for mutually electrifying experiences. AC/DC types need not apply.

BJ

[jfgw]

I second the counterweight as the most likely source. These come in different materials such as concrete and cast iron. High density filler (such as magnetite) is often added to a cement-based material. I suspect that the counterweight was a reddish-brown one and that the balls are the high-density filler.

I can think of nothing else in a washing-machine that has balls that size.

Julian F. G. W.

[MrCake]

That's seems the most likely answer.

Thanks all