I found little pieces of rusty material in the bottom of my washing machine. We have iron in our well water,and wonder

Question

if it could be building up somewhere and breaking off, or if the washing machine is rusting out someplace. It's about 20 yrs old, but still works good. Has anybody had a similar experience?

Dan's of Central Florida, Inc. · Answer

Sue, it could be either of your possibilites there. Have you given the washer a really good inspection to see if there are any signs of rust there? Have you seen any similar deposits anywhere else in the house? If not, my guess is that the problem lies with the washer and not the water lines.

Sue H · Answer

Thanks for your input  .I've looked all around inside and ran my hand around the inside and didn't find any thing wrong...just a little bit more of the rust  pieces. Where the hose attaches to the washer, there is a little screen that catches rust residue. I have to clean that a couple times a year, so these larger pieces couldn't be coming from there. Maybe there is part of the washer that I can't see, that is rusting away. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens.

Nichter's Home Services Corp · Answer

If I were your husband, these pieces could have come from in the pocket of my work clothes.

I was going to suggest that perhaps the screens in the washer hose were coming apart. I've seen that happen

Sue H · Answer

I will check that...Thanks!

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

My guess its coming from an outside source. Is this a on going issue, or it just happened and has you concerned.  
Rust in water supply does not give you pieces of rust. Unless the piping in the house is steel and its chipping off. But as you said you have filter screens on the hoses so that rules this out. 
Older machines used steel and iron pumps.  If a penny or dime got into the pump area it may have chipped off part of the internal pump. But those units are pretty sturdy and rarely ever rust, otherwise your clothes would come out rusty.

Kenneth Salek · Answer

I had this happen to my last machine - only 5 yrs old. It is the shaft inside of the agitator rusting away. It is only made of steel, not stainless steel. Save your $ for a new machine.

Caroline Gerardo · Answer

Twenty years is a nice long life for a washing machine. It may be rusting inside the agitator, or underneath. You can spray WD 40 on the rust which won't stop it but slow the break down of flakes.

Peter Conner-Estrada · Answer

Loud ugly noise, clothes okay, but found a small piece of metal on the bottom and the drum was crooked. Ran another wash, left about an 1/2 inch of water with more smaller pieces of metal, the drum was perfectly balanced. Ran rinse drain cycle without water coming in and drained the rest of the water out. Still, small little pieces of something, I think it is something my niece left in her wash. Some of it is squishy, not metal, there are some pieces that are metal and being a coin collector, it may be some really corroded pennies that got in there. I have some pennies that are full of holes and falling apart.

Deborah · Answer

Yes, under the agitator it is rusting, and pieces of flat cortoded metal are making their way into the wash. Definitely not an easy fix, time to get a new washer.

I found little pieces of rusty material in the bottom of my washing machine. We have iron in our well water,and wonder

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I found little pieces of rusty material in the bottom of my washing machine. We have iron in our well water,and wonder

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