How Washing Machine Works

Introduction
It has probably washed your clothes hundreds of times, but
have you ever wondered what's inside that trusty washing
machine?
How does it spin the clothes so fast without leaking water?
Why is it so heavy? How does the agitator switch directions?
In this edition of HowStuffWorks, we'll venture inside a
washing machine to answer all of these questions and more.
We'll start by explaining how the washing machine cleans
clothes, then we'll take a look at how the machine is put
together. We'll look at the plumbing, the drive mechanism
and the controls.
 Cleaning Clothes
Operating a washing machine is pretty simple:
 There are a few things to decide before you start your load of
clothes, such as how big the load is (small, medium, large, extra
large), what temperature the water will be for the wash and rinse
cycles (cold/cold, warm/cold, warm/warm, hot/cold), how the
machine should agitate (delicate, knit, permanent press, heavy), and
how long the cycles should last (number of minutes, based on how
soiled your clothes are).
 After you fill the tub with clothes, the machine fills the tub with water,
and then stirs the clothes around using an agitator.
 After some time agitating, the washer drains the water and then
spins the clothes to remove most of the water. Then, it refills, and
agitates the clothes some more to rinse out the soap. Then it drains
and spins again.
Inside a Washing Machine
Yes, that is in fact a block of concrete in the picture
above. The concrete is there to balance the equally heavy
electric motor, which drives a very heavy gearbox that is
attached to the steel inner tub. There are lots of heavy
components in a washing machine.
The washing machine has two steel tubs. The inner tub is
the one that holds the clothes. It has an agitator in the
middle of it, and the sides are perforated with holes so
that when the tub spins, the water can leave.
The outer tub, which seals in all the water, is bolted to the
body of the washer. Because the inner tub vibrates and
shakes during the wash cycle, it has to be mounted in a
way that lets it move around without banging into other
parts of the machine.
The inner tub is attached to the gearbox, which is
attached to the black metal frame you see in the picture
above. This frame holds the motor, gearbox and the
concrete weight.
Cable-and-pulley support system
The picture above shows just the black metal
frame, without the tub or gearbox. The cable
that you see on the left side of the picture is
the other end of the same cable that you see
on the right side. There are a total of three
pulleys, so that if one side of the frame moves
up, the other side moves down. This system
supports the weight of the heavy components,
letting them move in such a way as not to
shake the entire machine.
But, if all of these parts are just hanging by
cables, why don't they swing around all the
time?
A laundry machine has a damping system
that uses friction to absorb some of the force
from the vibrations.
Plumbing
The plumbing on the washing machine
has several jobs:
 It fills the washing machine with the correct temperature
of water.
 It recirculates the wash water from the bottom of the
wash tub back to the top (during the wash cycle).
 It pumps water out the drain (during the spin cycle).
The washing machine water lines

The washing machine has

hookups for two water lines
on the back, one for hot
water and one for cold.
These lines are hooked up
to the body of a solenoid
valve.
Water control valves
The image above shows the
back and front of the solenoid
valve. You can see that there
are two valves, but they feed
into a single hose. So
depending on the
temperature selected, either
the hot valve, the cold valve or
both valves will open.
Anti-siphon device
This device prevents wash water from
being sucked back into the water supply
lines, possibly contaminating the water for
your house or even your neighborhood.
You can see that the white, plastic device
has a big opening that allows air in.
The water from the hose shoots into the
device and turns downward, exiting
through the tube on the other end. But
while it is inside the device, it is open to
the atmosphere. This means that if there
were suction on the water supply line, it
could not possibly suck any water in from
the washing machine; it would get only
air.
Water inlet and overflow port
The picture above shows the inlet
through which water enters the
washing machine. The nozzle to
the right is an overflow port,
which is connected to a pipe that
dumps water out the bottom of
the washing machine (onto your
floor), instead of letting it overflow
the tub and possibly get the motor
wet.
Vibration-damping system
In each of the four corners of the
machine is a mechanism that
works a little like a disc brake.
The part attached to the washer
frame is a spring. It squeezes
two pads against the metal
plate that is attached to the
black frame. You can see where
the pads have polished the plate
from movement during vibration.
Pump and plumbing

The rest of the

plumbing system, the
part that recirculates
the water and the part
that drains it, involves
the pump.
 Pump
If you look carefully, you can see the vanes of the bottom layer of the
pump. When water enters the pump's inlet, these vanes, or fins, push
the water around and force it back out of the pump by way of the
outlet. This type of pump can operate in both directions -- which port is
the inlet and which is the outlet depends on which direction the pump is
spinning in.
Take another look at the pump. If the pump spins clockwise, the bottom
pump sucks water from the bottom of the wash tub and forces it out the
drain hose, and the top pump tries to suck air from the top of the wash
tub and force it back up through the bottom, so that no water
recirculation takes place.

If the pump spins counter-clockwise, the top pump sucks water from the bottom of the tub and pumps it
back up to the top, and the bottom pump tries to pump water from the drain hose back into the bottom of
the tub. There is actually a little bit of water in the drain hose, but the pump doesn't have the power to
force much of it back into the tub.
Take another look at the drain hose in the picture above -- notice how it loops all the way to the top of
the machine before heading back down to the drain. Because one end of the hose is hooked up to the
bottom of the tub and the other is open to the atmosphere, the level of water inside the drain hose will be
the same as the level inside the tub. If the drain hose didn't go all the way up to the top of the machine,
then the tub could never fill all the way. As soon as the water reaches the bend in the hose, it goes out the
drain.
There are also times when the pump does not spin at all. The washer just churns the water that is in the
tub without recirculating it. For this situation, the pump is hooked up to the motor by way of a clutch.
Clutch and flexible coupling
In this picture, you see the flexible coupling
that hooks the clutch up to the pump. The
coupling is needed because the motor and
clutch are mounted to the frame, which can
move freely with the inner tub, whereas the
pump is mounted to the stationary outer tub.
On the bottom of the clutch is a set of four
teeth. When the electromagnet engages, it
raises an arm up into these teeth, which stops
them from rotating. Once the teeth are
stopped, the clutch starts to engage. After a
couple of revolutions, it locks up to the motor
shaft and the pump starts to turn with the
motor.
 Drive Mechanism
The drive mechanism on a washing machine has two
jobs:

 To agitate the clothes,

moving them back and
forth inside the wash tub.
 To spin the entire wash
tub, forcing the water out.
Gearbox, pump, tubs and rubber seal
Inner tub
The inner tub has been
removed from the outer tub
in the picture above. It is
resting on the gearbox, and
the plastic agitator is
visible in the center of the
tub.
Gearbox
Here you can see the top side of the
gearbox with the seal cut and the inner
tub removed. The inner tub bolts to the
three holes in the flange of the
gearbox. You can see from the buildup
of crud on top of the gearbox that it has
been exposed to wash water for many
years. A hollow tube extends from the
center of the gearbox. Inside this tube
is a splined shaft -- the spline on top
of the shaft hooks into the plastic
agitator.
Gearbox
Inside the Gearbox
The gearbox is one of the
coolest parts of the washing
machine. If you spin the pulley
on the gearbox one way, the
inner shaft turns slowly back
and forth, reversing direction
about every half-revolution. If
you spin the pulley the other
way, the flange spins at high
speed, spinning the whole tub
with it.
Gearbox agitation mechanism
Here you can see a gear with a link attached
to it. This link is just like the one attached to
an old steam train wheel -- as the gear (along
with the link) turns, it pushes another pie-
shaped piece of gear back and forth. This pie-
shaped gear engages a small gear on the
inner shaft, which leads to the spline. In
addition to rotating the inner shaft in
alternating directions, there are other gears
within the system that provide a gear
reduction to slow the rotation. Because the
motor spins only at one speed, spin-cycle
speed, a gear reduction is necessary to
facilitate the slower wash cycle.
Gearbox agitation mechanism
Gear reduction
When the washer goes into spin cycle, the whole
mechanism locks up, causing everything to spin at
the same speed as the input, which is hooked up to
the motor. The interesting thing here is that when
the motor spins the gearbox in one direction, the
agitator runs, and when it spins it the other way,
the whole machine locks up. How does it do this?
In the figure above, notice the gear with the
angled teeth. There is also a smaller gear with
angled teeth behind the big one in the foreground.
These are the only two gears with angled teeth.
Depending on which way the gears are spinning,
the angle on the teeth will tend to force the inner
gear to slide either to the left or to the right inside
the gearbox. If it slides to the left, it engages a
Gear reduction mechanism that locks up the gearbox.
Gearbox lockup mechanism
You can see a small notch in the
outer shaft. This notch is hollow, and
is attached to the shaft with the small
helical gear. When the small gear
moves, it moves this outer shaft with
it, and the small notch engages the
single tooth that is fixed to the
lockup mechanism. When the
gearbox is locked up, both the inner
shaft, which drives the agitator, and
the outer shaft, which drives the tub,
spin at the same speed as the input
pulley.
Gearbox lockup mechanism
Controls
The controls for this machine were
designed before microcontrollers
were being used in appliances. In
fact, there is not a single resistor or
capacitor in the whole machine.
First, let's take a look at the cycle
switch -- you'll be amazed at what
is inside.
The cycle switch has the job of
determining how long the different
parts of the cycle last.
Cycle switch
Inside the cycle switch
Inside the switch is a little motor
equipped with a very large gear
reduction that makes the control dial
turn very slowly. In the top half of the
switch, there is a set of six contacts.
These are actuated by the small
pieces of metal in the plastic arm on
the dial. As the dial spins, bumps on
the dial raise and lower the six metal
pieces, which close and open the
contacts in the top half of the switch.
Inside the cycle switch
Inside the cycle switch
If you look at the shape of the bumps, you
can see why the dial on the washer spins
only one way: The front side of the bumps
has a slope that raises up the metal pieces
gradually; but the back side doesn't, so if
you try to turn the knob backward, the metal
pieces wedge against the bumps.
This bumpy plastic disk is really the software
program that runs your washing machine.
The length of the bumps determines how
long each part of the cycle lasts, and the
length of the space between bumps
determines how long the machine pauses
before moving on to its next task.
Inside the cycle switch
 Speed and temperature control
These switches control the speed of
the motor and determine which of
the hot/cold water supply solenoids
will open during the wash and the
rinse cycles. If hot is selected, only
the hot water solenoid valve will
open when the machine fills; if
warm is selected, both will open;
and if cold is selected, only the cold
water solenoid valve will open.
Speed and temperature control switches
 Inside the speed/temperature
control
The speed/temperature control is
pretty simple. Each plastic rocker
engages two sets of contacts,
either opening or closing the circuit
connected to those contacts. For
each switch, there is always one
closed and one open set of contacts.

Inside the speed/temperature control

Water level control switch
The level sensor uses a
pressure switch to detect the
water level in the tub.

This switch controls how high

the tub fills with water.
Water level control
switch
Water level control switch plumbing

The big end of the hose connects

to the bottom of the tub, while the
small end connects to the switch.
As the water level in the tub rises,
water rises in the hose also; but
the air in the hose is trapped, so as
the water rises, the air is
compressed.
Water level control switch plumbing
Inside the water level control switch
Inside the housing of this switch is a little
piston. The pressure in the hose pushes the
piston up. When it is raised far enough, it
pops up and closes an electrical contact. This
set point, where the contact is lost, is
adjustable, and in the picture you can see the
cam mechanism that is connected to the
adjuster knob on the control panel of the
washer. As the cam turns, it presses a spring
against the cylinder, making it harder for the
cylinder to pop up. This means that the water
level will have to rise some more before the
pressure in the hose will be high enough to
trigger the switch.
Inside the water level control switch