ballast ring rusted through, can this tub be saved ?

[washerfetish]

Hi

I finally got the inner tub out and discovered a rusted hole where the ballast ring is. Ballast has been spilling out and a lot has been lost. The washing machine was shaking during spin cycles. Can I save this tub or not? Should I buy a new inner tub?

I am planning to replace the rubber boot, the top o ring rusted right off causing a water leak.

Its an old Beaumark from 1991 or so. Thanks!

 

[macboy91si]

Typical GE

Time for a replacement tub my friend. That's a bad one. Rust is something that seems to plague these GE/Hotpoints, seems more of an issue on the newer models. Unless the boot has hardened significantly, I see no reason to replace that. You could save the top ring with some hard epoxy or something like that to add some reinforcement, even better if you could weld some sheet metal to the rim. This machine looks pretty rough in all honestly, so it depends on how much work you want to do on it, it needs a fair bit, and I think it's usually the rust that kills off the old GE's.

 

-Tim

 

[eddy1210]

I think the machine is worth fixing up, you need a new tub.  I don't know where in Canada you live, but if you're here in B.C., Sam at Penguin Appliances has used GE tubs.  I have a spare, but it's the smaller capacity, you have the extra large capacity tub.

 

[washerfetish]

Hi all

Sounds like there is no fixing this old inner tub.

I have touched the rubber boot and it seems flexible. Looks good from the bottom fo the machine. Its the upper larger O ring that rusted right off. I know where to get one nearby new. So the rubber boot might be saved.

Im in Toronto. I'm willing to search for a tub. There are all kinds of pre owned appliance stores and appliance parts stores around and i will do some research and good old phone calling. If not then my mom will have to get a new one.

Sounds like I will need the larger tub.

Thanks for the suggestions, comments and advice.

 

[macboy91si]

Thoughts

Is there something special about this GE clone to you? What you *could* do, and I think would be much easier in your case, is find another used machine and perform a swap. The GE machines are easy to do this on, and if you could find a good GE/Hotpoint or whatever and swap out your control panel and harness, you might be better off than dealing with all that rot on this one. Then you'd have extra parts in the even something else fails. This is my opinion, let's be honest just about anything *CAN* be fixed, but this is major rust to the inner and outer tub. The top lip of the outer tub is also an issue, that rubber seal is simply pressed over a lip in the outer tub, and if the whole seal came off with the metal in it (which I've sen numerous times) than you have to reinforce or recreate that lip somehow. Without the proper height of that lip, you will continue to get water sloshing over the tub in the spin-drain portion of the cycles.

 

If it were ME, I'd move on to a better machine and use this as a donor, it will be less work and in the end you will have a machine that looks identical to this (control panel and all) and a much better unit.

 

-Tim

 

[washerfetish]

Hi Tim:

I guess you don't know that I like challenges

The reason I have not bought a new tub in the fist place is that the stairs to the basement were renovated and nothing gets in or out this size. Unless I do some major wall demolition. So I have tried to make this machine work again. And it does work execept for these small problems I have found.

I was talking with a friend at work and she suggests taking a chance. How about pouring some course sand into the ballast ring through the rust hole. Then seal up the rust hole with a piece of cut out plastic from a margarine container with silicone. Then silicone everything again. Also suggested using a big exercise elastic around the hole and then silicone that on.

I think this might work, and then it would give my mother time to do a few more loads of wash, and in the meantime I could take my time to search out a used inner tub at a store somewhere.

What do you think?

Pete

 

[macboy91si]

Creative Engineering

You could fill it with something similar to that yes, it's not an exact material, it just needs something that will provide weight on the top of the tub to balance. As for a sealing method, I would take a grinding/wire wheel attachment and attack as much of the rust as possible then get some stuff called POR-15 (or a similar grade epoxy sealant, like marine sealant or something) and coat the area well. This will prevent further rusting, especially if you use the POR-15, which is your best friend for stopping rust IMO. For a panel, you could use some thin sheet metal or plastic like you mentioned. The elastic won't be necessary and will get nasty very quickly in that environment. You can seal the patch with some silicone, it would be great of you could anchor it with some rivets or something, or you plaster in place after siliconing it in with something like JB-weld. This things aint winning no beauty prize, but it may work, the main concern will be to keep the moisture out of the ballast ring. You do need a new inner tub, so keep looking, even if you have to purchase another like used machine and part it out in the yard piece by piece lol. Also could you post a pick of the top lip of the outer tub after you removed the tub-to-top gasket?

 

-Tim

 

[tomturbomatic]

But if a person could get down the stairs, you could certainly get a tub down the stairs.

 

[washerfetish]

I don't have a pic of the top lip of the outer tub yet. When i felt it I think it was probably rusty inderneath. But holding.

I will be working on this repair. I have included a close up image (with some artistic photoshoping to make it stand out) of the main rusted out hole on the ballast ring. Thats really the major problem. The other rust you see in these pics is stains and on the surface. I have not pulled out the rubber boot to see if there is any metal there that has rusted right out. I have seen on these forums a guy who had a problem of a rusted out tub around the boot and he repaired that with the plastic and silicone method I described above. Can't find his link for that description just now.

There are lots of methods to patch such a hole. Automotive stores have all kinds of resins and patch materials. Once done I will post some pics. I have contacted an appliance dealer nearby and they told me they have the replacement tub. THey quoted me the part number W10389328. But there site doesn't show a pictures. I wonder if its really the same tub with the three bolts at the bottom or not?
More research I guess. This is somewhat stimulating mentally and physically. Thanks for looking and the wise suggestions.

 

[washerfetish]

Oh I found the thread of the guy (gansky1) who used the plastic ice cream container pieces to patch holes in his tub with silicon. It looked great! Here is the link. The pics are half way down the thread.

I like this guys work:

Thread No. 12518 "Speed Queen Center Posts 101"
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?12518

 

[garyl]

Rusty tub

I have used epoxy to fix rust before, but that spin basket is in pretty bad shape. See if you can find a "moble junk dealer", and tell him that you will give $25 or so for a washer with the right spin basket. It's more than the scrap yard will give for it. You could keep the parts washer, or have the junk man haul off what's left over. I've done this before. The other possibility is to contact a charity thrift store and tell them what you are looking for, and that you will pay for it. They have to haul off a lot of junk machines, they don't fix them.

 

[washerfetish]

thanks Gary. good ideas. Funny you should mention that. I scrap metal truck came by yesterday to pick up my old BBQ. He had an old Inqlis washer in the back but I couldn't tell if the tub was the same or not. He gave me his card and told me he could be on the look out for one and let me know.

 

[gansky1]

That was my silicone-ice cream bucket repair on the Speed Queen and it worked fine for a part of the outer tub that was stationary and other than holding back water for a brief time while the pump emptied the tub, had no stress on the repair.  On a spinning part of the tub, i wouldn't trust that repair for even one load.  Silicone isn't strong enough to hold back sand, etc. at that kind of g-force levels.  I tried filling a Frigidaire tub ballast ring with concrete but while it work OK, it was never balanced properly and spun rather rough.  Frigidaire tubs are pretty rare and mine was more of an experiment than a permanent solution and that tub is long gone now.  I would get a new (good used) basket for a GE washer, there are still plenty out there.

Good luck!

 

 

[washerfetish]

Thanks for the update gansky1. Im having so much trouble finding a basket. I need one with the 3 holes for the 3 bolts.

Model number for my washer is 11020992991. I was told the part number for the inner tub is W10389328 but all internet searches I have done come up with a 'newer' tub that the pics don't show the three bolt holes at the bottom of the tub.

 

[runematic]

W10389328 is a Whirlpool number.   11020992991  is a modern Kenmore/Whirlpool direct drive model number.  That's why your tub number is coming back like that.

 

[washerfetish]

thanks runematic.

 

[washerfetish]

I am planning to the the patch job on the rust hole today. After filling the ballast ring with fine gravel/sand and in order to plug the hole I will either patch the entire hole with silicone caulking or a marine used resin with fiberglass cloth patch, or an automotive body filler epoxy. Any suggestion of which would be best? These are pretty much my only options for now unless you have a better idea that is not much more involved than any of the above.

Thank you.

 

[washerfetish]

Here is a quick update:

I decided to buy Resin and a fiberglass cloth. Also, I decided to use Kitty litter to replace some of the lost ballast. In fact, the kitty litter is a little bit larger in size than the original ballast but it poured into the rusted hole nicely. I actually seem to have lost less ballast than I originally thought. I guess most of the ballast is compacted tight inside the balance ring. Only the ballast that was close to the rusted hole fell out. So I ended up replacing about a couple of cups.

I used the resin and fiberglass cloth and I have to say that for the first time using such a product I was very very happy.

After mixing the resin with the hardner, I dipped the fiberglass cloth into it and then spread it out over the rusted hole to overlap. I had lots of resin so then spread out evenly over the fiberglass. The resin felt very sticky and spread like as if it was honey. Then it began to set in about 15 minutes. I did not sand away any of the rusty bits. That was beyond the amount of work I wanted to put into this. Time will tell how it holds up.

On the outer tub there really isn't any deep rust that needs to be fixed. There are rust stains but that's about it. So I am leaving the outer tub as is. As I mentioned the top lip of the outer tub, where there is a rubber ring is actually holding in very good shape except for one small section that is a bit rusty. So I am going to leave it.

I do have to replace the smaller , upper O-ring on the rubber boot. It was rusted off. The larger lower o-ring seems very very tight. And I pushed along the entire boot and it seems flexible and does not seem to have any holes. The main area of water leakage looks like from the upper part of the boot. I will fill that gap with silicone and then re-attach a new 0-ring.

I will be finishing the job Saturday and do some testing Sunday. Will definitely have pictures by Sunday of all this work. have a good weekend and thanks for watching.

 

[washerfetish]

Update:

I finished my repair of the rusted out hole. The fiberglass filler/cloth cured perfectly and solid. I sanded a few of the sharp edges. The job looked wonderful.

I placed a new O-ring on the rubber boot. But, I first put some silicone inside the boot edge to gaurantee a good seal. Worked perfectly.

I re-installed everything and tested it. No leaks! And the tub seemed to spin,drain very well. There was a bit of vibration but I leveled out the tub with wood blocks and that helped.

Sorry no pictures were done because I forgot my memory card!

however I am very pleased with the hole job. Never done it before but I was up to the challenge. and I learned a lot.

Thanks for your encouragement and advice.

I'll check back in a year or so to update!