What happens if you don't replace a bad bearing?

[norgechef]

Hi guys. A few months ago I bought a Kenmore (Whirlpool world) portable washer that had bearings starting to go bad in it. It leaks occasionally from the bearing area, but it seems the louder it gets, the less it leaks. I suppose what I'm doing is a little experiment to see how far I can push it until it inevitably locks up or something. It still washes fine, every other part on it works great. Still spins up to full speed just very loudly.

I got it in September and have been using it every week or so since. It's went from an airplane taking off type noise to a loud growling noise that vibrates the whole machine. I noticed last night it was especially loud. Still, spins just fine. Not leaking any water. It has leaked water before from the centre/seal area but its intermittent.

When this machine goes, I have another identical Kenmore portable machine that still has good bearings, which needs new suspension snubber straps. Also will be parting out all the electronics, motor, pump, capacitor etc. from the one with the bad bearing to keep for the other one. But for the time being, I think I'm just going to use this one until it breaks completely. So my question is, what will happen if I leave the bad bearing? Will the machine lock-up, will the inner tub come free from the bearing assembly? Maybe a little explosion? It's so small that I don't really even worry if it shakes itself apart or does ''explode'' one day. It only spins at 750 RPM anyways. If it did come apart, I doubt it would do much damage in the middle of my kitchen floor.

 

[combo52]

Using a world washer with bad bearings

It eventually will probably start leaking again, and the water may damage some thing else or the bearings will get so badly worn that they will lock up.

Nothing really bad is likely to happen. The worst thing that will happen is it may leak more.

Let us know how long it lasts, we can always move it outside if it starts leaking a lot lol.

John

 

[thatwasherguy]

From what I’ve seen…

They will usually just lock up and won’t do anything, or will start leaking so badly that the machine is unusable. My Aunt had bad bearings in her washer, and she ran it for over a year before the bearings seized, and a family friend used theirs for about the same amount of time before it started leaking so badly that it became inoperable, so it takes a while. That said, it would theoretically be possible for other damage to occur, especially if it locked up while it was spinning, but I can’t imagine it being enough to trigger an explosion. We used a washer with bad bearings for about 9 months, and other than an intermittent leak, it didn’t really do anything.
Thatwasherguy.