Start here
Short answer: run it empty. If a Lamo washer is quiet with an empty drum, the machine is fine and the load or the levelling is the problem. Start at machine not level, or feet that have dropped on this machine.
What the washer is actually doing
- A knocking from a single heavy item — One towel or a rug spinning alone will bang whatever the machine does.
- A new machine that shakes violently from its first wash — Transit bolts left in place, which is common and completely free to correct.
- A clicking or scraping during the wash — Something loose in the drum or caught between drum and tub — a coin or an underwire.
- NEAR MISS — the drum does not turn at all — Noise with no rotation is a no-start or motor fault, not a noise complaint.
What actually causes this, ranked
- Machine not level, or feet that have dropped — A washer must stand solidly on all four feet. One foot short of the floor turns every spin into a hammer, and a machine that touches the wall or the unit beside it transmits its vibration into the whole kitchen. Ranked first: the failure rate is highest here and the test is free, so it is where the diagnosis starts. With a badge of this size the sensible order is the one that gets you to an answer without waiting on a part that may take weeks to arrive.
- A new machine locked solid for transport — It belongs on this list because it is the immediate suspect on a machine that has been installed or moved recently, and because removing them costs nothing and takes minutes. Second, because it produces the same complaint from the other side and is still an owner-side check.
- Coins or an underwire between drum and tub — It ranks here because it is a genuine cause with a free check: run the machine empty and listen, then check the pump filter. It sits here because it is a genuine cause with a narrower set of circumstances behind it.
- A rumble that grows with spin speed — A worn bearing also lets the drum move, so it can start rubbing the tub, and a machine left long enough in that state damages parts that were previously fine. Last, and the reason the order matters: it is the least likely of the four, and the three above are quicker to settle.
Check in this order, and why
- Check nothing touches the machine at the sides or the back — Including the hoses: a taut hose against a wall drums at spin speed. First: the answer here changes everything you do next.
- Ask whether the machine has ever spun quietly since it arrived — A machine that has shaken from the first load has almost always kept its transit bolts. Follow with this: it either confirms the second cause or clears it for good.
- Open the pump filter and look at what is in it — Coins and wires in the trap explain a drain-phase grinding completely. Third: by now the answer is usually already in hand.
What you can do yourself
- Adjust the feet until all four take weight and lock their nuts — Check with a level across the top, front to back and side to side.
Tools: spirit level, adjustable spannerAbout 30 min
- Remove the transit bolts and fit the blanking caps that came with them — Keep the bolts: they must go back in before the machine is moved again.
Tools: spannerAbout 25 min
- Clear the pump filter with the power off and a bowl ready — Wear a glove: underwires and pins are the usual finds and they are sharp.
Tools: glove, bowl, towelsAbout 30 min
- STOP at the point where a panel has to come off to go further — Everything past that point is measured, not looked at, and measuring means live terminals. Book the visit instead.
Before you open anything
Safety
Before anything is opened, switch off at the socket and let a hot wash cool: the drum, the door glass and the water inside can all scald. Move the machine with two people rather than walking it on its feet.
When to stop and call
This becomes a service call at the bearings and the suspension. Everything above them is a spanner, a torch and a few minutes, and between them they account for most noise complaints on a machine of this kind.
Other pages for this washer
What this page does not cover
What you are reading is written for the class, not for one Lamo model. A family- or model-specific page, where one exists, carries what this page cannot: the exact part numbers, the board layout and the disassembly order for that line. Go there first if your model is named.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
