The short answer
Start with suspension springs, dampers and worn mounts: on Martel washers it outranks the load, not the machine, and both come a long way before levelling and the floor under the machine. On a long-serving machine the ranking leans towards what wears — seals, mounts, hoses and switches — rather than towards anything with a circuit board in it. Most of what follows is owner-checkable, and the point where that stops is stated plainly below.
What you observe
- A rising grinding or roar as the spin speeds up — Noise that tracks drum speed and worsens as it climbs points at a rotating part rather than at the load.
- A metallic rattle or scrape at low speed — Something small and hard is where it should not be, usually in the drain path or between the drums.
- A buzz or hum with no movement — Something is being driven and is not turning. Stop the cycle rather than letting it repeat.
- NEAR MISS — the noise is a hiss or trickle during fill — That is the water valve and the plumbing, and it is normal on most machines. Nothing on this page applies.
Causes, most likely first on Martel
- Suspension springs, dampers and worn mounts — On a machine of this age the suspension has done its work. The noise arrives gradually, it is worst at the start and end of a spin as the drum passes through its resonant speed, and it will not improve on its own. Ranked first on Martel: it ranks here because a machine of this vintage has usually worn its damping out before anything else fails.
- The load, not the machine — Next, and close behind the first: it is free to test, it explains most sudden-onset noise, and a load that spins quietly when spread out has already answered the question.
- Something small in the drain path or between the drums — Coins, buttons, hair clips and the wire from a bra all leave the pocket, pass the drum holes, and end up either in the pump housing or in the gap between the inner and outer drum. Third on this brand: it is a found object rather than a failed part, and the pump filter where it collects is the one place an owner can safely reach.
- Levelling and the floor under the machine — Support is half of what keeps a spinning drum quiet. Last: it is high because it takes a few minutes rather than none, and because a machine that rocks by hand cannot be assessed any other way.
Check in this order, and why
- First: Push the drum down and let it go — A drum that bounces several times instead of settling has lost its damping. It is first because it is the cheapest of the three to settle.
- Second: Spread the load and spin again — A quiet spin with the same clothes redistributed ends the investigation there.
- Third: Open the pump filter and look — Most of what causes this noise ends up in the filter chamber, the only place you can reach without tools.
What an owner can safely check
- Redistribute the load and run a spin-only cycle — Spread everything evenly around the drum, close the door, and run a spin on its own.
About 15 min
- Drain through the pump filter and empty it — Have a shallow tray ready — the chamber holds water. Check what comes out before you discard it.
Tools: shallow tray, towelAbout 20 min
- STOP HERE if the next step needs a meter on live terminals — That is the line between an owner check and a service call, and it is not worth crossing.
Before any panel comes off
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel, and treat every capacitor as still charged: a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Drain the tub through the pump filter into a shallow tray before tilting or moving the machine: a full drum makes a washer unstable, and the water may still be hot.
When to call a technician
Call when the free checks are clean and the noise is still there, because what remains needs the machine on its back and the drum out. Call sooner if the noise is a hard metallic scrape, if the machine moves far enough to strain its hoses, or if anything smells hot after a cycle — a noise with a smell is a bearing or a motor, and those get worse quickly.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This is generalized information for Martel washers as a class, not for one family or one model. No family- or model-specific page for this brand and appliance is published here yet, so nothing narrower is linked; when one is, it becomes the more specific answer and this page will point to it. Not here: wiring colours, torque figures, part numbers and panel-removal sequences, all of which differ by family.
