Water sitting in the drum, won't drain
Usually an E21, E02 or E2 on the display. Nine times out of ten it's the drain pump — coins, hairpins, bra wires. This is around 40% of my call-outs.
WhatsApp about a machine that won't drain →
Washing machine repair in Midrand
I'm Mluleki Ndlovu. I've been an electronics technician for 17 years and spent the last 7 repairing household appliances across Midrand — no call centre, no dispatcher. R650 call-out, and it comes off the price of the repair if you go ahead.
All brands · Repaired in your home · 3-month workmanship guarantee
What's your machine doing?
These are the five faults I see most in Midrand homes. If one of them sounds like yours, I've almost certainly repaired it this month.
Won't start, clicks two or three times, then nothing
That's the door interlock. The machine won't run until it knows the door is properly shut, and when the lock fails it just clicks and stops.
WhatsApp about a machine that won't start →Screaming like an aeroplane on the spin cycle
Bearings. It usually starts as a rumble and gets worse over a few weeks. Older machines, five years and up, and it's worse where the water is hard.
WhatsApp about noisy spin →Completely dead after load shedding
No lights, no response. Or it starts and trips the plug. That's surge damage to the main board.
WhatsApp about surge damage →Filling slowly, or not filling at all
The inlet valve mesh blocks up. On borehole water that's fine sand and grit, and it happens far quicker.
WhatsApp about slow filling →Two things kill washing machines in Midrand
Load shedding surges
Three to four of my call-outs a week are surge damage. The worst is when power comes back late at night with a spike behind it. What I find depends on the brand. On Defy it's usually a burnt varistor and fuse on the main board, sometimes with a black mark near the power input. On Samsung and LG inverter machines it's an IPM short — the motor won't turn and the board sits there flashing. On Bosch it's often the triac for the door lock. I now tell every customer the same thing: put a surge plug on the machine. A R250 plug saves a R2,500 board.
Borehole water in the estates
If you're in Waterfall, Blue Hills or Kyalami, you're almost certainly on borehole water. I open the inlet valve mesh and it's packed with white sand or brown grit. The heating element comes out with thick white scale on it like chalk — the machine takes forever to heat and eventually throws a heating error. I descale with citric acid, but the real fix is an inline sediment filter and a scale inhibitor on the supply. On municipal water in Vorna Valley and Halfway House it's much milder.
The drain hose fault that floods kitchens
The machine's own feet sit on the floor next to the drain hose. Every spin cycle, the machine moves a fraction and the foot rubs against the hose. Over months it wears a groove, then a hole. Now every single wash puts water across your kitchen floor and you've no idea where it's coming from.
The fix takes two minutes — the hose gets cable-tied and routed so nothing touches it when the drum spins. The damage from ignoring it doesn't stop at the floor. Water finds its way onto the PCB and into the bearings, and then a R200 hose has turned into a board and a bearing kit.
I check this on every job.
Three recent jobs
Vorna Valley
Defy 7kg front loader
Wouldn't drain, E2 on the display, water sitting in the drum. Two R5 coins and a bra wire in the pump. Stripped the pump, cleared it, tested the drain, cleaned the filter. Forty-five minutes.
Blue Hills
Bosch Serie 4
No power at all after load shedding. Power supply section of the PCB was burnt — fuse and varistor gone. Replaced them, tested the machine, and fitted a surge plug before I left.
Waterfall City
Siemens iQ500, built in
Shaking badly with a loud jet noise on spin. Bearings had collapsed and the spider was cracked, accelerated by borehole scaling. Full drum bearing kit and spider, plus descaling the element. A full morning's work.
What it costs and how it works
R650
Call-out
That covers me coming to you and diagnosing the fault properly. If you accept the quote, the R650 comes off the repair.
Quote first
Before I touch anything
I find the fault, tell you what it needs and what it costs, and you decide.
3 months
Workmanship guarantee
On the repair. If something I did fails, I come back and fix it.
Most parts I collect the same day. Some brands come through a courier and can take longer, and I'll tell you which yours is when I quote rather than leaving you wondering. I use original parts or high-quality equivalents — never cheap generic boards.
Brands I work on
All major brands: Defy, Samsung, LG, Bosch, Siemens, Whirlpool, Miele, Smeg, Speed Queen and AEG.
On volume, LG and Samsung come up most — particularly the 2-in-1 washer-dryer combos. Those units run harder than a standard machine, and when a small leak goes unnoticed the water gets onto the PC board and into the bearings. Most of those jobs would have been a cheap fix if the machine had been checked a few months earlier. In the estates it's mostly Bosch and Siemens, and there it's boards and pumps. Miele fails least of anything I work on, but when it does go it's usually the drain pump or the door lock.
Where I work
I'm based in Carlswald and I cover Midrand and the surrounding suburbs.
MidrandHalfway HouseCarlswaldNoordwykVorna ValleyWaterfall CityBlue HillsKyalami HillsCountry ViewRandjesparkHalfway GardensBarbeque DownsGlen AustinCrowthorneRandjesfontein
If you're in one of the estates — Waterfall City, Blue Hills, Kyalami — I need booking in at the gate 24 hours ahead, with my ID and car registration. Send me your gate PIN the night before and I'll be through without losing forty minutes at the boom. I batch estate jobs on Tuesdays and Thursdays for that reason.
Keeping your machine alive
Check it every three months.
Look underneath and behind for any sign of water. A small leak that reaches the board or the bearings turns a cheap job into an expensive one.
Clean it every six months.
An empty hot wash with a machine cleaner, and clear the pump filter.
Get a surge plug.
R250 against a R2,500 board is not a close call.
Check the drain hose isn't kinked or rubbing.
Most kinked hoses I find were kinked on the day the machine was installed and nobody looked.
When a machine is delivered, make sure the transit bolts at the back have actually been removed and the feet are levelled properly. A machine that jumps around on spin is either still bolted or standing unevenly, and both wreck bearings.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does washing machine repair cost in Midrand?
The call-out is R650 and it's deducted from your quote if you go ahead with the repair. The repair cost depends on the fault. I diagnose it first, explain what's wrong, and give you the full cost before I start.
Why won't my washing machine spin?
Usually a drain pump blockage, a failed door interlock, or worn drum bearings. The machine often won't spin if it can't drain first. I diagnose which it is at your home.
Can load shedding damage my washing machine?
Yes, and it's three to four of my call-outs a week. The surge when power returns damages the main board. A R250 surge plug prevents almost all of it.
Do you repair washing machines at my home, or do I bring it to you?
I come to you. Repairs are done on-site in your home across Midrand.
Which washing machine brands do you repair?
All major brands, including Defy, Samsung, LG, Bosch, Siemens, Whirlpool, Miele, Smeg, Speed Queen and AEG.
Is it worth repairing my washing machine or should I replace it?
If the repair is less than about half the cost of a comparable new machine and the machine is under eight years old, repairing is usually the better call. WhatsApp me a photo of the model sticker and tell me what it's doing, and I'll give you an honest answer before you commit to a call-out.
Machine giving you trouble?
Send me a message and tell me what it's doing. I'll tell you what I think it is before I come out.