Sealed washing machine tubs

Sealed washing machine tubs are the welded or bonded plastic outer tubs used on most washing machines sold today, which enclose the drum bearings so that a worn bearing cannot be replaced on its own and the entire tub-and-drum assembly must be bought instead.^[1] For the Bosch WGG24400GB, the outer tub is listed only as one complete assembly, priced at €447.43 at the spares retailer eSpares, and no drum bearing is offered as a separate part.^[2][3] European Union ecodesign law for washing machines lets manufacturers make the washing drum, drum spider & ball bearings available to professional repairers "separately or bundled",^[4] and the 2024 right-to-repair Directive adds a duty to supply spare parts "at a reasonable price that does not deter repair" that Member States must apply from July 31, 2026.^[5]

The outer tub is the large fixed plastic container that holds the spinning drum and the wash water, and the drum bearings sit at the rear of it, supporting the shaft the inner drum spins on. Whether those bearings can be replaced when they wear out depends on how the tub is built. On the older split-tub design, the outer tub is made in two halves that bolt together around a seal; once removed from the machine, the halves separate to expose the bearings, the shaft seal, the drum spider & the inner drum, each of which can be replaced individually.^[1]

On the sealed-tub design that now dominates the market, the two halves are "permanently joined at the factory by ultrasonic welding, hot-plate welding, adhesive bonding" and cannot be separated without destroying the tub.^[1] The bearings are enclosed permanently, so when they fail the whole tub-and-drum assembly is discarded and replaced as one part. Drum bearings are a wear component: they carry the weight of a loaded drum spinning at speeds up to 1,600 rpm, and on a machine in normal household use they typically begin to show wear after 7 to 10 years.^[1]

The design change moves the cost of that wear onto the owner. Whitegoods Help writes:

The cost saving in manufacturing is captured by the manufacturer; the cost of failure falls on the consumer

^[1] On a split-tub machine, a bearing pair is a part costing roughly £20 to £60; on a sealed-tub machine, the complete assembly runs about £150 to £300 or more for the bare part before fitting.^[1] Whitegoods Help lists Hotpoint, Indesit, Bosch, Siemens, Neff, Beko, Blomberg, Zanussi, AEG, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Samsung, Haier, Hoover, Candy & Hisense among the brands using sealed tubs, and names LG Direct Drive models and some Miele ranges as retaining replaceable bearings.^[1] The trade site writes that whether the sealed design meets the strict definition of planned obsolescence "is a matter for debate", while its practical effect on appliance lifespan is real.^[1]

The eSpares catalogue for the Bosch WGG24400GB/91 shows how the sealed design reaches the parts counter. Under the model's Drums category, eSpares lists three items: a Drive Coupling at €9.50, a pack of Washing Nets/Laundry Bags at €18.03, & the "Bosch WGG24400GB/91 Tub" at €447.43, described as a genuine spare part usually despatched within 6 working days.^[2] The model's Bearings category returns no parts at all.^[3] The only route eSpares offers to a failed drum bearing on this machine is the €447.43 tub assembly.

Whitegoods Help describes the parts list as the definitive test of tub design: where the diagram offers individual bearings, a shaft seal and a drum spider, the tub is serviceable, and where the tub is sealed the diagram shows only one part:

the only available part in that section of the diagram is a complete tub-and-drum assembly, the tub is sealed

^[1]

Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2023 sets ecodesign requirements for household washing machines and washer-dryers, including which spare parts manufacturers must supply and for how long. It splits those parts into two lists. To professional repairers, manufacturers must make available a set of parts that includes the "washing drum, drum spider and related ball bearings (separately or bundled)", along with the motor, pumps, shock absorbers, printed circuit boards, sensors & other components, "for a minimum period of 10 years" after placing the last unit of the model on the market.^[4] The bracketed permission to supply those parts "separately or bundled" also attaches to the heaters, to the piping, and to the heating elements.^[4]

A second, shorter list is the one available to both professional repairers and end-users: the door, door hinge & seals, other seals, the door locking assembly, and plastic peripherals such as detergent dispensers, again for a minimum of 10 years.^[4] The regulation also requires that the listed spare parts can be replaced "with the use of commonly available tools and without permanent damage" to the machine.^[4] The drum bearings do not appear on the end-user list.^[4]

Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on common rules promoting the repair of goods was adopted on June 13, 2024 and entered into force on July 30, 2024, and the European Commission states that Member States have to transpose it into national rules and apply it from July 31, 2026.^[6] The Directive's text provides that manufacturers who make spare parts and tools available for goods covered by the acts listed in its Annex II "shall offer these spare parts and tools at a reasonable price that does not deter repair".^[5] It also provides that manufacturers "shall not use any contractual clauses, hardware or software techniques that impede the repair" of those goods unless justified by legitimate and objective factors, "including the protection of intellectual property rights under Union and national law".^[5]

The Directive does not itself set the washing-machine parts list. The Commission states that the repairability requirements the obligation rests on are "set in the product-specific legislation, mainly implementing the Ecodesign Directive", and that manufacturers "will be also obliged to provide access to spare parts at reasonable prices".^[6] For washing machines, that product-specific legislation is Regulation (EU) 2019/2023, whose title sets ecodesign requirements for household washing machines.^[4]

The bundling allowance drew criticism from repair advocates when the ecodesign rules took effect. Writing for Right to Repair Europe on March 1, 2021, campaigner Chloé Mikolajczak used the washing machine as her example:

instead of replacing the bearings in a washing machine drum, you might have to replace the whole drum. This is a clear victory for the industry, as the regulation doesn't require manufacturer to redesign some key parts for repairability.

^[7]

Mikolajczak wrote that the outcome keeps the price of some repairs high, which in turn can push owners to replace rather than repair a product.^[7] A later Right to Repair Europe account, published May 14, 2021, quoted the appliance repairer Stephen Neal on what a bearing job now costs:

the cost of a washing machine bearing [replacement] is pretty much the same as a new machine. My spares bills have quadrupled in the last few years

^[8]

Right to Repair Europe wrote that Neal was referring to the bundling of key spare parts, such as washing machine bearings and drums, allowed under the new regulations.^[8]