That's a massive brush. Guess they wanted it to last long enough to get out of warranty.
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
229 points (99.6% liked)
Dull Men's Club
2921 readers
380 users here now
An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.
1. Relevant commentary on your own dull life. Posts should be about your own dull, lived experience. This is our most important rule. Direct questions, random thoughts, comment baiting, advice seeking, many uses of "discuss" rarely comply with this rule.
2. Original, Fresh, Meaningful Content.
3. Avoid repetitive topics.
4. This is not a search engine
Use a search engine, a tradesperson, Reddit, friends, a specialist Facebook group, apps, Wikipedia, an AI chat, a reverse image search etc. to answer simple questions or identify objects. Also see rule 1, “comment baiting”.
There are a number of content specific communities with subject matter experts who can help you.
Some other communities to consider before posting:
5. Keep it dull. If it puts us to sleep, it’s on the right track. Examples of likely not dull: jokes, gross stuff (including toes), politics, religion, royalty, illness or injury, killing things for fun, or promotional content. Feel free to post these elsewhere.
6. No hate speech, sexism, or bullying No sexism, hate speech, degrading or excessively foul language, or other harmful language. No othering or dehumanizing of anyone or negativity towards any gender identity.
7. Proofread before posting. Use good grammar and punctuation. Avoid useless phrases. Some examples: - starting a post with "So" - starting a post with pointless phrases, like "I hope this is allowed" or “this is my first post” Only share good quality, cropped images. Do not share screenshots of images; share the original image.
.
founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
Official member of the SuperfixeruperMan Club.
the coals in the motor
Steam-powered washing machine, is it?
Carbon brushes, most likely. They wear down over time.
What brand of washing machine uses a universal motor? That seems like a terrible idea for a high demand appliance with such a large footprint.
Edit: Apparently some older front load units use a brushed DC motor. Another commenter mentioned this as well. TIL.
If the brushes are expected to last longer than another part whose failure makes the unit a total loss then what do they care?
But yeah that's going to be noisy both in terms of audible noise and electrical. We have much better options these days and they aren't even that expensive.
No idea. I've only changed brushes in steering pumps for ships. I've encountered pumps older than myself, and they still work fine as long as the brushes are changed from time to time.
I tell my boss I can save us thousands by rebuilding our procons rather than buying new ones. Nah we keep buying new ones. I'm thinking I'll rebuild em myself and sell em on eBay.
Haven't unlocked electricity in the tech tree yet.
They sure don't make 'em like they used to
After I looked at everything else the problem with our dishwasher was a malfunctioning motherboard that could "only" be replaced by a certified professional. I at least fixed our dryer once and our vacuums as needed, so I got that at least.
What's that for a component?
Coal. Transfers electricity between the motor housing and the rotor inside the motor.
Ive never heard of carbon brushes referred to as coal. Is it a language thing? They are made out graphite, which is also mined, but its different enough from say https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite. I think graphite is actually closer to diamond than it is to coal, in terms of chemical makeup.
Probably. In Swedish many forms of Carbon share the same word "Kol". It is the word for the element Carbon, but also the fuel Coal. Carbon brushes are called kolborstar "Carbon/Coal brushes".
Great Job! Washing machine repair is one of the great skills. Mostly because they are heavy and new ones take a bit to arrive.
Except for the control electronics they're relatively simple machines.
What is it?
It's a big metal box you put your dirty clothes in, but that's not important right now.
Take your up vote and GET!
Motor brush. Its a chunk of carbon that makes contact with a bit on the motor shaft.
Hol up. Do most washers use brushed DC motors??? Why? That's such a strange choice of motor for that application.
Value engineering: engineering the value right out of the product and into the shareholder pockets
Older front loaders i think. The speed and direction control is much simpler compared to modern BLDC.
I assumed they would just use capacitor commutated AC motors like most 'dumb' motors running on single phase.
I also assumed during the wash cycle it would just switch direction before the motor could accelerate to full speed, then the spin cycle was full speed. I didn't realize any more speed control was necessary.
I've done the same on our front loader. Though top loading machines are the exception rather than the norm here.
Hardest part of the job is just shifting the machine to get access. Once you're in, it's 5 minutes to swap them out and another 5 to scrub your hands after, because I'm an idiot that forgets gloves 🙃
BLDC?
Brushless DC, a type of electric motor that as the name states, does not use brushes.
Two days ago my partner fixed the washing machine while I watched a YT video on how to fix a dishwashing machine.
I had to remind them I taught them how to do an oil change, but it didn't do much for my handiness points.
I am proud of you, sir!
Fine job 🦾
Your hands are dirty.
Mans working with coals
Your mom is dirty.