Background
A friend recently dashed round to see me to say that she had pressed the start button on her washing machine and just as the machine started the push button control panel fell into the machine. She was unable to stop the machine. I immediately went round to see the machine and found exactly what she had described. The front panel was still in place but all the buttons had been replaced by empty space! i could see through the holes that the button panel had dropped deep inside the machine. We left the machine to complete its washing cycle.
The first task was to extract the washing machine from under the worktop where it had been installed a few years before. My friends kitchen had been remodelled about 5 years before and unfortunately the kitchen installer had left just a few millimeters either side rather than the suggested 50mm making getting the machine out a tricky and potentially finger pinching experience.
The water inlet and mains electric were disconnected to allow the machine to slide out sufficiently to access the screws at the rear to remove the top. Once the top was removed the front panel could be accessed.
Once the top had been removed the screws and clips securing the front panel could be accessed.
When this had been done it was clear to see what had happened. The button panel is secured in place with four plastic clips around the corners of the panel. Three of these had perished and broken away. My friend had described how the buttons had been loose for some time. I suspect that maybe the panel had been secured in place with two remaining clips and when one of these failed it did not take much to dislodge the panel into the machine.
When i recovered the button panel from inside the machine i was wondering how i was going to secure the buttons on the rear of the front panel. The obvious possibility was to purchase a new front panel and transfer all the controls from the old one to the new one. However i noticed that the button panel had two holes with mounting stems beneath them. I was able to use these to install a couple of suitable self tapping screws and secure the button panel in place. I presume that at an early stage in the machines manufacture these screw holes were used but to reduce manufacturing cost and improve profitability the screws and time taken to install them was eliminated and the clips were relied upon to do the job.
My friend was seriously considering purchasing a new machine when this happened so it was good to repair it and get it working again because other than this problem it is in good condition and should have at least a few years more service life left. The time to repair the machine was just under 90 minutes so was well worth the effort to avoid yet more unnecessary plastic and metal going into landfill or inefficient recycling.