A Gurgling Noise in a Front Loader

After the Wash Cycle

• The motor in a front-loading washer rotates and agitates the drum so that detergent and water create enough soap-action to penetrate your clothes. You can usually see the level of bubbles rise against the glass in the door. If you hear a gurgling sound after the wash cycle, it is probably the drain pump pulling soapy wash water out of the drum and away from your clothes. Adding too much detergent can create excess bubbles and the gurgling sound can sound more extreme and exaggerated as the drain pump works harder to remove the suds. In some front-loaders the drain pump will run continuously throughout the wash cycle, periodically draining and gurgling used water.

After the Rinse Cycle

• Front loaders refill with fresh water after the wash cycle. This helps the rinse cycle to be more effective at removing additional soap and suds from the clothes. The nature of one of the main chemical ingredients in laundry detergent is called a surfactant. These powerful chemicals remain on your clothes even though most of the suds and bubbles have been drained off after the wash cycle. However, running the soapy clothes through the rinse cycle can still produce bubbles and suds from the remaining detergent. And again, you might hear a gurgling sound as the drain pump pulls this used water away from your clothes.

During the Spin Cycle

• The clothes have very little soap left in them after the rinse cycle, but they are still drenched from being agitated in a pool of water. The front loader goes into a high-speed rotation that extracts excess water from your clothes by a physics law called centrifugal force. The rotation pulls water away from your clothes into the drum. Once again, the drain pump discards that used water, and can create a gurgling sound, even without a heavy concentration of airy bubbles.

Water Level Factor

• Users can choose the water level in many high-tech front loaders as a method of economically reducing household water expenses. But using less water doesn't mean shorter drain time and reduced gurgling sounds. On the contrary, even with less water, you could produce an excessive amount of airy bubbles and suds that need draining. It's these bubbles that are partly responsible for the gurgling sound, and so you can expect to hear this no matter how much water is in the machine. In fact, the drain pump may operate longer than usual to remove the suds, resulting in prolonged gurgling sounds.