Opening the washer to find the load sitting in dirty water is one of the most common calls we take. It feels catastrophic. It rarely is. A washer that fills and agitates but won't drain or spin has a short list of likely causes, and most of them are cheap.
The drain pump filter is the first suspect, and on front-load machines it's the culprit far more often than anything else. There's a small access panel at the bottom front of the machine hiding a filter that catches coins, hair pins, buttons, and lint. It's designed to be cleaned periodically, and almost nobody does. Once it clogs, the pump can't move water. Put a shallow pan and towels down before you open it — there's more water in there than you expect.
If the filter is clear, listen to the machine during the drain portion of the cycle. A pump that hums without moving water is usually jammed or has a failed impeller. Complete silence points to a pump that's lost power — either the pump motor itself or the control board driving it.
The drain hose is next. It can kink behind the machine, especially after a washer has been pulled out and pushed back, and it can clog where it meets the standpipe. There's also a height requirement most people don't know about: if the drain hose sits too low, the machine siphons and never registers as empty. If the hose was recently moved and the problem started right afterward, that's your answer.
The lid switch or door lock is the other big one, and it explains the specific symptom of a washer that drains but refuses to spin. Machines won't spin unless they're certain the door is shut, so a failed switch or lock leaves the drum full and stationary. On front-loaders the door lock is also why the door won't open — the machine won't release it while it believes there's water inside.
Two things are worth ruling out before any of that, because they cost nothing. An unbalanced load will make a washer abandon its spin cycle and stop with water in the drum — redistribute a heavy comforter and run a spin-only cycle. And too much detergent creates suds the machine reads as an overflow, causing it to keep draining and refilling until it gives up. Modern high-efficiency machines need far less detergent than most people use.
Still stuck, leaking, or hearing something grinding? A grinding noise on spin usually means bearings, which is a bigger job worth an honest conversation about repair versus replacement. Call RM Appliances Repair at (469) 350-1392 for a free estimate.