Last Updated on October 5, 2026 by Umar Farooq
The short version of how to move a washing machine is that it is a sequence, not a checklist — power off, water off, drain the machine, drain the hoses, refit the transit bolts, move it upright, then level it before it runs. Get the order wrong and you find out in one of two ways: a van floor with several litres of grey water on it, or a front-loader whose drum has spent forty miles swinging on unrestrained springs. Neither announces itself at the time. Both cost money later.
Most guides on this subject are written by moving companies, and they are good on dollies and doorways and thin on the machine. The parts that actually break in transit are the suspension and the seals, and both are protected by things you do before the machine leaves the room.
Drain it properly first, because “empty” is not empty
A washing machine that has finished a cycle looks empty and is not. Water sits in the sump hose at the bottom of the tub, in the pump housing, and behind the filter cap — a genuine litre or two on many front-loaders, held there by geometry rather than by any fault. Tip that machine onto a dolly and the whole lot runs out through the filter door and the drain hose, onto the floor you are standing on, and then onto the floor of whatever it travels in.
This is also the step that separates a move that goes well from a move that produces a mystery puddle in the new kitchen. Draining the machine deliberately, into a tray you control, takes about ten minutes. Doing it accidentally, in a van, takes considerably longer to sort out. The procedure is the same one you would use for a machine that will not drain, and this site already documents it step by step at how to drain a washing machine manually — use the drain-down hose beside the filter rather than simply unscrewing the cap and hoping.
Whirlpool’s own moving instructions put the same step in the tool list before anything else, asking for “a bucket for residual water, towels for potential spills” (Whirlpool — Moving a Front Load Washer). While the filter is out, clean it — it is the one moment in the machine’s life when it is empty, accessible and going nowhere (how to clean a washing machine filter). Top-loaders mostly have no accessible filter, so for those the water lives in the pump and hose and comes out when you disconnect the drain.
How to move a washing machine: the disconnect order
Order matters here for one reason. Every step you take releases something the previous step was holding, and doing them out of sequence means releasing pressurised water, or live current, into a job you are doing with both hands.
Unplug the machine first, at the socket, not at the machine. Then close both taps — hot and cold — at the wall, and confirm they are actually closed by running a short rinse for a few seconds so the machine draws whatever is left in the lines. Only then loosen the inlet hoses, with a bucket underneath and the hose end pointed into it. Whirlpool’s top-load procedure lists it in that order and adds one thing most people skip: “Disconnect the drain from the drain system and drain any remaining water into a pan or bucket” (Whirlpool, “Properly Moving the Washer”, top-load procedure, read live on 2 September 2026). The drain hose holds a standing column of water and it will find you.
- Unplug it. Tape the cord to the back panel so it cannot fall under a wheel.
- Close both taps. Then run a brief rinse to relieve what is left in the hoses.
- Drain the machine at the pump filter, into a tray.
- Disconnect the inlet hoses into a bucket, and keep the rubber seals — they are small and they vanish.
- Disconnect and drain the drain hose, then tape it upright to the cabinet.
- Fit the transit bolts (front-loaders) or pack the drum (top-loaders).
- Move it upright, dolly against the back panel, strapped.
Transit bolts are the part everyone throws away
Here is the single most consequential thing on this subject, and it takes up two lines in most articles. A front-loader’s drum is not bolted to the cabinet. It hangs on springs and rides on dampers, deliberately, so it can move when a wet load goes unbalanced at 1,200 rpm. That suspension is designed for a machine standing on a floor, not for the back of a van. Whirlpool says what the bolts are for in one line: “Shipping bolts stabilize the washer support and suspension system to prevent damage during the moving and shipping.”
Transit bolts — shipping bolts, transport bolts, the same thing — pass through the back panel and clamp the tub to the cabinet so it cannot swing. They came fitted when the machine was new, you took them out on day one as instructed, and they are now in a drawer, in a loft, or in a skip. Samsung’s removal instructions tell you to hang on to them: “Keep the shipping bolts and spacers for future use.” The reason they give is the situation you are in right now: “It’s possible you may need the shipping bolts again in the future if you decide to move the washing machine” (Samsung — washing machine is shaking too much).
If yours are gone, replacement sets are sold by model and are cheap next to a suspension repair. Whirlpool’s position is that “New shipping bolts must be reinstalled to avoid internal suspension and structural damage to your washer during transport.” Two rules bracket the whole business, and both are absolute:
- In before it moves. Unrestrained drum plus road equals damaged dampers, stretched springs, or worse.
- Out before it runs. Whirlpool: “If the shipping bolts are not removed, the washer will not run and will have excessive vibration.” Leaving them in also costs you cover — “operating the washer with the shipping bolts still installed can void your warranty and lead to costly repairs.”
Keep the plastic hole caps too. Once the bolts are out at the far end, the caps go back in, and the bolts go in a labelled bag taped inside the machine — because the next time anybody needs them is the next move, and by then nobody will remember.
Top-loaders have no bolts, and a different problem
Top-load machines are usually described as the easy ones to move, which is true of the suspension and false of the drum. A vertical-axis basket sits on its own suspension and can knock hard against the outer tub on a bumpy road, and there is nothing bolting it down. Whirlpool’s fix is the packing material the machine arrived in: “Place the foam packing ring from the original shipping materials inside the washer. If you do not have a packing ring, place heavy blankets or towels into the basket opening. Close the lid and place tape over the lid and down the front of the washer.”
That is the top-load equivalent of transit bolts, and almost no page on this subject mentions it. Whirlpool’s own list also says to place the inlet hoses inside the basket and to drape the cord and drain hose over the console with masking tape — which keeps every loose end off the floor and out from under the dolly wheels.
Keep it upright, and know what “upright” is protecting
Every manufacturer that publishes moving guidance says the same thing in the same flat tone. Whirlpool: “The washer should be moved in an upright position, as transporting it on its side or other configuration may cause damage to the washing machine.” Their top-load page repeats it as a bare instruction: “Transport the washer in the upright position.”
Two separate things go wrong when a machine goes onto its back or side. The drum’s whole weight shifts sideways onto suspension that was designed to carry it downward, which is exactly the load transit bolts exist to prevent. And residual water — the water you drained, minus whatever you missed — leaves the sump and travels somewhere it was never meant to be, which on some designs means into the motor area or the control electronics. A machine that has been on its side and then runs perfectly is common, and so is one that does not.
What no manufacturer page I could open actually documents is a maximum safe tilt angle in degrees. The number does not appear on Whirlpool’s or Samsung’s pages, and I am not going to supply one. The usable version of the instruction is behavioural: tilt only as far as it takes to get an appliance dolly under the back panel, keep the dolly at the back rather than the front, and never let the machine travel resting on a face.
Reconnecting it without creating a leak
The refit is the disconnect run backwards, and it is where the money is. Position and level the machine first, before the hoses go on, because levelling involves rocking and shuffling a heavy cabinet and you do not want live fittings taking that strain. Whirlpool’s note is that “Proper leveling prevents excessive vibration and noise during operation” — and an unlevel machine is the leading cause of a washer that walks across the floor on spin (how to level a washing machine, and washing machine shakes during spin if it still does after levelling).
Then the hoses, and this is the one place on this page where I would rather sound alarmist than relaxed. Every inlet fitting takes a rubber seal, and a seal that was flattened into its old position for six years does not always reseat. A washing machine supply hose holds about 70 pounds of pressure, permanently, whether the machine is running or not — and a failed one puts out roughly 650 gallons an hour. State Farm alone paid nearly $30 million on those claims in 2020 (State Farm newsroom). A hose disturbed by a move and refitted a quarter-turn short is precisely how that failure begins. If the hoses are more than five years old, this is the moment to replace both with braided steel rather than the moment to reuse them.
Open the taps with a dry hand on each joint, then feel round every fitting again after five minutes. Run a short empty cycle and stay in the room for it. If water appears while it is filling, that is a fitting or a seal and it is fixable in the next ten minutes (washing machine leaking during fill) — which is a very different afternoon from discovering it under the floorboards in March.
How long to wait before the first wash
This is where the internet is confidently wrong, and it deserves saying plainly. “Wait 24 hours before running it” is repeated across dozens of moving guides, sometimes as 12 hours, sometimes as two to four. I could not find that figure — any version of it — on Whirlpool’s moving pages or Samsung’s washer support pages. Whirlpool’s reinstallation instruction says only to level it, reconnect it, and “Run a short cycle to test the washer.” No waiting period appears at all.
So here is the honest version. If the machine travelled upright as it should have, there is no documented settling time to observe and the manufacturer’s own procedure has you testing it straight away. If it travelled on its side or its back, the direction of the advice is sound even though the number is not sourced: stand it upright for several hours before powering it on, so anything that migrated has time to drain back. I would give it a few hours rather than none, and I would say openly that the specific figure circulating online has no manufacturer behind it that I could find.
FAQ
Do I have to use transit bolts to move a washing machine?
For a front-loader, yes. Whirlpool’s moving procedure treats them as essential kit — the bolts “are crucial for securing the drum during transportation, helping to prevent damage” — and states plainly: “New shipping bolts must be reinstalled to avoid internal suspension and structural damage to your washer during transport.” Replacement sets are sold by model number and cost a fraction of a suspension repair.
Can I move a washing machine on its side or back?
Whirlpool says the washer “should be moved in an upright position, as transporting it on its side or other configuration may cause damage.” If you genuinely have no choice, stand it upright for several hours before powering it on.
How do I get the water out before moving it?
Drain at the pump filter using the small drain-down hose beside it, into a shallow tray, then disconnect and drain the drain hose separately. The full procedure is at how to drain a washing machine manually.
What happens if I run it with the transit bolts still in?
Whirlpool states it plainly: “If the shipping bolts are not removed, the washer will not run and will have excessive vibration.” The tub is clamped to the cabinet, so every bit of drum movement goes straight into the frame.
Do top-load washers need anything for a move?
They need the drum packed. Whirlpool asks for the original foam packing ring, or “heavy blankets or towels into the basket opening,” with the lid taped shut until the machine is in place.
How long after moving can I run a wash?
If it travelled upright, the manufacturer procedure is to level it, reconnect it, and run a short test cycle — no waiting period is documented. The widely repeated 24-hour figure does not appear on the manufacturer pages I could open.
Should I replace the hoses while it is disconnected?
If they are more than about five years old, yes. They are cheap, the machine is already unplugged and pulled out, and a supply hose failure discharges around 650 gallons an hour.
The quiet failures cost more than the dolly does
The physical part of moving a washing machine — the dolly, the doorway, the second person — is the part everyone worries about and the part that rarely causes lasting damage. The expensive failures are quieter: a drum that swung freely for an hour on the motorway, a rubber seal that did not reseat, a litre of sump water that took a scenic route through the electronics.
So if you take three things from this page, take these. Drain it before you tip it. Put the transit bolts in before it moves and take them out before it runs. Keep it upright the whole way. Do that and the rest is furniture removal, which you already know how to do.
