Last Updated on October 26, 2026 by Umar Farooq
Levelling is not a tidiness job. It is the difference between a machine that spins and one that spends twenty minutes trying to.
A washing machine that sits at even a slight angle cannot get its load to settle evenly. Wet laundry slides to the low side, the drum tries to accelerate with the weight off-centre, the control detects the imbalance and refuses to spin. So it tumbles slowly, redistributes, checks again, and fails again. From the outside that looks like a spin problem, a motor problem, or a cycle that has simply hung. It is four small feet.
That is why levelling shows up as a step inside so many different faults, and why it is worth doing properly once rather than approximately several times.
The part almost every guide underplays: the lock nuts are the whole job. Getting a machine level takes ten minutes. Getting it to stay level is what the lock nuts do, and a machine levelled without them will be out of level again within a few weeks, because spin vibration slowly backs the feet out. If your machine was fine and has gradually got worse, that is the most likely reason.
What being out of level actually costs you
The consequences are not subtle once you know to look for them, and they are all things people usually blame on something else.
An unlevel machine triggers the balance loop, and that loop is expensive. The cycle stretches, sometimes by a lot, because every failed spin attempt is followed by another redistribution and another check. The final spin ends up running slower than it should, or not running at all, so the laundry comes out heavier and wetter than usual. On many machines the loop eventually gives up and posts an unbalanced-load code.
| What you notice | What levelling has to do with it |
|---|---|
| Cycle takes far longer than it used to | Failed spin attempts and redistribution, repeated — see washing machine stops mid cycle |
| Clothes come out soaked | Final spin was reduced or skipped — see clothes soaking wet after wash |
| Violent shaking at spin | The load cannot settle evenly — see washing machine shakes during spin |
| The machine moves across the floor | Levelling is part of it, floor grip is the rest — see washing machine walks during spin |
| An unbalanced-load code appears | The control gave up after repeated attempts |
First, confirm it is actually out of level
Two checks, and the first one needs no tools at all.
The rock test. Whirlpool’s own installation guidance puts it simply: “Try to rock the washer diagonally, from corner to corner, with your hands; adjust the feet if the washer teeters” (levelling a front load washer). Push down on one corner, then the diagonally opposite one. A machine that is properly seated feels solid on all four. One that gives, even slightly, is resting on three feet and pivoting on the fourth.
The level. Put a spirit level on top of the machine, first left to right, then front to back. LG’s guidance is to adjust “until the bubble on the level stays right in the middle” (how to level an LG front load washing machine). Check both directions every time you adjust a foot, because changing one corner changes both readings.
If it passes the rock test and the bubble sits centred in both directions, levelling is not your problem and you can stop here.
The direction the feet turn is not the same on every machine
This is worth its own section because it is the one place a confident guide can send you the wrong way, and because the brands genuinely disagree.
LG documents clockwise as the direction that raises the machine: “Turn the bolts clockwise to raise the washer, or counterclockwise to lower it.” Plenty of other guidance — and other manufacturers — describe the opposite convention, clockwise to lower. Both statements can be found in official documentation, which means there is no universal rule to memorise here.
So do not trust a remembered rule, including this page’s. Turn a foot a quarter turn and watch what the corner does. That takes five seconds and it is definitive for the machine in front of you. Once you know which way your machine goes, the rest of the job is quick.
How to level a washing machine, step by step
- Unplug the machine and turn off the water supply. You will be tilting and pushing it.
- Loosen the lock nuts on all four feet with a wrench or adjustable spanner. On most machines these are the nuts sitting between the foot and the underside of the cabinet, and they must be backed off before a foot will turn.
- Start with the corner that gives. Adjust that foot until the machine sits solidly, checking the rock test as you go rather than at the end.
- Check the level in both directions after each adjustment, left-to-right and front-to-back. Adjusting one corner moves the other three.
- Get it as low as it will go. A machine sitting low on its feet is more stable than the same machine wound up high. If two settings both read level, take the lower one.
- Tighten every lock nut. Whirlpool is specific about what tight means here: “The lock nuts on all four feet should be tightened against the washer cabinet.” Snug against the cabinet, not merely finger-tight somewhere along the thread.
- Rock it one more time after locking, because tightening a nut can lift a foot fractionally.
Stop-use warning: unplug before you start, and never tilt a machine that still has water in the drum. If you need to move it far enough to reach the rear feet, empty it first and get a second pair of hands — a full front-loader is heavy enough to hurt someone and to damage the floor it lands on.
Why it comes undone, and what to do about it
Knowing how to level a washing machine is the easy half. A machine that was levelled and has drifted back was almost certainly never locked, and spin vibration is exactly the kind of repetitive load that walks a threaded foot out of position over weeks. A foot that has backed out half a turn is enough to reintroduce the rocking.
If you have locked the nuts properly and the feet still move, check whether the feet themselves are worn or missing their rubber caps. Bare metal or a cracked foot will never seat consistently, and both are cheap parts.
When the floor is the problem, not the machine
Sometimes every foot is locked, the bubble is centred, and the machine still shakes. At that point the machine is level and the floor is the variable.
A suspended timber floor flexes under a spinning drum in a way a concrete slab does not, and no amount of foot adjustment changes that. Whirlpool’s documented remedy is to spread the load: “The noise and vibration may be reduced by placing and securing a piece of ¾” plywood to the floor beneath the washer.” Anti-vibration pads under each foot are the other common approach, and they also help with the separate problem of a machine sliding on a polished surface. A rigid washing machine stand is the third route on a flexing floor, since it carries the cabinet on its own frame and spreads the footprint wider than four small feet ever do.
If the machine is level and still travels across the room, the issue is grip rather than balance — that is covered in washing machine walks during spin.
Test it empty, then test it loaded
- Run a spin-only cycle with the drum empty and watch. An empty drum is perfectly balanced, so any movement now is the machine or the floor, not the load.
- Run a normal load and listen through the full spin. It should reach top speed without repeated slow-down-and-retry cycles.
- Check the total cycle time against what you expect. A cycle that has been running long because of failed spin attempts should come back to normal.
- Re-check the rock test after a week of use. If it has moved, the lock nuts were not tight.
Level, locked, and still shaking: call someone
- The machine is level, locked, and still shakes hard enough to move on a solid floor.
- A foot is seized, stripped, or will not hold a position.
- The cabinet is visibly twisted, or the machine rocks in a way no foot adjustment changes.
- Shaking is accompanied by a grinding or roaring noise that rises with spin speed — that points at the rotating assembly rather than the stance, see washing machine grinding noise.
FAQ
How level does it actually need to be?
Level enough that the bubble sits centred in both directions and the machine does not teeter on the diagonal. Manufacturers give a bubble, not a number, because the rock test is the practical threshold.
Do I need to level a top-loader too?
Yes. The mechanism differs but the consequence is identical — an off-centre load at spin speed.
Should the machine be raised or as low as possible?
As low as it will go while still level. Height adds leverage to any movement.
I levelled it and it was fine for a month. That is the lock nuts. Level it again and tighten them against the cabinet properly this time.
Can I level it on a pedestal?
The pedestal has to be level first, and secured to the machine. Levelling the washer on an unlevel pedestal just moves the problem down a step.
It is level but still noisy. Then noise is a separate diagnosis. Sound that rises with spin speed is the rotating assembly; sound that keeps time with the drum changing direction is usually normal drive noise.
