Every washing machine heater is secured in place in exactly the same way. Underneath the terminals there is a thick rubber seal. Below that is a metal plate. The metal plate has a bolt in the centre which is threaded through the centre of the rubber seal and comes out in between the two electrical terminals.
You can see this bolt in the centre of the heater even when fitted in the machine. It has a nut on it. When the heater is slotted into the machine this nut is tightened down which draws the plate towards it and squashes the rubber seal. It squashes it quite a lot, and makes it jam inside the machine to be water tight.
Heater fitting If you look at the picture on the left you can see a brand new heater with the thick rubber seal. When new, the heater snugly slots into place. But after the bolt is tightened up and left for a few years the rubber can become bulbous and hard.
This makes it very hard to get out, and sometimes impossible to fit back in. Some will come out easily enough and go back OK, but don’t remove one unless it needs replacing or you have to.
