Today I can’t get the washer to start. I just got off the phone with the local warranty repair person. He said I had to replace the main controller board, the wiring harnesses, the motor and the motor controller.
He gave me a number for Whirlpool 1-800-253-1301. He said he had other machines with the same problems and suggested I ask for a credit towards a new washer.
I called the number and explained my symptoms and what I had to do to wash clothes. I was offered a discount on parts. The washer was purchases 4-2005 so it is out of warranty.
I was passed on to a Lowe's rep and was told about the same thing. The Lowe's rep said there are no service bulletins or recalls on my machine so she couldn’t do anything for me.
I also went to an appliance store and they said front loaders were more trouble than the older top-loader machines. They also said the new top-loader machines have controller boards and were not as trouble free as the older, simpler machines.
Fearless, have you heard anything about my model number of washing machine? If you don't, or don't want to mess with the issue, that is OK.
Okay, you made me feel better about keeping my ancient top-loading Maytag running H just replaced a belt on it, and sometimes you have to shut the lid several times before it will start. BUT - we bought it used about 10 years ago and it has worked great all this time.
I had a portable dishwasher that my first husband gave me for Christmas in 1972. It went with me to several different houses and apartments-- always worked great. (It's the kind you roll over to the faucet and hook up.) Finally in 2003-- 31 YEARS LATER-- it got to the point where it was falling apart, and I had to get a new one. The guy at the appliance store where I bought my new portable said, "Don't expect this one to last as long as the first one. They REALLY don't make them like that any more."
Same with a Friedrich's window air conditioner that was in this house when we moved here. It was ANCIENT-- maybe from the 50's-- and worked fine. Mostly it was QUIET. Finally we did have to replace it-- we chose a brand new Friedrich's and it didn't cool as well, PLUS it was so loud that when the compressor kicked on, you had to turn up the volume on the TV.
If you can keep the older stuff working, lots of times those appliances are made of sturdier materials. Wouldn't you agree, Lou?
Lil, If you can keep the older stuff working, lots of times those appliances are made of sturdier materials. Wouldn't you agree, Lou? Some old appliances were made well, designed well, and function well for the job they are expected to do. Not all old things are worth repairing. Not all old designs are well thought out or efficient. Not all old appliances or things are robust.
There are several old models of printiers and copiers I don't repair because they were designed poorly or the biggest thing is, they were designed to produce an income stream for the manufacture, more than they were designed for the user to get his/her moneys worth of printed materials/prints. It even said so in the companies (plural) financila/stock holders report. Shame, shame, shame on those boys and girls, ya think?
The down side to the term "New and Improved" sometimes means the company found a cheaper way to make the item. When I hear the phrase when I hear "new and improved" my brain tells me to look for a "Cheaper something/part and more plastic. Sometimes “New and Improved is true, but not always.
I know fuel injection for automobiles is much better than a carburetor. I understand both systems fairly well. Fuel injection (FI), when it works well is far superior to a carburetor. FI one reason engines last so much longer than they did 40 years ago.
What I found that annoys me is some things are made to meet a price point more than they are designed to do a job. The second thing that bothers me is some things are actually designed to be too smart.
In 1994 when I started my printer business officially, an inkjet printer put ink (dye based) on paper according to a computer generated code and the printer's interpretation (software driver and chip programming) of that code. Ink jet printers had 1 paper sensor to detect the papers travel through the printer. There are various parts that are also necessary to print something, you want printed. If the job didn't print but the paper and all of the other printer actions happened in their proper sequence, most likely the ink supply was depleted.
Now the printers check the ink supply through sensors that actually check the ink or more like some mathematical formula that "says" there "should be" X amount of ink in the ink cartridge, which may not be the case. 30/40% of the ink might still be in the cartridge. Nice revenue generator, isn’t it?
Now if the paper feed motor draws a little too much current, the printer goes into error mode. If the paper doesn’t reach or go past point "A" with in some exact time, the printer also goes into error mode.
Some printers have fans and a controller function counts the fan's RPM/speed. If some control chip detects a low fan RPM, bingo, error mode again.
I used the printer instead of the washer but suspect something similar to what I think of “too smart for its own good” to function reasonably well, sometimes.
Sure, I want things to run and operate correctly and in a way, having the built in checks should save the device from some forms of self destruction. My guess/question is, are the upper/lower limits built into these devices too narrow of an operating range?
Lil I had a portable dishwasher that my first husband gave me for Christmas in 1972 Holey cow, 31 years! That is a long time. Two things come to mind, the product was built and designed well, and you didn't buy into Madison Ave.'s tune that you have to have what supposedly was the newest and greatest since sliced bread. My point, advertising drives consumers to buy things because of emotions rather than a real need.
BTW a local store sells un-sliced bread and it is much better than the sliced bread. The person/people that use the sliced bread comparison might not be correct in as many cases as presented.
I know it is a metaphor (or what ever is the correct term for those English majors, you can let me know what I might have said) that compares/contrasts emotions, some times factual, and sometimes false opinion, ideas about what is good or what is progress. I am using the un-sliced bread too concretely in this case.
We are in our house since 1974 and have had 3 dishwashers, 4/5 refrigerators, 3 freezers, 3 cook stoves, 4 microwaves, 5 or 6 TV I that I can remember and too many radios, stereos, VCRs, DVD players/burners, and satellite TV systems/plans to remember.
KM Okay, you made me feel better about keeping my ancient top-loading Maytag running H just replaced a belt on it, and sometimes you have to shut the lid several times before it will start. Well I am not a cable guy or do I play one on TV (as in Larry). My truck/vans both have tow head lights and a hood ( “Cars” , the movie) but I have repaired a few washing machines.
I don’t remember what type of switches your machine has on the lid. All of the ones I know about have a spin cycle switch and paw. Sometimes I bent the switch arm or moved the paw a little. Some machines had a damaged pew on the lid.
What I like about older washers, is, what ever cycle they are operating in, it is almost all observable and mechanical. I can’t see the electricity but there is a movement I can see during most phases of the operation. The timer moves, current goes to a device, that device activates.
The new washers all have circuit boards and lots of relays I cant see or determine if they are working. Some of the relays are low voltage and soldered to a board I can’t get to, so I can measure the voltage.
I think printed circuit boards (PCB)with integrated chips is the way to go, no doubt about it. PCB are better than the old way, but it does complicate some methods of testing components.
Well bad news. Friday the Whirlpool Duet washed refused to do anything, so BB and I went shopping, but not until I talked to several people from Whirlpool and the Lowe’s special appliance rep.
Both deny there is anything wrong with the washer that warrants any special considerations. Whirlpool did offer 50% off $523.00 worth of parts if I wanted an authorized tech to repair my machine. The local most knowledgeable Whirlpool repair person said I needed a boat load of parts, he has BTDT when it comes to my model of Duet front-loading washer and said if I wanted it fixed, that is how it has to be done. I turned both of them down on their offers and went to the resources on the web. I am still considering Whirlpool’s 50% off offer if I can do the work.
Today I took the advice from the internet resources and re-soldered all of the larger connections on the CCU/main PCB. I ran the diagnostic load 2 times and real wash load 2 is running right now. What else can I say.
I am not superstitious, I don’t knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, black cats I pet them if they want petting, and contrary to some friends I have, I don’t pray about physical things or events. I heard electrons go from point to point when something happens and believe the laws of physics applies to all people, no matter what.
If you know how to solder/de-solder, you know about safety...right. Use a good grade of flux core solder, a soldering temp of 370 degrees so careful. A 15-30 watt iron works fine for me. I filed the solder iron point to look like a regular #2 pencil I had in school.
Holey cow, 31 years! That is a long time. Two things come to mind, the product was built and designed well, and you didn't buy into Madison Ave.'s tune that you have to have what supposedly was the newest and greatest
It wasn't that I didn't buy into it, it was that I was broke!
I also drove a 1978 AMC Pacer for 11 years, then bought an IDENTICAL one for $600 in 1989 and drove that for a couple more years.
My stove is one I got used in 1989 for no cash through a barter club I belonged to when I did massage. And I LOVE to cook. It does fine. I did replace the heating element (by myself) in the oven about nine years ago.
I also had a commercial grade version (different brand) sold by Costco but also returned it. 20 years ago there was a “Back-swing” device like in my link.
I had back surgery in 1981 and never have been right since. I was supposed to have back surgery #2 in 1986 but protested and went the physical therapy route, quit doing auto mechanic work, went to college, had to take a job on third shift after getting turned down about 100 times.
My biggest/worst situation that causes me problems is sitting too long and I make it worse by leaning forward to do my bench and computer work. If I am doing stressful work, I tense up and that adds to the problem big time.
What works? Sit-ups, doing leg raises while on my back and side while lying on the floor, thinking as if I don't care what the outcome of my work (very difficult to do and half my problem most of the time) like when Lil was on her pain meds recovering from her ankle surgery.
I have pain pills and muscle relaxants but rarely take them.
Limiting twisting too far also helps a lot. I have about 1 over extension or twisting too far/often, back pain a year.
The washer? Well may, just maybe a solder joint was just a bit less conductive than perfect. It could be just removing the board and wires from the washer that allowed some electrical charge to drain. I don’t profess to know the real Leck-re-alll Engineer workings of what didn’t work before and works now. Show me a full-size switch, coil of wire, or relay I can use an Ohm meter to test contacts, windings, observe the mechanical action/binding/free movements, and then I can tell you what might be right-wrong.
I have customers that have to unplug office equipment to re-set the device so it is useful. I let the washer PBC sit for half a day and it didn’t reset/gave me the same errors and codes. Once I poured a small beg of screws on a PCB so all of the legs to the ICs were touching the screws. My thought was IF some chip or capacitor retained an electrical charge, the metal screws would eventually bring the ESD or charge back to zero. But then again all I read and studied officially was a TV repair course back when color TV was new to the public. Well, I lied some. I have stacks of repair and theory books for most of the things I work on now, and stacks of auto repair, dealership training course work.
Lil It wasn't that I didn't buy into it, it was that I was broke! Well, that will do it, help keep you from being a shopaholic. Not every one but the reasonable people.
I also drove a 1978 AMC Pacer for 11 years, then bought an IDENTICAL one for $600 in 1989 and drove that for a couple more years. Yes, I remember that story. You are my type of person. I am not against newer cars, but if what I have works well, most of the time I am happy with what works. Only two cars got me thinking, "have to have." One was a 1965 Mustang but when I really got to work on one, it was 75% the same as a ford Falcon and they were more practical.
My stove is one I got used in 1989 for no cash through a barter club I belonged to when I did massage. And I LOVE to cook. It does fine. I did replace the heating element (by myself) in the oven about nine years ago. I remember the barter-club movement! I never traded anything.
Love to cook and love to eat (me) sounds like an accident ready to happen, in a good way. I cook a lot but nothing fancy. All low cal and low fat. I make the portions too large for a guy my age.
If you need parts for appliances, I go to these people. WTG on the element and hard drive replacements. http://www.appliance-parts.com/
Hi ole friend, just wanted to drop in and tell you that I miss our conversations. You were a good encourager and I appreciate you very much. I'm over in Piecing now if you want to visit me.
Take care.
Sandi
It is not about what you feel should work in your M. It is about doing the work that gets the right results. Do what works!
H just replaced a belt on it, and sometimes you have to shut the lid several times before it will start. BUT - we bought it used about 10 years ago and it has worked great all this time. 
