Front loading washer disaster !

[RSKY]

Was at my mother's house Wednesday when I got a frantic call from my wife. The drain for the washing machine was frozen up and there was water everywhere in the utility room. By the time I got home she had most of it vacuumed and mopped up. We have one drain behind the machine that goes to the septic tank and another that goes to a gravel bed. So I swapped drains and started it up. Ten minutes later we were vacuuming water again. This time I was watching and I could see the water was coming from the front of the machine. Not from behind at the drains. Soooo.....I took off the door leading to the machine drain and filter knowing that I had cleaned it out a couple days before. Everything was as tight as possible and I started the machine again. Water started pouring out from around the filter. I tried to tighten it again but it was as tight as it would go. Took the filter out and got a flashlight and sure enough, there was a small pebble in the back, 1/8" diameter, I measured it. I finally got it out and put the filter bad in. This time when tightened the handle was perfectly horizontal. Before it was at a 45 degree angle. The rock had prevented the gasket from seating properly and let the water run out.

This was on a tile on concrete floor. If it had been on a wood floor or carpet it would have been a disaster.

Just warning everybody to check when draining/cleaning your filters. Make a note of the handle position and make sure it is the same when put back in.

RSKY

 

[RNeumann]

Was at my mother's house Wednesday when I got a frantic call from my wife. The drain for the washing machine was frozen up and there was water everywhere in the utility room. By the time I got home she had most of it vacuumed and mopped up. We have one drain behind the machine that goes to the septic tank and another that goes to a gravel bed. So I swapped drains and started it up. Ten minutes later we were vacuuming water again. This time I was watching and I could see the water was coming from the front of the machine. Not from behind at the drains. Soooo.....I took off the door leading to the machine drain and filter knowing that I had cleaned it out a couple days before. Everything was as tight as possible and I started the machine again. Water started pouring out from around the filter. I tried to tighten it again but it was as tight as it would go. Took the filter out and got a flashlight and sure enough, there was a small pebble in the back, 1/8" diameter, I measured it. I finally got it out and put the filter bad in. This time when tightened the handle was perfectly horizontal. Before it was at a 45 degree angle. The rock had prevented the gasket from seating properly and let the water run out.

This was on a tile on concrete floor. If it had been on a wood floor or carpet it would have been a disaster.

Just warning everybody to check when draining/cleaning your filters. Make a note of the handle position and make sure it is the same when put back in.

RSKY

Good post!

My work has all front loading machines that see several loads per day. I’m not a fan! I realize they are nice for stacking situations. But the “HE” top loading models have a proven design that relies on gravity instead of a seal.

 

[rbstern]

RSKY, glad you were able to clean it up and self-help without any damage. We had an LG dishwasher with door seal problems. It ate a $5000 wood floor (insurance covered it).

My opinion is the front loaders get clothes cleaner. But a nod goes to the newer, high capacity top loaders, because they swallow gargantuan sized loads of laundry. And, as RNeumann points out, gravity is a fail safe way to contain/drain water.

We're the lucky owners of one of the Samsung HE top loader models, which are capable of throwing parts thru laundry room walls.

 

[shaeff]

RSKY, glad you were able to clean it up and self-help without any damage. We had an LG dishwasher with door seal problems. It ate a $5000 wood floor (insurance covered it).

My opinion is the front loaders get clothes cleaner. But a nod goes to the newer, high capacity top loaders, because they swallow gargantuan sized loads of laundry. And, as RNeumann points out, gravity is a fail safe way to contain/drain water.

We're the lucky owners of one of the Samsung HE top loader models, which are capable of throwing parts thru laundry room walls.

I'll never own a Samsung appliance again. Went through a nightmare with them that lasted over two months on a dryer that was less than a year old! Tarnished their name forever as far as I'm concerned.

Our LG replacements are flawless thus far.

 

[bunyip]

Never had a seal problem but we have had mice eat through the drain hose and flood the kitchen, they can find their way in anywhere and the drain hose is very thin.
We wound up putting on a hydraulic hose to create more of a challenge for them and hopefully it will last a while with the steel wire reinforcing, it's an overkill but my brother made it up for me for nothing so the price was right.
The other silly problem we had was the drain on the top load washing machine, the pump wouldn't drain it so after emptying it with a bucket I pulled the housing apart and found a small safety pin stuck in the rubber impeller, enough to stall the little motor.

 

[rbstern]

I'll never own a Samsung appliance again. Went through a nightmare with them that lasted over two months on a dryer that was less than a year old! Tarnished their name forever as far as I'm concerned.

Our LG replacements are flawless thus far.

Funny, I feel that way about LG appliances. My mother bought one of their early, high end fridges with the powered lower drawers. It took about ten service calls, from constantly changing warranty vendors, to finally get that thing reliable. That was going on about the same time our LG dishwasher flooded the kitchen floor. Before LG dishwasher, we had a "top rated" Bosch that self-destructed just outside warranty. A diagnostic service call was about 25% of the price of a new washer, plus the parts estimate was another 50% of a new machine, so we said "Bye bye, Bosch."

Went back to GE, which is an appliance brand we've had consistently good service from.

 

[dadster4]

Thanks for the heads up...I haven't cleaned the filter in my LG front load washer for a few months. About six years ago I get a letter about the lawsuit concerning the mold problem, I tell them I never had a problem, they tell me that they would like to have a service tech rip apart my washer and document everything they see and take pictures to "help their case"...I told them to GO SCRATCH! Haven't had a single problem through hundreds of loads, I could imagine what would have happened had they tore it up :shocked:
As a side note...I avoid Samsung whenever possible, two big screen TV's went bad two months after warranty expired.

 

[RSKY]

We had a Maytag Neptune front loading washer and dryer. Our soil is mainly clay and we are on a septic tank system so cutting the amount of water going into the system was a main goal.

When the washer finally caught on fire and burned the control panel out, with a service man standing there, the only thing original on it was the frame, sheet metal, and motor. Everything else had been replaced. It was so bad that when we had a problem and I would call Maytag and give them my name the operators would look up our records and start apologizing.

The dryer gave nothing but trouble until one certain repair man came out. He took the cover off and said something like, "just what I thought". He went out to his truck and came back with a six foot long cheater bar. Told me to go in the other room so I wouldn't see what he was doing. Then he groaned, grunted, and cussed for about five minutes. Called me back in and said I wouldn't have any more problems. And I didn't.

Nothing in my house will ever again have the Maytag name on it.

RSKY