Keith wrote:

This is a weird gravity defying question for you folks & I tried searching but…… Today we have our washer on the 1st floor in the kitchen….we’re redoing the kitchen & the washer will join it’s sister in the basement… There is no plumbing the basement as the basement is well below grade. The main drain is ceiling height in the basement. 2 appliance “salesmen” have told me that the pump in the washer “should” be able to pump the water the 6 or so feet required to get it into the main drain tie-in. Does that make sense???? If not I’ve been told that I will have to install a laundry sink & then a small electric pump to make this work. Any thoughts?

Good question, thanks for axin’! Most washing machines made today, whether front loader or top loader, can pump out to a maximum height of eight feet. The stock drain hose that comes with the washer is only six feet long. So, in your situation, you’ll need to install a longer drain hose, like the one shown here.



You can also buy drain hose in bulk if you need something longer or more customizable.



As for the sink and sump pump situation, that’s pretty common in basement laundry installations. We had that same situation at our house before we moved our laundry upstairs outta the dungeon. This pump mounts to the bottom of your utility sink and pumps automatically as the need arises.

The LR error on your non-spinning Maytag Neptune is usually, though not always, accompanied either by a burn spot or a blown fuse on the Motor Control Board.

Burn Spot on a Maytag Neptune Washer Motor Control Board (click to enlarge)

Blown Fuse on a Maytag Neptune Washer Motor Control Board (click to enlarge)

Either way, it means just one thang: a new motor and motor control board kit are in your future.

Maytag Neptune Motor and Motor Control Board Upgrade Kit (click it to git it)

Maytag upgraded the motor and motor control board because this problem was so prevalent. Big rash of these a few years back.

Anyway, easy job, probably a una-mugger on the world-famous SUDS-o-meter. It’s all plug n’ chug; just follow the directions that come with the new kit and you’ll be fine. Here be some words of encouragement from Liquified, a talented Senior Apprentice Appliantologist in the repair forum who recently installed this kit in his Maytag Neptune MAH5500BWW washer:

Ok, so I ordered the part from repairclinic and overnighted it. Sure enough, it showed up the next day.

Here’s some info about the install for anyone who is interested down the road:

Installing replacement motor, motor control harness, and motor control circut board.

Pretty easy install. On a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being hardest) I’d call it a 3.5. If you can use a screwdriver, a wrench, and have played with legos before, you can probably do this job. It took me about 3 hours to do, but this was with inferior tools, and two smoke breaks included.

Minimum tool requirements: Adjustable-head cresent wrench (8″ or smaller handle), phillips head screwdriver, utility knife.

Recommended tool equirements: Small ratchet with socket set, ratcheting screwdriver with phillips head and small socket attachments, brew.

The instructions are pretty clear. Once you pull the front panel off, there are two braces at ~45 degree angles on the lower corners of the washer. The instructions don’t ask you to, but I would remove the brace on the left to make life easier. This gives your arm more room to work and makes it easier to pull the motor out the front.

They ask you to remove the wiring harness from the motor first and then pull the harness out with the control board. My wrench was too big to get to the bolt to remove the harness from the motor. All I did was cut the harness – since they supply a new one – then pull out the control board, then pull out the motor. As far as getting the pulley off, slip it on and off at the large wheel, this is much easier than taking it off at the small motor drive shaft. The only other thing of note is to make sure you look at the diagram for the conectors a few times before you snap it together. There are a few ways you could hook it up wrong so pay attention. There should be no loose ends when you finish. Also, I couldn’t get the flange back on on the rear acess panel when closing it up, but it doesnt seem to serve muc purpose besides asthetics, so I tossed it.

The $200 for the parts and shipping was well worth it. I saved about $150-250 to do it myself, the wife was impressed, and I felt like a real man afterwards. The only wierd thing is since the repair, the machine squeaks briefly when changing directions during the wash cycle. It sounds like the belt but I’m not really sure. Anyway, hope this info helps someone, Good Luck. <3

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

I was snowshoeing in the White Mountains when I got the call.

“Hello, Samurai? My washer is full of suds and water and it won’t pump out or run or anything! I have a baby and we need to wash diapers. Help me, Samurai Appliance Repair Man, you’re my only hope!”

I assured her I’d be there by midnight and stowed my cell phone. Then I cinched up my azz-strap and prepared to boogie– a customer was in need! I sprinted the remaining 10 miles of my hike back to the fixite do service van.

Upon arrival, I found a tub full of water with a big head of suds and error code LD in the display. You don’t want to oversuds any washer but especially the Calypso because it’ll just cause rectal cramps. And we had a couple of ’em going on here.

In addition to not pumping out, the cold water side of the water inlet valve was plugged with sediment. Suddenly, the failure sequence was revealed to me in a vision: The rinse cycle defaults to cold water unless otherwise set (they were using the default cold water rinse). Since the cold water was blocked, the clothes weren’t getting rinsed, leaving detergent residue in them. So in subsequent loads of laundry, all the detergent that was already on the clothes combined with the fresh detergent added to the load, and they got that big ol’ head of foam in the tub. When pumps are sucking in sudsy water, fabric strips are prone to get wrapped around the impeller shaft and bind up the pump. And that’s what happened here.

I popped the top so I could access the retaining screws for the front panel and the tech sheet in a pouch pasted to the inside of the front panel.

When energized, the pump would hummmmm but wouldn’t pump out. I took off the back panel and reached in and felt the drain pump motor. Warm. So the pump was trying to run but was stuck.

Unfortunately, this medieval design requires that you tip the machine flat on its back to work on the pump. We bailed as much as we could but a gallon or so of water still came gushing out when we tipped it flat on its back. Fortunately, it was in a basement. But what if this machine was in an upstairs laundry? OY! What were the engineers smoking when they designed this washer that should have quietly died on the drawing board?

I squeezed and mashed the suction and discharge boots for big lumps, clothing. Nada.

So I removed the two hoses from the pump and unclipped the pump from the motor. With the pump out, I could feast my bloodshot squinties directly on the impeller in hopes of spotting the entangling gookus that was stopping the show. Turns out the pump had strips of diaper wrapped around the impeller.

So, this pump was trashed. And to make their joy complete, you can’t buy just the pump anymore. Whirlpool redesigned the pump for this very failure. Here’s a picture of the old pump and motor assembly.

The new pump is designed to increase scouring velocity through the pump volute so, in theory, this problem should be less likely to occur again. Here’s what the new motor-pump assembly looks like:

So we went up to their compooter and surfed on over to, well, ratcheer at Fixitnow.com! At the top of the page, I entered, “Calypso” into the parts search box and then clicked the “Search for Parts” button, as illustrated below and pulled up these results.

We had the parts on order within four minutes. Parts came in three days later with just regular shipping!

Installing the motor-pump assembly was straight forward plug n’ chug. Just undo the obvious retaining screws and free up the wire harness. The motor comes right out. Installing the new motor-pump assembly is just as easy.

The water inlet valve was easy but was a little more involved than most. With the top raised, you need to remove each hose from the water distribution valves.

Then undo some electrical connections and the mounting screw from the back of the washer.

The entire new water inlet valve assembly looks like this:

Here’s the genuine factory service manual for this washer. If you own a Collapse-o washer, go ahead and buy the service manual— you’re gonna need it.

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

So, you have a Maytag Performa or Atlantis washer that agitates the clothes fine, but just won’t spin. Ahh, Grasshoppah, strap yourself in and prepare to receive Total Appliance Enlightenment®.

First step in diagnosing this problem is to… oh, nevermind– I’ll just let Sublime Master Trying to Help explain:

Make sure belt is fine as well as pump spinning free and motor pivoting on it’s plate freely. After that, raise top like you are going to remove the tub cover and set unit into spin. With the motor running, and the tub just sitting there not spinning reach in and see if you can rotate the inner basket almost like a roulette wheel. If you can, that means your brake is released and your belt, motor, pump, brake and bearings are all fine, your trans is shot. If you can not, that means your brake is still holding or you have an article of clothing stuck between the tubs. If the brake is holding, you will just need a thrust bearing kit which is listed below.

http://www.repairclinic.com/referral.asp?R=154&N=1042142

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

The other day, I went on a washer service call and found this flood just itchin’ to bust loose.

This is why you be needin’ steel braided hoses with stainless steel fittings. Get ’em today!

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

This is an uncommon problem in the Whirlpool Duet washer (also sold under the Kenmore brand as the HE2t and HE3t): after the cycle completes, there’s still water left in the drum and, of course, the clothes are sopping wet. If the problem is something caught in the pump, usually the machine would give an F/02 (long drain) error code. Even without an error code in the display, you still gotta check the pump for stray panties and other goodies because it’s part of due diligence. If the pump is clear, then the problem is the wash cycle program. Since the cycle program is controlled by the Central Control Unit (CCU), one of the electronic control boards in this washer, then the solution is to replace the CCU:

We recently helped a talented Apprentice in the Samurai Appliance Repair Forum solve this problem. Read the gripping saga of his repair odyssey.

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

A Sublime Master at the Samurai School of Appliantology recently did battle with one of these newfangled Oasis washing machines. The F1 error code was intermittent, which made it impossible to troubleshoot. Turns out there’s a service bulletin out on this problem. Come, feast your bewildered eyeballs on the wisdom of the Masters.

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

If you already know what’s wrong with your Whirlpool-built direct drive washer, this quick n’ handy reference for the most common repairs will get you going mo’scratchie.

• How to Remove the Cabinet
• How to Replace the Drive Coupler
• How to Check the Drive Block
• How to Replace the Agimutator Dawgs
• How to Replace the Lid Switch
• How to Diagnose Transmission Problems
• How to Reinstall the Transmission
• How to Replace the Clutch

But if’n you can’t figger what’s wrong or what repair needs to be done, komenzie hither to the Appliantology Academy and let the Appliantological Masters make straight your path.

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.

The engineers got it right on this one; this is one of the easiest washers to work on ever made. The cabinet comes off like bip, bap, boom. But getting the cabinet back on can sometimes be a bit of pain for the uninitiated. Here are some tips that’ll hepya do it to it.

Look at the base of the washer on the sides. You’ll see two extrusions or metal tabs that mate with slots in the bottom of the cabinet. The cabinet has a lip on the bottom front that goes under the bottom frame of the washer. Place the lip under the base, let the cabinet down to mate to the extrusions on the base. Line the back up to the cabinet and replace the brass colored clips that hold the back of the washer to the cabinet. Plug the lid switch back in. Put console back in place and install the screws holding console.

This washer is one of Frigidaire’s more recent offerings (also sold under the Kenmore label). Like most appliances made these days, these washers have an electronic control board programmed with lots of different error codes for various failures. At some point during your marriage with this machine, you’ll see one or more of these error codes in the display. Be ready for that fateful day by downloading this handy reference table of error codes for the Affinity washing machine.

And remember who’s yer buddy.

Frigidaire Affinity Front Load Washer Error Codes

To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.