"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
03/22/2019 at 15:38 • Filed to: drum breaks
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"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
03/22/2019 at 15:38 • Filed to: drum breaks | 0
| 32 |
Our Maytag dryer died this week. Through the magic of the internet, I looked up the F01 error code, and learned it was a bad main electronic control board.
So, I ordered the board, something like $230, and replaced it. Less than 15 min. once you disconnect the ducting and pull the machine out. We’ve had washers and dryers die over the years, and it’s always the electronics. My parents’ first Maytag set lasted more than 30 years. People say, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to!”, but I think they do. The moving parts that you would think have more opportunity to break with wear still hold up forever. It’s the new computerized stuff that doesn’t last. I bet if my dryer was just a heated drum with a motor hooked up to a mechanical timer, like the old models, it would last until I die.
OPPOsaurus WRX
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 15:49 |
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i’ve fixed my washer twice now. the first time i think it was a sensor and the second was the springs that kept it from freaking the fuck out during the spin cycle
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 15:51 |
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My mom’s LG required replacing the heater coil before any electronics, and that after many, many hours. It does, however, show some evidence of needing an electronics kick-in-the-rear now, as when operated in high heat, it stays in “1 minute remaining” mode until switched off.
The reasons appears to be that the “cool” operation and temp sensing aren’t working because, as far as I can tell, the high-temp setting relay is bad, which means when it goes to wind down in its “final minute” and is supposed to turn off the heater and blow cold air... the heater isn’t turning off, so the temp sensor never detects “cool”. Or something. “D’oh well, better just keep blowing air over the coils, hurr durr. Gosh, this is the longest 1 minute ever!” - the dryer.
Or there’s a temp sensor that’s only there for safety in high heat that occasions the “cool” in the first place, and that sensor is bad, but since clothing stays hot after a half hour of “cooling”...
VincentMalamute-Kim
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 15:56 |
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I agree about the computers. And why I’m sticking with my 30 year old washer and
dryer. If a part
breaks, it’s not going be
$
230
.
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Chariotoflove
> OPPOsaurus WRX
03/22/2019 at 15:58 |
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We have some very good appliance people we use, but I only want to call them for stuff I can’t fix. The important thing is to get the ducts blown out regularly, or the motor gets overtaxed and can die.
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Chariotoflove
> VincentMalamute-Kim
03/22/2019 at 15:59 |
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Yeah, you can’t get them without the computers now. Hold on to what you’ve got as long as you can.
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Chariotoflove
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
03/22/2019 at 16:02 |
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So you have to keep an eye on it, I see.
I’ m surprised the coil was the first thing to go, but not surprised that it held up for a long time.
The minutes remaining timer on our washer is ridiculously inaccurate, but it’s been that way since we got it. Nothing to fix, it’s just untrustworthy.
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 16:08 |
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I thought for a while that the hygrometer probably needed replacing, because it has moisture sensing and it was usually reading “1 minute” when other people than me were using it, in moisture sensing mode. I was not experiencing any problems in timed mode, and hygrometer polymers do break down after a while...
I tried to get other people to use timed mode to help my troubleshooting, but very little useful data was collected because boring. Eventually I caught it myself at “1 minute” running timed, and the “cooling” icon was lit. “Aha”, said I. Tried it again with lower temps set, no issue. “Aha, further”, said I.
I think she’s had it for around ten years, averaging probably close to a load or load and a half
a day. Not kidding.
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Chariotoflove
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
03/22/2019 at 16:25 |
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I believe you. Good job troubleshooting.
DipodomysDeserti
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 16:57 |
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I’ve replaced the control board wiring twice on my Maytag washer and it’s about ready for a third. Also, the inside has started to rust. It’s only five years old...
It has a steam function, but they didn’t actually build the washer to be sealed off from steam, so it gets into the wiring and corrodes everything. Oh, and they don’t sell just the wiring harness, so I have to buy a whole biard off Ebay.
Meanwhile I have a Honda that’s been running like a top for forty eight years. Although it’s stator might finally be starting to show its age.
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Chariotoflove
> DipodomysDeserti
03/22/2019 at 17:15 |
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Maytag really used to be the best, but that was a loooong time ago. We bought a set of their Neptune series when we first built our house, thinking we were getting the top of the line. What we got was screwed. They’re long gone.
But if I can keep the ones I have going with an occasional board replacement, that’s what I’ll do. If a motor or coil goes, I’ll reevaluate the cost/benefit ratio on repair.
Fortunately for me, rust is not a problem. However, when I opened it up, the board was covered in lint. Who knows if that was a contributor to heating up or shorting out.
MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 18:11 |
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Yup and the only major difference between the base models and the top of the line is usually the electronics. I’ve found that the cheaper they are new, the longer they seem to last these days
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Chariotoflove
> MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
03/22/2019 at 18:20 |
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It’s been my experience. We bought the top of the line Neptunes when we moved in. They lasted the shortest.
cbell04
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 18:29 |
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Had to do it on our older LG it only ran about a hundred and twenty bucks off eBay but my new washer and dryer are Wi-Fi.. why??? Because wifi! but you know that board is going to be crazy expensive.
facw
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 18:34 |
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My parents’ old Asko needed approximately 80-billion control board replacements. Their current Bosch is much better behaved though the dryer has some lint accumulation issues.
Meanwhile, as an apartment dweller I’m pissed that every unit doesn’t have W/D built in, or at least hookups. Such a convenience even vs. hauling to an in building laundry.
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Chariotoflove
> cbell04
03/22/2019 at 18:38 |
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I don’t my appliances WiFi. I don’t need the extra complication.
I bought the part from Whirlpool direct. It certainly wasn’t the best price I could have gotten.
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Chariotoflove
> facw
03/22/2019 at 18:39 |
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When I left college, I stuck to never getting an apartment that didn’t have washer and dryer. I carried too many loads on my lap in Finger Lakes winters up ice-covered slopes to the laundry room.
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facw
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 18:44 |
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It’s a good plan, but they can be quite rare. Certainly in NYC only very expensive places had them (and even then, a lot of places felt that if you were spending $40k/year on housing, you should be sending it out to a wash and fold). In TX they were more common, but still a decidedly premium feature (even though the units supplied tended towards the crappy side).
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cbell04
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 19:15 |
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I was not a fan but it’s just what the top of the line stuff has these days. Bought top of the line LG’s last round and got 9 mostly trouble fre e years so hoping for the best. I tend to have good luck with electronics but I fix electronics for a living so if it breaks it breaks..
ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 19:18 |
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What bothers me about things like this is that we’ve (collectively) made printed circuit boards that have left the solar system and are still working over 40 years later. We choose to build s t uff like this to a price point i nstead these days.
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ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> Chariotoflove
03/22/2019 at 19:18 |
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What bothers me about things like this is that we’ve (collectively) made printed circuit boards that have left the solar system and are still working over 40 years later. We choose to build s t uff like this to a price point i nstead these days.
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Chariotoflove
> facw
03/22/2019 at 23:47 |
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I got pretty lucky in Ann Arbor.
There are many reasons why I couldn’t do a postdoc in NYC when offered one. This is just one on a long list.
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Chariotoflove
> cbell04
03/22/2019 at 23:48 |
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I think you may have already beat the average, so I’m calling it a win.
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Chariotoflove
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
03/22/2019 at 23:48 |
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Exactly this. T here is no reason these things should ever break in our lifetimes.
ttyymmnn
> Chariotoflove
03/25/2019 at 21:29 |
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I fixed my old dryer a bunch of times until we finally caved and bought a new set. Shiny new Kenmores, and they suck. The washer leaves white filmy crap on all the clothes, and the dryer stopped heating yesterday after no more than three years. Our last one went 10 years at least before it burned up the coil.
Once I got the back plate off, it’s really not that much different inside than the old one. It’s just got a board instead of mechanical timers. The rest—heating element, thermostats, cut off switches—are pretty much the same. I think I’ve traced it to the thermal cutoff fuse, since it tests as dead on my multimeter (which I only barely know how to use). Thing is, if it was the thermal cutoff, why did the dryer overheat? My wife said it smelled very hot in the laundry room right before it stopped working.
The heating element checks out as okay (multimeter again, checking for continuity), and the other thermostats etc check out. I’m hoping it’s just this simple part, but I still need to know why it overheated.
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ttyymmnn
> Chariotoflove
03/25/2019 at 21:30 |
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Ann Arbor? I was born in Ann Arbor. My dad was working on his doctorate at U of M.
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Chariotoflove
> ttyymmnn
03/26/2019 at 00:01 |
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Just like you shouldn’t make medical decisions based on what a guy on the internet tells you, take this with a grain of salt. But, when the dryer overheats and burns out, the first thing I think is that it was overtaxed due to lint in the ducts. If you don’t already, I’d make sure to have a guy come blow the lint out of it at least once a year. Otherwise, you get symptoms just like what you describe just before it dies.
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Chariotoflove
> ttyymmnn
03/26/2019 at 00:02 |
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Wow. Yeah, we lived there 9 years while I did my Ph.D. and my wife did her residency and fellowship.
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ttyymmnn
> Chariotoflove
03/26/2019 at 00:29 |
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I almost went there for my master’s in 1989 . Got accepted, but Rice offered me a full ride. I think things ultimat ely worked out for the best, but the thought of studying where my dad went was appealing.
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ttyymmnn
> Chariotoflove
03/26/2019 at 08:27 |
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When I was chasing after the problems with my old dryer, I discovered that the vent was almost completely occluded with lint. The vent goes into the wall, then takes a 90-degree turn to go out through the roof. I spent a long time up in the attic working to get a long brush down through the vent, and eventually got it cleaned out. I don’t think the vent is blocked, but I’ll check. When the guys installed the dryer, they put a bad crimp in the vent hose from the dryer to the wall. It’s been like that for a long time, though, and there was no lint buildup in the hose. Nevertheless, I’m going to try to reroute it so it doesn’t get crimped in the future.
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Chariotoflove
> ttyymmnn
03/26/2019 at 10:51 |
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You would have been happy there.
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Chariotoflove
> ttyymmnn
03/26/2019 at 10:55 |
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Things like that are the kind of stuff you don’t find out about until they cause you trouble.
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ttyymmnn
> Chariotoflove
03/26/2019 at 11:34 |
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I think so too. I miss that part of the country.