Dark Window on New LG Front Load Washer

[mobilemaid]

I recently had to replace my mini LG front load washer. I have very limited space for a stack unit in my 1970's home, and only a 24-inch unit will fit the space.

I bought the LG WM1455HWA from Home Depot and had it delivered a couple weeks ago.

The issue I have is that the front door is tinted a very dark color. When the machine is running, you cannot see inside the washer because of the tinted outer glass.

I took the door off the machine to see if I could remove the tinted outer glass and it is a "glued" unit that cannot be separated.

Any suggestions how to remove the outer tinted glass or replace the door so I can watch my close wash?

 

[seedub]

Same frustration with my Equator. I can darken the light in my kitchen and switch on only the vent hood light. That allows me to see inside. My married friends must switch off the laundry room light and turn on the light in the hallway outside to get optimal vision into their Samsung with a tinted door.

Can somebuddy 'splain the insanity (to me) of installing a window that is barely usable?

 

[bradfordwhite]

1. are you worried that any changes to the machine may invalidate any remaining warranty on it?

2. have you considered simply aiming a light at the door when looking to make it easier to see in?

3. Could you put a water proof camera in the drum some how to get a close up on your phone?

 

[appnut]

Timothy, I share your frustration with my WM4200. Member Powerfin64 has a WM4200 and he told me to get a very bright light that shines through the "haze" so to speak. He's not ha any issues once he did that. There's a couple of people on Youtube from Europe that have darkened winow LGs and they manage to film vieos with full cycle lengths. I've not gone out to get a light for myself yet though. And congratulations on the new washer.

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>Can somebuddy 'splain the insanity (to me) of installing a window that is barely usable?</blockquote> It's stylish!

 

[gizmo]

Yep.

 

My micro went up in smoke a couple of days ago, so I've been shopping for a new microwave oven recently. Read the Choice tests and many of them get the comment "very difficult" or "impossible" to see inside when oven is running - combination of dark finish inside and reflective door finish.

 

Marketing departments get too much sway over engineering - "make it shiny, make it shiny." I looked at a couple in stores, it was right - when trying to look through these reflective finish doors, all you see is your own face. A really common complaint on review sites, why do manufacturers do this stupid stuff?

 

 

 

[bradfordwhite]

Stopped working or full fledged drama?

 

[appnut]

Friends should not let friends buy Samsung appliances.

 

[henene4]

The glass is indeed just glued on.
Can't attest to the strength of the glue, but the door should have a plastic frame with some screws, and since it's a glass glued onto something else, taking a thin blade between glass and other surface should allow you to cut through the glue.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Wow... Yeah I know Samsung makes some decent things... but as for appliances... it would be my LAST choice... I know there are probably many people across the world perfectly happy with theirs...but for me.. no..

As for the tinted glass.... I think that would ANNOY me at first..you know, you get a new washer, you want to see how it works...then the newness wears off and you just want it to do its thing... Definitely some kind of bright light is needed to shine through the tint... BTW... Don't some models have interior lights that can be turned on during the cycle? I'm not sure...

 

[pinkpower4]

Be careful. I saw this post and remembered this post...

Be careful.

Redirect Notice

 

[henene4]

Yes, be careful.
If you want to try to remove it, don't try to leaver it out, that will just lead to shattering.

Cutting around it, through the glue, should work.
As long as you have to use any force to seperate the 2 halves, you aren't done cutting.

 

[seedub]

Reply #7

Yup, Bob, and I got the deplorable job only just two weeks ago of advising my buddies that they were hearing noise particularly during spin from their less than four yr old machine 'cause Samsung clothes washers (et al) are trouble-prone. Mrs Ramsey in particular was NOT amused.

--Chris

 

[appnut]

Recently released new models from LG, WM6500 & WM5500 both inclue a rum light feature. And these are not the TOL models (next to TOL models). In LG's early ays, they had several moels that offered a drum light. But the last few years, this ne feature had been relegated to only their TOL model in a series. I think they were listening to many who were complaining in reviewss they wished there had been an interior light.

 

[spinspeed]

Shattered glass

I tried to remove the dark glass from my new LG washer and it did shatter in to thousands of bits. Was a bit of a disaster but then once all the shattered glass had gone I was left with a ring of dark glass stuck to the door and it looked horrible. I covered it with a plastic ring I got made to measure and it looks great. I love my new LG washer with the 4 water jets. It has some interesting drum movements too. Really glad I can see in clearly now.

 

[spinspeed]

Yes, it was me who posted the disaster of shattering my brand new LG washing machine glass door and tried to use orange duct tape to cover remnants but all is well that ends well. I think it looks really good with the white trim.

 

[combo52]

Front load washers with tinted windows

I would not buy a front load washer that you could not see through easily. That would be one of the items that would be a dealbreaker when looking at a washer.

Unfortunately, especially here in the US there are not a lot of great 24 inch compact front load washers,

While Samsung certainly has its problems LG isn’t really any better. We are not finding any of the 24 inch machines at hold up particularly well maybe Miele does better if you have a good local service and you should consider one of those.

As for microwave ovens that catch fire internally this is a problem at all microwave ovens have occasionally especially the newer higher powered thousand watt models. This is not a particular problem with Samsung with only 61 complaints on file since 2011 that’s nothing. Do keep in mind if you have a microwave oven with a metal shelf in it, do not leave the metal shelf in the microwave oven unless you have two large plates of food in the microwave oven at the same time one plate on the shelf, and one plate on the turntable below.

It’s not particularly hazardous it won’t spread because of the metal cavity. The real problem with over the range microwaves is putting it over a range when you have a range top fire, it tends to set the plastic door, control, panel, etc. on fire and then you have a real problem on your hands, not a good idea to ever put a microwave oven over a cooking surface.

John

 

[gizmo]

re: my micro (sorry if this is a thread hijack)

My micro didn't <span style="text-decoration: underline;">literally</span> go up in smoke, it's just an expression, meaning it passed on, shuffled off this mortal coil, it is no more. 

 

It did have a scary ending though. As is my routine, I had heated a bowl of GF porridge, left it to stand for about 30 minutes to soak, then gone to warm it through again before eating it. It worked perfectly for the first heating, but when I went to reheat the porridge, the micro made a huge buzz/hum and the house lights dimmed badly.

We are on stand-alone solar power, off grid, and the solar inverter can do 3000W continuous, 5000 for several minutes and 9000W for a few seconds. There were no other significant loads, so the micro must have pulled a near short circuit to dim lights like that. I was worried it would cause a fault in the solar inverter, but all was well.

 

I switched off immediately. Turned micro off at the wall. Tried it once more, it did the same thing and blew its internal fuse after about 5 seconds. After some investigating I found the magnetron was shorted to earth (ground) internally. It was a white LG micro about 10 years old and nothing special, I decided to replace rather than repair. (not like me...)

 

Replaced by a Panasonic inverter model, I found it at an Opp shop (thrift store) for $40, it is a very recent model and sells new over $250 here. It looks like new and came with owners manual, so I'm a happy chappy.

 

Interestingly, I had checked Choice before going shopping, was intending to buy a new one, just got lucky finding such a good one at the opp shop. Choice found that there was little relationship between performance and price - the test included the major popular brands, some posh brands and some cheap mystery brands. The standout was that the Kmart branded one (Anko) which costs $99 scored the same for both performance and reliability as the $1500 Miele. Both scored 81% for performance and 96% (the highest score of any brand) for reliability. I was intending to buy the Kmart but came home with the Panasonic.

 

Over the range microwave ovens aren't really a thing here - I've never seen one. Mine is over the fridge - it's not a big fridge.

 

[ea56]

I can understand that having a dark colored glass window in the door of a FL washer would be bothersome.  But wouldn’t you have known that the glass was smoke colored when you made your purchase?  

 

And if you take the glass out, HOW are you gonna find a replacement in clear glass that is the exact match in size and shape to fit the door? Then install it so that it is water tight and doesen’t leak? Plus, making a DYI alteration like this  in a brand new washer is likely to void your warranty.  Just seems like a very ill advised thing to do.  

 

It would be better to just not buy a washer with a smoke colored glass window in the door in the first place if this was going to be such an annnoyance. 

 

Eddie