Adding water to your FL --Anyone Tried this?

[mattl]

I had a little leak in my Whirlpool FL and took the top off.  I was looking at the water solenoids and had an idea.   I checked and they are operated on 120v.  Has anyone tried adding a push button to energize the solenoid to add more water?

 

What I'm thinking of is a double pole double throw push button, break before make, with one set of contacts N/C and a set that is N/O.  The unit would function as usual with the current wiring fed through the NC terminal, and when you want to add water you connect to 120v with the N/O set of contacts.   You could do this with either Hot or Cold, or if you got industrious you could do both.

 

Anyone tried this?

 

[ultramatic52]

Water level

MattL you should be very careful doing this, since you can cause malfunction of your machine, I own 2 LG´s FL different models and I´ve tried filling them in the Bulky cycle and then changing to a Regular or Heavy Duty cycle and after 3 to 5 minutes of washing on the new cycle, they go onto the rinse and start draining. This means they have different water levels between cycles, and wouldn´t admit more water on some other cycles. A good thing both of my machines have is the water plus option, which raises the water level considerably and have an excellent performance.

 

[arbilab]

My (1997 Frigiwhite) FL has no water options. Some loads, I pour another gallon through the dispenser. I'm threatening to open it up and adjust the fill diaphragm. But it's worked for 14 years the way it is. And that's longer than "modern" appliances can be expected to last without service.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Unfortunately, most of the new machines have not only water level minimums, but also water level maximums. There is a small amount of tolerance between them but basically, if you try adding more water once the fill is complete, you can get away with adding a small amount, but past that and the machine will drain the excess. The controls can be adjusted, but there are two points that have to be adjusted up: the water level and the maximum or flood level. Some of the engineering experts here have figured some of these out. Maybe if you use the search feature, you can find a thread with pictures and diagrams. I can tell you this from my experience with my Duet: because the rinse tumble speed was so much slower than the wash speed, a higher water level in the rinse, where you really want it, caused the load to roll instead of tumble which made the load tangle worse which made distribution for the spin a very long, time wasting task.

 

[mattl]

I have played with set screws on the diaphragm - can't recall the items name at the moment - and did adjust the water level up to where I liked it last year. In the normal wash it filled to just slightly below the edge of the tub and was fine - good lift.  Then for some reason a few months ago it started over filling.  every cycle filled almost to the middle of the window, at that point wash action was more of a slosh than anything else.  Tried to readjust the set screw, but found only two levels very low and overfilled.  Got it up a bit but not anywhere near the level I had used.

 

Looking for an easy option, don't have a hose near by to add a bit of water when I feel it needs it.  Guess I'll make a trip to Radio Shack and check out their push button switch selection.

 

[mark_wpduet]

On my Duet from 2004

I adjusted the screw and I too had the issue of either default or water WAY too high. I kept playing with it and finally got it to where I think it uses a couple more gallons than it did before, but it took me a while to get that. It was so hard to find the happy medium, even with the ever so slight adjustment of the screw......I did this maybe 4 yrs ago. I haven't touched it since I got it to about where I want it. Not exactly where I wanted it......but almost

 

[rp2813]

Martin (yogitunes) posted something about a year ago with pictures of a successful system he rigged up on his Frigidaire.  It involved a 16 to 20 oz. plastic soda or water bottle, a "heavy duty" balloon to use as a bladder type of arrangement, a rubber band and some tubing.  I didn't feel comfortable tacking the project so for loads that require more water I'm still adding it via the detergent dispenser using a 100 oz. Tide bottle. 

 

I never saw any need to add water to my Duet HT, but this Affinity I have now is really skimpy with the water.  Our king size mattress pad would never receive a proper and effective washing if I didn't intervene with three or four Tide bottles' worth of additional water.

 

[Jsneaker]

Adding Water to a FL he Machine

As much as I would really like to have MORE water in my Samsung WA448AAW, I am most often satisfied by using the "Towels" cycle on my machine, except for just sheets & Pillowcases. The towels cycle uses more water, so I can see it come-up just below the door level. The laundry does really get a good sloshing! If anyone's machine doesn't have a towels cycle, try the jeans one, I would imagine. My towels cycle adds a third rinse, which is fine by me, but runs 1:13 for the cycle instead of 56 minutes or so.

Jason

 

[autowasherfreak]

When I had my Frigidaire Gallery front loader I would add 1-3 gallons of water through the detergent drawer, it helped a lot on the larger loads.

 

[laundromat]

My Affinities and Mieles I can add as much water as needed (desired) with no problem by using a Tide liquid bottle and pouring the water through their dispenser trays. However, as Tom has pointed out, the LGs will not allow ANY additional water and will throw it back up via pump out and restart the program.Sort of similar to the current commercial front loaders with the emergency shut down button. My earlier Frigidaire, Kitchenaid, Whirlpool and Kenmore washers had the adjustable screws on the pressure switch. Those I had set so the water would fill completely just beneath the boot enough to still be able to open the door without the water gushing out.It really made a difference in not only the drama but also the effect it had on getting my wash super clean and super rinsed.

 

[mattl]

I spent hours trying to get the water level up in my Duet, got it where I wanted but a few months ago it crapped out and started to overfill.  I adjusted it back down and have tried to get it back up to just under the boot, where I had it, but no luck.

 

Last week I stopped at RS and picked up a 120v relay, DPDT and a push button, when I get motivated I'll re route the wires to one of the valves through it and add a push button to add more water.

 

[pierreandreply4]

my toughts about this

well in my toughs i do not see the point in doing this if you went more water you can always buy a top load washer and use a top load washer instead of a front load washer. So for me that shows that a top load washer do a better job in washing clothes than a front load du to the fact that the clothes are submerge in water and that the agitator sends the suds through the fabric to wash the clothes thats my 2 cents in this.

 

[qualin]

Hi Pierre.

I do agree that there really isn't much point in telling the machine to add more water when it could throw a trouble code or just drain off the excess water.

I firmly believe that unless the machine was designed otherwise, an automatic washer should stay completely automatic. Having to manually do anything other than adding to the dispenser defeats the purpose of having one.

You are right on one point, you never really have to worry about a top loader not using enough water. (Unless you just bought a Speed Queen / Huebsch and you want to raise the water level, but this is a one time thing.) Of course, we're making the assumption that one always uses the water level position at the maximum setting all the time.

Let me set the record straight once and for all though. Once I switched to using a front loader as opposed to using my GE Toploader, all of my clothes came out cleaner, the streaks of detergent I couldn't get out of some of my shirts were now gone and it's done an absolutely amazing job with 75 Liters of water as opposed to the 180 Liters of water per load my old Top loader used.

It's not submerging your clothes in water that does the cleaning, it's the agitation action of the clothing. A lot of top loaders suffer from perfect agitation around the agitator but around the edges of the tub, the clothes just sit there and don't do much, especially in a fully loaded or overloaded washer. (Some members here I'm sure would debate that, but that's been my experience.) My old GE Toploader had a big problem with washing 9 pairs of jeans, there was nearly no turnover. Reducing that to 8 pairs helped, but my jeans would just float to the top and just sit there in a mixed load, until the auger would pull them down again.

Nothing in a front loader is spared. Nothing just sits there or floats.

I'm still absolutely amazed at how, even though I can't see the water level in my front loader, my clothes are dripping wet through the glass.

So, the debate rages on, FL vs TL... well, that's a whole other thread.

I will say this, I would stop worrying about adding more water and let the machine do its job. If you want to use more water, then consider buying a machine which will use more water, or has the option of using more water. (ie. A machine with a comforter or towels cycle.)

 

[mattl]

I have 2 other top loaders A Sears TOL electronic from '96, and a classic Maytag from the early 80s that have not seen much action since I got the WP front loader.  I have no complaints other than water level and that may only be because I like to see some water sloshing around when I wash clothes.  At this point I'm firmly in the front loader camp, see no value in top loaders of today.

 

Qualin, playing with this machine is the reason I bought it.  I've done a few things to it, mainly for my amusement, and I think it performs a bit better.  The early WP FLs had a few issues with water levels, some machines were fine, others not.  That is the genesis of this discussion that has been going on for years.  For many if not most loads the water level is OK, but there are times when I see it needs more.  I addition to adjusting the water level I added resistance to boost the water temp, and added a bit of tub lighting.  Replaced the pump with a non-WP pump, much cheaper.

 

There are people out there that adapted the flow meter that is built in to this machine and coupled it to a pulse counter to computer control  adjust the amount of water in the machine, so adding a simple relay is nothing compared to some.  This machine is basically dumb so adding water  does not seem to bother it, unlike some.  In adjusting the pressure switch a little too much will cause it to fill the tub 1/2 way up the window and then try and wash, so if there is an over fill sensor, odds are there is, it's limit is set quite high.

 

[qualin]

Hey Matt.

I can see why you would want to experiment with a machine though. It makes me wonder what kind of schools or courses you need to take to become an expert in all of the physics, chemistry, etc involved with washing laundry. I think you have the luxury in knowing that if you "broke" this machine and made it malfunction, it wouldn't really be a problem. I think messing around with a machine if it's your only machine would be a risky proposal.

Glad to hear though that you are learning from it, as all are we.

I have to admit that I learned a lot after tearing down my parents old rusted out GE Filter-Flo back when I was a teen... but it's one thing to pull a machine apart and yet another to put it back together again.

A part of me wants to find an old small front loader, tear it down, refurbish it and build it back up again just so that I understand how everything fits together.

Maybe I can find an old crappy Frigidaire Gallery with a broken spider and fix it. Then I can give it to my Mom because she's got the matching dryer for it.

 

[mattl]

Sounds like a good idea!  Find a cheap used machine and explore it.  I paid $100 for the WP FL that I'm experimenting on and feel it was a great investment.  Odds are someday I'll replace it with much more modern equipment, Front Loader again, and I won't be so ambitious to tear into them.