Can anyone explain this?

[joeekaitis]

The tub in our FriGEMore washer turns with the slightest touch. In the course of doing its job it reverses direction and changes speed from a gentle tumble to the [reverb on] SPINspin CYCLEcycle OFof DEATHdeathdeathdeathdeath[reverb off]. I've noticed the same thing with the biggest Dexter Triple Loader at the laundromat and the largest-capacity front-loaders at Lowe's.

The cylinder in the dryer rotates in only one direction at the same speed, no matter what, yet turning it to make sure you haven't left behind a sock or a face cloth takes as much effort as raising a castle's drawbridge. And FORGET about turning the drum on the average laundromat Cissell. If you can't reach that dangling sock, it becomes the laundromat's property or it'll jog loose while someone else's clothes are drying.

So, appliance experts answer THIS one:

WHY?

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Wash/Spin Actions:

Is this happening only during the Rinse Cycles? My Neptune Washer does that now, since they did the Retro-Fit Replacement of Parts, including a Circuit Board. The Repair Tech told me that this was an added feature to the Rinse Cycles, to supposedly allow Water to Spray onto the Boot area, to help keep it cleaned out of Soap/Detergent Residue and to prevent Mold/Mildew. "NO" I'm not totally beliveing what they claim about that, but it does sound somewhat logical...

I would assume but don't know if the newer Neptunes do this as well or not...

Peace, Happy Washing and Spinning, Steve
SacotTeddyBear...

 

[Brent-Aucoin]

Confused...

Hey there,
Are you saying that it starts spinning while it is still in the wash or rinse cycle, where it should only be a tumble in both directions. (gentle tumble as you called it?)
If it starts tumbling, then picking up speed to a spin during the wash or rinse, you have an issue with the speed control. The speed control counts the number of rpm's of the motor during the wash, and spin, and provides the amount of power to the motor to acheive the correct rpm's of the rotation of the basket during the cycle it is in.
I could not get in your description if you were talking about why it reverse's tumble during the wash, and why it spins so fast during the spin.
I have never heard of one spinning when it is in the wash or rinse cycle. Usually when the control board goes out, it does nothing. Or the timer does not advance during cycles.
Brent

 

[toggleswitch]

IMHO It has to do with the dryer's fan using the same motor and pulleyas the drum. Turning the drum on a dryer by necessty also turns the fans and obviously the motor.

The drum travels at slow speed, say 59 or 60 rpm.
The motor at medium speed and the fan at very high speed.
The reduction "gearing" is by way of pulleys and belts.

IIRC today's F/Ls have separate motors fo the pumps and perhaps no reduction "gearing" ?

OK well, I tried. LOL

 

[DADoES]

The mechanical design of the washer's drive vs. the dryer's drive causes more resistance to manual rotation of the dryer's drum.

 

[joeekaitis]

Mostly, I'm curious about why the tub in any front load washer can turn so easily while a dryer's tumbler is so hard to move.

It would seem that the acrobatics a washer performs would require a beefier and thus, stiffer drive than a dryer's single-speed, single-direction tumble.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Joe;

The reason washer drums turn so easily is because the drums turn on bearings mounted in the shaft of the drum, and the belt connects to a pulley at the back. Most dryers on the other hand (at least the european ones I've seen) have the belt wrapped around the drum itself witht he drum mounted on rollers, and therefore doesnt have the bearings to turn the drum as easily as a FL washer.

FWIW, it's these bearings in the FL washer that actually make high speed spin cycles possible

Hope this helps

Jon

 

[jasonl]

The LG front loaders seem to be the "loosest" of the free turning drums because the motor is direct drive to the drum. Frigemores and Duets have a belt but it's minimal resistance. And there's no transmission, just a motor that can turn at insanely high speeds.

 

[programcomputer]

My Dryer Reverses.....Frigidaire Gallery Series Model FDE847

Hi,

My dryer reverses just like my matching washer, due the fact that Frigidarie engineers one day were sitting around, after a leisurely afternoon of smoking a doob on lunch, going to the local BurgerKing for munchies, then coming back to their drawing boards, where they had the epiphany...

Lets redux the Westinghouse based dryer so it tumbles both ways, causing less wrinkling maybe???, or sells more of our dryers somehow.

For those who are not up to snuff of late Model Frigidaire dryers, this is what they did. On single rotation dryers, they used a boomerang shaped dryer belt tensioner, that used a small spring to connect to a place on the motor housing cradle.

This being like most other dryers, the belt comes down off the drum, goes around the motor pulley up and around the tensioner wheel and back up to the drum. Think of a S look to the belt when looking at the motor area from the vented access plate behind the dryer. This arrangement is found in my Spacemate Dryer, as well as any Dryer currently made by Frigidiare as of today.

In my dryer, which apparantly was relegated to only a few years of production, AND the Gallery line in general...they used a completly different tensioner, pulley and one way clutch between the fan housing and the motor to pull off this rube goldberg mechanism.

As the belt comes down off the left hand side of the drum it hits the left hand side pulley then V's down to the motor spindle, comes back up and hits the right side pulley that sends it to the right side of the drum. The pulley assembly resembles an open pair of scissors with two pulley's on the tips of the scissors. There is a vey strong spring that keeps the scissor like arms apart...thus tensing the belt.

The bearings of my dryer are pure Westinghouse where it has a ball on the rear of the drum that rides in a plastic socket arrangement that is slathered in grease almost like a balljoint if you will. The front is just like before where it has a huge fabric/felt seal/spongy thing that is hotglued around the inner lip of the front cabinet housing. The sheetmetal formed lip of the drum rides oer this full circular felt thing giving enough to allow the drum to tumble.

The motor spindle is different as it has five grooves, instead of four, like regular Westy/Frigidryers of the smae period. The belt usually black on the normal dryers, is acutally bolero red and see thru, or clear if you will.

I have had to replace all of the things noted here... the special belt, pulley assembly, and one way clutch mechanism to keep this dryer in order. IT's not a bad arrangement, but becasue it was so sporadic, and somewhat flawed...no dryers are like this anymore unless I don't know about it yet...

And yeah it's virtually impossible to move the rum on it BTW. Yeah my washers drum will spin almost like there is no tension to it each direction. My Spacemate washer will not tho and will spin one way only.

Sorry I was just in the mood to explain this for some reason....

Chad

 

[coldspot66]

I'm pretty sure those dryers use a reversible motor controlled by a small circuit board. Those motors are VERY expensive!! I do wish Frigidaire would redesign their dryer.Much too small and small socks get caught between the tumbling vanes and the front and back of the drum. Also the drum bearing gets the grease baked out of it because it is on the heater housing, resulting in a squeaking frum.