Duet Self Clean Cycle

[rp2813]

I just ran my 4.5 month old Duet HT on its first "clean washer" cycle over the weekend. It was fun to watch and get a feel for the true cleaning power of the machine even though the regular cycles only use a small fraction of the water the self-cleaning cycle does.

Here's my question: Is it normal for the outer tub to still have water in it after the cleaning cycle has ended? I went to wipe things out and noticed that when the tub was nudged I could hear water sloshing in there. I ran the machine through the "drain/spin" cycle and it expelled the remaining water, although the steps in the owners manual didn't advise to. You'd think the final drain/spin of the cleaning cycle would extract all remaining water.

Now, since these machines advise leaving the door ajar so the drum and boot areas can dry out, why would they leave so much invisible water, which many casual users would not notice, remaining in the outer tub or wherever it was? Wouldn't that just contribute to the whole musty/mildew situation that cleaning the washer is trying to prevent? It would have taken a week or more with the door wide open to let all that water evaporate. What's up with that? Anybody know?

Ralph

 

[fa_f3_20]

That's odd. You'd think the pump would be running all through the final spin. Or does it even do a final spin on that cycle?

Doesn't that cycle use really hot water? Maybe it's vapor that condensed after the cycle ended. Although your post makes it sound like more water than that...

 

[rp2813]

The combo of buttons you press to make the self clean cycle begin includes the warm wash/cold rinse combo and low spin speed. I didn't stick around for the entire cycle to see if these settings actually applied to what the washer does, or if they were an arbitrary combination some designer created to activate this cycle. But it seems to me that even on a low spin speed with no clothing inside, the washer should drain completely.

One other interesting thing about this cycle is that, I assume because there are no clothes involved, there is NO neutral drain. The tub starts spinning while full of water. But it still makes no sense that the washer ends up with a good amount of water still in it that requires the user to select the drain/spin cycle afterwards to completely empty the machine.

Great reply, btw, to that post about vacuum hoses.

 

[johnb300m]

uhhhhh.......

maybe it's not water in the tub, but the water in that balance ring. Neptunes had that and everyone was freaked out about the water that sloshed around when an empty tub was spun.
i bet it's the same thing here.

 

[washertalk]

about the water in the tub.
I wonder if they purposely wanted water to sit and soak the sump area after the washer cleaning and before the next actual wash. I wonder if the timer would "remember" that there was water in there and first thing start out with a drain. then proceed into the wash where the action from that wash would do the final loosening and rinsing away of debri that may have been down there.
Could it be those designers at Whirlpool are clever geniuses some of us already think they are? yes, YeS, YES!

Or maybe,,,, you just got a dud. (insert frowny face here) Time to call for service. no, I don't want to hear that the 4 month guarantee, just EXPIRED!

So next time you do a "clean washer" cycle... after it is complete, choose a standard cycle. see if it starts out with a pump out briefly. Normally they start with fill, at least the 9150 I used did.

Lucky you my enviable friend in SanFrancisco happily living with his Duet.

 

[rp2813]

You know, this machine does just about everything but dry and fold the clothes for you, and it seems to know things you wouldn't expect it to. Now you have me curious and I'll be sure to run the machine on a regular cycle after its next cleaning and see what happens.

 

[johnb300m]

did nobody read this???

maybe it's not water in the tub, but the water in that balance ring. Neptunes had that and everyone was freaked out about the water that sloshed around when an empty tub was spun.
i bet it's the same thing here.

 

[brettsomers]

i say balance ring too!

 

[rp2813]

So what happens in the self cleaning cycle that puts water in the balance ring, and why did a subsequent drain/spin cycle remove it? If it spun itself out at the end of the self-clean cycle but water still remained, what's the difference between that spin and the subsequent spin on a separate cycle that extracted the leftover water?

 

[johnb300m]

clarification

the balance ring never "fills or drains". It is sealed and always filled with a fluid to balance the drums out when they spin. it's a "fine tuning" concept. Wherever the tub is slightly out of balance, the water will go to the other side, balancing it out.

You need to clarify something. Do you hear water sloshing when you rotate the empty drum ALL THE TIME? Or did you just hear this once?
IF this is a balance ring, you will hear water noise EVERY TIME you spin the drum.

 

[pulsator]

Duets don't have a liquid filled balance ring, if you turn the drum with the machine off after a normal cycle, there is no water noise whatsoever.

 

[johnb300m]

ok

that answers that

 

[rp2813]

Correct, there is no water sound when you give the tub a spin after a cycle has been completed and the washer has been emptied of clothing. I didn't even spin the tub after the self-clean cycle, I just jiggled it a bit when wiping things out and that's when I heard the water. I left the door ajar (routine practice) and waited for a day and checked again and there was still a lot of water noise. That's when I decided something was not right and that I needed to run the drain/spin cycle to clear out the remaining water.

 

[peterh770]

No pump completely pumps out all water. While the pump is on, there may be enough pressure created to get water up and over-the-hump into the drain, but the moment the pump is off, that water backwashes into the machine. Moving the tub, what you probably hear is the residual water sloshing about in the flexible hose between the tub and the pump. The only way to completely drain the machine is to remove the drain hose from the standpipe, lay it on the floor so that all parts of the hose are below the exit port on the pump and let gravity do the rest.