Exploding Whirlpool Washer in MN.

[washerdude]

Getting this out there

I've washed and spun waterproof items in my WFW72 at full 1200RPM with no issues of the machine blowing up.

Further, i've also washed and spun large comforters and king size duvets at 1200RPM with no explosion either.

Now on a different topic, the WP's that have been blowing up are the exact same ones in the category of a very certain spin cycle issue...I think you know what I'm talking about. It's happened to my duet along with some members Maxima's here too. That alone may have something to do with sensing something incorrectly prior to the spin cycle and the machine missing out on it. These WP's prior to spinning do a mini low rpm burst after balancing the load, sometimes it DOES skip that mini burst if it notices the load has no anxious movement. HOWEVER, there are rare loads where it skips the mini burst because it LOOKS like the load is balanced, but when it ramps up the tub moves violently even after the initial thrashing point of the tub.

IMO, if the machine surpasses and manages to get to 1200-1400 whatever max RPM, it MAY (or most likley, may not) pose a condition like this.

Judging by poking around, this has happened to basically every brand. Of course it would be higher on WP's side because they export more machines on a daily basis due to Maytag and Whirlpool being well known brands. Even an LG WM4270 has blew up during its high rpm spin.

But that IMO also doesn't give an excuse for them to be let off the hook. Sometimes I personally wonder if WP even knows what going on when something like this takes place. And if so, is that the reason why all their FL's now are 1200RPM?

I'd like to believe that. I really would. But, i came across a WFW70HEBW which has a max RPM of 1200RPM which looked to be the worst explosion I've seen out of all WP's.

Whirlpool does take a step in the right direction by replacing the units.
But another right but necessary step is STUDYING why this happened and to find ways to avoid this in the future. The best way to do this is to take the destroyed unit(s) and examine it and find things that each model had in some form relating.

I mean after all, look at how people react to Samsung washers now.
I bet their afraid of even walking up to them.
And rightfully so.

http://https//www.saferproducts.gov/ViewIncident/1619140

 

[Unimatic1140]

Is it not funny... A unimatic spins at 1140 rpm and even though they are sixty plus years old I never heard of one flying apart.
Neither have I for that matter or an early 1140rpm GE or any Rapidry Frigidaire through the 60's.

IIRC, Combo52 has mentioned someone's Unimatic destructing during spin

I know that story and I just reconfirmed with it with the person who witnessed it. The machine did not self-destruct, it was a new vintage find and it was put into the spin for the first time in many years. The rubber mechanism support had dried out to the point that the braking forces (once the machine's power was cut) had ripped it sending the tub into the side of the cabinet during the 20 second break period. This made for a very loud screeching noise, but the machine stayed completely intact and did not break apart in any way like we've have be seeing with a some of the recently made machines. This isn't even a remote comparison of what we are seeing in the news.

 

[johnb300m]

It is curious how when the Alpha platform of WP MT washers came out, they were 1400 rpm max spin.
Of which one I got; an MHW5100.
And a mere few years later, they changed all of them to a max of 1200 rpm.
Maybe 1400 was just too extreme for the platform?

In all reality, I'm quite sure the engineering team at WP is aware of any issues, no matter how remote. It's just whether the accountants or management will let them deep dive into it. And they of course would NEVER say, for mostly legal reasons.
It's the same thing at every company I've been at.
Engineering is almost always aware of field issues. Maybe not right away. But if it's more than a dozen that pile up in a short period of time, we all find out some way via customer support.

I'm only guessing, and not speaking for WP, but their component Factor of Safety limits might have been too narrow for the piece part price they're allowed to use. So the simple thing was to limit down to 1200rpm, while not losing extraction performance too much.
Only thing they lose is maybe a black eye in marketing for not having such a high comparable spin rate.
Anyways, their drums are fairly large in diameter, so I'm sure the g-force is good enough.
My clothes are pretty decently spin-dried on Medium spin anyway, which I think is around 1000rpm on my machine.

 

[brucelucenta]

johnrk

I am using a Kenmore, LG built washer and dryer. This set had all the features and was the largest capacity built at the time I purchased it. It has been fine in the last 4+ years with no problems.

 

[maytag85]

Unimatic1140, one of the reasons why I prefer traditional top load washers is they plain work, and do what they are supposed to do. My Maytag A810 washer and Maytag DG810 gas dryer has given me little trouble at all, and the only repairs that I need to do is replace the belts on the washer, and replace the drum belt on the dryer, and those are the only repairs that my Maytag washer and dryer needs.

 

[speedqueen]

Unimatic Story,

Well that proves it! Today's machines are under-built and that is undeniable. Unimatics held together just fine while sending a load to 1140 in 10 SECONDS and models today with 50+ years of "technology" and "progress" are so figity in balancing a large bath towel but somehow come apart violently after taking 10 MINUTES to distribute and initiate a final spin and still end up on the low speed spin instead of 1200. What happens if the out of balance sensor fails. Lets hope models are fail safe and don't let the machine operate at all, lest this could happen.

Also w/ the Unimatic, everything stayed together with it's minor incident and didn't send 25+ parts flying everywhere. Manufacturers could do better but choose not to on rational of cost and consumers are unfortunately willing to settle for unreliability. I won't however knock FL wash-ability. HE TL has the worst of both, poor washing and terrible build quality.

 

[logixx]

Speaking of spin speed: after the 1200 rpm spin, I put that towel into my spin dryer and spun it at 2800 rpm. Almost no extra water was extracted. Even a full basket of heavy times like sweaters or towels only releases about a cup of water after five minutes in the spin dryer.

So no have to agree with John: 1200 rpm seems plenty fast.

 

[frigilux]

John-- I'm late to the game with this post, but here's the information I found concerning the operating temps of SQ dryers.

Reviewed.com's tests noted that both the Delicate and Regular/Normal cycles ran quite hot. The ideal temps are no higher than 140 for Delicate and 151 for Regular/Normal. Both exceeded those temps in their tests. Unfortunately, they did not list the actual temps reached by the SQ. They also noted that the dryer continued running long after the load was dry, which aligns with my experience. It's the trait I find most annoying about the dryer.

Consumer Reports noted that the Delicate temp ran higher than the preferred 140 degrees.

 

[yogitunes]

I am all game for the higher spin speeds.....

what I noticed with a lot of them, is TIME!....I found it odd for a spin to hover around 800rpm, then burst up to higher speeds, for 60seconds or so, and then return or back down to a lower speed for the remainder of the spin time...

my Neptune 5500's ramp up to 800rpm, and stayed there for the entire spin time....

the first Fridgemore I got did the same.......several generations later, they started with the stepped spin, highest speed was for 60 seconds....

curious, what do your machines do?

 

[whatsername]

The LG turbo wash steps up to 1300 rpm gradually but stays at that speed for quite a while. In fact, choosing the "extra high" spin speed adds about 2 minutes to many cycles.

 

[washerdude]

My WP WFW72 also went for the full 1200RPM and stayed there for about 10 or so minutes before ramping down and finishing up. The only time I ever heard it ramp down to 1100RPM from 1200RPM was on certain odd occasions of spinning a comforter...interesting (most of the time it got to 1200 without ramping down during comforters).

As well as my current MT Neptune 5500. The only reason I think they ramp up beyond a certain RPM in the last couple minutes is to avoid fabric damage.

On LG's towel cycle, it spins on 1300RPM for the full final spin if you select extra high (correct me if i'm wrong). Another thing which is interesting to me is how LG FL washers, if a high spin speed is selected, it'll spin at about 900-1000RPM for most of the spin and then ramp up to near 1200RPM towards the last couple seconds, but then you have WP's FL's spinning at 1200RPM for the full spin cycle...

 

[rolls_rapide]

Spin duration

I can't say that I have ever known of any fast spinning modern frontloader over here, to immediately leap into high spin and stay there for the duration of the spin cycle. That would quickly lead to drum bearings being worn out.

What I do know, is frontloaders tend to go through the speed range, monitoring the imbalance as they go. Usually the machines spin for a much longer time at the lower speeds. Then, they might hold the timer at that point, and redistribute to rebalance the load. It's not unknown to have the machine detect an imbalance and lock the spin speed at low revs - even after attempting several redistributes - making the best of a bad load. Some might even abort the spin altogether.

I've also seen the opposite behaviour, where if managing to balance perfectly, the machine will jump its timer onward, skipping minutes in a matter of seconds. But even so, the machine still spins mostly at lower speeds. Final fast spin only lasts about a minute or two.