Fixing my Speed Queen Rustbucket

[Marky_Mark]

Hi guys.  I've owned my 11-year-old Speed Queen washer for the last 4 years.  I haven't used it during the past year, as I've been using my Lady Kenmore TL and my Neptune FL.

 

I removed the inner wash basket today for the first time and could hardly believe the amount of rust!  It's all very clean but so rusty.  Is this normal for a SQ washer? 

 

I was thinking of giving it the POR-15 treatment to hold the rust at bay and also sealing the drain port with J-B Weld, as this worked well for me on my LK washer.

 

What do you guys make of this?

Mark

 

[Marky_Mark]

I've just removed the lint filter.  Now, I could leave all these remaining components untouched and simply clean, prep and apply POR-15 to the tub below these components (there is enough room), leaving them in place and undisturbed (my preferred method).

 

Or is there any need to start taking all this apart and replacing parts?  The bearing seems fine and I can't see any evidence of leaking.

 

Or should I bite the bullet accept it's time to install a new outer tub and re-do the whole thing with new parts?

 

 

[Marky_Mark]

If I could get a new tub under warranty, that would be great.  But I don't know who the original owner was and the warranty was never transferred to me, so I don't know if there's anything I can do about that now.

 

[askolover]

Wow what ate that tub up like that?

 

[combo52]

Rusty porcelain outer tub

Somebody had to use something very strong in that machine, most likely they soaked things with bleach in the machine a lot or they use some sort of very strong acid cleaner to remove minerals, etc.

Getting a new outer tub in warranty might be tricky if it wasn’t registered.

Look at the bright side at least you don’t have any sludgy mineral buildup, Sure makes a good argument for a plastic tub or stainless steel. Like The Speed Queen load washers.

John

 

[cfz2882]

WTF...

My in use SQ is an '82 and AFAIK,no rust like that! mine has speckled porcelain basket.Never seen any porcelain outer rusted like that-I'd say that one was born bad...

 

[qsd-dan]

"Sure makes a good argument for a plastic tub or stainless steel."

Depends on the quality of the stainless steel. Lots of junk out there now and manufactures don't back up their junk, either.

 

[maytag85]

Damn, that’s way worse than my Whirlpool despite being 61 years old.

This is why I don’t use bleach in my machines, if I do it’s a very small amount.

Surprised it hasn’t ate through the metal yet.

 

[Marky_Mark]

It's certainly much worse than I was expecting.  I definitely want to keep this set, so I'll fix the tub with POR-15 and just hope it holds up!

 

[combo52]

Rusty porcelain coated, steel outer tub

Normal quantities of bleach diluted in water will not affect porcelain enamel tubs however you’re supposed to limit exposure to a maximum of 30 minutes.

The first tub that I saw was badly rusted as the one you have Mark was a 66 lady Kenmore I had to take the inner out to replace The check valve for the self cleaning filter system I looked at that said oh my God what did you do and the woman said she always soaks her husband‘s T-shirts overnight in the machine with a Clorox.

This Speed Queen was not born bad, lol they all come off the assembly line the same of course it’s possible that you would get a small defect and a porcelain finish, but the entire inner tub would not rust unless it was exposed to extreme amounts of bleach or some sort of acid type Chemical cleaners, I’m gonna guess that it was some sort of acid that was used to clean mineral deposits that caused this damage.

Hi Dan, the stainless steel look dishwasher that you posted is not stainless steel on the front panel. KitchenAid does not claim that is stainless steel. It is a vinyl coated steel panel and it does not have a warranty , other than the 1 year parts and labor warranty. If the machine were only a year old, it would be replaced at no charge. The stainless steel tub assembly has either a lifetime or 20 year warranty. I’m not sure which and that warranty will cover rust conditions or other conditions that cause it to leak.

John

 

[Marky_Mark]

It's a shame that we'll never know what this machine was subjected to by its previous owner(s) and unfortunately I did not inspect the outer tub when I got the machine, so we'll never know for sure when this rust started.

 

What I can say is that I have probably only used chlorine bleach in this machine around 30 times.  Usually just a quarter of a cup but I have added a full cup on around 3 occasions.  I've always added the bleach during the last 4 minutes or so of the wash and I've never soaked anything in bleach.  I have occasionally soaked laundry in the machine with detergent.

 

As for acidic products, yes I'm afraid I have used citric acid (Lemishine) on several occasions in this machine when I first got it to clean it out.  I did leave it soaking overnight on a couple of occasions.  I have also once used CLR in the machine but always diluted with a full tub of hot water before adding the product.  So I don't know to what extent I have caused or contributed to the rust.

 

[askolover]

Even moms thirty year old Maytag inner and outer tub still looks new

 

[combo52]

Any porcelain outer tub Or inner tub can rust badly

If a lot of soaking was done in it or it was exposed to harsh chemicals, last Thursday, I pulled out a 1980 Maytag from my neighbor who loved to soak things overnight. She got a lot of use out of the machine. There’s no doubt about that but rusted out and that’s what killed it. Even the transmission and damper were still good.