GE GFQ14 Condenser Dryer Issue

[bobbyjones]

Hi Folks!

I have a GE GFQ14 (GFQ14ESSN0WW) Combination Washer & Dryer. It's a fantastic machine and uses condenser drying to dry the clothes (all in one). But...it's got an issue.

At some point during the drying cycle it's injecting a lot of water into the tub! So my clothes would start to get dry and then the machine would soak them. I mean soaked. This occurs intermittently but seems to be getting worse.

The machine has extensive diagnostic abilities and there are no codes of value present. Just ones you would expect in a RV, loss of power, loss of water, door latch. That was about it. So I cleared them off.

The machine has always been protected by a quality surge suppressor/line conditioner.

If I turn off the cold water inlet I can work around it.

I asked you fine folks about this last year and the suggestion was to replace the cold water control valve. So I ordered that up, installed it, and same thing

I also ordered up the WiFi module thinking there might be a firmware update but there isn't.

I'm not sure what to do next. Other than this one intermittent issue it's great. I don't want to get rid of it. I did see in reviews on the machine that someone else had the exact same issue and got rid of the machine

Many thanks in advance, it really is quite the machine and has worked really well up to now.

 

[combo52]

Is there any possibility that the drain hose is draining into a sink or drain where the water is accumulating and then when the pump cycles off water is siphoning back into the machine?

If that doesn’t seem to be the case, you may have to just monitor the machine and see if the drain pump is either not cycling on or is cycling on and not discharging water Efficiently, you might have a bad drain pump.

John

 

[bobbyjones]

Hi John;

No, it's draining into a code-specific drain tube at the right height etc. There are no draining issues. What it's doing is adding way too much water during the dry cycle.

My guess is the way it's supposed to work is that it adds a small amount during the dry cycle but not soak everything. The odd thing is, it's intermittent. It can go months without doing it, and then it does it 8 times in a row.

For two years it was perfect. One month after the warranty went it started doing it. I'm sure GE would know what it is but you can never get to the people that know.

 

[ozzie908]

Came across this before in an Indesit W/D it was a blockage

Does your W/D have a lint removal cycle? It's possible there is a build up that prevents the draining of the condensate ! It may involve you removing the condenser and giving a clean out with a hose it may help especially with the fault being intermittent. Also check that there is no accumulation of debris in the pump filter if there is one..

 

[bobbyjones]

I think you could be on the right track. The more I think of it, the more I come to the conclusion it could be something like a penny stuck somewhere that moves into a position and causes it. I'm not saying it's a penny, it's the premise behind it which I think you just illustrated.

I do clean the pump filter regularly. Draining is not a problem. Research shows that during the rinse cycle it apparently shoots water through the condenser to clear out debris. I do know that drying time is excellent and that it flows lots of hot air - when the issue is not present. That leads me to believe the plenum should be clean.

Because I cannot find information on how it actually works (like a service manual) it's very hard to ascertain what could cause it.

With my old condenser dryer (Splendide) you had to take the plenum out every once in a while to clean out the debris. I did see in the owner's manual that they reference the same procedure on an annual basis for this GE.

Perhaps I should go in there regardless of whether it pumps lots of hot air or not and take a look. But I think your on to something....many thanks!

PS>I read every negative review on the GE site for this washer and when you remove operator errors from the equation there are a lot of people that reference the very same problem. Soaking wet clothes at the end of the dry cycle due to water ingress which should not be happening.

 

[bobbyjones]

I took it apart today and cleaned out the debris. There wasn't as much as I thought there would be. The plenum itself was empty but the fan housing had a bit and the fan blades had a decent coat.

Time will tell...

 

[bobbyjones]

It's still doing it. I'm starting to wonder if it's firmware corruption.

On any dry cycle it seems to get close to the end (almost totally dry) and then it starts adding water.

The odd thing is, normally firmware corruption occurs with power surges or spikes. When I bought the unit I installed a high quality surge suppressor and it's been plugged into that from day one.

That's the only conclusion I can come to.

I replaced the cold water valves
I bought the WiFi adapter because I thought there might be a firmware update (there isn't)
I cleaned out the fan housing and plenum of all debris.

Same issue.

 

[retro-man]

I have never had one of these types of combo, but just a guess. Is this possibly when the end of dry is about done, that the unit goes into "flush mode" to clean the condenser and is diverting the water into the drum rather than over the coils?

Jon

 

[bobbyjones]

Hi Jon;

That would make sense but I don't think that's how it works. Apparently the condenser is flushed during the rinse cycle.

I'm starting to think my new washer is going to get thrown out

When you sort all the reviews on it over at GE from lowest to highest you start to see a picture. Many units do this, even when under warranty, and 5 or 6 repair visits, with corresponding parts replacement doesn't fix it.

It's a real shame, it's otherwise a great unit that looks very well built. GE is of no help at all and you can be sure there's an engineering team there that knows what the issue is but you'll never hear from them and they won't say anything, likely due to liability issues.

Other owners stated during reviews they threw it out

 

[combo52]

How old is this machine and where do you live ?

 

You may be able to get GE to replace the machine for free depending where you live and how it was purchased.

 

John

 

[bobbyjones]

!

It's now two years old. I'm up in Canada and to be honest, not sure it would matter where I was but I'd have little faith in GE service techs with respect to this unit. From the reviews, people with issues had multiple visits with multiple parts until the spaghetti stuck to the wall

I was talking about firmware corruption at one point. Yesterday the machine got worse, much worse. This is good! During a dry cycle it put enough water in to do a wash cycle and then started agitating back and forth!

The entire time it was running the fan. So it was literally trying to wash the clothes and dry them - at the same time!

I managed to find a quasi 'service manual' on the 'net and that helped to a degree. But when I saw it trying to simultaneously wash, dry and agitate, I said to myself, the brain is fried.

It has 3 boards, an inverter board for controlling drum rotation, a board for the user interface and a brain. The user interface works fine, the drum works fine, I think we can extrapolate that the brain is fried.

I managed to find a new one for $128 CAD delivered so I ordered it. Much better than $300 USD plus shipping and duty etc.

This morning I did a short dry cycle and it worked. Wash cycles all work. That caused me to realize something. The short dry cycle meant the machine did not get as hot as it normally would - and it worked.

This led me to start thinking along the lines of it being intermittent until recently. I think it's actually heat-related. Ie, when the machine gets hot, such as during a long dry cycle, the mainboard starts acting up. Perhaps a cold solder joint or something like that.

That would tend to explain the intermittent nature and why wash cycles always work. No heat build up. Large loads, with longer drying time, the machine gets hotter and the board acts up. Small loads, less heat, and the board makes it through the cycle.

Either way, seeing such confusion yesterday *should* only mean one thing. Brain.

If this does it, it means I'm into the repair for $350 CAD total which now includes a new cold water valve, wifi module and brain. I suspect I'm still dollars ahead as opposed to a service call. We shall see but I think my heat theory is on the right track.

 

[bobbyjones]

Well, a new control board did NOT fix it.

I'm officially done with it. It's junk.

Problem is the machine injects so much water during the dry cycle that it soaks all clothes. 100% soaking wet.

New water control valve
New Wifi Adapter (no firmware update available)
and now new main control board.

I give up. It's a POS. Avoid like the plague

 

[bobbyjones]

Problem solved. It was the user interface board. In other words, the board behind the controls and buttons.

Even though using the controls never showed an issue, and they all appeared to work fine, it seems that the controls themselves were 'telling' the main computer to add water during the wash cycle.

So...not the main computer, not the water control valve, not firmware, but the actual user interface board. Go figure.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

deluxe forum

I think you meant to put this in the deluxe forum.