Grease covering brand new Speed Queen washing machine tub.

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TOTALLY AGREED!!!!!

As I said before, this is not a mechanical issue. I have spoken directly to techs who know my machine inside and out when I had a minor issues after four years of abusive usage! I have always run an empty wash with a new washer, or dishwasher to get rid of "factory residue," packaging reisdue," or whatever!

Mike
 
The original poster had this problem in March 2013. I have this problem in July 2013. I eagerly awaited delivery of my AWN432 at 9:15am since my 20 year old Maytag died on July 4th, 4 days ago. Someone posted: "I'm thinking about the person who put the polishing compound in the OP's washer. He or she was probably manually polishing out a manufacturing imperfection in the inner tub and had probably been at the end of their shift, tired, with a sore back from bending over using the power polisher." This would be fine if the issue happened once back in March. But its July now. I am running Simple Green thru mine right now. I hope it works because I need to go back to work tomorrow wearing clean clothes.

Four months later this should not still be happening without some kind of advance notice from SQ. I could have ruined clothes in this if I had not wiped it out first and missed this problem. Ought to be a label sent out to apply to every one of these machines warning the consumer to clean it first.

If everything else after this works out well, I will be a satisfied customer. But this issue needs their attention asap.
 
Stained Wash Basket in a New SQ TL Washer

What is the serial# of your machine, you may have just gotten one that was made 3 months ago. In any event this will not hurt either your laundry or the life expediency of your new washer. If you have any concern just wash a load of jeans in Hot Water and use plenty of detergent.
 
This is an interesting thread, all the way through....

But I have a different perspective on much of what was said above.

First, any manufacturing that has human involvement is going to have flaws or errors occasionally. The degree to which that is a problem varies in regard to what is being made. A toothbrush with the colored handle being a bit off the standard green or yellow? No biggie. QC will usually catch this and scrap the off-color parts, but some will get shipped.

A rubbermaid or similar container that cracks or otherwise fails in service? Well, not great, but its not a major deal either.

A garment that has a hole in it upon first wearing - what a pain.

A flaw in a commercial airliner? Scary...

These all can happen, including, unfortunately, grease left in a new washer basket.

I have more than 20 years in manufacturing management. We all know that errors are going to happen, but its how the company responds to the problem that is often the most important issue.

I find it interesting to note that Alliance is ISO9001 certified. ISO is a certification among industry which essentially certifies, from an outside unbiased auditor, that the company has proper managerial controls to manufacture routinely high-quality product, that it has problem solving procedures in place that are effective, and that the company FOLLOWS those procedures when issues arise. All automotive and appliance manufacturers in the U.S. require most all their vendors to be ISO certified for these reasons.

Leaving grease in a washer basket, grease that apparently can ruin clothing, etc. is a violation of warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. This would be akin to making a car with temporarily square wheels. Washers are never supposed to make things dirtier, or ruin clothing, especially when new, even temporarily.

While I can easily see how an assembly worker could miss the step in properly de-greasing the stainless basket (there could have been a new packer on the line that day, or a temp in training, the polishing machine could have been using too much compound, or they could have even had a birthday celebration in the breakroom while the line was running...the reasons are almost endless), but this should be an item that warranted swift and effective measures by Alliance Management.

In a normal damage control situation, manufacturing management should first should have stopped any more machines from coming off the line this way. They then should have identified how many were involved by whatever caused this. They then should have pulled and inspected any stock still on-site such that no more were shipped this way, and they should have identified any units that were in-transit or off-site that might be suspect. Finally, the last two steps would be a plan for how to deal with consumers for those machines that got into the field, AND how to avoid this from recurring on the plant floor in the future.

It is a failure such as this that an ISO auditor would closely examine, especially in how the issue was addressed to prevent it from happening again.

My surprise in the information above is centered mostly in Alliance/Speed Queen's apparent response to the problem. A typical laundry load can be worth many hundreds of dollars. Sears said in one of their 1980s catalogs that a typical load was worth $150. This was nearly 30 years ago. To tell a customer that they need to run one or several washes empty to prepare a machine for use is not a proper answer in my opinion, especially when damage to laundry may have already occurred. Aren't these machines are expected to be factory tested and ready to use, out of the box?

A proper consumer response, IMHO, would have SQ bringing another machine out to the customer that they have checked for cleanliness, and take the other machine back. NO questions asked. I agree with the original poster that telling the customer that this is not a warranty issue is wrong and in very poor customer service, unless SQ doesn't consider their machines ready to use when delivered.

On the other hand, I don't think this is inexcuseable, as errors and accidents do happen. How we get over the occurance is the biggest issue. Should we be unhappy with a company that delivers $850 dirty appliances? Yes, I think so; we certainly should not buy into a diatribe about why we're being such complainers for expecting anything out of an $850 purchase. Is this grease a non-issue as some said, no, its not a non-issue, especially from the company that touts themselves as a leader in laundry --- "All we do is laundry" or something similar is SQ's slogan. Grease in a tub would be ok if the slogan was "All we do is laundry once you clean the preparative chemicals out of our tubs".
 
This is a VERY interesting thread, all the way through

I had written a post above from the perspective of a manager in manufacturing (me) and I made some conclusions as to how we would approach a problem such as this.

Just as I posted that, I decided to call Speed Queen and see what they suggest in regard to pre-washing the new machine or preparing it to be used for the first time. I was told that their owner's manual suggests first running a full load empty, and the person on the phone personally suggested running a load of rags or even several loads as this would be necessary to remove any "manufacturing residue" from the surface metals.

So, if SQ suggests this be done in the owner's manual, and the user didn't do so, it would be hard to blame SQ for a consumer/user error. SO MANY consumers don't read the paperwork for stuff they buy, its obvious in consumer reviews of appliances online.

If there is excess grease in the tub from an error on the plant floor (they do happen, everywhere from a toothbrush manufacturer to the Boeing Company), perhaps SQ could provide the cleaner and a fresh bag of rags...

Gordon
 
I know when I got my SQ AWN 311 washer, I ran a hot wash with detergent before the first load of laundry was in the machine. It's just common sense to do that I think to get out any grease or dust. Never had a problem with grease. Interesting thread.
 
Kenmore Guy: My Speed Queen manual for the AWN432 does not say to run a full load empty or with rags as you state that SQ said. This is what my manual said (which I followed): "IMPORTANT: Prior to the first wash, use an all purpose cleaner, or a detergent and water solution, and a damp cloth to remove shipping dust from inside the washtub". When I did that I kept getting a dark gray color on the damp cloth. That is when I called SQ who then had me run to the store to buy Simple Green. They told me to wipe it out with that and then run a hot load thru with it then. They said this was a polishing compound and Simple Green removes it completely. That did absolutely no good at all. On my 2nd call to SQ, after repeatedly scrubbing and running with Simple Green, I was told the same thing by a different tech. What solved the problem was when I decided on my own to run a full empty hot load thru with laundry detergent. That helped, so I did 2 more of those loads which solved the problem. And as someone stated maybe my washer was one produced 3 months ago, but still I was an unsuspecting consumer told incorrect things by SQ. I emailed them and told them what worked and they said they would pass it along to their tech people. My point was if they knew they had this issue, they sure did nothing to alert consumers or dealers about it. I now love the washer, but what I went through really should not have happened.
 
Also I forgot to mention, SQ also told me that this polishing compound was inadvertently left in some of their washers instead of being rinsed out as it should have been. It was not in any way a normal amount of debris/dirt from the manufacturing process.
 
Well, needless to say that of course a mistake like this may happen even to the best...so Speed Queen also, and IMO now like now they're just about being the best.
What I find a little weird though is that they didn't even send someone or give a partial refund, or send people to clean it, or at least provide a cleaner sample  and so apologized in any ways....if it is a mistake like they said they should have at least did that.
Of course I even find weird the fact that it was not wrote anywhere to run an empty hot wash with detergent.

Differently than it has been mentioned  even in european machines baskets may have greasy covering and polishing residues left, I just recall that as a little boy hanging through washers aisle at the mall one day and checking machines drums i got my hands full of   a greasy grey stuff, and mama  had to get into the store and buy a can of handwashing paste as it would not come off with the soap they had in the restroom there.
Anyway, is not nice to blame a manufacturer like that for an error that may happend to everyone, a manufacturer that still produce the best and durable machines, moreover if it is probably the only one that is trying to keep production and  so jobs in the USA differently than others do, this with all the related conseguences...so reduced personnel and prolonged times to stand all the taxation  and related stuff,  in short all the matter of the jobs and manufacturing "emigration" we all know! Or not?
So just don't get mad for it, rather try to understand that maybe it was "fault" of a tired  hard working american employee that probably had to do some extra that day or month because of reasons I mentioned... and that if it wasn't for this oversight would have provided otherwise a perfect machine..
If we go with this attitude I'm not surprised about economy, people would get mad for  a greasy residue left by mistake in a strong, real and reliable machine and  would not make stories for a filmsey and plastic "kinda toy" machine that does not wash  and  work well and that  last just  few years...

These are things for which get mad, not a silly oversight of this kind!

Beko (Chinese made stuff)  had recently called back several dryers due to fire hazard for example! Would you prefer a burned down house?
Or LG calling back ranges for same reason?
Recent Haier's chest freezers matter always for fire hazard?
But they overwork employee  and even underaged employee on a regular basis down there in China or whatever...so this is okay, even because they make way more profit of it so that it is not big deal to call back whole lots of stuff turned out bad, after all their earns are ensured with the overwork and "crappy" stuff policy..... "it's all part of the package"...
So a real american manufacturer striving to keep up with taxation, cost of  labor etc and still producing right in the USA, so supporting USA economy and regeretting such exploitation policies,  and for this and not for last still delivering otherwise perfect machines  is to blame just for some grease left by mistake...I feel bad for this.
Anyway, if it was me having to deal with the grease, I would run a real hot wash with some washing soda (way more degreasing than ammonia and other stuff)  and some  high foming detergent along.

If rim was also covered I would also do like already suggested, so let make a spin drain with hose flowing in the tub as to create a whirlpool that would clean the sides...stopping machine if it starts to get high with risk of overflowing.
That's it...

[this post was last edited: 7/14/2013-13:50]
 
You're absolutely right....Beko, like Blomberg (Beko made and of property of Beko factory now) it's a turkish brand you're correct, some stuff are labelled made in Turkey but they're made with lots of chinese imported parts though.
Actually just a small part of the job may be actually done in Turkey to be able to write "made in Turkey"...we all know how these things goes...they always looked like  crappy China junk stuff to me.

Also, since they acquired the Changzhou factory in China   most of major electric components  like motors or pumps etc started to come  from there, like many washers branded Beko and components for the ones labelled "made in turkey" ie finally  assembled in Turkey... but made with  most of chinese parts
After all, despite the Arcelik is pushing alot lately, cuz of so competitive prices (that should make people wonder) is not what I would call reliable....everything that's involved with China like that isn't... then also Turkey IMO has not much to be trusted in matter of quality.....
 
I am new here but I have some news for all. We are having the same problem. Yellow grease/rust stains and whites with yellowish color after wash. The technician removed the inner tub. The problem is rust behind the inner tub where they welded the two parts together. He cleaned the rust but I am not sure if it will not show up again. If the tub is SS but the welding material steel the rust will keep coming back.......
 
First of all Welcome, nice to meet you!
My guess is that the welding alloy they use wasn't meant to rust (actually the opposite)....at least I'd have thought so, for obvious reasons.
Then grease is a thing, rust another....these two  give two particular kind of stains/marks (grease often grey/dark and ot green/yellow strips/marks, rust if dissolved in water use to  yellow all the laundry "<span id="result_box" class="short_text" lang="en"><span class="hps">homogeneously"</span></span>,  rust if in the internal parts in contact with clothes such as basket or compounds,  would stain them with marks shaped like the rusted area (this is likely to happen during spin cycles)...  but  typical grease marks are usually different from rust ones though...you should  be able to tell the difference, unless you got both of them...that would be kinda weird though, especially from a new machine...

 

This leaves me confused and puzzled for many reasons...
If that is the case, what the hell is happening at the Alliance? Oil  left in tubs for mistake...well:  "Shit happens"
Rusted baskets: No this must not happen!

[this post was last edited: 7/29/2013-15:40]
 
Hi there! What you describe is 100% accurate! The clothes have this light yellowish color. The technician said was probably left over dust from the welding but it was rust. All clean now but if the alloy will keep rusting is a mystery.......washer is 1 month old!
 
Can't get new tub clean

I just had my new SQ AWN542 washer and matching dryer delivered on Saturday. This is my 3rd set of machines in a month(Samsung and AWN432 were returned - another story), and I had hoped that I would not have problems with this one. I ran 4 full loads with various cleaners, including Simple Green, to try to get rid of the grey carbon residue, grease or whatever it is, and scrubbed repeatedly, to no avail. Don't tell me this is a trivial problem. I can't do laundry with a brand new machine that cost me over $700. I've made 3 calls to SQ and been blown off each time. The dealer called for me and was told I should have someone else try cleaning it for me. The dealer was disgusted. I was actually told they might have to replace the transmission on a brand new machine. The warranty servicer had no clue on the phone, and I don't have high hopes for his visit. I was told by another repair guy that SQ has had these problems for a long time, and has done nothing about it. That is not a tired or even lazy factory worker; that is a corporate decision to put out poor quality machines.
 
corporate decision to put out poor quality machines

I think we can realize the absurdity of this statement, clearly someone in a meeting didn't decide things were going too well so "send Jimmy down to mess things up"...

But indeed this issue has been a black eye for Speed Queen, and they (or their dealers) may not have always handled it as well as some might like. I'm sure that things have been rectified in manufacturing by now, but there may be NOS washers out there in warehouses that may pop up for a time before they are all flushed through the system.

Did you happen to take any photos to document the residue or staining? It would be great if you could share them with us if you did. There have been numerous comments about this problem, but almost none of us have visually seen the magnitude of the issue.

It would also be interesting to hear your other experiences with the Samsung and the lower model SQ as well.
 
Neither myself nor my dad

experienced this problem and we both got our machines this year, AWN542. Not sure of the mfg date though. I would assume it to be sometime this year?



washman++9-17-2013-17-52-18.jpg
 
I cannot imagine what it could be........

Did you get stains on your clothes, can you see this grease, is it color-less? Is is something you can feel with your hands when the tub is empty. I ask this because maybe it is detergent residue at this point. I have the AWN542, I bought one for my mother, and my brother has one, we have not encountered any grease problems, thankfully....Speak to someone higher at Allinace ....Chuck, I don;t remember his name, is the North American sales director, they WILL call you back,,,,you DO NOT need a new transmission....but politely ask to speak to a higher up at Alliance, and believe me...they will help you. Good Luck
MIke
 
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