Happy 20th Birthday to my Whirlpool Duet FL Washer

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Did I mention my duet dryer died like 6 years ago? It was probably TOTALLY repairable... but I replaced it with a standard WP dryer.. It was giving me an error code (I forget which one)..I understood at the time the dryer was probably fine and could be repaired... but I wanted a regular whirlpool dryer... and at that time I got mine for $300 something dollars.

About the Duet washer... Speaking of drain pumps going bad. Mine has never been touched... but I wonder if it's going... I really don't know to be honest, if it's always done this or it's something new. I'll explain:

So I'm in the laundry room folding clothes and the duet is getting ready to do the LAST spin.. As I'm folding clothes and it's trying to decide if it's satisfied to do the last spin... I see the drain hose behind the washer "shaking" more than usual.. A cord that's touching it shakes too... and it only does this WHILE it's trying to decide to spin... it stops doing it once the spin starts... and I don't see this behavior with other drains or interim spins... and it almost makes, gosh, I don't know how to describe it... sort of a knocking sound in sync with the shake (not horrible) but as I'm seeing it I'm asking myself "Has it always done this?" But it drains perfectly... who knows... I wouldn't be surprised if it's on it's last legs..

tell me... is there like a sign that a drain pump goes or does it just go on its own without any indication something might be wrong?

I would say if I were to guess the first time I noticed it was like a year ago..I just happened to be in the laundry room... since then I've taken notice if I'm in there if it does it before intermin spins and it doesn't.
 
Drain hose, jumping and shaking

Hi Mark, that is not a sign of the pump failing.

It’s up to you to repair or replace the machine when something goes wrong. It’s easy to replace the drain pump. I just do it myself if it fails.

The board failure that you had on the dryer was just the solder joints on the motor relay takes 15 minutes to fix that and no parts.

It’s always a tough call to decide whether to fix something or not just up to you.

John L
 
I mean, these pumps are REALLY affordable.
Dosen't even have to be a brand name one.

If you can do it yourself (which really is easy) I don't see the point in scraping a machine because of a broken pump.

Even if you want to get something new at that point, changing the pump and putting it up for sale for a decent price would yield you some profit...
 
I think pump shaking is not a sing of it failing then I think it's all good... because it sounds really healthy when it does its drains...just for whatever reason before the final spin it gets shaky like that for some reason. It's possible that it's always done this and I've just never noticed it.

as for fixing things. I'm sure it's easy... but unless there's a tutorial with kindergarten instructions... forget it.. fixing things is not my bag... although I have surprised myself with a few things over the years that I've done myself.

Hey Combo - I was pretty sure that was the case with the dryer... but it gave me an excuse to go back to a standard WP dryer which I prefer much more... I think the dryer was about 14 years old anyway.
 
Congrats on the milestone!

It's hard for me to believe that an electronically-controlled FL washer has made it this long.

My grandparents had this washer, along with its matching dryer, at their old, 3-story house which was bought back in late 2005. This was the first time I ever saw a front-loading washer in person. As someone who was brought up exclusively around TL washers at the time, the FL was a brand-new concept I had never heard of before. It was mesmerizing to see the clothes tumble around in there.

When they sold the house at the end of 2020, the Whirlpool Duet set stayed; it appeared to still work perfectly after 15 years. I wonder if the new homeowners still have the set?

As a bonus, a YouTube channel has (re)uploaded parts of the instructional DVD that would've come with the washer. It feels comforting and nostalgic to watch, as it explains how to get started with both the washer and dryer. The DVD dates back to 2004.

 
The only thing I can think of that the board is still working is the surge protector. It could be luck... but it definitely hasn't hurt it all these yrs so any modern washer I have will be plugged into one...

YEARS ago, I learned this machine had a hidden clean washer cycle... you have to press a sequence of buttons to activate it and it works just like the built on more recent clean washer cycles...

At the time I made that post... a few ppl on here had a similar machine to mine but mine is MOL while there's was TOL with more features... They couldn't get the same sequence I was using to work on theirs... Well, yesterday I saw someone with a TOL model on youtube...and his worked...

and I checked because I have the sequence saved in case I ever need to use it... and his is exactly the same... So it's weird that some on here who had this exact model couldn't get theirs to work...

 
 
The 2006 Duet pair are retired today from RJ's rental property.  The current tenant says the washer is leaking and she's "done" with them.  Both have been used-and-abused as renters do.  The washer is *gnasty*, she uses those froofy boutique liquid detergents and never runs the cleaning cycle per the instructions I provided.  RJ is no longer providing laundry machines (or apparently a refrigerator) there, gave her an allowance to buy her own machines and a refrigerator that she can take along if/when they leave.  She wants a unitary stacked set of some brand (probably LG).

The machines are in a corner of the kitchen beside the refrigerator.  The house was built in 1961, originally provided for only a washer.  The previous owners had a dryer in the one-car garage.

The dispenser drawer isn't missing, it was taken out during the removal.  I don't want them.  Aim to check for stray coinage in the dryer and the pump trap before they're disposed.  The washer bearings and drum replacement I did when they were put into service apparently is intact.  I'm curious to see the condition of spider but that'd be a huge disassembly effort.

dadoes-2025041117084102725_1.jpg

dadoes-2025041117084102725_2.jpg

dadoes-2025041117084102725_3.jpg
 
I vaguely remember you doing that. I think I remember the pictures of where you had this tore down....but I can't remember the story behind it...something about you got it from a relative and tore it down, fixed some things and cleaned it....

It's so funny... of all of the people over the years who have had this duet... they've all been the TOL model.. I remember being on the Whirlpool website and trying to decide if I wanted the TOL model or the MOL model... the BOL model didn't have a heater... so that was out.. so I just went for MOL... and I've never seen anyone that ever had that MOL model... Most ppl just must have bought the TOL... which is basically the same with just some added cycles. The one thing I really wish mine had that the TOL had is prewash...but anything else I didn't really need. But if I ever want to prewash something I just use soak.

it's insane to me that this lasted with a renter who doesn't give a F. Because although these are well made for the most part, there are some things about it that feel cheap like the handle.. I remember when these were still for sale in Lowes you would often see the handle broken on the display model.

I wish there were some way to get mine to you when/if it does so you can tear it down and examine what the inside looks like. I'd be so curious to see if my laundry habits are as good as I think they are.
 
Mark,I could never get the cleaning cycle to work using your method. I have the exact machine in the link you posted,someday I'll try that method although it's been fine all these years without it.
 
 
Matt, what is your full model number, including the engineering revision (last digit)?  The cleaning routine isn't on the original model revision.  It's referenced in the user guide for those that have it.
 
I hardly EVER use it... Maybe once every couple of years... and remember, I didn't even discover it until after I had been using my machine like 13 years or something (LOL)

I mean, it fills with lots of water and does the crazy rotations and water goes everywhere... but the water itself ISN'T even that hot. It's like luke warm... and I hate that it doesn't spin... It just drains... I feel like it leaves too water water in the system doing that...so after it's done I always do drain/spin.. then I just wipe everything down in the nooks and crannies.. I don't think it's nearly as fine tuned as some of the new clean washer cycles.

And I had to take a picture of the sequence to keep on my phone, otherwise I totally forget
 
Good grief, they could be well on their way to culturing a new deadly germ warfare bacillus in there.

It's bonkers that someone would allow a machine to get in that state and still put their clothing in there without cleaning it up, it would come out so saturated with bacteria it might come out self aware ;O)

 

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