How do I suppress vibrations on a Kenmore 44082

[Anvis_2000]

I recently purchased a Kenmore 44082 front loading washing machine from my local Sears store. The washer does a great job on my clothes but the vibrations on the spin cycle are excessive. My laundry room is on the second floor of my house and this causes the whole house to shake. Is there anything I can do to suppress these vibrations. I'd like to keep the washer if possible.

Also, the Kenmore leaves behind a fair amount of water after the wash is completed. Do I have to worry about mildew formation?

 

[toggleswitch]

mold/mildew

I believe the door to the machine should be left slightly open at all times, when not in use.

Vibration.. other than leveling the machine and adjusting the leveler legs, you may have to just deal with it, IMHO.

I have some unused rubber padding as you would see under an excercise machine at the gym.

If you want me to mail it to you or to a P.O. box you have access to pls contact me.. My e-mail address is in my profile

Regards,
Steve

 

[launderess]

In general it is a good idea to leave the door slightly ajar on front loaders after laundering to allow airing out. If however you use your washer daily or every other day, then this might not be necessary. Keep in mind environmental conditions inside your home will dictate things abit. If you notice fog building up on the inside of the glass door, that is a pretty good indicator things are very moist inside the unit.

You can keep the insides of the washer "clean" by running a normal cycle every few months with a bit of chlorine bleach.

If you have small children/pets, you may wish to consider just leaving the dispenser door open. This well help air circulate in the machine as well.

Vibration -

Front loaders by design are happiest on firm flooring. Concrete being the best, soft wood almost next to worse. If the machine is level (front to back and side to side, using a professional level), you may need to reinforce the flooring by adding a plywood platform beneath the unit. It also helps if one can locate the washer in a corner of the room, where flooring tends to be more robust. Finally keep the washer low to the ground. In other words when adjusting the legs do not raise the washer higher than necessary. Front loaders need to transfer the energy created during spinning down through their legs to the flooring where it is dispersed through the rest of the building. The furhter away from the ground a front loader is,the less effective it will be in doing this.

Not all front loaders are built the same, some units have more robust suspension/balance systems to cope with vibrations.

Best of luck

Launderess

 

[golittlesport]

I have a Kenmore FL set in a second floor laundry room and placed concrete blocks on the floor and then the washer and dryer on top of the blocks. This raised the machines about 8" and created very strong support for them. I've had them 5 years and no problems with the machines or the set up.

 

[petek]

Re the concrete block supports

Concrete blocks can be so boring and lifeless. Add some glamor by replacing at least the front concrete with glass blocks, lit from behind with lights!!!, don't laugh, you can also make a great bed frame the same way. And with a little creativity nothing stopping you from adding strobes or sound activation for a real show stopper.

 

[Designgeek]

Concrete blocks aren't boring, they're just a good starting point for ideas! And nothing is quite as solid as concrete.

If you use concrete blocks though, you want to set things up so the washer can't vibrate itself off the blocks and fall over. What I'd do is find a way to fix the blocks to the floor, perhaps by drilling through them and bolting them down, and then fix the washer to the blocks, perhaps via a piece of plywood with a furring strip around top and bottom so everything stays where is should.

Another interesting possibility is to pour a 3" thick mesh-reinforced concrete pad on the floor, in the dimensions of the washer. If the pad is 3 feet square, it would be 9 cubic feet of concrete or a total of about 340 pounds in weight on your floor. That would be six 60-lb. sacks of quick-mix. Mix it stiff (as little water as possible) in an electric mixer (you can rent these inexpensively) and keep the finished slab damp for two weeks to assure it develops maximum strength as it hardens (concrete should be *cured* not *dried*).

Or you could build up a pad on the floor with multiple thicknesses of plywood, perhaps also to 3" depth, all screwed down with deck screws. Technically this becomes a "stretched-skin" surface, so it behaves with greater rigidity than might be inferred from the fact that it's made of wood.

Last but not least, all front-loaders like to vibrate because there is no way to automatically distribute the weight of the load perfectly evenly before a spin starts. Many front loaders have self-adjustment routines where they rotate a bit to distribute the load, then try to start spinning, and if they sense excessive vibration they slow down and try again. This can take a few minutes or more each time, which some people get impatient about, but after all the machine is fully automatic so you can just let it do its job and not worry about it.

You can minimize vibration through careful loading. Run full loads, and don't mix heavy and light materials e.g. towels and sheets in the same load.

Or if the whole house keeps vibrating, just lie down on the floor and enjoy a nice back massage!

 

[alr2903]

Anvis_2000

Just an idea if you like the location of your washer, and the first story floor plan allows build a closet under it on the first floor you could really reinforce it. I would add an overflow pan. You could really reinforce that space under it, and more storage is a win win.

 

[toggleswitch]

Glamor

Would that be "glamour" in Canada, even sometimes? LOL

PeteK, I'm with you. Make it fabulous!