bigwhitebox
Member
UPDATE. PROBLEM SOLVED?
After living with the issue for many months,, I decided to tackle it again. Suspecting that the paralled capacitors were still not providing the power to start the spin cycle correctly, I narrowed my focus to them. First off, I purchased a multimeter to properly test them with a capatance test setting. I found that they were both out of spec even though they are relatively new. I found an old capacitor that met the requirement for my machine and tested it with the new meter. It was in the mid range of the required spec so I installed it. SUCCESS!
While trying to research the cause of past capacitor failure s, I came across voltage spikes as a possible cause. Our power company has frequently turned off power due to windy conditions and I had to run a generator to power the house. It was an older style with less-than-ideal voltage regulation. This may have contributed to the past capacitor deaths. A new generator is now installed with more power and excellent voltage regulation.
Perhaps the dead capacitors also were bad from the start. I'll never know but the new multimeter was excellent for providing a definite diagnosis. A new capacitor that I'll check prior to installation is ordered and I hope that my washer issues are behind me. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this topic. I hope my issues and diagnosis save someone else time when it's time to repair their machine.
After living with the issue for many months,, I decided to tackle it again. Suspecting that the paralled capacitors were still not providing the power to start the spin cycle correctly, I narrowed my focus to them. First off, I purchased a multimeter to properly test them with a capatance test setting. I found that they were both out of spec even though they are relatively new. I found an old capacitor that met the requirement for my machine and tested it with the new meter. It was in the mid range of the required spec so I installed it. SUCCESS!
While trying to research the cause of past capacitor failure s, I came across voltage spikes as a possible cause. Our power company has frequently turned off power due to windy conditions and I had to run a generator to power the house. It was an older style with less-than-ideal voltage regulation. This may have contributed to the past capacitor deaths. A new generator is now installed with more power and excellent voltage regulation.
Perhaps the dead capacitors also were bad from the start. I'll never know but the new multimeter was excellent for providing a definite diagnosis. A new capacitor that I'll check prior to installation is ordered and I hope that my washer issues are behind me. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this topic. I hope my issues and diagnosis save someone else time when it's time to repair their machine.
