KitchenAid KAWE900, circa 1991

[hreodbeorht]

Here is my washer. KitchenAid KAWE900, purchased in 1991. I still remember the day I purchased it. The salesman said it was one of the few washers sold that had a porcelain top. It's been fairly reliable the past 15 years. Several years ago it started acting funny with the electronic controls. I'd go to turn it on and the panel would behave like a Las Vegas sign, the lights flashing randomly in a strange sequence. Or I'd turn it on and it would immediately start agitating. Or it would enter the spin cycle and the water would never stop entering the basket. I thought the control board was defective. There was paperwork inside which had a procedure for having the board enter a diagnostic mode. After I did that, it returned to normal and hasn't misbehaved since. The agitator dogs stripped a few years ago, causing the top portion of the agitator to rotate freely in both directions. Finding replacement dogs and installing them was easy.

For the first 10 years the washer was on a concrete floor and all was fine. But when I moved to a place with a wooden subfloor, the machine would regularly go out of balance. I tried everything. First I made sure the machine was level side-to-side and front to back. The I had the leveling feet sitting inside sticky rubber cups. Even placed the rubber cups on top of adhesive tape, so everything was sticking to the ceramic floor. Nothing worked, the machine would dance and rock, and it was quite frightening. I then replaced the 3 tub suspension springs and there's a 4th spring in back, thinking the springs were worn, stretched, etc. No improvement.

Then I built a platform for the washer to sit on. It's made out of 3/4" plywood and framed on 3 sides with 2x4's. The underside has rubber mesh attached, so as to keep it sticking to the ceramic floor. Problem solved! Now when the washer goes into the spin cycle, it's totally rock solid steady and quiet. All the rotational power is going into spinning the basket and not into rocking the cabinet. It's a miracle!

 

[hreodbeorht]

Agitator

Very clean

 

[hreodbeorht]

label

metal plate

 

[hreodbeorht]

wooden base

no more shaking walls!

 

[pulsator]

My grandpa had the exact same washer when he worked at Whirlpool. I thought it was the coolest thing ever cuz it didn't have any knobs and it had lights! Do the buttons make a beeping sound when you press them? Oh how I'd love to find one of these. I remember the first time I visited grandpa's when I was finally old enough to start a washer on my own and when I got there, we found out that he had recently retired and Whirlpool took his washer and dryer back for testing as they were prototypes and he replaced them with another KitchenAid with knobs and a white agitator. I was so dissappointed!!! I gotta get my hands on a turquoise KitchenAid agitator like this, but it looks as though this isn't the big base agitator?

 

[agiflow]

That is the big base agitator.

 

[DADoES]

That's the model I wanted when I bought my KAWE/KEYE-760 pair in 1992. The dealer didn't have them on display, no mention was made of possibly ordering other models (and like a dumb-@ss, I didn't ask). The 760 pair was kinda expensive at the time, $1046, so I can only imagine the price of the 960s or 900s or whatever the model would be.

 

[DADoES]

And I have to comment on how clean you've kept the softener dispenser! 

 

[hreodbeorht]

Do the buttons make a beeping sound when you press them?

The buttons make a beeping sound much like the roadrunner. If an incorrect selection is made, it makes a triple beep. The washer makes a much louder beep at the beginning of a rinse cycle and 5 beeps at the end of the last spin and the machine turns off. The rinse and last 5 beeps can be turned on or off by the Cycle Sentry button, which can be pressed at any time while the machine is on.

 

[DADoES]

Wow, I just noticed in the first pic that it has the console holder for the instruction book. Interesting. My 760 doesn't have that, and I thought it was only a Whirlpool-brand thing.

 

[gansky1]

I had this washer for a while, Don in Minneapolis found it behind an appliance store. The board worked for a while but behaved erratically after a bit, just as you described but it never healed itself so I stripped it for parts. I kept the control panel of course, it's lighted ;-) The model I had did not have the larger finned agitator.

The matching dryer to these TOL machines had a metal dispenser for rolls of dryer sheets (Bounce) on the back, I think it was available as an option for the other models. The KA dryer I have in the garage has the clips in the back panel for the box, but I've haven't seen one - yet.

I'm going up to Minne in a couple of weeks to pick up this beauty, Don found this Rapid Advance Timer model in a local shop over the winter. I can't wait, I've always wanted this washer!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Actually that is not the wide base agitator. The wide skirt agitator covers the ring of holes at the bottom of the tub. To the best of my knowledge, all of the machines with the big agitator had the three speed motor because Normal agitation used the medium speed of the motor. The cheapie KitchenAid washer with a 2 speed motor, hot, warm & cold wash temps and a water level selector has this narrow skirt turquoise dual action agitator. John and I talked about how strange it was that none of the electronic models had the three speed motor. They agitated on high at the first part of the Normal wash cycle, but then shifted to low for the rest of the wash. Rinse agitation is at the high speed. The early models (late 80s) of this machine did not have the dual action agitator. It was one piece with with low wavey side vanes. If this electronic machine has a 3 speed motor and does not shift to low agitation speed part way through the normal wash cycle, please correct me because we have no knowledge of this redesign of the machine.

This is a beautiful machine and well preserved. I have the model one step below and the electric electronic dryer which suffers from the crazy control syndrome. (If you think I'm crazy, get a load of my dryer.) Rather than spend over $200 (dealer cost) for the new membrane) I am going to transplant the control panel that matches my washer onto it. Then I will have both gas and electric dryers to match the washer. Big deal, I know.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Porcelain top

It was Kenmore that kept the porcelain top available long after Whirlpool declared that they had no use for it so it was a big deal when KA came out with porcelain topped washers. They saw it as necessary to compete against Kenmore, GE and Maytag. And the tol dryers also. Like today the more deluxe Duet has a porcelain top.

 

[hreodbeorht]

The matching dryer to these TOL machines had a metal dispenser for rolls of dryer sheets (Bounce) on the back, I think it was available as an option for the other models. The KA dryer I have in the garage has the clips in the back panel for the box, but I've haven't seen one - yet.

I had the matching dryer up until last year. It's now in appliance heaven. But I saved a few parts. The dispenser you mention was one of the things kept.

 

[hreodbeorht]

They agitated on high at the first part of the Normal wash cycle, but then shifted to low for the rest of the wash....If this electronic machine has a 3 speed motor and does not shift to low agitation speed part way through the normal wash cycle, please correct me because we have no knowledge of this redesign of the machine.

The machine shifts agitation speeds as you describe. In the wash cycle it agitates on high speed for most of the time, and then shifts to low speed for the last 2 minutes of the cycle.

the electric electronic dryer which suffers from the crazy control syndrome. (If you think I'm crazy, get a load of my dryer.) Rather than spend over $200 (dealer cost) for the new membrane) I am going to transplant the control panel that matches my washer onto it.

I also have the circuit board saved from the matching dryer, KEYE900T

 

[tomturbomatic]

Muchimas Gracias! Welcome to the club! I will plug the dryer in and try this test and then look up the wiring diagram and the other diagnostic tests. Who knows, it might be something minor. Yeah, right. I still believe that the electromechanical controls will last longer.

Does your washer have the fluorescent light over the control panel? I can't determine from the photo, but it looks like yours is new enough that the light might have been eliminated. I have a great fondness for fluorescently lighted control panels. The glow meant that there was some sign of activity, not life I realize, but at least the flow of electrons and perhaps a bit of magic in the appliance.

The light beckons, "Come over here to me, child. Study my controls and look inside so that I can reveal some of my secrets to you. Revel in my design and colors! I appreciate your interest; don't listen to those who tell you to leave me alone. We can have fun and I can offer you an escape from your dreary and painful world. I won't judge or reprimand you, nor shout, scream or laugh at you. We will shut out the others and you can watch while I perform my magic and the fragrances, the sounds, and the mechanical and water action will all enter your mind, each through a different sensory port, to create deep memories that will stay with you forever."

In my very impressionable years, fluorescent lighting meant top of the line or at least very fully featured appliances and the quality and color of fluorescent lights on appliances seemed so modern in contrast to incandescent light. It was a real end of an era when Maytag ended production on the 06 series and no more of their TOL models would have the lights. Even the last series of the 806 washer with the gold band eliminated the tub light.

 

[hreodbeorht]

Does your washer have the fluorescent light over the control panel?

Yes, but I've found it of limited benefit. When the lid is lifted, the light is blocked and you can't see down in the basket. I seem to recall my parent's 1966 Westinghouse washer had a light inside the basket, which seemed very neat. I wish this washer was the same, although maybe the risk of shock is too great.

I still believe that the electromechanical controls will last longer

The electronic controls are very sensitive to fluctuations in power. When the washer control panel started misbehaving, it was during a time when the utility company was turning off the power to the whole neighborhood almost weekly, due to some nearby construction. I think a surge or spike in the AC line scrambled the electronics, and it needed some kind of hard reset to get it working right again.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Now that I know that your washer has the light, I will go ahead and say something about it. I thought it very cheap of KA to use that small bulb when the hood could easily have accommodated one that went almost the full width of the control panel and would have given light on either side of the raised lid. I have a control panel from the electronic washer and, of course, from the dryer. It is very easy to drill new holes and move the receptacles closer to the edges of the panel. One day, maybe, that project will get done, but not on the electronic control panels. It will be a transplant to my 700 series machines which don't have lights, but have the hoods for them.

 

[DADoES]

But Tom, how are you going to stretch the fluorescent tube to fit the relocated receptacles?