A little heads up for you all...
Whirlpool has decided it would be fun to NLA most of the parts for the drying cabinet. Yes, these are not old at all. Yes, they cost a freaking arm and a leg. Yes, people had to frequently modify their laundry rooms to make it fit. All that means squat. The control boards are hard to get if at all and the element for the electric lower dryer is long NLA. There are aftermarket restrings (element only) which sometimes may fit but if you've broken any of the ceramic mounts, you're toast. The gas model is a little more forgiving as the coils and igniter are generic but the heating element/steamer tray assy that both models use for the upper cabinet is also gone.
Very annoying to say the least as the owners are, understandably, unhappy being told that their once expensive machines are now useless. Calls to the Whirlpool 1-800 line are also not very helpful. Pity. I almost got one myself!
Also, another heads up for all you MAH5500/6500 owners! The main control boards appear to be on a national back order with no release date. My supplier has called and seems to be getting the impression that there might be a vendor issue (as in the current vendor isn't making them anymore and another vendor is being sought...) and in the past when this has happened, Whirlpool will most likely just NLA the part and be done with it. As they were told, the release date could be in a few weeks, months, years or never... Time to locate a spare or two for all you happy owners!
RCD
