Speed Queen front load water level adjustment

[julianweber]

I decided to see what was involved in adjusting the water level of my Speed Queen AFN50F. After reading the following two threads about this...

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?38893
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?27662

I took my pressure switch out and began inspecting it. I noticed two significant differences between my observations and what was published in those threads.

First, there are two switches inside this device. One controls the water level in the drum, and the other is the overfill safety switch. The advice I have see thus far suggests that both switches should be adjusted the same amount but I believe that the overfill switch should not be adjusted.

The other point I differ on is the function of the point gap screw. In my testing it appears to function as a hysteresis adjustment. The more you back this screw out, the more the water level must drop in the drum after filling before more water is added.

The picture shows what I believe the functions of the different adjustment screws are.

 

[julianweber]

Picture of water level

 

[Iowegian]

Thanks for sharing that.

I'm not sure if it was you or someone else that labeled the picture with the "hysteresis" tag, but hysteresis is a term that us engineer types tend to attach to things like transformer windings and motors, not pressure switches.

Anyway, as long as the clothes get clean and you're happy, it doesn't really matter.

 

[julianweber]

Hysteresis

As published in Wikipedia...

This is useage you are referring to...
Hysteresis occurs in ferromagnetic materials and ferroelectric materials, as well as in the deformation of some materials (such as rubber bands and shape-memory alloys) in response to a varying force. In natural systems hysteresis is often associated with irreversible thermodynamic change.

This is the useage I am referring to...
Many artificial systems are designed to have hysteresis: for example, in thermostats and Schmitt triggers, hysteresis is produced by positive feedback to avoid unwanted rapid switching. Hysteresis has been identified in many other fields, including economics and biology.

In the case of the pressure switch in the picture, the hysteresis functions in the following way. When I turned the screw which I labeled, "Water Level Hysteresis" counterclockwise, the amount of water colum in my manometer had to drop further after having initially tripped the switch than when I turned the screw clockwise.

If you have a more descriptive word for this phenomena then I would appreciate knowing it.

Julian

 

[julianweber]

oops, I meant say...

When I turned the screw which I labeled, "Water Level Hysteresis" counterclockwise, the amount of water column in my manometer had to drop further after having initially tripped the switch in order to re-close the contacts versus when I turned the screw clockwise.