The final "nail" in the Maytag Neptune coffin

[roto204]

Enjoy it

Sometimes the less you know, the better. I go through workaday machines like Kleenex, and only labor upon the ones worth keeping.

If it's fun, enjoy it! You could do worse than to have something inexpensive that's entertaining and exposes you to Yet Another Intriguing Design, and provides decent performance until it doesn't anymore.

The other day, I had the Buick at the mechanic's, and in replacing the fuel pump, discovered that the standpipes around the sending unit were broken.

"Do they leak?"

"No, it all passes the pressure test."

"How much to fix it?"

"Well, the part's NLA from GM; we'd have to track one down. Probably about $450."

"Put it back, and let's just act like it never happened."

 

[askolover]

I had one of these

for 2 days, and back to Lowes it went!  It was possessed from day one by some anti-spin demon from Korea!  It would never balance no matter the load size.  Surprised to see some still around and actually working.

 

[alr2903]

Looks like you have it on a concrete floor.  As long as the plug is grounded correctly enjoy.  Nothing wrong with $60. of washer entertainment.  Good for You!  A

 

[bendix5]

We bought one of these machines Nov 2005. On the normal cycle with towels or rugs it takes forever to go in to the high speed spin. It will kick back and fill with water and rinse again. I would go cancel the cycle and then put it to spin only and it would go right in to the spin. The lower spins always worked ok. PITA..Our other problem was that it shook our entire house during spin in our Reno house, and that was pretty bad. We called service and they said it was our floor. So, with that good news we called a contractor and he said our 30 year old house wasn't built to support front load washers. We had the floor reinforced and all worked out pretty well. We now have moved back to Oregon and live in a mobile home. Floors must be sturdy here because we haven't had any problems. We love this washer. It cleans and rinses well and we hope to get a few more years out of it. I realize over ten years we are pushing our luck. We still have our 806 Maytag which we hope to put in to place when this ones goes. Good luck with your machine Kevin. I also rose up the water level some when we got ours which makes for more fun. Dano

 

[revvinkevin]

Well, I did two loads in it today (2nd load finishing now) and everything seems to be fine. That cleaning I did the other day with the citric acid seemed to really do the trick.

I also decided to remove the plastic window cover thing they put on it. Much easier to see inside the drum now, no hazy plastic and no more reflections.

It will get a better test this weekend when I do four or five big loads of laundry.

Kevin

 

[johnb300m]

That plastic looks incredibly THICK!
Wow, seems unnecessary.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

John - Yes I agree, the plastic window is completely unnecessary.  I see a lot of machines with this extra plastic window, especially the upper end models (style over function).  My 2009 KM He5t had a dark tinted one, which made it difficult to see anything inside.   Some models have interior lights, but still.   Admittedly we are in the minority, as the majority will start the machine and walk away.   They don't care what's happening in there as long as their clothes get clean .... unlike us.

 

Kevin-ism:  A window in a front load washer is not functional if you cover it with a dark tinted plastic "window".

 

Arl - yes my laundry "wet wall" is in my garage space, so water leaks do not invoke panic.

 

Dano - when I took the top of the machine off I noticed it does have an adjustable water level switch AND it's very easy to access!   I may try playing with it as I do larger loads in it.   Which direction do you turn the screw to increase the water level?

 

Also, I did a couple more water changes (fill, brief tumble, drain) yesterday before doing the laundry in it.  I again had it drain into the bucket so I could see what was coming out of it.   Much cleaner this time.  There was still a little sediment, but far less and it felt a little sandy.  

 

=    =    =    =    =

 

Likes so far: Water level, cycles & options, heater.

 

Dis-likes: Longer cycle times (than other washers I have) and OMG it takes fo-evah to drain/balance/spin, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Every!</span>  <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Single!</span>  <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Time!</span> 

 

Kevin

[this post was last edited: 3/10/2016-14:52]

 

[combo52]

Sediment In The Bucket

Is the corroded aluminum oxide from the corroded spider, the citric acid did not cause the corrosion but instead just loosened the the crap that was hanging on the surface, { there is no such thing as detergent residue, only mineral deposits etc left from using too little or cheap detergent ]

 

[1Mikeske11]

My wife could dump it fast enough

We had a Samtag and it was a POS from the start. It was in our laundry room for 5 years and that was the extended warranty on it. I do know that it had 4 circuit boards on it and 3 boot seals as it was short circuit leaking machine. Everything said about long cycle times were true and it finally landed in the garage where it currently resides until I can find another victim for it.

It currently works but you will never find another front loader in my mobile home. My wife and replaced it by going back to a top loader Speed Queen AWN432.

 

[revvinkevin]

Observations after a year of use

 

 

I've been doing almost one load a week in this washer since bringing it home a little over a year ago and it's been working w/o any problems or issues.  Tho I did move it off my "wet wall" about 3 weeks ago after I bringing the little 6 kg Miele home and I've decided the Miele is going to stay where it is.

 

May-sung Neptune LIKES:

#1. Capacity.   It's not the largest capacity washer, but I have stuffed it really full, doing some pretty large loads more than a few times and it's handled it well.  Then again, I think I've really stuffed it so full because I don't really care that much about it.

 

#2. The higher initial water level AND the easily adjustable water level switch.  I adjusted it for slightly more water and I may tweak it again if I reconnect it again.

 

#3. Selecting "hot" for the wash means hot, it's not dumbed down nor does it add cold water like the LG.

 

DISLIKES:

#1. It does NOT fill with hot & cold at the same time when a "warm" temp is selected.  First it's cold for a while, then hot until the water level switch is satisfied.  It does not cycle between hot & cold ala Whirlpool.  Quite often it does not tumble (or tumbles very little) during fill and as it fills through the tub/door boot, garments at the door get doused in a lot of hot water. 

 

#2. As mentioned at the beginning of this thread, this thing waists a lot of time to drain-tumble-spin each time it does.  

 

#3. Spins between wash and all rinses are only at a medium speed, not "high" that I selected.  Full, max speed only occurs during the final spin.  (also, I haven't been able to tell any difference between "high" rpm and "max extract plus" as the rpm seems to be the same for both).

 

#4. During the last part of the final rinse, it adds more water, then increases speed to a "spin distribution"(?) speed for a full 30-45 seconds, sloshing water up and around the outer tub (to rinse any schmutz buildup and prevent "tub stink").  But every time it does this, there's an inch or more of foam / suds build up in the door glass that doesn't dissipate as the tub drains.

 

#5. It's really noisy, more so than any other FL washer I have.  But not from the motor or bearings, from the garments slapping against the tub and splashing in the water inside.  There are two large tub vents on the back of the machine and a lot of interior tub noise comes out from them.  I ended up stuffing a wash cloth in each to act as a "muffler". 

 

Re: the gritty / sandy discharge during the first cleaning.  I neglected to mention the seller told me they went to the dessert / sand dunes a lot and washed everything after those trips in this machine.  This explains all the sand coming out of the drain hose.

 

Kevin

 

 

[ovrphil]

Good notes, Kevin. It reminds me that if I buy new, I'll be sure to run every cycle and take notes on cycles, etc. If something isn't agreeable, take it back within 30 days or whatever the warranty.

I'd prefer that the water coming onto the clothes or whatever is being washed...is pre-mixed to be warm before entering the washing chamber.