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sfh074

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Here's what I've been dealing with the past couple of days. What the hell metal is this basket support made out of? Basically it dissolved. Looks like swiss cheese and metal sluffing off. Weirdest galvanic reaction I've ever encountered. 2010 Amana POS front loader and of course this part is now NLA!

Bud - Atlanta

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Model number .....

nfw7200tw

As for improper use, I have no words. We bought this new in 2010, used powdered detergent per manufacturers instructions. Shortly after hearing about front loaders flying apart on high speed spin, the wife and I never used "high" spin setting. Only slow or mostly medium. Never overloaded it with heavy or bulky items either. Improper use? NO, improper engineering for a critical part. Can you imagine the stresses this piece has to take? To me this part resembles a front automobile spindle .... needing to handle ridiculous centripetal forces.

Other than disassembling the frigging washer after every use and rinsing and drying the spider support so it doesn't sit there and dissolve itself from moisture and whatever else that would cause such a weird reaction to this pseudo metal, I have no other ideas. Click the "view full size" button and take a good look at the picture and stare in wonderment at what actually took place. This (pot metal?) literally dissolved. I've dealt with 50+ year old automotive and washing machine pump housings and impellers made out of pot metal that was found to have the usual pitting .... but nothing remotely like this spider support. You can take a screwdriver and punch completely thru the thickest areas and the metal resembles decomposed sand stone. I bet if it had been simply coated with something to keep the water and soap off of it, it would have lasted.

Bud - Atlanta

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Corroded broken spider,

Hi bud, what did the inside of the outer tub look like ? If there is mineral buildup on the inside of the tub etc. the same build up coats the spider keeps it damp in allows this type of corrosion to take place.

I can’t really tell for sure without seeing the whole machine but it looks likely that you used way too little detergent, for water conditions also liquid detergent‘s are generally better. In general hot water should always be used in a front load washer like this with plenty of good quality detergent no cheap national brands. Bleach should also be used as often as possible.

The highest spin speed also should be used whenever possible that spins more of the crap off things like the spider shaft area, slower speed spins seem to make this problem worse, And finally always leave the door and the dispenser drawer open between uses of the machine so it dries out better.
 
Most likely good advice ....

But all of that sounds ridiculous. It's a washing machine for heaven's sake. No 2 people will ever use a machine the same way and none of those tips are in the manufacturers instructions. No one should have to modify their washing habits to accommodate a poorly designed spider support. When I get the new spider support, I'll do what the pos manufacturer should have done in the first place, coat it with something like por15 or kds to keep the water off of it and prevent corrosion from starting in the first place.

BTW, No mineral buildup in the outer tub whatsoever, just the spider support itself had the only traces of buildup. And yes, we use lots of bleach and hot water. Actually, the entire machine looks like new. Just a little bit of water trail and corrosion to the outer frame from a tiny leak in the dispenser tray. Just repaired that with a dab of silicone.

What kills me is reading about this spider support going bad, going way back on blog sites. Literally thousands of complaints across anything WCI .... kenmore, maytag, amana, wp, frigidaire, lg, samsung, et all. Are they still making machines that incorporate a spider support made out of this same material? If so, shame on them. [this post was last edited: 5/25/2019-06:51]
 
Corroded broken front load washer spiders

This is a Samsung built washer, it’s probably one of the last sold by whirlpool if it was not purchased till 2010.

When whirlpool bought Maytag in 2006 there was a contract in place between Maytag and Samsung and whirlpool couldn’t get out of it they wanted to and they did get out of it as soon as possible.

We don’t accept service calls on Samsung LG and several other brands but we do work at all Maytag and Amana and whirlpool brand of appliances so we’re seeing at least a couple of these a week, the dryers are even worse LOL.

Painting a coating on the spider may or may not help much, when washer pumps were still made a pot metal GE and a few other companies put an epoxy coating on the inside of the pumps but it didn’t help much because you get tiny flaws in the coating and then moisture got under the coating and it corroded even worse. But I guess it’s Worth a try.

All manufactures are building their front loading washers this way but many brands are holding up much better, it might be partly the material used and the initial strength of it to begin with.

But we do know for sure that Korean appliances haven’t held up especially well , Even their cars are not doing especially well my office manager is waiting for a new engine in her Hyundai to be installed which is only seven years old.
 
What is so weired to me is that machines in the EU certainly got really cheap as well, yet we do not have spider corrosion issues to speak off.

Bearings are cheap as heck and go after 2 1/2 years, PCBs are throw away affairs, even shock absorbers are getting questionably bad.

And I somehow doubt that they choose fundamentaly different materials.

And it appears that that happens to every machine maker about equally rarely.

So I doubt that that happens due to laundering habits themselfes or detergents themselfes.

My guess is more towards a water quality thing.
We don't use chlorine or fluoride in our water and you have what appears to be generally softer water.
So maybe that happens in areas where water is particulary absent or load with either/both.

But thats just guessing...
 
Water quality could be a factor, but there are so many MOL and BOL powder detergents on market in the USA which for some reason don`t contain any corrosion inhibitors like Sodium Silicate.
Some even use Sodium Chloride as a cheap filler. Wonder if this might contribute to galvanic reactions as well. In the EU even the cheapest detergents don`t go so low.
A good TOL liquid used in sufficient amounts might be better for the spider than a bad powder.
 
 
This repair project dates back 3 years, photos were posted at that time.

Samsung frontloader given to my sister by friends.  The drum support broke during spin, the edge of the drum tore a gash in the front of the outer tub.  The friends were quoted $800 or some such for repair.  They mentioned it to my sister who figured I could fix it so the friends gave the set (incl matching dryer) to her.

Seems bad usage habits was the cause.  Continual heavy dosage of liquid fabric softener, probably no hot washes.  The machine has a tub clean cycle that heats to 130°F and a Sanitize cycle that heats to 150°F, highly unlikely the previous owners used either one.

Everything internal was coated with a heavy waxy residue and reeked of softener scent, the drum support crumbling to soft powder.

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Excessive fabric softener addicts or fans of low temperature washing (like the Spanish) have always existed in the EU as well.
Chronic oversudsing or underdosing happens too. Even such bad habits like shutting the door close after a wash occurs in some cases. Yet a broken drum support is something I never heard of before.

I still believe the major cause are poorly formulated detergents that don`t contain corrosion inhibitors to protect aluminum washer parts.
 
Does anyone have .....

the spider support that caused me to start this thread in the first place? It is part number 34001407.

There are a couple of them on ebay but the seller is a shyster. I have bought 2 of them now and when I received them in the mail, the parts have been totally different than what was presented in the ebay pictures. And of course in rougher shape. This ebay seller has 3 different ebay ID's that he sells parts under and all have the same Las Vegas address.

Here is a link to the exact part I'm looking for .... but of course the part has been NLA for some time now.

https://www.virginiaservicesupply.com/Frame_Shaft_Assembly_for_Whirlpool_34001407_p/vss34001407.htm

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
 
I don't think the Maytag will substitute.  Parts diagrams indicate it's an Alpha-platform with pancake F&P-style direct-drive motor, the drive shaft is splined for the motor rotor.  Bud's Amana is the older belt-drive design, the shaft is keyed for a pulley.
 

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