Vintage Amana water valve replacement?

[spin-doctor]

Was hoping one of the experts could help me with a question. I own a vintage 1990 era Amana washing machine (as seen in my previous posts). The water fill is slow and it makes a buzzing hum sound during the fill cycles. I assume this is the water fill valve making that sound? The number on the valve is BK-24960. The metal chassis is bolted to the plastic valve assy and appears to be pretty easily disassembled. In the event a new valve is hard or impossible to find, any suggestions? The valve still works, it's just slow filling and buzzes. If I took it apart, am I likely able to clean out lime, sediment etc and get it working better?

Thanks

 

[combo52]

You can rebuild the water valve if you can find new diaphragm assemblies for it. It includes the entire cartridge for this Dole style valve.

It is not a matter of cleaning it.

It’s still a very easy valve to replace. I would just use whirlpool part number 285805. You can probably pick those up for anywhere from $10-$30.

You can also look on eBay for new old stock of the one you have.

John L

 

[spin-doctor]

You can rebuild the water valve if you can find new diaphragm assemblies for it. It includes the entire cartridge for this Dole style valve.

It is not a matter of cleaning it.

It’s still a very easy valve to replace. I would just use whirlpool part number 285805. You can probably pick those up for anywhere from $10-$30.

You can also look on eBay for new old stock of the one you have.

John L

Thank you. I took the valve apart and the valves themselves seem fine. And it doesn't leak water, so I'm guessing the solenoids are weak or something, not sure. I notice there is some kind of plastic coupler that goes between the valve output hose and where the hose enters the basket top. Is that an anti-siphon or check ball valve or something like that? Wondering if it may be clogged causing back pressure into the valve or something.

I found a pretty close match here ebay water valve-->>

 

[coldspot66]

Do you have a oem part number?

 

[spin-doctor]

All I have is the number printed on the valve. It is BK-24960

 

[Chetlaham]

What about a 358277 valve?

 

[spin-doctor]

358277

Yes, that is very similar and I could probably make it work. I went ahead and ordered one with the same chassis design except the connector prongs point in a different direction. Valve link
I'm pretty sure it'll still clear the tub when installed. I may have to replace the wires with 90 deg terminals to help it clear though.
Thanks for the help.

 

[dano]

** the number printed on the valve is BK-24960 **

That’s a manufacturer’s number not a part number.

If you post the machine’s *model number* we can look up the part number of the specified valve and look for a suitable replacement.

 

[maranoman]

It looks like you have a LW2503L washer from your previous posts, and the OEM part number for the valve would be R0606006. Here is an eBay listing which shows some alternative part numbers as well.

https://ebay.us/m/CuVNLK

The current Speed Queen part number that replaces R0606006 is 33930P. The 33930P looks like it will allow you to rotate the solenoid valves to replicate the direction of the wire connectors in the original R0606006.

 

[dano]

It looks like you have a LW2503L washer from your previous posts,

The current Speed Queen part number that replaces R0606006 is 33930P.

If that’s the model, I agree.

 

[TAG]

I replaced the solenoids on two different valves recently -- one was a NLA Quad w/ one dead valve and the other was a single feed to stand alone ice maker that had a low flow and was making some noise. I just got the number off the solenoid for the ice maker ... the quad was easier as I had bought a used valve on e-bay thinking I would switch out the whole thing. My knowledge from the ice maker had me checking the resistance of each coil pack and finding one dead I just switched it over.

 

[spin-doctor]

Thanks to all for the helpful advice. I ordered a new valve just like the R0606006/33930P. Slightly different connector orientation, but I can make it work. If that doesn't manage to fix the slow flow and buzzing sound during filling, any other ideas where to look? The buzzing sound wouldn't come from the controller would it? (again only occurs during filling).

I also plan to apply some sound deadener to the inside of the sheet metal enclosure to quiet it down. I'll put some pics up later.

 

[spin-doctor]

Today I dug deeper into the buzzing water valve/low flow/slow tub fill problem as I wait for my new valve to show up. Here's what I did and a few questions at the end:
1. Checked hot and cold water flow from the disconnected hoses - all good.

2. Connected H/C hoses to solenoid controlled water valve with a clear plastic hose connected to its output so I can see if it flow water. It does switch both hot and cold water on and off normally and good flow is observed on each output.

3. The buzzing sound was present without any water flowing through it and with the valve dangling against the washer's metal housing. But when I flowed water through it and it was suspended away from the metal enclosure, it barely made any noise. So I think this may have been it buzzing against the metal housing, maybe from being a little loose? Didnt seem that way when I removed it, but it's pretty quiet as long as it doesnt touch the sheet metal shousing.

4. Then I connected the valve up to the hoses leading to the washer tub (connected to the valve's output). There is this plastic coupler between 2 sections of rubber hose leading to the tub. I then tried to check flow again, and the flow was very weak and slow compared to the straight output from the water valve.

The yellowish clear coupler is the point of restriction. It has some kind of orifice inside and an overflow port on the top that's simply wide open exposed to the underside of the upper enclosure. It appears as if the orifice regulates flow into the tub at a certain rate, but wow the orifice is very small. And the black piece of plastic inside the larger yellowish clear housing appears fixed in place. But looking at it, maybe the black cylindrical part inside is supposed to move as a piston to possibly increase flow under certain circumstances? If I blow into the housing in the direction of water flow (as denoted by the arrow) it seems extremely restricted. I have to blow real hard and it sounds like an old man wheezing that spent 50 years smoking 4 packs of unfiltered Chesterfields a day. Basically the same thing going the other direction. The black orifice cylinder inside appears rigidly fixed and as if it is not intended to move as a piston. But maybe it's stuck in place? Not sure how this strange coupler is supposed to work really. Any suggestions or explanations as to what is going on?

Thanks

 

[DADoES]

Have you looked-up parts diagrams for your machine model to check the P/N and description of the coupler of question? It may be for anti-siphon purposes. Perhaps is clogged/obstructed with mineral residue?

 

[spin-doctor]

Have you looked-up parts diagrams for your machine model to check the P/N and description of the coupler of question? It may be for anti-siphon purposes. Perhaps is clogged/obstructed with mineral residue?

Yes, I just looked it up. It's a "backflow preventer" antisiphon device. I mean considering it just dumps the water into the top of the tub, I don't see how under any possible circumstances it could siphon or backflow anything out of the tub. And yes, I suspect it is calcified with mineral residue inside, although it's hard to really tell looking into it. I'm thinking of just drilling it out so that water flows freely through it. But maybe it has a mysterious "washer magic" reason for existence I'm not getting? lol

 

[DADoES]

Soak it in vinegar. Or CLR or Lime-A-Way or some such. All washers (and dishwashers) are required to have a siphon-break on the fill inlet assembly.