I'm in love with my Kenmore Elite King Load washer
The new Kenmore Elite King Washer I purchased is doing a great job. No floods in my laundry room, no weird noises, etc. It's doing what it should washing my family's clothing. I now truly believe that I was right, and my machine was defective. I did buy it (my old one) from one of those outlet stores, but it wasn't considered damaged product. When I bought the new one at Sears this month, the sales rep said that those discount places (even Sears discount appliance stores) seem to always be selling the machines with "problems". Learned my lesson and will stick with Sears or Lowe's, etc. No more outlet stores where they say their products are the same as sears, but the prices are better. I think my machine must have been dropped or something! Anyway, I'm happy, and hope my story can help someone else.
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Same problem - Maytag washer suds backing up
This is a very interesting thread because it seems that I am having the same problem as Momtoafew with virtually the same washing machine. She mentions Maytag SAV3655A and SAV5910. I have model SAV4655A.
We have been doing some construction to reconfigure our laundry room into a bathroom and laundry room. Because our new 18" slop sink is less than the 20 gallons required by the Maytag installaiton manual we switched to a 2" standpipe dedicated to the washing machine.
The plumbing was done by a handyman but was inspected and in fact was corrected in some areas based on recommendations by the inspector. Although it was a bit of an ordeal (and a mistake using a handyman), I inspected the work closely myself, spoke to the inspector in detail, and consulted numerous plumbing books and believe everything has been plumbed corectly. I have attached a picture of the plumbing.
As far as I noticed, this was all working fine before the drywall was installed. Then, we disconnected the washing machine, installed the drywall, and reconnected the washer. Once we did that I noticed that the wall was wet and suds were bubbling over in the plastic box that holds the supply valves and end of the standpipe.
The water is draining fine, just the suds (I think towards the end of the wash) that are causing the problem. I don't think there is a blockage because the water is draining fine and also because the laundry sink drain pipe which is much lower than the top of the standpipe is still open (only sealed with duct tape) and not showing any sign of water or soap suds. If the plumbing were backed up, the water should spill over from this drain before going all the way up the standpipe.
Maytag has a standpipe adapter (part 40008101 - http://services.maytag.com/abs/PartsStore.do), sort of like a large rubber stopper with a hole in it for the drain hose, which was delivered with the machine. I installed that recently and it helped the problem. No longer suds coming down the wall, but still some suds filling up the bottom of the plastic box with the valves and standpipe.
I am hesitant to completely seal the drain hose into the standpipe since the Maytag installation manual says "avoid air-tight seal" to avoid siphoning. I should note that the top of the standpipe is at almost exactly 36" which is the minimum height Maytag recommends to avoid siphoning. I could raise the standpipe but that is a lot of work for something that may not make a difference.
One thing I wonder is if some construction debris (gypsum dust?) could have made the drain pipe more encouraging of sudsing.
I guess the more likely thing given Momtoafew's posts is that the washing machine has a problem with clearing its suds during the rinse cycle and presumably the remaining suds are not dense enough to push through the p-trap.
At this point, I need to decide if I will extend the standpipe, seal the connection, or maybe just push Maytag for reimbursement.
At this point, I feel most of the advice has already been posted, so I am mostly posting this just in case it reveals any other ideas not already mentioned.
Thanks for all ideas so far and for any new ones!
Those seem to be my three choices
HVAC and Speedball , I think you have hit on my main three choices:
1) Use less soap
2) Put on some kind of an air tight fitting
3) Get Maytag to replace the machine
I do have relatively soft water, so less soap might help, but I'm not sure why it had not been a problem until recently.
Although I will definitely be considering it, I'm not sure how to install a compression fitting without a lot of work since the drain pipe is currently solvent glued to the hole in the plastic box set into the drywall-covered framing. There is no exposed end of the standpipe to compress onto, just an inside surface exposed via the hole in the plastic box. Plus there is unfortunately only about 3" clearance above the standpipe because my handyman installed the old flower-shaped supply valve right above the standpipe, so it would be difficult to solvent weld some sort of extension inside the standpipe unless it had a curve to it.
I'm thinking of just caulking around the rubber standpipe adapter that Maytag provided for now so see if it causes any problems. I'll let you all know if that works.
Since Maytag warns against siphoning, what would be the symptoms of siphoning that I should watch out for? I'm assuming it would cause a premature drainage of the tub during the wash cycle, right?
Thanks again for your help.