World of Washers

From George:

"Just found your blog tonight after buying a GE front loader set tonight to replace my Kenmore (Whirlpool) HE3 Elite that self destructed this week after almost six years of use. The spider assembly that holds the drive shaft to the basket apparently is made of aluminum and corrodes in the presence of detergent. When it blew at 900 RPM it took out the drum and the water pump. Found several web pages where the same thing has happened to others. As you seem to know, neither Sears nor Whirlpool seems to have any sort of failure analysis department or any interest in possible design problems. When I called the Whirlpool Corporate office in Michigan they told me that they have no access to their Engineering or Production departments. Making a critical part out of a reactive metal is just stupid from an engineering point of view. I could not find anyone that would tell me if this part is common to some or all of their brands of washers. I’ll send you picture of my corroded basket for giggles.

"Keep up the good work"

George then includes the picture below.





George then follows up with another email:

"Brad,

"I have an update for you. I sent an Email to Whirlpools CEO Mr. Fettig and to my great surprise he had some one call me back this week. They were very interested in my photos of the damage. I got a call back telling me that the damage was caused by the reaction of chlorine on the metal. Who knew that a washer might be exposed to chlorine?!! They said that most front loader manufacturers have had this problem in the past and that they are now using a different alloy to make the spider assembly. I got an apology for the trouble I’ve had and was offered a free countertop appliance from their Kitchenaid line of products. None of which I really need or want. They thanked me for my concerns about their products and assured me that they follow up on all customer complaints. I did mention the trouble I had trying to find someone at Whirlpool customer service that had any interest or knowledge that would help me figure out what happened to my machine. I was told that Whirlpool no longer has a technical help line due to liability issues. I guess if I hurt myself repairing a machine following their techs advice, they would be worried I would sue them. I made sure to let them know that because I did not get a timely reply to my questions I went out a bought a GE laundry pair hoping that it used a different spider assembly.

"So I guess they do have a group that checks out issues but it takes a lot of time frustration to find them. I should not have to contact the CEO of a company to get action on a product issue."

I decided to look into this a bit further and was surprised that I had not heard of this problem before. I was also surprised that some engineer (or, evidently, several) thought it a good idea to mate stainless steel and aluminum together for prolonged submersion in detergent and chlorine bleach solutions.

I found the following video on YouTube made by a gentleman who deconstructs his wrecked Frigidaire washer. This video provides a wonderful insight into how crappy some products are manufactured.




UPDATE 7/11/09: I was curious about this issue, so I emailed Electrolux with questions regarding the spider assemblies of Frigidaire and Electrolux washer. A day later, I got a response (the first I have ever received from Electrolux) saying "The material for the spider was changed to a new alloy in 2004. We do not have problems with failure of these parts."

So there you go. If you buy a Frigidaire or Electrolux frontload washer, you can rest assured the washer will not self-destruct due to galvanic corrosion caused by two dissimilar metals being mated together.

Now to see if Whirlpool and others will respond...