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Model #GVW9959KL2icon, this top load high efficiency washer would not finish the wash cycle and water would remain inside the tub. The customer tried to start the cycle again several times, but this only resulted in more water in the tub. After wringing out a load of wet clothes, it was time to call for service.

This particular washer may have been a little ahead of its time, as it was an early attempt at producing a high efficiency(read low water use)washing machine for the American market. Front load washers had been out for some time, but some consumers were having a difficult time making the change and the Calypso seemed to offer the best of both worlds. Top load convenience with now water usage.

The Calypso featured an agitator plate in place of a traditional center agitator to wash the clothes. Very little water was used in the cleaning process as the clothes were basically tossed through what little water there was. There are plenty of opinions on this particular washer from great to awful. Personally, I have found many of them have worked well in the right environment, while others didn't hold up for very long.

When I arrived at this call, I already had a pretty good idea of where the problem was given the description by the customer. Large amounts of water visible in the tub is a sure indication of water not draining. The the continuous starting of the cycle will only add more. The drain pumpsicon were redesigned on these models several years ago to help deal with this problem.

Typically this problem will be accompanied by an error message such as 'LD' or long drain. This washer didn't have a working LED display so the customer was unaware of any problem the machine may have been displaying. But once I put the washer into a diagnostic cycle to test the drain motor, it was obvious from the lack of water flowing that something was in the way.

Access to the pump and motor are from underneath the washer, which can be difficult if it is full of water. But once the bottom panel was removed, I was able to begin draining water from the tub by removing one of the water lines to the drain pump. Be aware, any water in the tub will quickly be on the floor once these lines are removed so plan accordingly. With all the water out, I could remove the pump cover and that is where I found the blockage.

The good thing here was once I freed the pump impeller, a quick test in diagnostics showed it was still working fine so no dame was done. I put each of the hoses and clamps back in place before performing a live test with water. The washer filled and drained as expected and no water leak could be seen. The customer was able to get going again on the laundry, which was occupying most of the laundry room.



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4 comments:

lantram said...

Many thanks for this timely post. I had heard these washers were lint monsters so when ours stopped I suspected a blockage. A quick search on Yahoo led me to your blog.
Lisa in Henderson, NV

Appliance repain in Vancouver said...

This is really a good guidence for the top load high eficiency washer. The problem of drain pump is beautifully described here. At the same time i want to appriciate to you also that your site is well optimized to make a growth in business.

John said...

I've seen the exact problem you describe more than once! Fortunately for me I carry a pump in my truck, so water spillage wasn't a problem. My customer was all but cursing the machine- apparently this had happened several times before. Strangely enough though my neighbor has a Whirlpool KL2 and he says it's given him nothing but great service. On the other hand, he's pretty handy so he probably knows how to tune the thing up once a while. I'm going to send him a link to this page though for future reference. Great article.

Emma M said...

Good info! Keep up these nice posts.

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