Danny DiAmico wrote in
:

Subject: Advice requested Whirlpool Duet Sport Washing Machine
"popped" From: Danny DiAmico
Newsgroups: alt.home.repair,sci.electronics.repair


Well Danny D, there you be. Long time no see. You still living up in the
hills outside Sacramento or or San Jose or wherever? Did you ever get your
water storage problem worked out?

On Wed, 27 Apr 2016 17:58:56 +0000, Zak W wrote:

Well Danny D, there you be. Long time no see. You still living up in the
hills outside Sacramento or or San Jose or wherever? Did you ever get your
water storage problem worked out?

Yea, we formed a neighbourhood committee to inspect and periodically check on
the water supply up here. After about six months of pumping, the one gray
well turned out to be crystalline clear (for now), so, that's been fixed.

Meanwhile, we formed a mesh Internet network, and we cleaned entire hillsides
of poison oak (see picture I just posted below from that last endeavor):
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/11917454.jpg

We cleaned up the hillside of old washing machines and tires too!

And, you should see many thousands of Scotch Broom we pulled out after
the last good drenching (the tap roots only come out when the ground
is literally soaked).

So, um, yeah. We've been busy in the boonies of Silicon Valley.

Danny DiAmico posted for all of us...



On Wed, 27 Apr 2016 17:58:56 +0000, Zak W wrote:

Well Danny D, there you be. Long time no see. You still living up in the
hills outside Sacramento or or San Jose or wherever? Did you ever get your
water storage problem worked out?

Yea, we formed a neighbourhood committee to inspect and periodically check on
the water supply up here. After about six months of pumping, the one gray
well turned out to be crystalline clear (for now), so, that's been fixed.


So, um, yeah. We've been busy in the boonies of Silicon Valley.

Glad to hear the gray well water cleaned up. Was the real problem ever
determined?

--
Tekkie

On Thu, 28 Apr 2016 14:39:57 -0400, Tekkie® wrote:

Glad to hear the gray well water cleaned up.
Was the real problem ever determined?

We can never be sure, but what we did was hike downhill from the
spot the 500 foot well was dug. We hiked about 500 feet below
that house and then we dug into the hillside (it's public open
space, so, we just dug without permission with our hands).

Since the hill is steep, there was only about six inches of
top soil, which we kicked away with our boots, and we noticed
that there was a wide expance of gray "mud" at that level.

When we stopped for a moment to survey the area, we belatedly
noticed a "band" of no vegetation at about the same level,
crossing the mountainside along the isocline.

Given that we kicked away the topsoil in a half dozen spots,
where this band seems very localized (about 100 feet long and
only about 6 feet to 15 feet in height), our *assumption* is
that there is a band of mud that was mixed up with the
Franciscan sediments 30 million (or so) years ago when
the Pacific plate rammed into the edge of California.

So, what we *think* happened is that the well drillers simply
hit that "puddle" of gray mud at about 500 feet and that it took
months to pump all that mud out from the pocket that the drillers
were obtaining the water from.

The funny thing is that just those two houses experienced that
gray mud, which even the well drillers said was odd in our area,
so, take everything we say with a grain of salt, but do realize
there are a lot of engineers on this hell who have pondered this
situation, so, that's the best we could have come up with.

BTW, the 100-foot long 15-feet wide bridge and treehouse was put
on hold because the storms blew it down. But we rebuilt it, and
we're starting to build the 16-foot-by-16-foot treehouse itself,
but this time, we anchored 1/2 inch steel cables to hold the
treehouse *above* the 100-foot long bridge (Jeff Liebermann is
always welcome to visit and I'll show it to him since he lives
near by).

If you want, I'll snap some pictures of the new setup, but, it
will look really nice since it's 80 feet above the ground when
it's all done. Right now, we have the 100-foot suspension bridge
done, and we're starting on the treehouse itself, which is going
to be floating above the suspension bridge about 75 feet from
the hillside and about 25 feet from the anchor redwood and about
80 or so feet above the ground.

On Thu, 28 Apr 2016 06:54:05 -0500, CRNG wrote:

Well done. It's good to see that kind of community-based planning,
cooperation and action.

Thanks for noticing that we all work together (as Jeff Liebermann would
know, we stick together in the mountains).

I called the "circuit board medics" at 800-547-2049 last week who
said that an F28 on the Whirlpool duet sport washer is almost always
a bad motor control board.

This was before I had taken out the MCU and found it burnt, so, they're
right. In hindsight, if I had only known that, I wouldn't have removed
both the CCU and the EMI filter (I broke a wire on the CCU trying to get
it out, for example).
http://i.cubeupload.com/k1m0mV.jpg

So, to help others.
1. If you get an F28 on the Whirlpool duet sport WFW8410SW, it's almost
always the motor control board.
2. Wiggle the blue wires on both the motor control board and the CCU,
but if that doesn't solve the problem, then you have to remove the
motor control board.
3. To remove the MCU, you have to remove the 16 quarter-inch hexhead
screws holding the back plate in place.
4. It's advised to also remove the lower cross brace (two more screws).
5. Some people remove the top of the shock absorber but I left it in place.
6. Then you have to cut or dig out the 4 tie wraps holding the harnesses
to the MCU plastic covering.
7. Then you have to be a genius or a magician to put a screwdriver under
the MCU white box and pry it up and then slide the MCU toward the
front of the washer, to get it to release its grip.
8. Then you remove all the wire connections & pull it out from the
bottom of the Whirlpool duet sport washer.
9. Once you pry open (and probably break) the crappy plastic (they
really use really really really brittle plastic), you will see
the scorch marks as shown below.
http://i.cubeupload.com/k1m0mV.jpg

At this point, you put the MMU back in its plastic case, and you remove
the CCU (if desired) and you ship both of those boards to the rebuilders
at "Circuit Board Medics" 800-547-2049x3) at your cost. They told me
that USPS is the least responsible, so use UPS or Fedex.

Exclusive of your costs to ship to them, the charges a
A. Exchange rebuilt MCU = $175 ($160 + $15 shipping + $100 core charge)
B. Rebuild your MCU = $145 ($130 + $15 return shipping)

They give you a 1-year warranty and they will test both boards for
free, just in case my totally burned out MCU isn't the real problem.
http://i.cubeupload.com/xRnjw9.jpg

Here's a picture of my CCU, which seems to be in OK shape:
http://i.cubeupload.com/zBAmq5.jpg

Unless I find a better deal than ~$150, I think I'll have them rebuild
my board. A brand-new washer is only four or five times that at about
$600 to $800, so, it's an expensive enough repair to wonder if I should
just buy a new washer instead.

Nonetheless, I don't have much money lately (being retired is costing
me more than I thought, especially with two families living under the
same household now, with my sister and her kids living with me), so,
I will just look to see if I can find a new board for around that same
price.

Otherwise, I'd suggest the rebuilders as they seem competent.

replying to Danny DiAmico, Kings wrote:
Mine has the same problem. Whirlpool needs to do something about this mess.
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/fe
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/ff

Yeah, a ten year old washer breaks. Call the press.

What percentage of these fail? Even if 100% of them fail at the ten year mark, what's the problem? These days, 10 years of life from a major appliance is something to be lauded.

I have the same Duet Sport washer and it does a **** load of laundry, and other than an occasional need to remove coins, socks, or panties from the pump (accessible from the front), it's been no trouble.