Our washign machine works great, except for one small problem.
If we use the “Gentle” setting, wierdness ensues. It appears to put a HUGE draw on the power to the house, to the point where lights dim and brighten cyclically with the auger.
Needless to say, we don’t use the gentle cycle.
The regular setting, however, causes none of these problems. Can anyone tell me some potential culprits for this problem? I’m feeling particularly adventurous, since I just fixed the tremendous loudness and long drying times of our dryer by replacing the blower wheel.
The washer is a maytag, if that makes any difference.
I assume the draw is just from the motor constantly starting. Big motors (which are turning big heavy things, like wet clothes), take a lot of juice to get started. Especially if you want them to be spinning slowly.
ok, so why wouldn’t that happen when I set the cycle to “regular” instead of delicate? The motor doesn’t constantly turn on the “regular” setting, either.
The motor uses 2 separate speeds. You obviously have a problem with the low speed winding. Change the motor to get back both speeds or forgedaboutit and just use High (or regular) speed for all your washing.
Is what I would do anyway.------make do with what I got.
thanks, I’ll check into that. We’ve been workin with what we’ve got for about 3 years. Just got a little extra in the paycheck, so we might be in a position to fix it.
I think I misread your post slightly. I thought you were saying the auger was starting and stopping (which I thought it did on some delicate cycles). I agree with ombre3 then. A problem with low speed. If it’s happening cyclicly with the auger, I would guess the problem is in the motor (as opposed to some other piece of electronics in there). Possibly a short inside the motor. Maybe one of the windings has a loose wire and every time it comes around to a certain point it’s shorting out and causing enough draw to dim the lights but not enough to flip the breaker. I would stop using the washer (or at least that speed) until it’s fixed. Probably just a matter of swapping out the motor.