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Front loader spin cycles INFO

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by Brassy, Mar 23, 2009.

  1. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    For those of you who also have front load washers that vibrate the house from front to back....I have tried everything to get this to stop. We put a thick pad of sound insulation underneath. Nothing. Then went to a "green" company who sells "Vibe-Away" (yes, that's what it's called!) cups that look like hockey pucks with and indentation to go underneath the feet of the washer. We put those On top of the insulation. Still Nothing! No matter what spin cycle we use the same vibrations continue.

    Now I've resorted to calling our Gen Contractor to see if he can put it down in an L-shaped finsihed area we have for storage - we still have a large unfinshed area for storage. The back wall bumps up to the basement shower. As much as I hate the idea of having it in the basement, it will be the only place the washer won't give the house a headache. Stay tuned.

    Oh, and BTW, I bet when you bought your front loader, the seller didn't inform you that these are only supposed to be on concrete floors, or wood floors that hve extra support. But when you had to look at the operations the first time, there it was spelled out for you! In our house, most probably like yours, the floor struts are lengthwise in the house, and i'm sure the metal studs in the walls also help out, too!
     
  2. Kilkenny

    Kilkenny Member

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    Are you sure that yours is functioning correctly? I've seen a few and none were like you decribe. Is it brand new or have you had it for awhile?
     
  3. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    we've had it maybe a year. It is an LG, our previous set was Whirpool Duet and we had the same issues with that one, when we moved in. So we sold it a few years later and bought the LG, thinking the issue may have been solved by a newer machine. When we had the Whirlpool set on top of each other on the concrete pad of our townhouse basement, we never had the vibration problems at all.
     
  4. JLC

    JLC Member

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    We had our front loader stacked with the dryer in the mud room off of the garage. It would rattle my office so much on the final spin cycle that couldn't use my computer for those five minutes. Oh, the horror.

    Just yesterday we moved them down to the basement in order to use the mud room as a walk in pantry/mud room vs. a laundry room/mud room where we didn't have enough space to even put down the laundry basket. I haven't run a load yet to see how the vibrating compares.
     
  5. Bdlander

    Bdlander New Member

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    We have a Bosch front loader and the ONLY time I have ever had this problem was when I have overloaded the washer with towels or heavier/bulkier clothing. Otherwise, no vibration at all.
     
  6. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    we get this no matter how much is in the washer.
     
  7. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    JLC, did you have new hook ups made to use them in the basement?
     
  8. Kaosdad

    Kaosdad Will work for Rum

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    Where in the house is it installed? Basement on concrete or upper floor?

    edit: Obviously, Brassy & I are an item.
     
  9. gb10

    gb10 General Lurker

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    Never found a real solution, but I run almost all my loads on the low spin cycle and it helps a great deal.
     
  10. JLC

    JLC Member

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    Yes. We already had a deep sink in the area we wanted the machines, so the hot & cold water was right there to tap into. He installed a new dryer vent rather than use the old one because there would have been too many turns to try and hook it up into the old one. The electrician was able to junction off the old circuit for the dryer since it was almost directly below the existing laundry room. (I think I'm saying that right)

    The whole process was pretty simple - took two guys about three hours to do it all.

    BTW, I just ran a load and couldn't hear or feel a thing.
     
  11. Bdlander

    Bdlander New Member

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    Kaosdad,

    Our Bosch front loader is on our top floor, against a wall that backs up to our master bedroom/bath. Ours is a Pulte home, so maybe they reinforce the floors better than VM? All I know is I'm very happy with the Bosch (not even the mold issue I've heard others talk about in regard to front load washers), and I don't remember seeing anything at all in the manual about needing to install it on concrete floors.
     
  12. Bdlander

    Bdlander New Member

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    Oh - we also have the washer on one of the pedestal drawers that are made to go under the unit. Not sure if that helps with vibration or not, but it sure makes loading and unloading a lot easier on my back!
     
  13. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

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    Before I bought my front loader last year I read up a lot on them on message boards and Amazon reviews. Many people have this problem with the spin cycles because of how fast they go (which is why they "dry" clothes better than a regular machine. A common solution is to make sure it is balanced both from front to back and from side to side. Our installer used a level in both directions to make sure it was completely level.

    We don't have an issue with vibration at any level more than I would expect or find acceptable. Our machine is on the main living level in the mud room leading to the garage. I don't know what the floor is made of in that room. The machine does vibrate but it doesn't shake the house. I would imagine that if your machine is on the bedroom level it would shake more than in the basement or maybe even on the main floor.

    Another tip I found online was to make sure the front legs have rubber caps and locking nuts to keep them tight. If they don't buy some and see if that helps.

    Unfortunately, front load washing machines spin at such a high speed that it is hard to avoid the vibration. Like the other poster said, spinning at a lower speed may help but it seems that the front loaders just have this issue in their design. Still, moving it to the basement will probably help.
     
  14. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    Mud room, as well. It definatly was leveled when they installed it. The other day I watched it stop spinning and the whole machine heaved.
     
  15. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Ours are on a solid floor (mud room) but pretty sure it's still on the wood and not the concrete. I know in our old place, even the top loader would make the house shake (was up on top level).

    Given the reading I've done - I'm convinced its 95% the floor on which it's installed on once you've verified the installation as correct.
     
  16. technosapien

    technosapien New Member

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    Re: vibrating, I will chime in with a recommendation to balance your machine properly (make sure it's level in both directions) as this helped me. Our washer is on the 3rd floor of a townhome and I didn't want to vibrate the whole row....
    On recommendations from numerous forums (fora?) on the web, I also places plain old hockey pucks under all 4 feet before balancing the washer. Even on high speeds, when the machine itself seems to be rattling quite a bit, we do not feel it in the floors or in the house even standing right next to the machine.

    Hope it helps
     
  17. signifer

    signifer Member

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    We have an LG front loader on the third floor of our townhouse and had similar problems. There were several things wrong.
    The drum is mounted on 3 plastic shock absorber-like things, one was broken.
    The washer wasn't quite level.
    The nuts that tighten the feet weren't really tight, they were only snug.

    After replacing the shock absorber, leveling the washer, and making sure the feet were well tightened things got a lot better. It has been a couple of years since we did this and it is starting to shake the house again; I plan to look at it again...

    (BTW: based on the experiences we have had with this washer and LG service we will never buy LG again; this has nothing to do with the level problems.)

    Good luck!
     
  18. exbubba

    exbubba New Member

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    We have Kenmore frontloader in basement on concrete floor. Make sure your have the thing leveled using the levelers on bottom as your floor may be uneven. Otherwise, ours was so strong on sping (high is default), that we just turn it down when we set the cycle. You may possibly be overloading a bit.
     
  19. Brassy

    Brassy Hiyah

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    yep, we have the thing leveled. You can see it lurch inside with the loads - it's large enough to take a king size comforter. when it stops it actually heaves from side to side! We had the drawers on our previuos set, which were Whirlpool duets. still had the vibration issue, with it on low spin, it's still there. How would we know if one of the shock absorbers is broken? As far as the floor - it may have to be supported better with 2x4's nailed under the studs in the unfinished room. It is right off the garage.
     
  20. BigDog

    BigDog Member

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    We had the same problem with our Whirlpool Duet. We loaded the base (with drawer) under the washer with 2 big bags of rocks from Home Depot and it solved most of the problem.
     

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