IPSO / Speed Queen Washer Not Draining
A complaint we receive occasionally is that the small Horizon style front load washers “Didn’t spin my clothes out”. There may be a couple of issues that cause this. One of the main ones I have seen is an out of balance load that never gets a good spin. This can happen with a few pairs of jeans or 3 or 4 towels. In a top loader when a load was out of balance you would hear a thumping sound and the machine may walk across the floor. To fix it you just opened the lid, moved a couple of things around and away it went.
This is not an option on a front load washer so the machines will slow down and try to re-balance the load themselves. In most cases, after a couple of times enough of the water is spun out and the load balances so the washer continues through the cycle.
The tubs in these washers are mounted on 3 or 4 shock absorbers and offset with a steel of concrete counterweight. As the shocks start to wear they act more like springs and have a harder time balancing the load
One of the first things to do is to run it through a cycle and see if there is water left in the tub. This can be caused by debris in the pump that is easily cleaned out by removing the insert in the front of the pump and pulling out the items. You will probably find a) bobby pin, b) bra wire or c) necklace. sometimes there is a coin in there as well.
In order to avoid a mess, you can use a set of Pinch Off Pliers Available Here. Just use them to clamp the hose between the tub and the pump and the water won’t drain out when you work on the pump.
Occasionally you will have a pump fail and need to replace it. That’s the position I found myself in after looking at everything else. Including checking the water flow out of the drain hose as sometimes they get plugged up with soap sludge.
First, you unplug the washer or turn off the breaker.
Next step is to remove the cover below the door on the front of the washer.
Inside you will see the pump. The position and orientation may vary between models but they are all very similar. This picture shows the location the pump is mounted in and the hose is the outlet to drain.
To remove the pump:
a) Clamp the hose from the tub to prevent water flow. The pliers do not need to be too tight as you are squeezing a rubber hose so it will seal easily and you don’t want to damage the hose.
b) Unplug the two electrical connectors and move them out of the way so they stay dry.
c) Loosen the hose clamps on the tub and drain hoses at the pump
d) remove the two mounting bolts between the pump bracket and the washer base.
e) disconnect the hoses and remove the pump.
Once I git the pump out I looked inside and found there was some material behind the impeller.
This would occasionally bunch up and stop the impeller from turning so the water could be pumped out. Once the pump stopped and the pressure from the material move the impeller it may or may not work the next time.
I removed the material and bobby pin and reinstalled the pump.
I put the new pump I had ordered on the shelf in case this was not the root cause and ran a trial cycle.
So far everything is working great.
Ken
