We were doing laundry yesterday evening when the ominous beeping started just as the first load began. The control panel flashed 'F11.' I assumed the load became unbalance and it just needed a bit of TLC to get going again. I wasn't too happy when I realized this 'unbalanced' load only held a few dress shirts and was still quite full of water. Within minutes of restarting the machine, it began to beep again.
I am sometimes amazed at what the world did before the Internet. A little bit of googling yielded quite a response. It seems Kenmore HE4 washers seem to have this F11 issue a lot - it isn't a great issue to have. In my terms, a F11 means the CPU isn't speaking to the washer's motor. Not good. Many of the posters on these various sites ultimately said the mother-board was replaced (but was on back order for six weeks) or Sears replaced the machine.
I phoned Sears Home immediately as I began to panic - no laundry is catastrophic in this house. There is no way to find time to go to a laundry mat with the laundry for five people - it is not possible. My panic and anger grew as the resonse centre mentioned the first appointment, despite having a maintenance plan with Sears, is November 13. I actually swore on the phone to the woman (then quickly apologized) but it appears Sears doesn't view washing machines as critical. The person who came up with that classification doesn't have 3 little kids.
The good news is the handy dandy low-tech approach to solving all problems - unplug the sucker - worked fairly well. The machine still does come up with the error message but I at least got the dirty cloth diapers through the system yesterday with only a few false starts.
Someone really needs to redefine 'critical'!
2 comments:
Urgh, Ann--no washer is very critical....and the cloth diapers..maybe you have a kind friend or neighbor that can help you out?
Cloth Diapers?! Eek! Nothing is more serious than the loss of a washing machine. When ours broke down and it took 4 days to get a repairman here, it took him 6 hours to wade through the piles of laundry obstructing the center hallway to reach the kitchen. He looked at the machine and said, "Its a goner. It will cost $700 to fix, throw it in the trash" (4 year old $800 washer, THANKS MAYTAG).
That was 8 months ago. His tinkering got the thing moving and I stuck a pan underneath to prevent more flooding. Whos needs a transmission/seal/uncracked tub/bindings anyway??!
I was about to go buy a kenmore HE... now, maybe not.
Post a Comment